Syrian rebels accuse jihadist groups of trying to hijack revolution

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Guardian

A schism is developing in northern Syria between jihadists and Free Syrian Army units, which threatens to pitch both groups against each other and open a new phase in the Syrian civil war.

Rebel commanders who fight under the Free Syrian Army banner say they have become increasingly angered by the behaviour of jihadist groups, especially the al-Qaida-aligned Jabhat al-Nusra, who they say aim to hijack the goals of the revolution.

The rising tensions are palpable in the countryside near Aleppo, which has become a stronghold for the well-armed and highly motivated jihadists, many of whom espouse the Bin Laden worldview and see Syria as a theatre in which to conduct a global jihad.

Syrian rebel groups, on the other hand, maintain that their goals are nationalistic and not aimed at imposing Islamic fundamentalism on the society if and when the Assad regime falls.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/17/syrian-rebels-jihadist-hijack-revolution

[Arctic Dave]

1. Well...doesn't this present a pickle.

Of course now the FSA can blame all their fuck ups on the other group.

Because everyone knows they are all angels.

[joshcryer]

2. How else do you weed out negative elements?

Infighting is necessary to normalize a group.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. I'm sure the regime agrees.

They have to be praying for this rift to widen. Nothing better from Assad's point of view than having the Sunnis wage bitter war on each other.

[daleo]

5. That all depends on who ends up being the weed

And who ends up being the weeder.

[joshcryer]

8. True that.

[starroute]

4. How did we go from al Qaeda being all but eliminated ...

Last edited Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:28 AM - Edit history (1)

To jihadists threatening to take over Mali, coopt the Syrian uprising, and topple the government of Pakistan?

Was our government lying to us six months ago? Was the CIA clueless about what's going on in the world? Or did something change overnight?

I'd sure love to see someone make sense of all this.

[daleo]

6. It's a trap.

Or a cunning plan, like in a Blackadder episode.

[Archae]

7. Because Al-Qaeda is not a monolithic evil organization like the James Bond "Spectre."

In fact, just one guy can put up a website, call his "group" (of one) the "Most Holy Warriors Of Al-Qaeda Blow Ourselves To Pieces For Jihad," and even if it is just ONE guy doing this, the news media will lump this one idiot into Al-Qaeda as if it is a big monolithic evil group.

[mallard]

9. The one guy you refer to ....

... might in fact be reporting just to make the fake group seem real ... for a sense of job security. The active terrorists are paid mercenaries. Their pay masters are shielded from view.

[Archae]

10. That also.

Don't forget it only took two guys to cause the worse terrorist outrage here in the US, until 9/11.

And they wern't paid by anyone, they did it out of their views of the US government.