Alwaght- Al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front has waged a battle of annihilation against its opponents in Idlib, resulting in clashes among terrorist groups.
As the infighting intensifies, the al-Jabhat al-Shamiya or the Levant Front confirmed that al-Nusra took over its headquarters in the northern Aleppo countryside. It also gained control of its weapons arsenal but the group vowed that it would not stand idly by.
Sources claim the clashes are spreading from the western Aleppo countryside across Idlib and into coastal Latakia.
The inter-militant fighting erupted in northern Syria on Tuesday after the terrorist group accused its former allies of having entered into a conspiracy against them.
After the US-led coalition conducted a series of precise airstrikes killing more than 100 terrorists in Syria, al-Nusra grew suspicious since the strikes hit one of its camps. The target of these suspicions has been other militant groups.
The infighting marks some of the worst clashes among these groups in years. In 2014, inter-militant fighting erupted after various armed opposition groups engaged in clashes, specifically so-called Free Syrian Army, the Army of Mujahedeen and the Islamic Front and ISIS.
Some analysts have pointed out that the main reason for the infighting lies in al-Nusra’s plans to impose an emirate by acting as an apex predator, saving itself a seat at the top of the power chain among its rivals who are fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad but retain differences.
However, others have raised the possibility of another scenario. While the infighting is likely to weaken the Takfiris, it could also play a role in isolating the extremist group.
Considering the sequence of events and how they have developed, al-Nusra may have been a target of bait. Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper suggests that al-Nusra may have swallowed deadly bait served by the other groups, particularly Ahrar al-Sham. The legitimacy of this theory can be derived from the fact that the battles seemed to segregate al-Nusra-controlled territory from other militant-held areas. This, in particular, is an objective of Moscow which had been previously attempted with the US and lately with Turkey. This segregation, if successful, is meant to chart a new path in the Syrian war.
