Al Qaeda expands influence in Syria’s southern front
▻http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/al-qaeda-expands-influence-in-syrias-southern-front
Col Nehmeh is unpopular even among supposed allies within the FSA, like the Yarmouk Brigade, who have long complained that his loyalties are to money and foreign intelligence agents, not the Syrian revolution.
He was also an ally of Gen Selim Idriss, the former head of the FSA, who was sacked in February for being ineffective. With him gone, Col Nehmeh’s influence was dramatically curtailed.
Col Nehmeh recently launched a new rebel coalition in southern Syria in what was widely interpreted as an effort to shore up his own power base, at the expense of an already tenuous unity among rebel factions.
Rivalries within the FSA also mean some officers are happy to see Col Nehmeh taken out of the picture, in the hope they can take over his role at the DMC and build up their own client networks through distributing weapons and cash.
Al Nusra must have calculated that FSA commanders on the ground, and at the FSA headquarters in Turkey, would not be willing to start a war over a man they all dislike.