ISIS's next enemy in Syria: The "Army of Conquest"

A triangular fight over Homs, up against both the Army of Conquest and Assad’s forces, may be too big a battle for ISIS at the moment. Its victories have been based on lightning speed, with hundreds of fighters targeting weak defenses. But the jihadis possess smart tactical leadership and their fighters are motivated in the way only religious fanatics are, with a zealous readiness to die.

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When they are up against highly motivated opponents, as they were in the battle for the Kurdish town of Kobani, they can be defeated. But it’s never easy. At Tikrit, a few hundred ISIS fighters held off significantly larger Shia and Iraqi forces for weeks. Palmyra also featured just a few hundred highly motivated fighters who made a swift seven days’ work of a large force that had good re-supply lines back to Damascus.

Some commanders and fighters in the Army of Conquest exhibit almost a relieved surprise at their win in Idlib and after four years of war some still lack self-confidence. Among the fighters in Aleppo, confidence is in short supply, says Lina Chawaf, the editor of the independent radio station Rozana. On a recent trip to the rebel-held half of the city, she noticed the insurgents in Aleppo “don’t have a hope to beat Assad” and “many of them were saying there is no solution except a negotiated political solution.”

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