MESOP News Roundup SYRIA : Monday, January 5 / JAI eliminates rival in Douma

Jaish al-Islam, Douma’s main rebel faction, defeated rival group Jaish al-Umma after a series of mass arrests led to the latter group surrendering its arms on Sunday.

The arrest campaign took place under the rubric “Cleansing the Country from the Filth of Corruption,” wrote JAI spokeman Abdul Rahman a-Shami on his Facebook page.Jaish al-Umma’s General Command confirmed the news of their group’s demise in the East Ghouta town Sunday, leaving Jaish al-Islam primarily in control of the East Ghouta city. “An estimated 200-300 brothers turned themselves and their weapons in,” Jaish al-Umma wrote on the page on Sunday. A source close to East Ghouta’s rebel Judiciary Council told Syria Direct Monday that “there were in fact wanted individuals, and corrupt [people]” in Jaish al-Umma, wanted on charges of theft, rape and assault, and that the group had refused to hand them over to the judiciary for prosecution. JAI and Jaish al-Umma have been at often violent odds since the latter’s formation last September. At that time, JAI leader Zahran Aloush said that “two heads will not be allowed for one body,” referring to rebel factions in the area.