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Features

A new Islamist alliance among Syria’s rebels has given Assad the enemy he wants

Parts of northern Syria are already an Islamic emirate in the making

5 October 2013

9:00 AM

5 October 2013

9:00 AM

 

 Amman — Beirut — Istanbul

I recently bumped into a senior officer with the rebel Free Syrian Army who was waiting in the passport queue at the Turkish border. I didn’t recognise him at first, out of uniform and without his entourage, and I told him so. He was following the example of the 7th-century Second Caliph, Omar bin al Khattab, he replied.

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Paul Wood is a BBC correspondent covering Syria.

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