Most Syrians reject extremist groups, says leader of new militia

In loose combat fatigues, a man who has taken the nom de guerre of Riyadh Alzori reclines on a thin mattress on the floor of a cramped flat in the Turkish city of Antakya, now a base for many fighters with the Syrian opposition.

He works the back of his neck with an electric plastic massager, having just returned from a mission across the border, where he leads a group of local militias fighting with the Syrian opposition in Idlib province.

Once a tank commander in Bashar al-Assad’s military, he used to teach philosophy and psychology before the revolution, giving lessons to local teenagers in his home in the city of Deir Ezzor, which has been fiercely contested by government and opposition forces since the Syrian army laid siege to the town in May 2011.

“They loved science, they never thought about fighting,” he says fondly of his past pupils who subsequently motivated him to fight with the opposition. He says nine of his students have been killed in the revolution, all aged between 18 and 22, mostly by snipers.

“We didn’t have any choice, we must fight to defend ourselves and our families, but there were no weapons at the time, no free army, only rifles for hunting,” he says.

Expectations dashed
His expectations that the US and Europe would intervene in the same way they did in Libya are now dashed, and he blames the West's failure to act for radicalising Syria's youth, driving them into the hands of extremist groups with stronger military support from the likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The US and Europe have been reluctant to intervene militarily, concerned about the influence of extremist groups. UK foreign secretary William Hague has warned of a “regional catastrophe” if the conflict is not brought to an end and he has continued to call for an amendment of the EU arms embargo.

"Islamic radicals didn't have any history inside Syria before this," says Huzaifa Al-Karim Khattab, the 23-year-old leader of a newly formed group of militias aligned with the opposition, who say they are fighting for a secular, democratic Syria.

As a leader, Khattab’s ambition is to develop the “neck between the head and the body” of the revolution, connecting political and military wings of the opposition to unsure transitional justice after the conflict.

Neither Khattab nor Alzori have faith in the Syrian National Coalition, the main political opposition group, set to elect a new president this week.

“As a fighter I can’t do this alone, we need civilian societies, especially so minorities are protected,” Khattab says, speaking proudly of Syria being a place for all religions, both Sunni and Alawite.

“An Alawite man helped me escape the regime army.” Khattab believes the majority of Syrians are not sectarian and reject extremist groups such as the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra. “The people say: Fight Assad, don’t fight our way of life.”