Syrian Rebels Fight Each Other Along Turkish Border

Free Syrian Army Demands al-Qaeda Abandon Azaz to Them

Another round of fighting has erupted today in the northwestern Syrian border town of Azaz, as well as in the northeastern Kurdish portion of the country, both along the Turkish border.

Azaz has been a key border crossing, and fighting has been growing for days after al-Qaeda seized the town from secular rivals. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is now demanding that al-Qaeda cede the town to them.

That’s of course unlikely, an al-Qaeda has been working on disarming the other factions around Azaz with a threat of military operations against them. Turkey has closed the Azaz crossing for weeks over the fighting.

Between the latest Azaz clashes and the fighting in Western Kurdistan, the death toll for Friday was at least 19 in rebel-on-rebel violence, and these wars within a war are becoming more and more active.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.