During the closed-door talks between the various “rebels” and exiles, Ahrar al-Sham had reportedly objected strenuously to language in the agreement calling for “democracy” in Syria. Like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front, with which Ahrar al-Sham collaborates, the militia’s stated goal is the creation of an Islamic State; that is, deposing the secular dictatorship of Assad and replacing it with a Sunni sectarian dictatorship.

This is what is being portrayed as the “moderate rebels” extolled by the US and its regional allies. That the Saudi monarchy—itself a Sunni sectarian dictatorship—should do so is hardly surprising.