AL QAEDA ALLIES SET UP BATTLE WITH ASSAD
Rise of extremist rebels gives Syrian leader pretext for assault on Idlib
Syrian rebels and activists are warning that an Al Qaeda-linked group is on the verge of snuffing out what remains of the country’s uprising in the north-west.
Jabhat Fatah Al Sham, formerly known as Jabhat Al Nusra, seized control of the opposition-held regional capital Idlib at the weekend.
With the militants cementing their authority over the city and its province, Syrian president Bashar Al Assad has a handy excuse for an assault against the province – that the uprising is driven by militants and terrorists.
“There is the real possibility that because of Nusra’s domination the regime will enter the area with international approval,” said Lt Col Fares Bayoush, a longtime opponent of Mr Al Assad, who has been leading a rebel faction in north Syria.
Jabhat Fatah changed its name after it claimed to have cut links with Al Qaeda. It leads the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham militant group – Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee – that seized the city of Idlib and two border crossings into Turkey.
It abides by a deeply conservative code of ethics and tolerates no dissent, leading many under its rule to complain it is no better than the government they sought to overthrow in 2011.
The recent gains by Hayat Tahrir in northern Syria come as ISIL is suffering defeats at the hands of Iraqi and Syrian forces, and Kurdish-led fighters with US backing in northern Syria.
In Idlib last week, Hayat Tahrir’s members shot at protesters waving the tricolour flag of the Syrian uprising. It will only accept its own black flags to be flown.
“Any party that tries to confront Hayat Tahrir Al Sham will be crushed,” said an activist in north-west Syria. “This is a big blow for the Syrian revolution. Bashar will look like he is fighting terrorism.”
Hayat Tahrir Al Sham and its other incarnations have long been the top dog in Idlib province, but the latest victory makes it feel official.
In recent weeks, the group sent masked gunmen on raids and searches for ISIL members.
It stationed men across Idlib city last weekend after a rival faction, the ultraconservative Ahrar Al Sham group, withdrew.
Five days of clashes around the province led to the deaths of 77 fighters and 15 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Other factions, including many once financed and armed in part by the CIA, kept to the sidelines. They are hoping to win a share of the revenues from the lucrative Bab Al Hawa border crossing.
That crossing used to bring Ahrar more than US$1 million (Dh3.67m) a month, one of its officials said.
The group will now have to share those revenues with Hayat Tahrir Al Sham.
The group also seized Sarmada, the first town after the Bab Al Hawa crossing and an important trade centre in north Idlib, and Khirbet Al Jouz, home to a less important crossing with Turkey.
“Ahrar Al Sham no longer has a real on-the-ground presence in Idlib province. It’s over,” said the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdulrahman.
Hayat Tahrir and Ahrar have long been at odds over Idlib, but the rout last week carried a hint of betrayal, as the two sides fought side by side together in 2015 to throw the government out of the province once and for all.
Armed with anti-tank missiles supplied to supporting moderate opposition forces, some of which ended up in the hands of Jabhat Fatah, the coalition’s advantage was so great that Mr Al Assad conceded, for the first time in the war, that he might not be able to retain control over all of Syria.
But Russia intervened with an aerial campaign that drove the rebels and insurgents back on all fronts.
Further infighting between the factions has all but doomed any hope of rebels reaching the Syrian capital, Damascus.