Well, from a US\/Western perspective it looks like things are going just \u201cswimmingly\u201d in Syria.\u00a0 From a recent news article:<\/p>\n
In Syria\u2019s largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.<\/p>\n
Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.<\/p>\n
Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Yeah, you read that right.\u00a0 None<\/em> of the significant Syrian rebel groups are secular.\u00a0 All of them appear to be Islamist – and many seem to have al Qaeda sympathies, if not direct links.\u00a0 Some make no bones about their links to al Qaeda.\u00a0 At least one rebel group – the al Nusra Front, which also is among the most powerful of the Syrian rebel groups, and currently dominates Aleppo – has confirmed past cooperation with al Qaeda in Iraq and has pledged loyalty to al Qaeda’s leadership.\u00a0 The US government has declared the al Nusra Front to be a terrorist organization.\u00a0 Even the rebel Supreme Military Council – an umbrella group ostensibly coordinating rebel efforts, led by a turncoat Syrian general and which professes no ties to al Qaeda linked rebel groups – has numerous Islamist commanders.<\/p>\n
So what news source is reporting this?\u00a0 Perhaps some conservative \u201cwingnut\u201d internet publication, like WND or CNS?<\/p>\n