ALEPPO, Syria — There were telltale signs of the impending rift between the Syrian National Coalition and major rebel groups on the ground, mostly Islamist militias such as the moderate Liwa al-Tawhid, the Salafi Ahrar al-Sham, thought to be financed by the Gulf, and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.

We could all see it coming, and it shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone when it finally did. In fact, rebel factions have repeatedly threatened to delegitimize the coalition, citing various grievances such as its close ties to the West, its lack of assistance to both fighters and civilians inside, and its inability to secure any solid palpable support for the revolution.

On the face of it, this may seem like an ideological struggle between Islamists and secularists, with the coalition referring to the fracture as a "disconnect," but a closer look reveals otherwise. Although the coalition was expanded from the former Syrian National Council, which was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, it still has a large Islamist contingent. This is curious, as Liwa al-Tawhid, one of the main rebel groups that have now disowned the coalition, is reported to have close working ties with the Brotherhood, and shares its moderate Islamist ideology.

That the coalition calls for a democratic civil state, whereas the Islamist rebels call for an Islamic Sharia state, may be a red herring. More likely the issue at hand is one of a simple power struggle. The rebels were unnerved by the coalition's recent moves to appoint Ahmad Saleh Touma as head of an opposition government, which would start administering the regions of Syria outside the regime's control.