BEIRUT - Syrian rebels and activists have launched a second “revolution” nearly three years into the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, this time against a powerful Al-Qaeda affiliate accused of brutal abuses.
Battles have raged for two days across northern Syria since the newly formed Army of ‘Mujahideen’ declared war on the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), with two massive rebel alliances joining the battle against the extremist group.
“The revolution has returned to its true path, and the rays of the sun have started to shine on Syria,” Ibrahim al-Idelbi, an activist from the war-torn country’s northwest with close ties to the rebels, wrote on his Facebook page.
“January 3, 2014: The revolution against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant begins,” wrote coastal Latakia’s Ammar, also on Facebook.
Activists and rebels have long accused ISIL of imposing a reign of terror on areas under its control, including public executions and the kidnapping, torture and assassination of rival rebels and civilians.
Some have gone so far as to accuse the group of colluding with the Assad regime to tarnish the image of the initially peaceful uprising and deter Western nations from intervening more forcefully on the rebels’ behalf.
The latest fighting appeared to have been ignited by the torture and murder this week of Dr Hussein al-Sleiman, known as Abu Rayyan, a popular medic.
An activist in Idlib who goes by the name Abu Leyla said ISIL “only benefits the Assad regime,” which has long insisted that all its opponents - peaceful activists and rebels alike - are “terrorists.”
Meanwhile, a Chinese frigate which will help escort Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons out of the country docked in Cyprus on Saturday as part of a delayed international mission.
The Yancheng, a missile frigate, will accompany a Norwegian-Danish convoy which is in international waters off Syria, waiting for the go-ahead from international watchdogs overseeing the removal of the chemical arsenal.
The mission to ship chemicals from Syria has missed its Dec. 31 target date and Chinese and Cypriot officials said it was unclear exactly when it would begin.
“China supports the efforts of the international community to destroy the Syrian chemical weapons ... we wish this operation a success,” said Liu Xinsheng, the Chinese ambassador to Cyprus.
Photis Photiou, the defence minister of Cyprus, said after meeting Chinese officials that he expected the operation would start “any day now”.
Russia will also be providing escort to the convoy carrying Syria’s chemical weapons, which will be loaded onto two cargo ships and escorted to Italy, where a US ship equipped with toxin neutralising equipment will take over.
The US vessel, the Cape Ray, is due to leave the United States for the Mediterranean in about two weeks.
Dozens of Chinese nationals in Cyprus converged on the quay of Limassol port, about 160 miles (250 kms) west of the Syrian port city of Latakia from where the chemicals will be shipped.
Loudspeakers blared Chinese music as Chinese flags were waved by women in traditional yellow and red costumes.
The Dec. 31 deadline was missed because of poor weather, logistical delays and the conflict inside Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have fought to clear rebels from roads along which the chemicals will be transported.
Syria agreed to abandon its chemical weapons under a deal proposed by Russia and hashed out with the United States, after hundreds of people died in an Aug. 21 sarin gas attack that Western nations blamed on Assad’s government. Syrian authorities deny they used chemical weapons, blaming rebels.
China has repeatedly called for a political resolution. It has also called for a full and impartial investigation by UN chemical weapons inspectors.