In Syria, the last rebel held province is Idlib. Two of the more influential rebel groups in Idlib, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) and Ahrar al-Sham have long fought together against Syria’s government forces. This past week the two groups turned against each other, creating a division that threatens to further weaken the already fragile opposition to support the rebellion against the Syrian government. Just the day before the clash between the two groups, talks had taken place in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana to bring about a nationwide ceasefire. Analysts have since declared that the JFS attacks on opposition groups are directly linked to the outcome in Astana. JFS was once linked to al-Qaeda, and is itself listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations and western governments. Ahrar al-Sham, however, has been deemed a moderate group and thus is heavily backed by neighboring Turkey. Furthermore, in recent weeks U.S drone strikes against both opposition groups have increased substantially in Idlib, which helped to escalate tensions further between JFS and Ahrar al-Sham.
Simply put, the opposition in Syria is unorganized and therefore, weak and delicate. In order to remove the long serving government from power, these opposition groups must unite and find a common ground in order to fight together; there must be no division between the groups whatsoever. It is only with organized planning and cooperation between the groups that they will be able to succeed in their rebellion against the government. The first step the opposition groups must take in order to achieve this feat is to not associate themselves with terrorist groups such as JFS and must defeat such terrorist groups. Once this task is accomplished, the more moderate opposition groups can begin to find common ground and come to the consensus that they all want to remove the sitting government from power. These groups can then attend cease fire talks like the one in Astana, which would allow for their voices to be heard in the matter of resolving the ongoing civil war.
Turkey in particular plays a crucial role in this situation. As a neighbor to the north, they are able to back opposition groups by aiding them with supplies. As an ally, Turkey must push further for these steps to be taken in achieving a removing of the Syrian government. They must strongly urge, more so than they are now, for the moderate rebel groups to cut themselves off from terrorist groups, to unite, and to attend ceasefire talks.
Therefore, the recent clash seen between some of the opposition groups in Syria should serve as a point in which they come to the realization that in order to remove the long serving government, they must do all these things to become successful. Otherwise, they will not be able to achieve the feat they have been fighting for since the start of the civil war in 2011 and will thus face defeat.