In the space of 10 days, Jabhat Fateh Al Sham (JFS) turned from a jihadist group embraced by various rebel forces in Syria to one criticised by the same parties. The shift has valuable lessons for how to deal with the group, which was formerly known as Jabhat Al Nusra.
As the United States pushed for a ceasefire that centred on the targeting of JFS as part of a US-Russian campaign, most of the anti-government forces rejected the agreement. The rebels considered the plan to be favourable to the regime of Bashar Al Assad and opposed the targeting of the effective jihadist force.
The show of solidarity prompted JFS to issue a thank-you letter to those forces, which included groups with which it had previously clashed. The letter referred favourably to rebel factions involved in the fight against ISIL with the help of Turkey in northern Syria – a remarkable move given that those factions were the centre of a new controversy among extremists. Extremist clerics said that because they consider the Turkish armed forces to be apostate, co-operating with them could amount to apostasy.
Ten days after this show of solidarity and a few days after the collapse of the ceasefire, JFS changed its tone. The group issued a new letter in which it ruled out cooperation with Turkey and any fighting in northern Syria other than against the regime. The statement said that Washington’s plan to attack JFS had changed matters and that cooperation with the US and Turkey in northern Syria could lead collaborators to excommunication.
This is even though those same rebels had opposed the plan initially, and they had done so at the cost of defying their American backers.
JFS’s fatwa also contradicted another fatwa issued by its closest military ally on the ground, Ahrar Al Sham, and demanded that the latter reconsider its religious opinion. Ahrar Al Sham sanctioned cooperation with Turkey, as did several other groups. Three of the participants in the Turkish-backed Operation Euphrates Shield made a firm declaration that they would continue to fight with Turkey against ISIL and sternly criticised JFS for its position. Opposition to the JFS fatwa also came from two of the main religious councils representing the Syrian rebels inside and outside the country.
The moral of the story is that the US plan to disentangle the rebels from JFS achieved the opposite effect, while the JFS-rebel fracture that Washington desired happened after the failure of the ceasefire when their interests collided.
This episode sums up what it could take to stem the dominance of JFS, and highlights Washington’s disastrously flawed policy towards the group. The attempt to cooperate with Moscow and indirectly with Damascus against JFS and to force the Syrian rebels to dissociate themselves from the group is both unrealistic and counterproductive.
If the Russian-American deal stood a chance of success a week ago, that chance was squandered by Washington’s failure to demand compliance from Russia. Moscow’s onslaught against humanitarian convoys and civilians in Aleppo, and the US failure to exercise its right of ensuring the deal was either implemented or immediately cancelled, complicated the deal many times over.
When JFS’s leader, Abu Muhammad Al Jolani, suggested in his interview on Al Jazeera last week that Washington was helping the Syrian regime, he was capitalising on the sense of anger many in Syria have towards the American position.
The US seeks to refocus efforts into a battle it considers a priority, while it neglects the main and worst battle in the country. Concerns about jihadist groups such as JFS are well known, but the US has failed to justify its silence about foreign militias fighting on the side of the regime. The US does not treat both militant sides as even remotely equal threats and, worse, seems willing to turn a blind eye towards Shia militias fighting in Aleppo while it seeks to cooperate indirectly with them against JFS in the same areas.
If many in Iraq were angered by the US cooperation with pro-government militias defending their areas or helping the army fighting ISIL, attacking JFS under a plan that not only deals in double standards but threatens to upset the balance of power in favour of the regime is a guaranteed disaster.
Washington still hopes to revive the deal with Russia to fight JFS despite its catastrophic failure and the way Russia conducted itself while the deal was supposedly in force. In a joint statement issued on Saturday, the foreign ministers of five western countries, including the US, reaffirmed their commitment to the destruction of JFS and asked Russia to “take extraordinary steps to restore the credibility of our efforts”. In reality, however, only the US can restore the credibility of its effort – and it might already be too late.
Hassan Hassan is a resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror
On Twitter: @hxhassan
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How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
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Villarreal 0
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Asia Cup Qualifier
Venue: Kuala Lumpur
Result: Winners play at Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in September
Fixtures:
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Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu Sep 6: Final
Asia Cup
Venue: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Schedule: Sep 15-28
Teams: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, plus the winner of the Qualifier
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.