Islamist Patriots, not Terrorists

"They have to feel that the future of their country could be slipping away.  This is a sign of things to come the longer this goes on.  The Islamist groups and extremists will increasingly be forging alliances and taking matters into their own hands."
Salman Shaikh director of the Brookings Doha Centre, Qatar

He's right, perfectly correct; Western backers of the newly-formed Syrian opposition so lately reassured by the makeup of the new coalition governing body will be taken aback by the statement just issued on the website that carries al-Qaeda and other insurgent statements that the large Syrian rebel groups comprised of Islamists is not prepared to recognize the new governing body and has no use for a secular state.

Now that France and the United Kingdom have given the newly-elected and -formed Syrian opposition governing group, the Syrian National Coalition, their official blessing and recognition, they are no doubt gulping in disbelief at the latest turn of events, though heaven knows why they wouldn't have foreseen it.  Pity the Islamists didn't wait a little longer, until such time as weapons were handed over to the rebel forces, as planned.

For now those countries that had planned to do just that, to help give the rebel forces an upper hand in dealing with the infinitely better-equipped Syrian regime forces will be loathe to follow through on their intent.  History and past experience both inform what will happen with that advanced weaponry and the thought is decidedly unpleasant.

Does the statement of the increasingly powerful Islamist rebel factions, disputing the authority of the new coalition, and claiming their intention to make Syria over into a radicalized Islamist state give reassurance to the rebels' Western backers, much less those of the Arab League?  Decidedly not, but this is the face of the new Middle East; inexorable, deadly and unstoppable.

"We are the representatives of the fighting formations in Aleppo and we declare our rejection of the conspiratorial project, the so-called national alliance.  We have unanimously agreed to urgently establish an Islamic state."  This is the Islamist announcement produced for an online video representing foreign al-Qaeda jihadi fighters in part along with 13 Islamic radical factions.

As far as they are concerned the new coalition is a creature of the West and they'll have nothing to do with it.  It is not representative of their aspirations, their intentions.  One of the largest rebel groups operating in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, the al-Tawheed Brigade and Jabhat al-Nusra comprised of foreign jihadis, notorious for suicide bombing, and at the forefront of fighting in Aleppo, have had their say.

At the very time when the new opposition bloc is struggling to set aside fears of extremism within the rebellion.  The coalition's new chosen leader, Mouaz al-Khatib has downplayed the significance of the Islamists rejecting the legitimacy of the coalition.  "We will keep in contact with them for more co-operation in the interest of the Syrian people", he claimed.

And that is so dreadfully reassuring.