Al-Qaeda-affiliated gunmen kill Free Syrian Army commander, rebels say

Washington Post ^ | July 12, 2013 | By Loveday Morris and Karen DeYoung

[Brad from Tennessee]

BEIRUT — Syrian rebels said Friday they would retaliate for what they described as the assassination of one of their senior commanders by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, threatening to widen a rift between moderate and jihadist opposition forces fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The killing of Kamal Hamami, a member of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army’s top executive body, comes amid heightened tensions on the opposition side as jihadist groups extend their influence in rebel-held areas of northern Syria. Rebels said that Hamami, whose nom de guerre is Abu Bassir al-Ladkani, was shot dead Thursday in the coastal province of Latakia by gunmen from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

With the rebel forces struggling to fend off Assad’s troops in the central city of Homs, infighting among their disparate factions could play to the government’s advantage. Jihadist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — an offshoot of the main Islamist opposition group in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra — are fewer in number than more moderate forces, but they are considered some of the best-equipped and most effective fighters on the battlefield.

Moderate rebels say they have been left behind militarily as radical Islamist groups receive arms and financial support from elsewhere, while weapons pledged to the moderates by the United States have yet to arrive. Although Jabhat al-Nusra is seen as “more adept at coordinating its efforts on the battlefield with other groups,” a U.S. official in Washington said, “whether the groups will be able to set their differences aside and cooperate against Assad is really an open question.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on a still-fluid situation. . .

[struggle]

Really? Now Obama’s DEFINITELY gonna give them money.

[A Navy Vet]

Please, please just kill each other. At least it will keep you muslim shits from killing westerners.

[EternalVigilance]

“Moderates.” The ones who don’t mutilate your body after they’ve slit your throat.

[Netz]

When you wait long enough, and do not make any decisions like the Obama Administration, Syrian “rebels” will begin killing each other off and then, the revolt against Assad is over. This a just beautiful as rival insane gangs kill each other off. Assad, Russia, Hizbollah, Iran are all smiling. The West is too busy sipping latte to know the difference...

[GeronL]

lol