Opposition activists worry that the growing power of the al-Qaeda-affiliated groups in areas they control could cause a backlash, tarring all the rebels with the jihadist brush and driving Syrians back into the regime’s arms. Some have gone so far as to vocalize their hopes that the U.S. might take out their al-Qaeda rivals at the same time as Assad’s military assets. “Both the regime and the fanatic groups are delaying our victory and our freedoms,” says Husam Rozisk, an opposition activist running the Tal Abyad Media Center in Aleppo. “To target both now is better than leaving [the jihadists] to have a bigger influence because it will be hard to eliminate them in the future.”
Even if such an attack is unlikely, some of the hard core jihadist groups are taking cover, just in case. “We cannot hide that we are anxious, but we are well prepared. We have evacuated all of our bases,” says Abu Omar al-Tawammi, an Aleppo-based commander from the Salafist Ahrar ash-Sham brigade, one of the most powerful factions fighting in the war, with 10,000 to 20,000 fighters. Along with the Nusra Front, Ahrar ash-Sham has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, which may explain some of the paranoia. “They [the Americans] declared that the aim of the strike is to punish the regime but the real aim behind the strike is to weaken the Islamic groups on behalf of the FSA,” he tells TIME via Skype, referring to the Western backed Free Syrian Army, a loose confederation of rebel units also fighting the regime.
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