Posted on 09/28/2013 9:08:24 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
On Tuesday, 13 prominent Syrian rebel factions declared their unification under the banner of an "Islamic Alliance." Their statement, which consisted of four main points, largely expressed their boiling frustration with and official rejection of the Western-backed Syrian National Council, the opposition's political leadership-in-exile. The statement also affirmed that Shariah law should be the "sole source of legislation" in Syria—unsurprising given that most of the signatories already advocate the implementation of Islamic law, albeit according to their own interpretations.
While rebel alliances in Syria are often short-lived, the creation of the Islamic Alliance has the potential to make anti-Assad moderates extinct. The Alliance is a potent concoction of some of the most popular and combat-effective units, which have united under a dangerously anti-Western banner.
Signatories to the declaration include the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, along with the moderate-Islamist Liwa Tawhid, Liwa Islam, Suqour al-Sham, Haqq, and Furqan Brigades. Most disturbing is the support from several secular-moderate units operating under the Free Syrian Army command structure, including the Northern Storm Brigade, which recently hosted U.S. Sen. John McCain. The ultra-radical Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) did not sign the declaration, nor did several powerful secular or moderate Islamist units, such as the Farouq Brigades or Ahfad al-Rasoul Brigades.
The recent declaration indicates a merger of two major ideological streams within the Syrian rebels—the moderate-Islamist stream and the Salafist stream. Of the Syrian rebels' estimated 100,000-plus headcount, 30,000 to 40,000 of these fighters now fall under the Islamic Alliance banner. Yet while these fighters do not make up the majority of the rebels, their units are among the most well-trained, organized and combat-effective, particularly in relation to the less-disciplined and less-funded units affiliated under the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council (SMC) structure.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
US involvement in this mess increases in complexity given this alliance. Obama needs a different palette.
Uh, "moderate Islamist units"? How, exactly, might "Islamists"--note: not mere Muslims, but "Islamists (which is to say, jihadists)--be "moderate"?
One might just as well speak of, say, moderate Nazis...
I’m sure McCain and Obama are home in bed cheering.
Syria will fall...and one nation will join the Uhmma - get ready for WW III....
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