JOINT VENTURE: ASSAD & ISIS : Western-backed Coalition Accuse ISIS of Serving Assad’s Interests

A Sharq al Awsat – 4.1.2014 – Beirut — The opposition Syrian National Coalition accused the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) of having ties to the Damascus regime and serving the interests of the Bashar Al-Assad government on Wednesday.

The latest dispute between the western-backed coalition and ISIS comes amid accusations that the Islamist rebel group was responsible for the arrest, torture and killing of a doctor with ties to the Syrian opposition, who had been based at the Tel Abyad border crossing with Turkey in northern Syria.”The Syrian National Coalition believes that ISIS is closely linked to the terrorist regime and serves the interests of the clique of President Bashar Al-Assad, whether directly or indirectly,” the opposition group said in a statement quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“The murder of Syrians by this group leaves no doubt about the intentions behind their creation, their objectives, and the agendas they service, which is confirmed by the nature of their terrorist actions that are hostile to the Syrian revolution,” the statement added.The Coalition called on all Syrian rebels who have joined the Al-Qaeda-linked group to abandon it, and for ISIS leadership to be prosecuted, alongside the “criminals of the regime.”This represents the strongest public criticism of the jihadist group from the western-backed coalition, and ISIS now finds itself being pressured on two sides, namely from the Syrian National Coalition and the Islamic Front–the largest Islamist rebel coalition operating on the ground in Syria but which excludes the Al-Qaeda-linked ISIS and Al-Nusra Front.

The Coalition claims that opposition doctor Hussein Al-Suleiman, known by his kunya Abu Rayyan, was arrested by ISIS in Aleppo province, adding that he was subjected to “the worst forms of torture” and then executed. http://www.aawsat.net/