Al-Qaeda vs. Hizballah

The battle for the soul of Syria has taken an even deadlier turn over the past two months. The strategic center of the Middle East is also now a battleground between Hizballah and al-Qaeda, the region’s two toughest extremist movements. The groups, both with roots outside Syria, represent rival versions of jihadism. Both use the same repugnantly violent tactics and advocate rigid Islamic rule: they’re just from different sects.

This war within the war carries new dangers for the Middle East, for Islam and for the outside world. The regionalization of the conflict was reflected on May 25 when Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed his Lebanese militia would “bear the responsibilities and the sacrifices. This battle is ours, and I promise you victory.” Since then, Hizballah’s fighters have helped repel the rebels’ spring offensive in northern Syria. In a pivotal battle on June 5, they helped the Syrian military recapture the city of al-Qusayr, a rebel hub for the past year. The victory was a huge military and psychological break for President Bashar Assad — and a particularly forceful way for Hizballah to announce its presence in the fray.

Among Assad’s enemies, al-Nusra Front — the best-armed and most disciplined of the rebels’ many disjointed factions — formally announced its allegiance to al-Qaeda in April. It has been especially effective this year in northern Idlib province and in the eastern Damascus suburbs, reportedly with growing help from foreign fighters from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and beyond.

(MORE: The Battle for Qusayr: What Victory in Syria’s Latest Front Means for the War)

Hizballah and al-Qaeda are also now redefining the Syrian conflict in sectarian terms, pitting Shi’ites against Sunnis and inflaming passions that date back to Islam’s greatest split 1,400 years ago, when two factions of the Prophet Muhammad’s followers quarreled over who was his rightful heir. As a result, the conflict is no longer just about man-made ideology or temporal politics or an autocratic dynasty. It’s also about interpreting God’s will.

The dangers are reflected in each group’s recent targets. The al-Qaeda affiliate claimed in late April to have dug up the remains of 7th century Shi’ite martyr Hojr Ibn Oday (also known as Hajar Ben Adi al-Kundi) after allegedly destroying his shrine outside Damascus. In turn, Sunni mosques have come under increasing attack.

The sectarian furies spilling across Syria’s borders have implications for countries from Morocco to Iran. Attacks have already erupted inside Lebanon. And Sunni clerics — most notably popular Egypt-born televangelist Yusuf al-Qaradawi — have responded to Hizballah’s intervention by exhorting followers to mobilize against the Syrian regime. “I call on Muslims everywhere to help their brothers be victorious,” al-Qaradawi said on May 31. “Everyone who has the ability and has training to kill … is required to go.” That fiery rhetoric may fan the flames of hatred and mistrust even after the war ends. As history repeatedly shows, sectarian wars are often harder to resolve than political conflicts.

For the outside world, the possible consequences of this new conflict are also dire. Hizballah and al-Qaeda are responsible for two of the deadliest attacks on U.S. targets since World War II. Hizballah killed 241 Marines and military personnel in a bombing in Beirut in 1983, and al-Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

(MORE: Hizballah and Israel Spar as Syria’s Conflict Threatens to Spin Out of Control)

The role of both groups’ followers in Syria increases the danger that Hizballah or al-Qaeda could gain a long-term political or physical foothold in one of the most important countries in the Middle East. That sort of influence would represent the exact opposite of the democratic dream envisioned by many in Syria when the initial protests erupted in March 2011, triggered by the arrest of teenagers who had spray-painted antigovernment graffiti on the walls in the Syrian town of Dara’a.

The presence of Hizballah and al-Qaeda in Syria will also almost certainly complicate diplomatic efforts to find any form of political compromise. Neither group has ever shown much interest in negotiating.

The biggest losers from the emergence of this new fault line are the uprising’s early heroes — the peaceful dissidents and defectors who later took up arms to protect themselves against Assad’s military. Their brave struggle seems increasingly marginal as Syria becomes a battleground for the region’s extremists.

Wright is the author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World

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