Killing of Syrian rebel leader may lead to turf war - sources

PanARMENIAN.Net - The killing of a senior Islamist rebel commander near Syria's border with Turkey could indicate a turf war between armed groups that will hamper their struggle to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sources told Reuters, the news agency reported.

Thaer al-Waqqas, northern commander of al-Farouq Brigades, one of Syria's largest rebel groups, was shot dead at a rebel-held position in the town of Sermin, a few kilometers from Turkey, rebel sources said.

Al-Waqqas, they said, had been suspected of involvement in the killing four months ago of Firas al-Absi, a main jihadist leader in al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, which Washington dubbed a terrorist organisation in December.

In addition to chronic supply problems and a shortage of financing and heavy weapons, the lack of unity among Syria's rebels has held back their efforts to dislodge Assad's forces.

There was already tension between groups like Nusra, composed mainly of former civilians and backed by foreign jihadists, and opposition groups such as Farouq that hold a larger proportion of defectors from the regular army and security apparatus, which some fear are more likely to be infiltrated by Assad's agents.

A new rebel command formed with Western, Arab and Turkish support in the Turkish city of Antalya in December appears to have done little to end divisions between the hundreds of rebel groups, especially in regions where Assad has lost control, in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo near Turkey.

Nusra, Farouq and the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham - the three largest rebel organizations in the north - have stayed out of the new rebel command.

The U.S. State Department has said that Nusra is using the Syrian struggle for the "malign purposes" of al Qaeda and should not play a part in Syria's eventual political transition.