Al Qaeda Clash With Free Syrian Army a New Stage of Opposition Split
While the U.S. and Russia pursue a diplomatic route in Syria, a battle between the country’s moderate and extremist rebels erupted in eastern Syria. Eli Lake talks with a commander of the pro-Western opposition about a new front in the civil war.
The same day the United States and Russia announced a plan to disarm Bashar al-Assad of his chemical weapons, a fresh round of fighting erupted along the Syria-Iraq border. This time, it was rebel versus rebel—specifically, al Qaeda–linked rebels against the more moderate elements of the opposition.
Mahmoud al-Aboud, commander of the eastern front for the Free Syrian Army, told The Daily Beast on Sunday in a Skype interview that the fighting began Saturday with a car bomb. Killed in the attack, said Aboud, was the brother of Saddam al-Gamal, a local commander of Allahu Akbar Brigades, a group aligned with the FSA in al-Bukamal. After the bombing, Gamal’s men launched a counterattack with small arms fire that killed four fighters in the opposing rebel group.
The five military councils associated with the FSA have clashed with fighters from the two main al Qaeda affiliates in Syria, al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, in recent months. (The two al Qaeda affiliates also have fought each other in the same period in an apparent power struggle.)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/17/al-qaeda-clash-with-free-syrian-army-a-new-stage-of-opposition-split.html
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