He isn't mentioning any secular rebels in this piece. I remember when Amy
Goodman interviewed someone who was supposedly their representative, a few
years ago, but they seem to have disappeared, at least in any news reports
I've read.
Miriam
Truthdig
Syria: Is al-Qaida Rising as Islamic State Is Rolled Back? Is the U.S. De
Facto Allied With It?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/syria_is_al-qaida_rising_as_islamic_stat
e_is_rolled_back_us_20160413/
FacebookTwitterMoreEmail
Posted on Apr 13, 2016
By Juan Cole
This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor Juan Cole's
website(http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/syria-is-al-qaeda-rising-as-isil-is-
rolled-back-is-the-us-de-facto-allied-with-it.html) .
The cessation of hostilities in Syria never included Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) or
al-Qaeda (the Nusra Front or Support Front), but it did include some of the
de facto allies of al-Qaeda. The Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia
allies, with Russian air support, have taken advantage of the relative quiet
in much of the country to roll back Daesh from Palmyra and some other towns.
But even as Daesh has been set back, al-Qaeda has recovered some of the
territory lost to the SAA earlier this year southwest of Aleppo.
Al-Qaeda is allied with the Freemen of Syria (Ahrar al-Sham) and the
Jerusalem Army among other hard line Salafi Jihadis. These groups are in
turn allied with remnants of the old Free Syrian Army (mostly Muslim
Brotherhood) that are supported by the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. That
is, the US-backed groups are battlefield allies of the allies of al-Qaeda.
US and Gulf-supplied weaponry routinely makes its way to al-Qaeda.
As the Syrian Arab Army and its Iranian and Iraqi militia allies have been
busy to the east at Palmyra, al-Qaeda has spearheaded the reconquest from
the regime of al-Eis, al-Khalidiya, Birna and
Zitan(http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2016/4/9/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9
%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AC%
D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9
%85-%D9%8A%D8%B4%D8%AF%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81 ) , small towns
along the strategic M5 highway linking Aleppo to Idlib Province (a province
dominated by al-Qaeda and its allies).
These advances are mainly al-Qaeda's, or al-Qaeda's in conjunction with
allies. A Shiite site
observed(http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/04/
10/746269/story.html ) , "The attack on Zitan and Birneh is to be led
exclusively by Jabhat al-Nusra fighters. Nevertheless, yesterday's capture
of al-Khalidyah was carried about by joint troops of Jund Al-Aqsa, Ahrar
ash-Sham, Ajnad Al-Sham, Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army's 13th
division."
The 13th Division of the FSA is a "vetted" group that receives CIA-supplied
weaponry such as anti-tank t.o.W. munitions, which is to say that the United
States is in bed with al-Qaeda in taking al-Khalidiya from the al-Assad
regime.
Al-Qaeda also fired mortar shells at the Sheikh Maqsoud
district(http://alwafd.org/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%80%D9%8A/1119027-%D9%
85%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-18-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D
9%87%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%
B5%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8 ) of Aleppo, a Kurdish
stronghold that the YPG militia could use to cut East Aleppo off from arms
and ammunition from Turkey. The attack killed 18 and wounded more than 50.
In contrast, in the south of Damascus, in the Yarmouk Camp district,
al-Qaeda and Daesh have been battling each other, and Daesh has taken some
neighborhoods away from
al-Qaeda(http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/04/
09/746055/story.html ) .
WATCH: In Vatican City, Bernie Sanders Speaks Out on Economic Injustice
On Israel, Bernie Sanders Is Right (and Hillary Clinton Knows It)
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FOIA (Audio)
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Truthdig
Syria: Is al-Qaida Rising as Islamic State Is Rolled Back? Is the U.S. De
Facto Allied With It?
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/syria_is_al-qaida_rising_as_islamic_stat
e_is_rolled_back_us_20160413/
FacebookTwitterMoreEmail
Posted on Apr 13, 2016
By Juan Cole
This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor Juan Cole's
website(http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/syria-is-al-qaeda-rising-as-isil-is-
rolled-back-is-the-us-de-facto-allied-with-it.html) .
The cessation of hostilities in Syria never included Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) or
al-Qaeda (the Nusra Front or Support Front), but it did include some of the
de facto allies of al-Qaeda. The Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia
allies, with Russian air support, have taken advantage of the relative quiet
in much of the country to roll back Daesh from Palmyra and some other towns.
But even as Daesh has been set back, al-Qaeda has recovered some of the
territory lost to the SAA earlier this year southwest of Aleppo.
Al-Qaeda is allied with the Freemen of Syria (Ahrar al-Sham) and the
Jerusalem Army among other hard line Salafi Jihadis. These groups are in
turn allied with remnants of the old Free Syrian Army (mostly Muslim
Brotherhood) that are supported by the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. That
is, the US-backed groups are battlefield allies of the allies of al-Qaeda.
US and Gulf-supplied weaponry routinely makes its way to al-Qaeda.
As the Syrian Arab Army and its Iranian and Iraqi militia allies have been
busy to the east at Palmyra, al-Qaeda has spearheaded the reconquest from
the regime of al-Eis, al-Khalidiya, Birna and
Zitan(http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2016/4/9/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9
%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AC%
D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9
%85-%D9%8A%D8%B4%D8%AF%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81 ) , small towns
along the strategic M5 highway linking Aleppo to Idlib Province (a province
dominated by al-Qaeda and its allies).
These advances are mainly al-Qaeda's, or al-Qaeda's in conjunction with
allies. A Shiite site
observed(http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/04/
10/746269/story.html ) , "The attack on Zitan and Birneh is to be led
exclusively by Jabhat al-Nusra fighters. Nevertheless, yesterday's capture
of al-Khalidyah was carried about by joint troops of Jund Al-Aqsa, Ahrar
ash-Sham, Ajnad Al-Sham, Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army's 13th
division."
The 13th Division of the FSA is a "vetted" group that receives CIA-supplied
weaponry such as anti-tank t.o.W. munitions, which is to say that the United
States is in bed with al-Qaeda in taking al-Khalidiya from the al-Assad
regime.
Al-Qaeda also fired mortar shells at the Sheikh Maqsoud
district(http://alwafd.org/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%80%D9%8A/1119027-%D9%
85%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-18-%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D
9%87%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%
B5%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8 ) of Aleppo, a Kurdish
stronghold that the YPG militia could use to cut East Aleppo off from arms
and ammunition from Turkey. The attack killed 18 and wounded more than 50.
In contrast, in the south of Damascus, in the Yarmouk Camp district,
al-Qaeda and Daesh have been battling each other, and Daesh has taken some
neighborhoods away from
al-Qaeda(http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/04/
09/746055/story.html ) .
WATCH: In Vatican City, Bernie Sanders Speaks Out on Economic Injustice
On Israel, Bernie Sanders Is Right (and Hillary Clinton Knows It)
Robert Scheer Talks With Journalist Jason Leopold About the Power of the
FOIA (Audio)
The 'Grown-Up' in the GOP Race: John Kasich Is Far From a Kindly Father
Figure to the Palestinians
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
C 2016 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
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