Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — An Al Qaida militia has launched attacks on the
largest pro-Western opposition force in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Islamic State
of Iraq and Levant has been attacking positions of the Free Syrian Army in
northern Syria.

Syrian Observatory said ISIL, a branch of Al Qaida, has
already assassinated a senior FSA commander in Idlib, located near the border with Turkey.

“Last Friday, the Islamic State killed an FSA rebel in Idlib province and cut his head off,” Syrian Observatory said. “There have been attacks in many provinces.”

On July 11, ISIL was said to have shot and killed FSA commander Kamal Hamami at a checkpoint in the coastal province of Latakia. The death of Hamami, also known as Abu Bassir Al Jeblawi and a leading member of the rebel Supreme Military Command, came during an ISIL attack on an FSA checkpoint in Mount Turkman in which at least 40 fighters were killed.

Syrian Observatory also reported an ISIL attack on FSA weapons depots in
Idlib. FSA was said to be the main beneficiary of a decision by the United
States and other NATO allies to send weapons to Sunni rebels who have been
fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad since 2011.

“FSA will be able to emerge from this confrontation victorious, given
that ISIL has far fewer fighters than the umbrella opposition military
force,” FSA spokesman Qassim Saad Eddin said.

ISIL, led by Ayman Al Baghdadi, has also been attacking a rival Al Qaida
militia, Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant. In March 2013, ISIL
announced a merger with Nusra, denied by the latter group.

Neither Syrian Observatory nor other opposition groups explained the
rapid rise of ISIL in Syria. But opposition sources said ISIL was supported
by the Assad regime during the U.S. military presence in Iraq, which ended
in late 2011.

For its part, FSA has pledged to avenge the ISIL attacks. But commanders
acknowledged that ISIL was deploying well-armed and -trained units in Syria.

“They have a plan to kill the FSA leaders,” FSA coordinator Louay Mekdad
said. “The situation is going to get increasingly worse.”

  Al Qaida militia steps up attacks on pro-Western rebel forces in Syria, Bashar Assad, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, Kamal Hamami, Supreme Military Command, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights