The Syria Analysis Thread

10 posts

Angocachi
This is somebody who sees the Syrian conflict as Saddam's religious Sunni supporters saw his war with Iran; Sunni vs Shia... period.
Assad, a secularist Arab nationalist, and in his personal life an occidentophile, is able to receive and give support to the Iranian & Iraqi governments, Hezbollah, Houthis, etc on the grounds that they are Shia, end of story. It doesn't matter to them that they belong to vastly different sects, or that Assad's state has no place for clerics and no place for outspoken clerics but a prison cell. The same kind of pierced belly button, cleavage baring, bleached hair, nose job, tight jeans bimbo who would in Tehran scream for the downfall of the theocracy is in Damascus and Beirut cheering Hezbollah fighters and their Pasdaran operators. Shia are Shia. Any attitude less than total solidarity could spell their extinction, Shia don't have the luxury of factions.

There is a split this decade among Sunni Arabs that doesn't exist with the Shia. It's not about Madhabs or Salafis. It's a very simple question that cuts apart even Jihadist groups, has cracked open ideaologically homogenous organizations as Al Qaeda itself; Do you want an Islamic State TODAY? Not as some vague, near future/not so near future goal. Do you want Shariah now? Do you want it at any cost, do you want it without compromises, do you want it pure?
The secularist made his position clear even before the question was asked, 'NO!'
The Democratic Islamists have answered also, 'Yes, maybe, sort of, but only if and when...'
Zawahiri's AQ WAS the strongest answer to that question, 'Yes, we will fight for it until we have it.'
Now the whole Sunni world sees in the ISIL one critical word extra, one bold step further, 'Do we want an Islamic State? Why... we have one this very minute and no one is going to snuff it out.'

They don't have any other consideration. There is that and only that. Somebody who's surprised ISIL would fight fellow Salafi Jihadists over this doesn't see, these guys see the world in binary, Shariah State and all else.
What's more, they're not alone. There are other groups administering their own territory, or trying to, who aren't interested in Zawahiri's edicts on them to be patient, calculating, conciliatory, tolerant, restrained, and so on.

There are two possibilities;
- Zawahiri honestly disagrees with ISIL and knows that it can botch everything he's spent his life trying to do. He's studied how Jihadists and Islamist groups have failed and succeeded, he's been a witness and a party to it. He understands their sentiments, but sees what they do not, and so he is now trying to save the grand project from a wing of its own adherents.
- Zawahiri is in Pakistani house arrest and is giving dummy orders fed to him.
Both are tragic and outlandish, but I can't see any other explanation.
Vuk
Stubby
About the first, I would also leave room for it also having simply span out of control, as at this point I don't see how the infighting can do more than weaken both organizations. The general atmosphere of treachery within Syria probably didn't help.
Niccolo and Donkey

Last weekend marked the third anniversary of Syria's civil war, a conflict that has, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, claimed the lives of more than 146,000 people, at least a third of them civilians. As forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appear to be making slow progress against rebel forces, the humanitarian crisis has grown astronomically -- as many as 2.5 million Syrians have now fled the country. Fractured rebel groups continue to fight each other, as well as Assad's troops, with civilians bearing the brunt of attack and counterattack, their neighborhoods reduced to rubble by mortar shells and barrel bombs. Gathered here are images from Syria over the past few months. [ 37 photos ]


