ISIS Commanders Join “Moderate” Syrian Rebels

Once again confirming that there is no such thing as a “moderate” Syrian rebel (although there certainly is for State Department funding and arming purposes), on Friday, two prominent ISIS commanders have left the ranks of the calliphate to join forces with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters, i.e., “moderate rebels” on the provincial border between Homs and Deir Ezzor, al Masdar news reported.

ISIS commanders decide they want to be ‘moderate’ rebels again. https://t.co/o4IC4mIZTY

— Hayder al-Khoei (@Hayder_alKhoei) May 13, 2017

Or, as some put it, “Thursday: ISIS; Friday: FSA“

Thursday: ISIS

Friday: FSA https://t.co/WPm6EYsqDN

— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) May 14, 2017

After communicating with FSA contigents, Ghassan Al-Sankeh and Mahmoud Al-Faraj arrived in Badia in central Syria and defected quietly, leaving behind ISIS fighters under their command in rural Deir Ezzor.

The ISIS commander Mahmoud Al-Faraj was said to be one of the highest-ranking commanders in Al-Mayadin, a city on the Euphrates River which reports indicate the Islamic State has transformed into its new capital.

ISIS controls the vast majority of the eastern province of Deir Ezzor although the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has maintained a presence in the provincial capital throughout the conflict while the FSA emerged in its southwestern desert last week.

Meanwhile, with ISIS’ oil funding almost entirely gone, and its fighters on the defensive in both Syria and Iraq, it is now quietly melding back into other opposition groups that have been cheered, supported and armed by the west. In other words, ISIS is returning back to where it started.