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Islamic Front no answer for Syria conflict

The ascendance of the Islamic Front, while contributing to the recent military defeats of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), may also be a setback for Geneva II and a political solution to the conflict.
A Free Syrian Army fighter carries his weapon as he stands in front of graffiti that reads  "Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ) down" at Masaken Hanano neighborhood in Aleppo January 7, 2014. Five days of heavy rebel infighting has shaken the ISIL, which lost its main base in the northern city of Aleppo to rival rebels on Wednesday, according to a monitoring group. Picture taken January 7, 2014. REUTERS/Jalal Alhalabi (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTX1767F
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ALEPPO, Syria — Another extraordinary week in Syria, which has seen the fortunes of the once powerful Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) take a sharp turn for the worse, sparking a bloody and bitter interfactional war among Islamist groups for supremacy over rebel territories in the north. So what prompted the allies of yesterday to commit "jihadist fratricide" today? What of the timing of these unprecedented, coordinated attacks across many fronts on ISIS positions, effectively catching them by surprise in a sucker punch that unseated them from many former strongholds?

Make no mistake, this is not a “resurgence” of the Syrian revolution, nor is it another popular uprising against a different tyrannical oppressor, as the Syrian people are now too split, demoralized and war-weary to attempt any of that.

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