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This picture taken the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria, on January 31, 2014. A United Nations official is calling on warring sides in Syria to allow aid workers to resume distribution of food and medicine in a Palestinian district of Damascus. The call comes as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged Syrian government to authorize more humanitarian staff to work inside the country, devastated by its 3-year-old conflict. (AP Photo/UNRWA) [​IMG]
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A Free Syrian Army fighter runs to take cover after launching a mortar towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Jabal al-Akrad area of Syria's northwestern Latakia province, on February 25, 2014. (Reuters/Alaa Khweled) # [​IMG]
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Damaged buildings line a street in the besieged area of Homs on January 27, 2014. The United States demanded that Syria allow aid into the "starving" city of Homs, as talks aimed at ending three years of civil war took place. (Reuters/Yazan Homsy) # [​IMG]
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Residents of the besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp wait to leave the camp, on the southern edge of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, on February 4, 2014. In one besieged neighborhood after another, weary rebels have turned over their weapons to the Syrian government in exchange for an easing of suffocating blockades that have prevented food, medicine and other staples from reaching civilians trapped inside. (AP Photo/SANA) # [​IMG]
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A picture taken on March 15, 2014 shows part of the seven-square-kilometer (2.8-square-mile) Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, near the border with Syria, which provides shelter to around 100,000 Syrian refugees. Syrian refugees in the sprawling desert camp fear that President Bashar al-Assad's likely re-election this year will leave their dream of a return home as distant as ever. Jordan is home to more than 500,000 of Syria's refugees. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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A Syrian refugee boy peeks out from a tent at the Bab Al-Salam refugee camp in Azaz, near the Syrian-Turkish border, on March 14, 2014. (Reuters/Hamid Khatib) # [​IMG]
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A Free Syrian Army fighter holds his weapon inside a room in the old city of Aleppo on February 19, 2014. (Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # [​IMG]
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Rebel fighters hold a position as smoke billows in the background during reported battles against pro-government forces on February 23, 2014, in the Sheikh Najjar district on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (Medo Halab/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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A deserted and damaged street filled with debris in Homs on March 9, 2014. (Reuters/Thaer Al Khalidiya) # [​IMG]
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Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad approach a hole blown in a wall in the old city of Aleppo on February 11, 2014. (Reuters/George Ourfalian) # [​IMG]
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A pro-government fighter flashes the "V-sign" for victory next to comrades in the Syrian town of Yabrud, after they seized full control of a rebel-controlled area in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border, on March 16, 2014. The town was once home to some 30,000 people, including a Christian minority, and had been a rebel bastion since early in the Syrian uprising that began in March 2011. (Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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Wreckage of a Syrian army helicopter after members of the al-Qaeda-linked group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) allegedly destroyed it, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, to prevent other opposition groups from taking it. Photographed on March 1, 2014. (Mohammed Al-Khatieb/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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Free Syrian Army members lower the body of their fellow fighter, who the FSA say was killed during an explosion inside a tunnel caused by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, during his funeral in Deir al-Zor, on February 20, 2014. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi) # [​IMG]
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Free Syrian Army fighters Mohamad-Noor (left), 14, and Hadi, 15, show a picture of the body of their 15-year-old friend Khaled, who was killed by sniper fire, at the frontline of Khalidiya neighborhood in Aleppo on March 13, 2014. Noor and Hadi joined the Free Syrian Army 6 months ago along with Khaled. Noor's father died from sniper fire too, and Hadi's father fights with the Free Syrian Army.(Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo)

