Clashes intensify between al-Nusra, FSA in northwestern Syria

Fierce clashes intensified between the Al-Qaeda offshoots and members of the Free Syrian Army in Reef (countryside of) Idlib in Northwestern Syria. The strategic town of Banesh in Idlib countryside became the scene of heavy fighting between the Al-Nusra Front and the FSA. Tens of militants from both sides were killed and dozens more injured in clashes in Banesh town. Terrorist ringleader Salem Al-Seyd nicknamed Abu Al-Joad was identified among the dead. Clashes erupted after Mahmoud Al-Seyd, commander of the FSA armed rebels, ordered his forces to start shooting at two vehicles of the Al-Nusra Front in response to an earlier abduction of seven FSA members, including a commander named Al-Ariz. Last week, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) killed all members of another militant group in the countryside of Idlib. The heavy clashes erupted after ISIL came under the group’s attacks in Hazano in Reef Idlib. Last week, ISIL clashed with an armed rebel group in Saraqeb town in Reef Idlib and a large number of militants from both sides were killed in heavy fighting. The heavy clashes erupted in Reef Idlib after the ISIL kidnapped nine armed rebels and executed them. After more than two years of fighting side-by-side and leading one of the bloodiest conflicts in the recent history of the Middle-East, the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been making growing moves against each other to take charge in battle zones following West’s official announcements about its arms and logistic supports for anti-government forces in Syria. Analysts say West’s pressures for opening a way to send arms to militants in Syria and not the terrorists is actually differentiating the anti-Syria armed groups to “good terrorists” and “bad terrorists”. Militants in Syria have been committing numerous war crimes against people and Syrian army soldiers throughout the country during their bloody war. Earlier this year, sources said the number of antigovernment combat factions has reached 1750, including the FSA, ISIL, and other groups working for different agendas. However, the most prominent differences lie between the FSA and the ISIL, where media sources reported that the latter killed Abu Obeida Al-Binshi, one of the FSA commanders, the Islam Times reported. "The assassination took place after the ISIL had taken a number of Malaysians, Syrians and Turks relief workers as hostage," the sources said. "Following the abduction, a number of the FSA brigades moved in an attempt to release prisoners, which led to clashes between the two opposition groups, and left Abu Obeida Al-Binshi killed," they elaborated further. Earlier, a media source in the FSA described the ISIL as the movement which turned into a cruel rebel group. "This organization kills all dissidents without exception, chasing and assassinating them in the areas of Ghouta and Damascus western countryside," the media source said. Such incidents were being repeated in Syria during the recent period, signaling a growing tension between the militant groups active under the FSA and the so-called 'Jihadi' groups, mainly composed of non-Syrian militants. For its part, the opposing UK-based Syrian Observatory said that Al-Qaeda-affiliated ISIL had beheaded another battalion commander in the province of Idlib, Northwest Syria, in the wake of a battle erupted between the Syrian army and militants of other battalions in the town of Dana, in which dozens were killed. Recently, the city of Raqqa in Northern Syria has witnessed protests, sit-ins and demonstrations against the armed groups deployment as a result of arrests carried out. Moreover, the killing of a 14-year boy at the hands of "State of Iraq and Levant' mercenaries in front of his family in the city of Aleppo after being accused of blasphemy had also provoked widespread protests.