The US-led air campaign against Daesh has scored some points in Syria, weakening Daesh’s oil infrastructure and revenues and keeping the group out of Kobane, Time magazine reported on Saturday.
However, despite these tactical gains, the campaign has had serious local side effects that have undermined the broader, long-term objective of degrading and destroying Daesh in Syria and preventing the Al Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al Nusra, from replacing or thriving alongside Daesh. Unfortunately, the coalition campaign’s priorities are not aligned with those of the only parties capable of beating Sunni jihadism in Syria – Syrian nationalist groups enjoying broad Sunni support.
Ironically, the coalition campaign has contributed to the near-collapse of nationalist forces in northern Syria who, despite their imperfections, were Daesh’s most effective rivals and competed with Jabhat al Nusra for leadership of the insurgency. Rather than work with the nationalists as partners against Daesh in the north (where jihadists are strongest), the United States has excluded them from the coalition military effort. At the same time, US airstrikes on jihadists have spared the regime’s forces and inadvertently killed Syrian civilians. The US also insists nationalist forces fight the jihadists—not the regime—making them appear as US agents in the eyes of the Syrian people.
As a result, morale among nationalist fighters in northern Syria has plummeted. Many have defected to the jihadists, who are taking advantage of growing Syrian disillusionment with the United States and US-aligned rebels to build influence among the insurgency and the people. Since the coalition campaign started, Jabhat al Nusra has driven nationalist forces out of much of their core territory in northern Syria, and Daesh continues to threaten those that remain. While nationalists have fared better in the south, they still face a potential jihadist threat there.