Niccolo and Donkey

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Homemade grenades sit on a table on one of the battlefronts in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, on February 22, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer) # [​IMG]
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A soldier loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad walks near corpses of dozens of rebel fighters in the area of Oteiba, whom Syrian state media and a monitoring group said were killed on February 26, 2014 in an army ambush at the entrance to an opposition stronghold in the Eastern Ghouta area. The Syrian army also seized the opposition fighters' weapons, the state TV channel said, using the term "terrorists" to refer to what is said were mainly non-Syrian rebels who belonged to Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda-linked group that has joined the armed revolt to topple President Bashar al-Assad. (Hassan Yussef/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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Khattab al-Halabi, a former tattoo artist who is now a Free Syrian Army fighter, poses with his weapon in at the Karm al-Jabal frontline in Aleppo on February 23, 2014. (Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # [​IMG]
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Residents try to cross the Assi River from Syria to Turkey, illegally, in Al-Hmazih village, on March 13, 2014. (Reuters/Fadi Mashan) # [​IMG]
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Two Syrian men who fled from Yabroud, the last rebel stronghold in Syria's mountainous Qalamoun region, set up a tent in Wadi Hmaied between the Lebanese-Syrian border and the town of Arssal, in eastern Lebanon, on February 12, 2014. In Lebanon, preparations were underway to receive more Syrians fleeing the area. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) # [​IMG]
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Damaged buildings in the besieged area of Homs on December 24, 2013. (Reuters/Layth Homsi) # [​IMG]
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A Free Syrian Army fighter inspects an unexploded shell in Jabal al-Akrad area in Syria's northwestern Latakia province on January 19, 2014. (Reuters/Alaa Khweled) # [​IMG]
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Eyad, a 12 year-old boy who lost his arm during shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, tries on a prosthetic arm at Duma Charity Foundation for Prosthesis in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus on February 25, 2014. The center produces prostheses from different materials, including remnants of weapons, plastic mannequins and water barrels, and offers the devices to people who have lost their limbs during the war. (Reuters/Bassam Khabieh) # [​IMG]
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Rebel fighters fire a heavy machine gun at the government forces Al-Samman checkpoint on a road leading to Idlib, near the Syrian city of Hama, on February 17, 2014. (Abu Hadi Al-Hamwi/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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In this photo provided by Aleppo Media Center (AMC), an anti-Bashar Assad activist group, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian government forces helicopter drops what activists said are two barrel bombs over an area of Aleppo on February 2, 2014. For nearly two months, the Syrian government has conducted an intense air campaign on opposition-held districts of the northern city of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC, File) # [​IMG]
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This photo provided by the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man, right, running for cover from a Syrian government forces airstrike attack in Aleppo on February 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC) # [​IMG]
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This picture provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee In Kfar Takharim, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man running as flames rise from buildings which were attacked by a Syrian government forces airstrike in the town of Kfar Takharim in the northwest province of Idlib, on March 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Coordination Committee In Kfar Takharim) # [​IMG]
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Men carrying children run from a burning building following a barrel bomb attack reportedly dropped by government forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 8, 2014. (Baraa Al-Halabi/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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A Syrian man breathes through an oxygen mask while awaiting rescue, trapped under rubble following an air strike by government forces on the Sahour neighborhood of Aleppo on March 6, 2014. (Khaled Khatib/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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Men hold up a baby saved from under rubble, who survived what activists say was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus on January 7, 2014. The child, 27-day-old Rateb Malis, was later reunited with his father and sisters. (Reuters/Bassam Khabieh) # [​IMG]
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A Syrian national flag flutters atop of a damaged building in a government-controlled district, as seen from a rebel-held area, in Aleppo's Karm al-Jabal district on March 17, 2014. (Reuters/Jalal Al-Mamo) # [​IMG]
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Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad flash victory signs after advancing into al-Maasaraniyeh neighborhood in Aleppo on February 10, 2014. (Reuters/George Ourfalian) # [​IMG]
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Flames rise from an explosion after opposition fighters hit a government forces tank in Khan Sheikhun, in the south of the Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on February 26, 2014. (Obaida Al-Shami/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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People inspect damage at a site hit by what activists said were barrel bombs dropped by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's district of al-Sukari on March 7, 2014. (Reuters/Hosam Katan) # [​IMG]
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A rebel fighter digs a tunnel in the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor on March 13, 2014. (Ahmad Aboud/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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Debris covers a street and flames rise from a building following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces on March 7, 2014 during the Friday prayer in the Sukkari neighborhood of Aleppo. (Baraa Al-Halabi/AFP/Getty Images) # [​IMG]
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A man digs graves, preparing for future casualties, in Arbeen, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, on March 10, 2014. (Reuters/Yaseen al-Bushy) # [​IMG]
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A Kurdish fighter from the Popular Protection Units carries his son as he walks along a street in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood on February 18, 2014.(Reuters/Hosam Katan)

Stubby

JaN released this, all running up to the mubahala planned between JaN and ISIS. A mubahala is an Elijah style test between two muslim parties in a dispute. They pray together for the wrong party to be cursed.

قُلْ هَٰذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللَّهِ ۚ عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي ۖ وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ​


{Say: "This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah; and I am not of those who associate others with Him."}
[Qur’an; 12:108] ​




Important points mentioned by the Shaykh in his testimony:

• His witness on the threats of Jamaat Al-Dawla to kill Abu Khalid al-Suri. ​
• His witness on that Jamaat Al-Dawla makes Takfeer upon the people based on what is not a sin, but a righteous deed. ​

A Brief Biography of Shaykh Abu Firas al-Suri:​



Shaykh Abu Firas was born in 1369H. (1949) in the countryside of Damascus. He attended the Military University and graduated as an officer attaining the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Due to his Islamic views, his military service ceased in 1979 after the incident which happened in the Artillery School.

He was a trainer between 1977-1980 to the Mujahideen in At-Tali'a Al-Muqatila and he participated in many operations against the [Syrian] regime between the years of 1979-1980. In 1980 he moved to Jordan and the following year he left for Afghanistan where he trained the Mujahideen in several military sciences at various training camps in Khorasaan.

While in Afghanistan, Shaykh Abu Firas met the two Shaykhs, Shaykh Abdullah ‘Azzam and Shaykh ‘Usamah ibn Ladin (in 1983), he continued to train the Mujahideen in specially prepared camps to carry out operations in; India, Indonesia, Burma and Iran.

