Increased coordination between Syrian rebel groups is a growing trend. In Aleppo, the Tawhid Brigade
brought a number of rebel commands into a structure that allows for more effective battle field collaboration. In Damascus, the Ansar al-Islam
Brigade was also formed from multiple rebel commands and has shown its effectiveness
in recent fighting in the Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood of the capital. While
coordination and joint action is a net positive for the rebels, it can
sometimes lead to tension between groups.
An example of this was the battle
in Kafer Zeita in early June, when multiple rebel groups from surrounding
villages encircled a regime military post used for shelling the town. The
rebels maintained a siege on the regime position for days, but several rebel
groups withdrew due to resentment over the unequal burden shouldered by some of the groups. In other cases, bitterness can build over petty disputes.
In Idlib province, The Shuhada Idlib
Brigade and the Tawhid Brigade (the Idlib-based group) have bickered publicly
over properly branding and assigning credit for attacks. The dispute started
when the Shuhada Idlib Brigade claimed credit on Facebook for a June 11 IED
attack in the al-Shamaat Traffic Circle in Idlib city. The Tawhid Brigade
posted a statement on their Facebook page the following day addressed to their “brothers”
in the “blessed” Shuhada Idlib Brigade saying that it was “not decent” for Shuhada Idlib to claim the Tawhid Brigade’s attack. Muhanad Issa, the brother
of Shuhada Idlib’s commander, Basil Issa, said that they did not intend to
claim the attack as their own, but to simply announce it.
The two groups continued working
together amicably, but a conflict recently resurfaced in relation to the
branding of a video
of an August 14 car bombing in Idlib city. The bombing was a joint operation
carried out by the Jaffar al-Tayyar Battalion of the Shuhada Idlib Brigade, and
the Saad bin Abi Waqas and Nasr al-Islam Battalions of the Tawhid Brigade. The
video of the attack, apparently produced by the media arm of the Tawhid
Brigade, displays the Tawhid Brigade’s logo, not Shuhada Idlib’s. The Shuhada
Idlib Brigade complained about the slight in a Facebook post calling the omission
“an injustice” and stating that it was their right to be proud of their
accomplishments.
It is unclear if the
quarrel will cause a permanent rift between the groups or if they view the
argument as secondary to the importance of their partnership. The dispute does,
however, show how devoted the rebels are to their distinct formations and how
difficult it will be on an emotional level for many rebel leaders to surrender
their independence to a national, or even provincial level military. Many of
the rebel leaders were simple artisans and shop keepers before the war and have
now risen to national and sometimes international prominence. Establishing a
post-Assad system that massages the egos of these heavily armed men who
sometimes focus on parochial disputes will be a massive challenge.
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