Moderate Syrian Rebel Leader Killed by Jihadist Rebels

It is not a subject often discussed in the media, but the spectre of internal moderate-islamist power struggles in the Syrian rebel camp is growing. Al-Qaida-linked gunmen killed a rebel commander aligned with western-backed militias fighting against the al-Assad regime. Thursday's casualty is the highest-profile example of growing tensions between moderate and jihadist islamist fighters among rebel forces. Loay AlMikdad, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, said Friday that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - a group reportedly made up of al-Qaida branches in Iraq and Syria - were behind the killing of Kamal Hamami. Hamami, known as Abu Basir, served on the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, a group headed by a secular moderate that has the support of western powers. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said gunmen shot Hamami Thursday after militants tried to remove a checkpoint he set up in the Jabal al-Turkoman mountain in the coastal province of Latakia. The observatory said two of his men were seriously wounded in the shooting. Hamami "was assassinated at the hands of the forces of evil and crime at one of the checkpoints." He added that the group that killed Hamami "should hand over those who carried out this act to stand trial." Reports of occasional clashes between rebel groups and Islamic militants active in rebel-held areas have surfaced, especially in the north where the opposition controls most of the region. There also has been infighting between Kurdish and Arab groups over control of territory captured from the Syrian government along the border with Turkey in the past year. These fights ended with a cease-fire agreement early this year. Hamami's killing marks the first time a commander from the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army has been targeted by rebel jihadists. His death marks a growing power struggle between moderate and extremist groups fighting in the Syrian civil war. Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based observatory, said that most of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members are foreigners from Arab countries, as well as former Soviet republics such as Chechnya. Abdul-Rahman said members of the group also killed a local rebel commander in the village of Dana in the central province of Hama. Over the past year, the conflict has become increasingly sectarian, with mostly-Sunni rebels assisted by foreign fighters fighting mostly-Shiite government forces bolstered by fighters from the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. ~~~~~ Dear readers, these incidents between moderate and islamist rebels are just one more reason that the west must secure a permanent ceasefire and political solution to the Syrian civil war. A step in this direction could be provided by the temporary ceasefire during the Moslem holy month of Ramadan being called for jointly by Turkey, which supports the rebels, and Iran, which supports al-Assad. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also called for all non-Syrians involved in the conflict - including Iranian-backed fighters from the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah - to leave Syria.