Al-Qaeda-linked ISIS under attack in northern Syria

BBC News online -- 4 January 2014

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has alienated other rebel groups, who accuse it of tacitly assisting the regime in Damascus

A powerful al-Qaeda affiliate is on the defensive in north Syria, reports say, as it comes under attack from Islamist and other rebel factions.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is accused of tacitly assisting the regime and imposing a reign of terror on areas it controls.

Dozens of fighters are reported to have been killed in clashes which erupted on Friday in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
But reports from Iraq say ISIS has made a key advance in the city of Falluja.

It is controlling the southern part of the city, a security source told the BBC. An Iraqi reporter in Fallujah told the BBC that tribesmen and other militants control the rest of it.

Residents say they fear that security forces may launch a major offensive to retake the strategic city in western Iraq.

In Syria, ISIS is fighting Free Syrian Army groups as well as the Islamic Front, a coalition of Syrian rebel factions which also wants to build an Islamic state in Syria, says the BBC's Rami Ruhayem, reporting from Beirut.

Analysis

Rami Ruhayem BBC News, Beirut

On both sides of the Iraq-Syria border, an inter-Sunni civil war appears to have broken out.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, is on the defensive as rival Islamist groups attack its positions across northern Syria, and Sunni tribes attempt to push it out of cities in western Iraq.
Among rebel groups in Syria, a consensus appears to have formed that ISIS is uncompromising in battlefield disputes, and brutal with people living in areas under its control.
It has also been accused of rejecting clerical arbitration in disputes with other Islamic brigades.
It has been quick to return the accusations, and fierce online debates have ensued about the rules that should govern the conduct of jihad.
There have been attempts by some groups to avoid a full-fledged war within the opposition, but recent events suggest they have failed.

Fighting flared on Friday, prompted partly - reports said - by ISIS gunmen who fired into a group of residents of the Aleppo village of Kafr Takharim.

They had been protesting against the death of a doctor and rebel commander in ISIS custody.

Rival rebel groups say ISIS has alienated them and attempted to hijack their struggle for its own ends.
ISIS fighters are "undermining stability and security in liberated areas through theft, kidnapping and trying to impose their own brand of Islam", Reuters news agency quoted the newly formed Mujahideen Army as saying.

It vowed to fight until ISIS was disbanded or driven out of Syria.

An Idlib activist, Abu Leyla, told AFP news agency that ISIS "only benefits the Assad regime".
"They have taken over roads from local fighters and then withdrawn, opening the way to the army. They take over border crossings to control arms shipments for the rebels. People have had enough," Abu Leyla said.

That was echoed by the main opposition National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, which applauded the FSA's efforts to dislodge ISIS.

"ISIS is an extension of the Assad regime," the Coalition's Munzer Akbik said.

"The Syrian people clearly have rejected al-Qaeda's attempts to establish a presence in liberated territories. The solution to fighting extremism in Syria is to strengthen the Free Syrian Army at this critical juncture."

Fighting has been reported in:

• Atareb, Aleppo province: with FSA units reportedly making progress but ISIS surrounding the town and shelling it
• The eastern districts of Kallassah, Ansari and Jisr al-Hajj in Aleppo city, where the Mujahideen Army is taking on ISIS
• Qabtan al-Jabal and surrounding villages west of Aleppo city, with reports of dozens of ISIS fighters captured
• Hazzano and Maarat Misreen in Idlib province
• But in Saraqeb and Kafranbel, Idlib, ISIS is reported to be rounding up "suspect activists"

The fight against ISIS appears to be the priority for all groups fighting the Syrian government, with one exception - the Nusra Front, our correspondent says.

Organically linked to ISIS, the two groups used to follow the same al-Qaeda leadership until they split last year. Nusra is now closely allied to the Islamic Front, and has been trying to remain neutral.
For all the groups involved, the fighting is diverting precious resources away from the fight with the Syrian government, our correspondent adds.