@fpleitgenCNN @Joyce_Karam Hey Frederik. The factions participating vary widely. Some fought in the ranks of the FSA, Islamist groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham. Overall, official rhetoric of groups in Syria often diverges from the beliefs of fighters. For example, contacts of mine who fought w/ ISIS
@fpleitgenCNN @Joyce_Karam & current fighters in HTS, some are not extreme - they know I'm Israeli & some even know I'm gay. Then some "moderate" factions have quite extremist fighters. The video is of a faction from Deir Ezzor made up of fighters defeated by ISIS in 2014 who fled to N Aleppo/TR/Qalamoon.
@fpleitgenCNN @Joyce_Karam A sense of chauvinist Arab identity inculcated by the Baath regime & historical tensions w/ Kurds (see the 04 Qamislo riots) contribute to such behavior. Overall, the factions backed by Turkey have devolved into armed gangs. The big problem, imo, is not extremist but criminality
@fpleitgenCNN @Joyce_Karam In areas under the control of these factions from Efrin to Jarablus, law & order is extremely poor. The factions fight each other daily, kill civilians & each other over nothing (for example, they killed a seller of home appliances for demanding payment for a faucet), etc.
@fpleitgenCNN @Joyce_Karam These factions, at the end of the day, are not a rebel force. The force was created in 2016 to serve Turkey's goals & it has never & will never fight the regime. People joined this force for salaries. The impunity afforded to them + financial incentives produce such behavior.
