ISIS, Al Qaeda reportedly reach accord in Syria
Published November 13, 2014
ISTANBUL – Militant leaders from the Islamic State group and Al Qaeda gathered at a farm house in northern Syria last week and agreed on a plan to stop fighting each other and work together against their opponents, a high-level Syrian opposition official and a rebel commander have told The Associated Press.
Such an accord could present new difficulties for Washington's strategy against the IS group. While warplanes from a U.S.-led coalition strike militants from the air, the Obama administration has counted on arming "moderate" rebel factions to push them back on the ground. Those rebels, already considered relatively weak and disorganized, would face far stronger opposition if the two heavy-hitting militant groups now are working together.
IS -- the group that has seized nearly a third of Syria and Iraq with a campaign of brutality and beheadings this year -- and Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, have fought each other bitterly for more than a year to dominate the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The Associated Press reported late last month on signs that the two groups appear to have curtailed their feud with informal local truces. Their new agreement, according to the sources in rebel groups opposed to both IS and Nusra Front, would involve a promise to stop fighting and team up in attacks in some areas of northern Syria.
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According to Abu Musafer, two decisions were reached: First, to halt infighting between Nusra and IS and second,
for the groups together to open up fronts against Kurdish fighters in a couple of new areas of northern Syria.
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The official said IS and the Nusra Front agreed to work to destroy the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, a prominent rebel faction
armed and trained by the United States and led by a fighter named Jamal Maarouf. They agreed to keep fighting until all of the force, estimated to be 10,000 to 12,000 fighters, was eliminated, the official said.
During the meeting, IS also offered to send extra fighters to Nusra Front for an assault it launched last week on
Western-backed rebels from the Hazm Movement near the town of Khan al-Sunbul in northern Syria, the official said.
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More:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/11...cord-in-syria/
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