"There Can Be Only ONE" - Did Al Qaeda Just Go To War With Syria’s Rebels?

Did Al Qaeda Just Go To War With Syria’s Rebels? (dissectednews).

Today, a major bombshell dropped in Syria, but it wasn’t dropped from one of Assad’s planes. It was news that the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (Sham means, roughly, “the Levant,” or “greater Syria” – we’ll just call them ISIS, but they are often just referred to as Al Qaeda in Syria) attacked several Free Syrian Army positions – including the FSA headquarters in Deir Ez Zor, and the entire town of Azaz in northern Aleppo.

I’ll get the disclaimers out of the way first. News on both of these events is highly sketchy. In Deir Ez Zor, some of my sources suggest that what is going on is one step down from a hostage situation, with little bloodshed. According to this narrative, ISIS took control of the headquarters as more of a negotiating tactic than a frontal assault. Other sources deny the report entirely. The bottom line is that very little is known for sure about what’s happening at the moment in Deir Ez Zor.

Azaz is somewhat of a different story. First, I have significantly more contatcs who are either in northern Syria or who have contacts in northern Syria. Many journalists have spent a lot of time there (including many whom I’ve been in contact with in the past). They have trusted contacts in many cities and towns. Azaz, a key border town, is known to many of them because they have passed through that area on their way to other areas, and still others have spent time in the town. However, information from the Azaz media center has been cut off today. There are even reports that ISIS openly attacked the media center, killing a prominent activist. My sources reported this to me as a rumor, though it seems that the BBC’s Ian Pannel has more information .Hmmm....As McCain would say "Allah Akhbar - Thank God"!Read the full story here.

Prominent #Syria media activist Hazem Azizi killed in#Azaz by jihadis during rebel infighting today. Brother crying: “we let these guys in”

— Ian Pannell (@BBCiPannell) September 18, 2013

Jenan Moussa tweeted out a graphic picture that reportedly showed Hazem, before and after he was reportedly killed by ISIS. CNN has heard similar things about other activists:

Activists tell CNN Al Qaeda-linked ISIS sniper killed Omar Hadouli, head of Azaz Media Center in strategic Syrian town on Turkish border — Ivan Watson (@IvanCNN)September 18, 2013

Related:

Al-Qaeda linked group seizes complete control of Syrian border town with Turkey.