ISIS can only be defeated by Sunnis. So far, Rebels (who are mostly Sunni) have been kicking ISIS's ***, without air support. This is important, because imagine what the rebels could do to ISIS with air support, and the logistics, training, funding, etc. of an organized and professional army. Don't worry, any land ISIS gains will be regained by rebels. When Assad is gone Syrians will see no need for ISIS, whatsoever. A lot of ISIS's local support comes from the fact that Assad is still alive and bombing.
On another note, VICE News was with the rebels in Jisr al Shughour:
Brother, Dr.Thax.
I could be wrong about about the situation in Syria. There is no advance by Rebels on IS but you are right, it was the Suunis who drove ISI out in Iraq 7 years ago. Today's situation is much more complicated than before. You are making it sound like IS can be handled easily but they're not, they're much more effective unlike Al Qaeda nor other ineffective Jihadi fronts who does not have any influence over tribal leaders or managed to established its state in the last 13 years, they are a failed organization. IS managed to kept the population total under control by using "
you are either with us or with them" strategic and expanded its influence in the unstable Levant (Sham), Iraq and the growing influence in the North West Africa in just two and a half years.
They will never allow Assad or Syria to fall first while the existing opposition Fronts are still out there for various reasons that I believe it could be:
- They have learnt their lesson in Iraq during Sahwat era. They know if Assad falls first, everyone will be heavily supported by the int'l community and would be pointing their guns at them so they are trying to avoid what happened 7 years ago and defeat Rebels entirely and dismantle their groups first and forced them to pledge allegiance or the Rebels would be killed entirely as I said they are using the "
you are either with us or with them" strategic.
- This is why they are successful in Iraq at the moment, they managed to weaken and abolished the Sahwat movement at the end of 2013 which led to the fall of Fallujah. They fought them
before fighting the Iraqi government because they see them as a direct threat far more than the Iranian led Iraqi government, even if the government are extremely hostile toward IS, and look how they progressed in Iraq after Sahwat fell.
- This is the very same strategic they are using in Syria and what's even worse is that both Assad regime and IS are fighting the Rebels at the same time unlike what happened in Iraq when unified force were against ISI 7 years ago. An exhausted, fractured and a vulnerable Rebel force would be weak by the time IS advance toward to Aleppo or elsewhere on the Western region which can be a disaster. IS would rather deal with them first than Assad at last.
This is the ugly truth, they are not some pseudo wackos popping out of nowhere. They're known to mastermind strategic. This is why Syria is so complicated and unpredictable, no one knows what's going to happen next. They usually over hyped and underestimate one and another's ability but they don't really know what will happen next.