Syrian rebels angry that strikes hit al Qaida ally but not Assad

[unhappycamper]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/09/23/240813/syrian-rebels-angry-that-strikes.html?sp=/99/117/



Syrian rebels angry that strikes hit al Qaida ally but not Assad
By Roy Gutman and Mousab Alhamadee
McClatchy Foreign Staff
September 23, 2014

REYHANLI, Turkey — Anti-government media activists and rebel commanders gave a mixed assessment of U.S.-led airstrikes in northern Syria on Tuesday, saying that some of the Islamic State encampments hit had been evacuated and one building that was struck had been filled with displaced civilians, even as at least one major Islamic State base was seriously damaged and many fighters were killed.

But the greatest damage, they said, may be to the Free Syrian Army, the moderate rebel faction that enjoyed U.S. support for years.

By focusing exclusively on Islamic State insurgents and al Qaida figures associated with the Khorasan unit of the Nusra Front, and bypassing installations associated with the government of President Bashar Assad, the airstrikes infuriated anti-regime Syrians and hurt the standing of moderate rebel groups that are receiving arms and cash as part of a covert CIA operation based in the Turkish border city of Reyhanli.

Rebel fighters argue that they constitute the only friendly ground force available to the international coalition to fill the security vacuum in places that Islamic State fighters are forced to abandon. But rebel commanders said they’d played no role in selecting the targets or planning for the aftermath.

[morningfog]

1. Tell them to be patient. We're getting there.

We have to construct the drama first.