Free Syrian Army rebels defect to Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra

 

Free Syrian Army rebels defect to Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/08/free-syrian-army-rebels-defect-islamist-group

 

The well-resourced organisation, which is linked to al-Qaida, is luring manyanti-Assad fighters away, say brigade commanders

 

    Mona Mahmood and Ian Black

    The Guardian, Wednesday 8 May 2013 15.14 EDT 

 

Syria's main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing

fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with

links to al-Qaida that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and

motivated force fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime.

 

Evidence of the growing strength of al-Nusra, gathered from Guardian

interviews with FSA commanders across Syria, underlines the dilemma for the

US, Britain and other governments as they ponder the question of arming

anti-Assad rebels.

 

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said that if negotiations went ahead

between the Syrian government and the opposition - as the US and Russia

proposed on Tuesday - "then hopefully [arming the Syrian rebels] would not

be necessary".

 

The agreement between Washington and Moscow creates a problem for the UK and

France, which have proposed lifting or amending the EU arms embargo on Syria

to help anti-Assad forces. The Foreign Office welcomed the agreement as a

"potential step forward" but insisted: "Assad and his close associates have

lost all legitimacy. They have no place in the future of Syria." Opposition

leaders were sceptical about prospects for talks if Assad remained in power.

 

Illustrating their plight, FSA commanders say that entire units have gone

over to al-Nusra while others have lost a quarter or more of their strength

to them recently.

 

"Fighters feel proud to join al-Nusra because that means power and

influence," said Abu Ahmed, a former teacher from Deir Hafer who now

commands an FSA brigade in the countryside near Aleppo. "Al-Nusra fighters

rarely withdraw for shortage of ammunition or fighters and they leave their

target only after liberating it," he added. "They compete to carry out

martyrdom [suicide] operations."

 

Abu Ahmed and others say the FSA has lost fighters to al-Nusra in Aleppo,

Hama, Idlib and Deir al-Zor and the Damascus region. Ala'a al-Basha,

commander of the Sayyida Aisha brigade, warned the FSA chief of staff,

General Salim Idriss, about the issue last month. Basha said 3,000 FSA men

have joined al-Nusra in the last few months, mainly because of a lack of

weapons and ammunition. FSA fighters in the Banias area were threatening to

leave because they did not have the firepower to stop the massacre in Bayda,

he said.

 

The FSA's Ahrar al-Shimal brigade joined al-Nusra en masse while the Sufiyan

al-Thawri brigade in Idlib lost 65 of its fighters to al-Nusra a few months

ago for lack of weapons. According to one estimate the FSA has lost a

quarter of all its fighters.

 

Al-Nusra has members serving undercover with FSA units so they can spot

potential recruits, according to Abu Hassan of the FSA's al-Tawhid Lions

brigade.

 

Ideology is another powerful factor. "Fighters are heading to al-Nusra

because of its Islamic doctrine, sincerity, good funding and advanced

weapons," said Abu Islam of the FSA's al-Tawhid brigade in Aleppo. "My

colleague who was fighting with the FSA's Ahrar Suriya asked me: 'I'm

fighting with Ahrar Suriya brigade, but I want to know if I get killed in a

battle, am I going to be considered as a martyr or not?' It did not take him

long to quit FSA and join al-Nusra. He asked for a sniper rifle and got one

immediately."

 

FSA commanders say they have suffered from the sporadic nature of arms

supplies. FSA fighter Adham al-Bazi told the Guardian from Hama: "Our main

problem is that what we get from abroad is like a tap. Sometimes it's turned

on, which means weapons are coming and we are advancing, then, all of a

sudden, the tap dries up, and we stop fighting or even pull out of our

positions."

 

The US, which has outlawed al-Nusra as a terrorist group, has hesitated to

arm the FSA, while the western and Gulf-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition

has tried to assuage concerns by promising strict control over weapons. "We

are ready to make lists of the weapons and write down the serial numbers,"

Idriss told NPR at the weekend. "The FSA is very well organised and when we

distribute weapons and ammunition we know exactly to which hands they are

going."

 

Syria's government has capitalised successfully on US and European divisions

over the weapons embargo by emphasising the "jihadi narrative" - as it has

since the start of largely peaceful protests in March 2011. Assad himself

claimed in a recent interview: "There is no FSA, only al-Qaida." Syrian

state media has played up the recent pledge of loyalty by Jabhat al-Nusra to

al-Qaida in Iraq.

 

Western governments say they are aware of the al-Nusra problem, which is

being monitored by intelligence agencies, but they are uncertain about its

extent.

 

"It is clear that fighters are moving from one group to another as one

becomes more successful," said a diplomat who follows Syria closely. "But

it's very area-specific. You can't talk about a general trend in which

[Jabhat al-Nusra] has more momentum than others. It is true that some say

JAN is cleaner and better than other groups, but there are as many stories

about it being bad." Critics point to punishments meted out by Sharia courts

and its use of suicide bombings.

 

The FSA's shortage of weapons and other resources compared with Jabhat

al-Nusra is a recurrent theme. The loss of Khirbet Ghazaleh, a key junction

near Dera'a in southern Syria, was blamed on Wednesday on a lack of weapons

its defenders had hoped would be delivered from Jordan.

 

"If you join al-Nusra, there is always a gun for you but many of the FSA

brigades can't even provide bullets for their fighters," complained Abu

Tamim, an FSA man who joined Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib province. "My nephew

is in Egypt, he wants to come to Syria to fight but he doesn't have enough

money. Al-Nusra told him: 'Come and we will even pay your flight tickets.'

He is coming to fight with al-Nusra because he does not have any other way."

 

Jabhat al-Nusra is winning support in Deir al-Zor, according to Abu Hudaifa,

another FSA defector. "They are protecting people and helping them

financially. Al-Nusra is in control of most of the oil wells in the city."

The Jabhat al-Nusra media, with songs about jihad and martyrdom, is

extremely influential.

 

Abu Zeid used to command the FSA's Syria Mujahideen brigade in the Damascus

region and led all its 420 fighters to al-Nusra. "Since we joined I and my

men are getting everything we need to keep us fighting to liberate Syria and

to cover our families' expenses, though fighting with al-Nusra is governed

by very strict rules issued by the operations command or foreign fighters,"

he said. "There is no freedom at all but you do get everything you want.

 

"No one should blame us for joining al-Nusra. Blame the west if Syria is

going to become a haven for al-Qaida and extremists. The west left Assad's

gangs to slaughter us. They never bothered to support the FSA. They

disappointed ordinary Syrian protesters who just wanted their freedom and to

have Syria for all Syrians."

 

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