Islamic Militants Jockey for Power beyond Israel's Border with Syria

(Times of Israel) Dov Lieber - The two most powerful Sunni groups that control territory in Syria on Israel's northern border are the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, with several thousand fighters, and the ISIS-linked Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade (YMB), which has up to 1,000 members. The overall assessment remains that these jihadi groups are too preoccupied fighting each other to open a battlefront with Israel. YMB sprung an unexpected offensive against Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces in southern Daraa province in late March-early April, joining forces with a smaller ISIS-linked group, the Islamic Muthanna Movement (IMM). However, FSA has since retaken all the territory it lost.


2016-05-24 00:00:00

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