Shaykh Abu Firas participated in military operations in Khost and Jalaabad and he was active in participating in the Shura charged with reconciling the differences among the Mujahideen of Afghanistan.

He was an envoy of Shaykh ‘Usmah bin Ladin to call the people of Pakistan to perform Jihad, and he met a delegation of the leaders of Jihad in Pakistan such as Sami’a al-Haq the leader of the Haqani University where most of the Afghani and Taliban scholars graduated from.

He was key in convincing Jama’at Ahl al-Hadith to form a Jihadi group and met some of their leadership. Further, some were persuaded by him to form a new group called: Jamat al-Dawa and another militant group Lashkar-i-Tayyaba , which Shaykh Abu Firas trained while the finance came from Shaykh 'Usama and was led by Zaik al-Rahman.

Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Iraqi, along with Shaykh Abu Firas formed rapid response force for Hekmatyar. Abu Firas and Shaykh Abu ‘Ubaida al-Binshiri and Shaykh Abu Hafs al-Misri formed the Masada Military Shura Council. He had also met Shaykh Abu Musa’ab al-Zarqawi and coordinated together to start efforts in Bilad al-Sham.
During the American invasion, he worked in securing the families of the Pakistani Mujahideen.


In 2003, he immigrated to Yemen and stayed there until he returned to Bilad al-Sham in 2013 when the conflict between Jabhat al Nusra and Jama’at al-Dawla took place. Where he desperately tried along with Shaykh Abu Khalid al-Suri al-Suri to address the issues, however his attempts failed due of the arrogance of Jama’at al-Dawla. He eventually joined the ranks of Tandheem Qaidat al-Jihad ’s representative in al-Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra, where he is today.

******** ​
[Beginning of Testimony] ​

All Praise is dueto Allah and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet, the Messengers and upon his household and his companions all.

I never thought about talking about Ad-Dawla and about the crimes that have been committed by them against the Islamic Umma, and against Islam, [until after] the speech of al-Adnani, which was full of awful transgressions, and wherein he accused our brother Abu Abdullah al-Shami of lying and invited him to do Mubahala .

And I will talk about two points: firstly the issue of threatening Abu Khalid al-Suri; and secondly the issue that they [Dawla] make Takfeer based upon righteous deeds:​

As for the Takfeer of Abu Khalid al-Suri:

In this very place, I met Shaykh Abu Khalid al-Suri (rahimahullah) hours before he died, and he said to me:“They [Dawla] put me [Shaykh Abu Khalid al-Suri] on their ‘black list’ and they want to assassinate me.”

I smiled at him and said: “Life is in the Hand of Allah.” [The time of your death is already Decreed.]

He replied: “And you be careful because you are a target as well”.

I didn’t comment on that too much and said to him;“We don’t care, our lives are in The Hand of Allah.” but he didn’t like my nonchalance, and insisted on me to be careful and said that we are targets and at the top of the list.”

I said to him: “Depend on Allah and take care of yourself.”

And he approved that and said:“Many threats reached me from them [Dawla]. I don’t say this based upon suspicion. I received many threats on my life and they warned me about it.”​
On the next day, after only a few hours, I was informed of his martyrdom, may Allah be merciful with him.

As for the second point, which is that they make Takfeer based upon righteous deeds:

Since the conflict began between them and the other groups and since the first day that we tried to bring them all to reconciliation and sort all the problems out, we went to Jamaat al-Dowla to strive to reconcile and to solve the issue, and during that first meeting, Abu Ali al-Anabari said: “What do you want?”

We said to him we propose three points as one [solution];

Firstly: to cease firing [stop the fighting],
Secondly:exchange the prisoners,
Thirdly:establish Islamic courts to judge in all the cases of the conflicts.

But he [al-Anbari] rejected this offer.

And that was in front of the committee which was formed of four from Jabht al-Nusra, Abu Hasan Taftanasi, myself, Abu Hammam al-Shami , and Abu ‘Ubaida al-Tunisi, the Shari in the military office (of Jabhat Al-Nusra).

Also present was Abu Abdullah from Al-Farouq , and brother Mansor from Ajnad al-Aqsa ,and Shaykh Abdullah al-Mohaisni.

