FSA Threatens to Hand over Strategic Region to Syrian Army as Gap Widens among Militants

The armed rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) warned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group that they would hand over a strategic region in Reef (countryside of) Aleppo to the Syrian army if the ISIL does not halt its attacks on FSA’s concentration centers in the region.
According to FNA dispatches, the militants of FSA’s Moqeyrat Battalion have warned their aggressive rival group, the ISIL (an Al-Qaeda-affiliate), that they would pave the way for the Syrian army’s seizure of the strategic Bustan al-Basha district of Aleppo if ISIL does not stop its continued raid on FSA’s positions.

In recent days, the FSA and the ISIL militants have intensified their armed infighting to expand their control over more strategic areas in Aleppo.

After more than two years of fighting side-by-side and leading one of the bloodiest conflicts in the recent history of Middle-East, the FSA and al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been making some moves against each other following reports of West’s alleged concerns over sending more arms to Syria and possibility of them falling into the hands of terrorists.

Analysts say West’s pressures for opening a way to send arms to militants in Syria and not the terrorists is actually differentiating the anti-Syria armed groups to “good terrorists” and “bad terrorists”.

Militants in Syria have been committing numerous war crimes against people and Syrian army soldiers throughout the country during their bloody war.

Last month, sources said the number of antigovernment combat factions has reached 1750, including the FSA, ISIL, and other groups working for different agendas.

However, the most prominent differences lie between the FSA and the ISIL, where media sources reported that the latter killed Abu Obeida Al-Binshi, one of the FSA commanders, the Islam Times reported.

“The assassination took place after the ISIL had taken a number of Malaysians, Syrians and Turks relief workers as hostages,” the sources said.

“Following the abduction, a number of the FSA brigades moved in an attempt to release prisoners, which led to clashes between the two opposition groups, and left Al-Binshi killed,” they elaborated further.

Earlier, a media source in the FSA described the “State of Iraq and Levant” as the movement which turned into a cruel rebel group.

“This organization kills all dissidents without exception, chasing and assassinating them in the areas of Ghouta and Damascus western countryside,” the media source said.

Such incidents were being repeated in Syria during the recent period, signaling a growing tension between the militant groups active under the FSA and the so-called ‘Jihadi’ groups, mainly composed of non-Syrian militants.

For its part, the opposing UK-based Syrian Observatory said that Al-Qaeda-affiliated ISIL had beheaded another battalion commander in the province of Idlib, Northwest Syria, in the wake of a battle erupted between the Syrian army and militants of other battalions in the town of Dana, in which dozens were killed.

Recently, the city of Raqqa in Northern Syria has witnessed protests, sit-ins and demonstrations against the armed groups deployment as a result of arrests carried out.

Moreover, the killing of a 14-year boy at the hands of ISIL mercenaries in front of his family in the city of Aleppo after being accused of blasphemy had also provoked widespread protests.

In another case of internal clashes among the Syrian militants, Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant and the Greater Syria clashed with members of a group affiliated to the FSA in mid August, driving them out from the city of Raqqa.

The fighting took place in Raqqa, where Al-Qaeda fighters overran the FSA’s Ahfad al-Rasoul brigade, capturing the group’s headquarters and forcing its fighters to flee into neighboring Turkey.

Militants familiar with the situation said that the fighting over Raqqa had been going on off and on for months, but picked up in early August.

Raqqa has been the site of multiple protests, with locals angry that they are being occupied by foreign factions, and that those factions are constantly at odds.

FSA members are not welcomed in many parts of Syria after they gathered in terrorists from several other countries to bring down the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

According to local reports, antigovernment forces have turned to be referred as anti-Syria forces among people.

Fighting between Al-Qaeda-linked fighters and the Ahfad al-Rasoul brigade for control of Raqqa intensified in the second week of August.

The battle culminated with the extremist group detonating a car bomb early August 14 at the city’s main train station, killing Rasoul commanders Abu Mazen and Fahd Hussein al-Kajwan.

The Al-Qaeda-linked rebels clashed with Rasoul armed men at the brigade’s headquarters, which they eventually overran, with most of the group withdrawing to Turkey on the same day (August 14).

Free Syrian Army leaders have acknowledged that the fighting between their brigades and extremist rivals has reached a critical stage.