How al-Qaeda Changed the Syrian War
Sarah Birke
▻http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/dec/27/how-al-qaeda-changed-syrian-war
ISIS’s rapid growth is subject to much conjecture. The most common speculation I encountered was that ISIS is a creation of Damascus, or its ally Iran, intended to fragment the opposition and ruin the revolution. “Simply, we see it as an extension of the regime,” Khaled Kamal, a sheikh from Latakia now based in Antakya said.
While there is little evidence of any direct ties to the Syrian government, it is true that Assad has done all he can encourage the impression that the rebels are foreign-sponsored “terrorists” attacking the regime. And he has helped that come about. Syrian lawyers have documented how in the early weeks of the revolt, the regime let out Islamist prisoners from Saidnaya prison—probably to foment radical Islamism within the opposition. While ISIS wages battles against the regime, including currently in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, Aleppo, and Qalamoun, near Damascus, the goal of defeating Assad appears to be secondary to consolidating their own rule in rebel-held areas.
But Turkey, now a sworn enemy of Damascus, has also done much to allow ISIS to grow by allowing foreign jihadists to cross its border into Syria. A large majority of foreign fighters who have entered Syria come through Turkey, including many Iraqis who share their own border with the country. Since late 2012 houses in Reyhanli, a border town, have been turned into staging posts for foreigners; I have visited one. The Alice Hotel in the same town is known as something of a jihadi hangout. The plane from Istanbul is known as the jihadi express. At points foreign jihadis have been present among other groups manning the border of Bab Hawa. On my most recent trip to the border, I saw very few Turkish police. Five minutes in Kilis, a town on the Turkish side of the border north of Aleppo, was enough to spot foreign fighters hailing a taxi to the Syrian border.
A Syrian with close ties to Turkish officials told me that the Turks pass the buck: “the third countries let them leave so why should we stop them?” Last month, perhaps in a sign of the mounting pressure, Turkey reported that it had kicked out 1,100 European fighters. At points it has seemed upset at the foreign fighters, closing the border this fall when ISIS took over nearby areas. Still, Ankara seems reluctant to clamp down on ISIS in areas where it has battled the Kurdish PYD, whose growing strength is a threat to Turkey. (The PYD has close ties to the PKK, the militant Kurdish group in Turkey which Ankara is now trying to make peace with.)