He [Abu ‘Ali al-Anbari] reprimanded us for reconciling between them and the ‘ murtadeen ’ [apostates].
We said: “We do not consider them murtadeen ”

He said: “This is a disagreement between us and you.” [meaning the ruling as to whether they were Muslim or murtad .] and he insisted that we shouldn’t be mediators between them and the “ murtadeen .”

After a long discussion about this matter he said: “Let me consult [my superiors]”. Then he came back after an hour and a half, he said:“We will tell you our decision on the morning.” The next morning, we came to him, and they [Dawla] had announced that they had killed Abu Saa’ad al-Hadrimi, the Amir o fal-Raqqa from Jabhat al-Nusra.

But we let it pass [this transgression] and did not discuss it, in order that we could focus on the reconciliation, but he [Abu ‘Ali al-Anbari] asked to meet the members of Jabht al-Nusra alone, so we went into another room, he said: “What did you do?”

We said: “What?”

He said: “What are you doing? Don’t you know what you are doing?”

We said: “What did we do? You tell us.”

He said: “How dare you raise your flag over our base in Darit Azza?”

We said: “We raised our flag over your residence in Darit Azza to protect your soldiers because the FSA was about to raid the base and imprison all your members there or kill them, but the Amir of Jabhat al-Nusra in that area entered and prevented the FSA from doing that.And took the brothers [the soldiers from Jamat al-Dawla] and sent them to you safely with all respect and good manners.”

He said: “We don’t accept [this], even if they [the soldiers from Dawla] all died, we don’t need your mediation, and raising your flag over our base is not acceptable.”

We said: “They are your brothers, do you sacrifice your soldiers for not hoisting a flag over your residence? We can now lower the flag down, and you send back your soldiers.”

Then I said: “The situation requires wisdom”

He said: “We don’t care, either we eliminate them or they eliminate us.”

I said: “Ya Shaykh, the situation needs to be handled with wisdom. I am asking you a question, is it wise to announce that you killed Abu Saa’ad al-Hadrami the Amir of Jabht al-Nusra in al-Raqqa?”

He said: “We don’t care. It’s not important to us.”

I said: “Leave it aside if it’s important or unimportant to you.I am asking you is it wise to announce that you killed him?”

He said: “We don’t care.”

Then brother Abu 'Ubaida al-Tunisi asked him: “Why did you kill him?”

He [Abu ‘Ali al-Anbari] said: “Because he is a murtad , and admitted that he is a murtad .”

Abu 'Ubaida replied: “What made you consider him a murtad ?”

He [al-Anbari] said: “He is taking the Baya’a from the FSA.”

I said: “Ya Abu Ali! Is taking the Bya’a from the FSA considered as Rida ? He is bringing the people to Jihad, it is a righteous [praiseworthy] thing.”

He [al-Anbari] said: “Yes he is a murtad for taking the Baya’a from the FSA.”

This Takfeer is not based on minor or major sins. This Takfeer is based upon righteous deeds !

And he said that in front of Abu 'Ubaida al-Tunisi, Abu al-Hassan Taftnaz, and me.

And I swear on this, and I’m ready to bear witness on this in front of Allah and all of His creations.
All that I mentioned regarding our brother Abu Khalid (Rahimahullah) and our brother Abu Saa’ad al-Hadirimi, and how they killed him for taking Bay’a from the FSA , I swear on it, and I emphasise and swear to Allah that they said that, and I heard that by my [own] ears what each of Abu Khalid and al-Anbari said. I swear to Allah about this!

And may peace and blessing be upon the prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.
Niccolo and Donkey

This video is very, very graphic. SAA soldiers being executed by al-Nusra after being taken prisoner in Aleppo.


Longface
Syrian opposition leader denies being a war profiteer

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The Syrian rebel leader touted as the West’s new hope to take on both militant Islamists and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been forced to deny widespread allegations of theft and war profiteering.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Jamal Maarouf, appointed to head a new coalition of forces, the Syrian Revolutionary Front, rejected allegations that over the three years of war he had accumulated a fortune and a large collection of cars for his personal use.

He said his critics, many of them heads of rival rebel brigades, were “latecomers to the revolution” who resented his leadership and were in many cases trying to promote an Islamist ideology at odds with the moderate politics that has won him outside support.

“If you accuse us of being thieves you accuse the fighters who started the revolution of being thieves,” he said, speaking from a house over the border from Syria in the outskirts of the Turkish city of Antakya.

“That is to dishonour the revolution.”

