Salafist Unit Could Replace Al Qaida

LONDON [MENL] -- A Salafist militia has emerged that could garner support by
Western countries determined to marginalize the growing influence of Al
Qaida in Syria, a report said.
The Swedish Institute of International Affairs asserted that the Syrian
Islamic Front, announced in December 2012, could mark an alternative to the
rapidly-growing Al Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant, described by
the United States as part of Al Qaida in Iraq. The institute, in a report by
Aron Lund, said SIF, which shares Al Nusra's Salafist doctrine, has stressed
cooperation, unity and dialogue amid the two-year revolt against Syrian
President Bashar Assad.