What lies behind the “Islamic State” threat 2 October 2014 Peter Harling [...] Who is to blame for the rise of IS? Everyone participated in it: the Iranians, by supporting the Syrian and Iraqi regimes, whose explicit aim was to radicalise Sunnis in order to discredit and to combat any opposition in the name of a so-called “war against terrorism”, and then by bankrolling a Shiite jihad which could only reinforce its Sunni counterpart. The West, by encouraging a Syrian revolt to which we offered solidarity and support, but which we mostly left on its own to face extreme forms and levels of violence. Turkey, which until recently had its borders wide open to anyone claiming to be going to fight Bashar al-Assad. The Gulf monarchies, which financed the Syrian opposition in an indecisive, confused and reckless way, which indirectly benefited the jihadis. [...] http://blog.crisisgroup.org/middle-...02/what-lies-behind-the-islamic-state-threat/
ISIS is not pro-Bashar. This is just an accusation from their enemies. There are several well documented confrontations between Assad and ISIS. It is possible that ISIS is benefiting financially and militarily via Assad through middle men and the selling of oil, but that's about it. Other than that, ISIS is just about anti-everyone: FSA, Islamic Front, Al-Qaeda, all muslim rulers and the entire west. It would quite dumb to assume that any ulema supported ISIS or Al-Qaeda affiliates. The FSA and Islamic Front are essentially the same - work with each other.
A couple of pieces that are related to this thread. They may or may not shed more light on ISIS: Who is behind ISIS? Yvonne Ridley Saturday, 23 August 2014 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/13675-who-is-behind-isis EXCLUSIVE: Shaikh Hassan Abboud's final interview Yvonne Ridley Monday, 22 September 2014 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/r...clusive-shaikh-hassan-abbouds-final-interview
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/633321 i'm still trying to get my head around the mess in Syria so the wahabi da3ish is essentially pro-bashar and anti-FSA? (assuming the article linked above gives a reasonably accurate account) shiites are also essentially pro-bashar? so just who is anti-bashar and pro-Syria or pro-FSA now? which group is yaqoubi saab supporting? sorry if the questions are stupid. i tuned out of the Syrian news quite a while back.