He claimed he had never even sat in a BMW – a car to which he is supposed to be partial, according to his accusers. “I have three wives and 13 children, but I don’t have a car,” he said. “My house was burned down by the regime seven months after the revolution started.

"Now I sleep in the captured houses of the Shabiha (the Assad ’ghost’ militia)”.

The sudden Western backing for Mr Maarouf, agreed at the end of last year, was a strategic response to the worsening situation inside the country, particularly for proponents of the “democratic uprising” originally supported by the United States, Britain and its allies.

While the regime’s forces had managed over the previous six months to stabilise their position and even retake rebel-held towns like Qusayr, other opposition territory had fallen under the sway of radical jihadists.

Some belonged to al-Qaeda splinter groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), but even “moderate” Islamist groups declared loyalty to a Sharia state and rejected the West, particularly after its refusal to intervene militarily in response to the Damascus chemical weapons attacks in August.

In advance of peace talks finally held in Geneva in January and February, the United States, other western allies including Britain, and Saudi Arabia decided to back fighters prepared to take on both the regime and ISIS, preferably without an Islamist agenda.

Mr Maarouf, leader of a “moderate” militia without an Islamist ideology, the Syrian Martyrs Brigade, well-established in the Jabal al-Zawiya mountains of Idlib province in the north-west of the country, seemed a good candidate. Within weeks, his claims to leadership were being pressed on both journalists and western politicians by an assortment of public relations and lobbying companies with close links to the Foreign Office and the Washington establishment.

In return, he endorsed the Geneva peace talks, unlike many of the rebel groups. He has also repeatedly stated that he is a “good Muslim” but that his interpretation of Islam does not include the use of force to establish the religion and the harsh punishments, including beheading, practised by ISIS.

In battles lasting from the beginning of January to this week, his and other brigades have driven ISIS out of Idlib and much of northern Aleppo provinces, allowing western diplomats at Geneva to boast that they had at last found a “revolution” they could support.

However, Mr Maarouf was a controversial choice as a frontman. Other groups accused him of smuggling captured oil supplies for personal profit. Last autumn, fellow fighters alleged to The Telegraph that he had deliberately held up attacks on the besieged regime base of Wadi Dayf, south-west of Aleppo, because he feared the money he received from Saudi Arabia to pursue the battle would stop if he won.

Hassan Aboud, leader of the powerful salafi Islamist Ahrar al-Sham brigade, said his men were no more than “gangs who stole from the revolution”.

Last week in southern Turkey, even a senior figure attached to a militia to which the Syrian Revolutionary Front is supposed to be allied, described him on condition of anonymity as “one of the biggest brigands in Syria”. He did add, however: “He is one of our brigands, and maybe all rebel leaders have to be brigands.”
Mr Maarouf acknowledges that he has had $4 million in funding over the last three years from Saudi Arabia, as well as more money from the United States, distributed through the official rebel military council. However, he also claimed that far from the new supplies of weapons he had been promised, the flow had dried up.

“Most of our weapons are looted from captured regime stores,” he said, confirming reports elsewhere that despite widespread suggestions that the Gulf kingdom was about to fund and supply a “spring push” against the regime, there was no sign of it on the ground.

Some reports suggest that President Barack Obama, who has exercised an effective veto over supplies of heavy weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles to the opposition, is still unhappy about the possibility they might fall into jihadist hands.

Whatever his personal record, Mr Maarouf may be the West’s last hope in Syria. On the eve of the peace talks, the new – and also Saudi-supported – leader of the political opposition, Ahmed Jarba, who led its delegation to the talks, paid the SRF a highly symbolic visit in Idlib.

The two men were photographed together – a visible gesture of backing from armed rebels for the negotiations, and for Mr Maarouf from the political leadership. The talks failed, but the battle goes on, with Syria now increasingly divided in three – the Assad regime in the centre and south, the Free Syrian Army in the north-west, and ISIS in the north-east.

As for Mr Maarouf, even his supporters acknowledge he may be a flawed hero. “We know the allegations,” one adviser to the opposition said.
“They have been dealt with.”
Longface
The churches of Yabrud in ruins

Although the gunmen are gone, their sectarian fingerprint on Yabrud remains. All you have to do is visit St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church to see the destruction. Icons have had their faces scratched out, church pews have been broken, statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ have been smashed, and the church Bibles have been burned.

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Niccolo and Donkey
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