Syria: “Moderate” Rebel And Islamist Groups Sign Pact Of “Non-Aggression” With ISIS

Good luck, Mr. Obama, trying to find and arm all those “moderates” in Syria to help you “degrade and destroy” the Islamic State that you’re not even at war with …

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Al Arabiya – “Syrian rebels and jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have agreed a non-aggression pact for the first time in a suburb of the capital Damascus, a monitoring group said on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ceasefire deal was agreed between ISIS and moderate and Islamist rebels in Hajar al-Aswad, south of the capital.

Under the deal, ‘the two parties will respect a truce until a final solution is found and they promise not to attack each other because they consider the principal enemy to be the Nussayri regime.’

Nussayri is a pejorative term for the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Syria’s armed opposition initially welcomed jihadists including Islamic State members in their fight against Assad.

But the group’s harsh interpretation of Islam and quest for domination of captured territory sparked a backlash against it that began in January.

A coalition of rebel groups pushed IS out of much of northern Syria, but it has recaptured much of that territory in recent months and has a strong presence in Hajar al-Aswad.

More than 180,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the uprising against Assad that began in March 2011.” Source – Al Arabiya.

Flashback: ‘Nowhere In Rebel-Controlled Syria Is There A Secular Fighting Force To Speak Of’ – “In Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce. Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government. Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.” Read more.