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Foreign Fighters Seek Islamic State in Post-Assad Syria

By Yara Bayoumy

January 15, 2013 - ALEPPO, Syria, Jan 11 (







The United States designated al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, al-Nusra Front, as a terrorist organisation in December after it claimed responsibility for bombings in Damascus and Aleppo.


In Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, the radicals' influence is obvious. Many rebels drive through the shattered streets in cars emblazoned with black Islamist flags carrying religious slogans.




"This is my first time to embark on a Jihad because ... there was no one worse than Bashar. Even Stalin was merciful compared with him," said the young man, who wore a ski mask and had a black badge bearing an Islamic religious slogan sewn onto his green fatigues.





"There are some fighting factions like the Free Syrian Army, who have links to other countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and these countries have links with the controlling pole, which is the United States," he said. "America is against anything Islamic. That is obvious to everyone."




While Washington has recognised the rebels' National Coalition as the sole representative of Syria, its designation of al-Nusra Front as a terrorist organisation has angered many rebel leaders. They say the group, whether it espouses extremist ideology or not, is fighting the same enemy as they are.

Al-Nusra Front has a reputation for being extremely disciplined, and it is hard to find many people who will criticise it. Abu Abdo, a fighter on one of the many frontlines in Aleppo, said he had tried to join the group but was rejected because he was a smoker.

Colonel Abduljabbar Oqaidi, who heads the military revolutionary council in Aleppo province, defended al-Nusra Front. "We may differ with them on their thought," he told Reuters recently, but he rejected Washington's designation.

"They're fierce and loyal ... And at the end of the day they're fighting the regime with us. And we have not seen their extremism, they have not done anything that proves they are terrorists," he said. "Anyone fighting the regime is a mujahid and a revolutionary and we kiss their forehead," said Oqaidi, adding that their numbers were not more than 500 in Aleppo.


"The cleanest unit on the ground, with no corruption within its ranks, is the al-Nusra Front. The group now has a popular base. Maybe their ideology is distant from the people's but they started liking al-Nusra front because they are just," said Abu Ahmed, who leads an Aleppo unit of the large al-Tawheed brigade.

"The fear surrounding the Nusra Front is down to intimidation by the media," he said. "My ideology is not the same as the Nusra Front but I have to say what I've experienced from them."


Fears of internecine conflict remain. A commander of al-Farouq Brigades, one of Syria's largest rebel groups, was shot dead on Wednesday in what rebel sources said may have been in revenge for the killing of an al-Nusra Front leader.

Some rebels see a more ominous future. "We're scared that after the fall of the regime, they will try to impose their views on the Syrian people. Their goal is for Syria to be an Islamic state and the Free Syrian Army is the opposite of that," said a 24-year-old rebel fighter in trainers and tracksuit pants who goes by the name Saqr Idlib.

Walking through a destroyed part of the al-Sukkari district in Aleppo, the fighter puffed worriedly on a cigarette: "We're scared there'll be problems by al-Nusra Front and other groups like them after the fall of the regime."

By contrast, Abu Ahmed said he had no fear of a future conflict and his wife - who wears a headscarf but does not cover her face - chimed in: "Al-Nusra Front's ideology is Islamic and at the end of the day, we are Muslims."

While Syria's uprising has been led by Sunnis, minority Christians and members of Assad's Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - had nothing to worry about, said Adnan Abu Raad as he watched gravediggers shovel dirt in the town of Azaz near the Turkish border.

"Any boy, child or women will say we want an Islamic state only. And there is no difference between Sunni, Christian or Alawite. Just peace and security for all," Abu Raad said.


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