Latest writing and updates:
On Ahrar al-Sham and Elitism
A follow-on note on my War on the Rocks piece today about Ahrar al-Sham deputy leader Ali al-Omar’s recent lecture, and what it means for how Ahrar presents and understands itself…
War on the Rocks: "How Ahrar al-Sham Has Come to Define the Kaleidoscope of the Syrian Civil War"
New from me on War on the Rocks:
It’s indicative of the state of the Syrian war that “What exactly is Ahrar al-Sham?” has become a question of international political and diplomatic importance. Now opposition faction and Islamist movement Ahrar al-Sham has itself weighed in with a lecture by its deputy leader, in which he defines Ahrar – and, just as important, makes clear what the movement defines itself against…
VICE News: "US-Backed Rebels Struggle to Fend Off Islamic State Offensive in Northern Syria"
New from me at VICE News…
RFE/RL's "Under the Black Flag" Blog: "Al-Qaeda's Ayman Al-Zawahri Plays Politics"
New from me on al-Qaeda chief Aymen al-Zawahiri’s last message and its intended Syrian audience. (Hint: Not Nusrah.) …
Abu Ali al-Anbari: "They came to die."
Below is a translated snippet from jihadist evangelist and fundraiser Abdullah al-Muheisini’s testimony case against ISIS’s irreligious conduct and the events leading to January 2014’s explosion of fighting between Syria’s rebels and the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Al-Muheisini’s account is republished from a Telegram group in which he argued his case against ISIS’s conduct with a number of ISIS supporters. In this excerpt, al-Muheisini unsuccessfully appeals to ISIS second-in-command “Abu Ali al-Anbari” to put a stop to the car bombs ISIS was deploying against Syrian rebels. The episode apparently took place after ISIS hit Liwa al-Tawhid’s Infantry School base with car bombs on February 1, 2014…
VICE News: "'The Regime Can't Be Trusted': Inside Syria's Aleppo as a Shaky Truce Begins"
New from me and Avi Asher-Schapiro at VICE News…
War on the Rocks: "The Tangled Web of the Syrian Jihad"
New: I review Charles Lister’s The Syrian Jihad for War on the Rocks…
The Daily Beast: "One Kurdish Neighborhood in the Crossfire"
New from me on The Daily Beast:
While most of Syria got a ceasefire, Aleppo’s Kurdish al-Sheikh Maqsoud got two months of violence. Rebels and Kurdish forces each claim the other started the running battle on the edge of the neighborhood. Meanwhile, al-Sheikh Maqsoud’s civilians have been dying under apparently indiscriminate shelling – and now, Kurds allege, a chemical weapons strike – with no end in sight…
VICE News: "Syrian Fighters Say the Ceasefire Is Getting Shakier and Shakier"
New from me on VICE News…
VICE News: "Rebels Ignored the Islamic State in South Syria, and It's Come Back to Haunt Them"
New from me and Avi Asher-Schapiro at VICE News…
World Politics Review: "Separating Nusra Front From Syria’s Rebels Is Easier Said Than Done"
New from me on World Politics Review:
Syria’s ceasefire has made clear the growing rift between the country’s mainstream opposition and Jabhat al-Nusrah, al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. But at the same time, it’s also highlighted how Nusrah it tangled up in and dependent on the opposition. It turns out that Nusrah is a symbiote – it can only succeed when it is attached to a Syrian opposition at war…
The Daily Beast: "Al-Qaeda’s Screwing up in Syria"
New from me on The Daily Beast:
New static between Jabhat al-Nusrah and mainstream Syrian rebels and a half-tell-all, half-anti-Nusrah jeremiad by the son of the founder of modern jihadism have embroiled the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate in new controversy. Now opposition Syrians are debating Nusrah’s place in the rebellion and re-litigating some of the grimier episodes in north Syria’s recent history…
War on the Rocks: "Are CIA-Backed Syrian Rebels Really Fighting Pentagon-Backed Syrian Rebels?"
New from me on War on the Rocks:
Everyone, take a breath. CIA-backed Syrian rebels are not fighting Pentagon-backed Syrian rebels…
VICE News: "The Syrian Ceasefire Is Held Together by an Unlikely Group of Frenemies — and WhatsApp"
New from me on VICE News…
VICE News: "How Five Years of War Has Fractured Syria Into at Least Four States"
New from me on VICE News…
World Politics Review: "PKK Links, Nusra Parallels Make Syrian Kurds a Troubling U.S. Partner"
New from me on World Politics Review:
At least on this, Erdogan is right: The U.S. government’s absurd, untenable denials of YPG-PKK links are – surprise – absurd and untenable…
VICE News: "A Ceasefire Is Beginning in Syria — Except Where It Won't"
New from me on VICE News…
VICE News: "The Battle for Aleppo Shows That US Strategy in Syria Is in Tatters"
New from me on VICE News…
World Politics Review: "Handing Syria to Russia Would Inflame Jihadism Abroad"
New from me on World Politics Review:
So all the West cares about in Syria is counterterrorism? Well, here’s what would a regime victory would do to jihadism, inside and outside the country…