{"id":13535,"date":"2014-04-24T12:30:29","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T02:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=13535"},"modified":"2014-05-13T11:35:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T01:35:22","slug":"syria-a-fractured-opposition-and-australian-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/syria-a-fractured-opposition-and-australian-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria: a fractured opposition and Australian consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n

Over the past two years, a significant number<\/a> of Australians have become involved with armed opposition groups in Syria. Some (see here<\/a> and here<\/a>) have joined two jihadist organisations proscribed under Australia\u2019s counter terrorism legislation, Jabhat al-Nusra<\/a> and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)<\/a>, which make up a small but prominent element of the Syrian<\/a> rebellion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This involvement has occurred despite Australian government counter-measures that include criminal charges<\/a>, passport confiscations<\/a>, bank account restrictions<\/a> and coercive questioning<\/a>, as well as public messaging<\/a> (PDF) and community engagement<\/a> initiatives.<\/p>\n

The situation within Syria is changing rapidly, with open conflict breaking out between the competing opposition groups. What impact will the fratricide among those groups have on the involvement of Australians in the Syrian conflict?<\/p>\n

The tensions behind the current intra-jihadist turmoil first became public in April 2013. The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which had formed from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi\u2019s al-Qaeda in Iraq, had released an audio<\/a> message asserting authority over Jabhat al-Nusra, which was al-Qaeda\u2019s Syrian affiliate. ISI declared<\/a> that it had created Jabhat al-Nusra, and that they were unifying under the new name<\/a> of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).<\/p>\n

Jabhat al-Nusra refused to concede this, and released an audio<\/a> message disputing<\/a> that it was created by the ISI, rejecting<\/a> the new name and re-affirming allegiance<\/a> to al-Qaeda\u2019s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. That led to a situation where ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra were both claiming leadership within Syria.<\/p>\n

At first those tensions were held in check, as the groups shared the common enemies of the Assad regime and rival opposition groups. But when Zawahiri made clear<\/a> (PDF) that he considered Jabhat al-Nusra to be al-Qaeda\u2019s only legitimate representative in Syria, and that ISIS should restrict its activities<\/a> to Iraq, ISIS began increasingly to reject al-Qaeda\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

ISIS and its supporters argued<\/a> that ISIS\u2019s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had never pledged allegiance to Zawahiri; that, as ISIS constituted an Islamic State, it had greater authority than al-Qaeda; and that by ordering ISIS to restrict its activities to Iraq, al-Qaeda was acquiescing to Western-created (Sykes-Picot<\/a>) borders.<\/p>\n

In February 2014, as the dispute continued, Zawahiri publicly disowned ISIS<\/a>. At this time ISIS was already fighting against<\/a> other Syrian rebel forces (the Free Syrian Army<\/a> and the Saudi-backed Islamic Front<\/a>), and soon was in open violent conflict with Jabhat al-Nusra as well.<\/p>\n

ISIS has also been attempting to convince al-Qaeda affiliates and other jihadist groups across the world to switch sides, with some success (see here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>). What began as a dispute over authority within Syria has become a struggle for leadership of the entire global jihadist movement.<\/p>\n

This division has affected Australia\u2019s small jihadist scene<\/a>, prompting key ideologues to take sides.<\/p>\n

One example is former Sydney preacher<\/a> Abu Sulayman, now described by Jabhat al-Nusra<\/a> as a member of their General Islamic Council. He has appeared in several Jabhat al-Nusra videos<\/a>, and become their most prominent English speaking member to address the dispute.<\/p>\n

In a video<\/a> on 17 March he stated he\u2019d been appointed to mediate<\/a> between Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS. Along with<\/a> several other jihadist ideologues, he then publicly called on Ayman al Zawahiri<\/a> to provide more compelling responses to ISIS\u2019 criticisms. Days later he appeared in a 45-minute Jabhat al-Nusra video<\/a>, making a detailed condemnation<\/a> of ISIS and defence of al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra.<\/p>\n

Abu Sulayman argued that<\/a> al-Baghdadi had indeed pledged allegiance to Zawahiri and that al-Baghdadi had no authority to claim that ISIS constituted an actual state. He also argued that restricting ISIS\u2019 authority to Iraq and Jabhat al-Nusra\u2019s to Syria was done for strategic reasons and didn\u2019t mean that al-Qaeda was accepting colonial borders. Being in English, the video was likely directed at Western jihadists, with whom Jabhat al-Nusra has been struggling for support against ISIS\u2019 competition.<\/p>\n

But Abu Sulayman\u2019s high-level role<\/a> doesn\u2019t mean that Jabhat al-Nusra dominates Australian jihadism. A former Melbourne preacher, Musa Cerantonio<\/a>, has been vocal on social media defending ISIS\u2019 version of the dispute. A recent ICSR report<\/a> notes that \u2018although he insists he is not a tribal loyalist who is committed to the group in all circumstances\u2019 he tends to support ISIS over Jabhat al-Nusra, and has an extensive following among jihadists worldwide.<\/p>\n

What impact the infighting will have on Australian jihadism is unclear. For the preachers, whoever sides with the winning faction will likely prove more influential afterwards. For the footsoldiers, the more recent Australian deaths in Syria have been associated with ISIS<\/a>, which could indicate that ISIS has been winning out over Jabhat al-Nusra in attracting Australian recruits, but the information currently available is limited. It might be that aspiring footsoldiers are more concerned about the battle against Assad than which group they join.<\/p>\n

There are also signs that infighting is disillusioning<\/a> some foreign fighters. If so, the fratricidal conflict could end up having a greater impact on reducing the appeal<\/a> of the Syrian jihad than the counter-measures currently being implemented.<\/p>\n

Andrew Zammit is a researcher at Monash University\u2019s Global Terrorism Research Centre and blogs at The Murphy Raid<\/a>. Image courtesy of Flickr user Freedom House<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past two years, a significant number of Australians have become involved with armed opposition groups in Syria. Some (see here and here) have joined two jihadist organisations proscribed under Australia\u2019s counter terrorism legislation, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":13537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,275,274],"class_list":["post-13535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-foreign-fighters","tag-syria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSyria: a fractured opposition and Australian consequences | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/syria-a-fractured-opposition-and-australian-consequences\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syria: a fractured opposition and Australian consequences | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past two years, a significant number of Australians have become involved with armed opposition groups in Syria. 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