Syrian Threesome Civil War: Regime, FSA and ISIS

Tobapos -- Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad wants to force West to choose between him and ISIS


On the face of it, there can be few more implacable foes than Bashar Al-Assad and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.

Syria’s ruler is a secular dictator and a follower of the Alawite sect of Shiite Islam; the leaders of ISIS are Sunni zealots on a divine mission to build an Islamic state.

Logic would suggest Mr. Assad and ISIS are out to destroy one another. But logic works in curious ways in the Middle East. As he wages a ruthless struggle to hold power, the evidence suggests the Syrian president has quietly co-operated with his supposed enemies and actively helped their rise.

More