Intressant om al-Nusra men framförallt Ahrar al Sham:
http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2015/11/8930/growing-jihadist-presence-syrias-opposition/
Hassan Hassan om Ahrar:
Citat:
There is a lot of disinformation when it comes to Ahrar al-Sham. Ahrar al-Sham is not the strongest group in Syria. Yes, it receives massive funding from Qatar and Turkey, but organizationally it is small. When its leadership was destroyed last year, they bounced back very quickly. Why? It’s because of the group’s massive funding, or its territorial and strategic depth. Ahrar al-Sham is the strongest operator in northern Syria because of Turkey’s commitment to the group – they receive intelligence, instructions, communications and large amounts of money. But if it’s so strong, why then does it not have a powerful presence anywhere else in Syria except for the north? Where is Ahrar al-Sham in Daraa or Damascus or Qalamoun? As a dominant group, it's relatively limited to Idlib and the borders with Turkey, and that’s specifically because of Turkey’s commitments to it.
Now there is another dynamic that helps Ahrar al-Sham, which goes back to the first point I made about the peculiarities of northern Syria. Like other areas in the country, northern Syria has a very particular set of problems. There are so many young people who’ve been militarized – on both the government’s side and the opposition's side. The north – Idlib, Aleppo and northern Latakia – provides the largest number of troops for both the opposition and the government. They are being mobilized on both sides. It will be the most difficult area in the entire country.
If Ahrar al-Sham wants to launch an attack in Idlib against the Assad government, they hire contractors – they’ll hire 1,000 or 2,000 fighters and pay them to fight in a specific battle for a month, let’s say. If someone dies, they take care of their family, and so on. They have the ability to mobilize a great deal of forces anywhere they choose.
But in terms of size, they have a tight, small and disciplined structure. Money, logistics, territorial depth, information and intelligence – it’s all provided by Turkey and Qatar. That’s why Ahrar al-Sham appears so strong to people outside of Syria. We’ve heard Turkish and Qatari diplomats in private meetings always proposing it as a strong and viable force. But it’s misleading.
Context is king. We need to understand why Ahrar al-Sham appears stronger. If its ideology was popular or the group was popular, it would be popular elsewhere in Syria – not just in that particular region close to the Turkish border.
Salafijihadisterna i Ahrar är tungt sponsrade av Turkiet och Qatar, utan något större folkligt stöd frånsett i gränsområden mot Turkiet. Ahrar hyr in krigare, alltså som något slags bemanningsföretag inom jihadbranchen.
