“The two Islamist fighting forces in Syria affiliated with al Qaida on Tuesday appeared to be on the edge of an all-out conflict amid reports that dozens more captured soldiers and civilians have been executed at the hands of the more radical of them, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Abu Mohammad al Julani, who heads the Syrian-based Jabhat al Nusra, or Nusra Front, charged that the rival group had pursued “misguided policies,” “had a significant role in instigating the conflict” and warned: “We will defend ourselves against any aggression directed against us, from whatever the source.” The surprise offensive that Nusra and other Syria-based regime opponents began Friday against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has forced the Iraq-based group, consisting mainly of foreign volunteers, to abandon many of the bases and towns it occupied in the past six months in northern Syria. Heavy fighting was reported Tuesday………………….”

It is a side war, a Wahhabi vs. Wahhabi battle for control of the Syrian opposition. Speaking of the Syrian opposition: I read that a bunch of members of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) have resigned last week. One source claimed the resignation was in protest against the re-selection of Saudi-appointed chief of SNC, Ahmad Al-Jarba (Badr Buffalo Jamous was appointed his deputy). Another source reports the resignations were a protest against participation in the Geneva “peace talks”.

Even as these meetings are held, even as Western “Friends of Some of Syria’s Opposition” are meeting in Paris, other groups and militias are breaking away. New blocs are formed among the militias, like mutations in a stagnant pond. Some breakaway groups are holding their own ‘conferences’, in Spain and other venues. The Syrian “opposition”, all of them including secular exiles and Muslim Brotherhood and armed rebels and Jihadis and kidnappers and warlords, are their own worst enemies.

Cheers
mhg