The New Power On The Ground In Syria.

There is no denying at this stage that Zahran Alloush, his Jaish Al-Islam and his Islamic Front, are among the main power brokers on the ground at this stage. Working in tandem with Jabhat Al-Nusra and Ahrar Al-Sham, they have managed to isolate ISIS, but ISIS, in a sense, always wanted to be isolated. Their uncompromising stands make them impossible to work with on a consistent basis. Every now and then, the two camps will cooperate, but most of the time they will compete. Groups like the Syrian Martyrs Brigades and Al-Farouq are not taking direct part in this development, but their fight will be more to protect the niches they have already caved out for themselves in the central parts of the country, than, to posit any direct challenge to either IF, Al-Nusra or ISIS. The turfing of the “liberated” areas is almost complete now. All that is left to do is kick pro-Assad militias out, before pushing further into regime-held territories. Regime advances have been halted and reversed, but so long as the regime maintains loyalist militias in opposition territories, and so long as it continues to control parts of Aleppo and Damascus, this war will continue. It’s about carving out territories now, and the regime will not be allowed to maintain the huge chunk of territory currently under its control.