Syrian Rebels Begin to Shoot At Each Other

The United States tried to isolate the Syrian branch of al-Qaida ( al-Nusra) this past December by designating it as a terrorist group, at the same time they expressed concern that the al-Qaeda loyalists and radical Islamists are planning on taking control of the opposition movement creating a terrorist state if/once Assad is toppled.

The al-Nusra terrorists may not be waiting for the end of the Assad regime.  The secular Syrian rebels said today that one of their top commanders was assassinated by their al Qaeda-linked comrades.  This move may end up splitting the rebel forces in the ongoing civil war. 

Rivalries have been growing between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Islamists, whose smaller but more effective forces control most of the rebel-held parts of northern Syria more than two years after pro-democracy protests became an uprising.

"We will not let them get away with it because they want to target us," a senior FSA commander said on condition of anonymity after members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant killed Kamal Hamami on Thursday.

"We are going to wipe the floor with them," he said.

The FSA commander said the al Qaeda-linked militants had warned FSA rebels that there was "no place" for them where Hamami was killed in Latakia province, a northern rural region of Syria bordering Turkey where Islamist groups are powerful.

Other opposition sources said the killing followed a dispute between Hamami's forces and the Islamic State over control of a strategic checkpoint in Latakia and would lead to fighting.

This burgeoning civil war within a civil war points to an even bigger question--should the United States be getting involved in this action at all

There are no good guys in this war, a despicable tyrant aided by Iran and Hezbollah vs a terrorist organization associated with al Qaeda who is fighting with the more moderate rebels.

 This country doesn't have a fundamental interest in backing any side. Perhaps  our only fundamental interest is those chemical weapons and making sure they don't fall into the hands of the al-Nusra Front. So perhaps someone should explain why we are getting involved in Syria in any way.