Thirteen of the militia opposition groups in Syria have declared: “These forces call on all military and civilian forces to unite under a clear Islamic framework based on Sharia law, which should be the sole source of legislation.”
In so doing they are rejecting and formally breaking away from the leadership of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Coalition.
The FSA’s formally secular-nationalist character is putting it at odds with a growing number of Islamist brigades, frequently the preserve of foreign jihadists.
Fights over funding, and for the support of external states and the global Islamist movement, complicate the situation.
The FSA recently lost control of Azaz, a town on the Turkish border, when it was seized by the ISIS group — Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (in some translations Iraq and Levant).
ISIS is now the official Al-Qaeda affiliate. The al-Nusra front is believed to have rejected both the Iraqi command of ISIS and the overall leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri.
After Azaz was seized, journalists reported that tobacco disappeared from the streets in accordance with the diktat of ISIS.
Reporting from Syria is coming even more dangerous. Journalists are threatened by both government and rebel forces and are seen as Western spies.
Accurate reporting of who is in control of where is limited to a number of towns. In rebel-controlled areas the affiliation of different branches of the FSA can change to appease the other forces around them.
The backdrop for the continued fragmentation of the opposition is the huge refugee crisis affecting the whole region.
The UNHCR reports refugee figures of 716,000 in Lebanon, 515,000 in Jordan, 460,000 in Turkey, 169,000 in Iraq, 111,000 in Egypt. 4.25 million others displaced inside Syria.
The Iraqi, Turkish, Jordanian and Lebanese Governments have called for increased international aid to cope with the ever growing numbers of Syrians leaving the country.
The UN has warned that the increase is necessary for the stability of the whole region. The heightened sectarian nature of the conflict could travel with the Syrian diaspora as they struggle to survive in tent cities and rudimentary refugee camps.
The call for a Third Camp against both a government and rebel victory remains the only consistent position socialists can take in the face of sectarian reaction and brutal repression.
