Nearly fifty senior commanders of a major coalition of Islamic
‘moderates’ opposed to ISIS in Syria have been killed by an explosion at their
secret command bunker as they met to discuss strategy against the the Islamic
State.
The blast in the Northwest region of Idlib, Syria on Tuesday
killed senior members of rebel group the Ahrar-al-Sham brigade (AaS), including
leader Hassan Abboud and 45 others including senior members from other rebel
alliance groups, reports The Times. The Idlib region stands in AaS territory,
but it is close to the front-line with ISIS in neighbouring Aleppo.
Sources dispute the source of the blast, with it being unclear
whether it was an opposition group, suicide bomber, or accidental explosion at
a nearby ammunition dump. Regardless, the incident will destabilise and
possibly tear apart the AaS group and associated Islamic Front Coalition which
was recently described as “the most powerful armed group in Syria”.
Islamic group Ahrar-al-Sham, whose name translates as ‘The Free
Men of Syria’, is one of many movements competing in the inter-rebel conflict
in Syria. A number of rebel groups are presently fighting each other as well as
besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose power base is in West and
South-West, for overall control of the Region.
As the main rival to ISIS for control of Syria, the AaS blast if
not orchestrated by the Islamic State will certainly be greatly beneficial to
them. The ‘decapitation’ strategy, targeting Ahrar-al-Sham’s political,
military and spiritual leadership is reminiscent of the United States’ targeted
strikes against the leadership of Al-Qaeda.
The death of Abboud and his followers in Idlib highlights the
difficulty of Western involvement in the conflict, where enemies of the
apparent first enemy ISIS also make fairly poor potential allies. Many members
of AaS have come from groups like Al-Qaeda and would in any other context be
considered hard line Islamists.
The Ahrar-al-Sham
brigade has also been extremely critical of Western involvement in the conflict.
In aninterview before his death leader Abboud rejected the
Geneva peace conference saying: “We see Geneva as a tool of manipulation; to
derail the Syrian revolution away from its goals and objectives …. Whatever
outcome the conference may yield, will be binding on the Syrian National
Coalition only. For us, we will continue to fight for our revolution until we
restore our rights”.
Ahrar-al-Sham has appointed a new leader, Hashim al-Sheikh, who
will attempt to hold together the fragile coalition which has lost most of its
senior thinkers and strategists. al-Sheik said the attack “will only make us
more resilient to fight and continue the fight until we liberate our homeland”
on Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment