The so-called Islamic State, or ISIL, and Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front have reportedly agreed to stop fighting one another after a meeting among militant officials in a farmhouse in Syria last week, the AP reported.
According to AP sources, which are said to include a "high-level Syrian opposition official" and "rebel commander," the accord was forged on Nov. 2 in a village west of Aleppo called Atareb and included about seven leaders from the militant groups.
The meeting was also corroborated by a commander from a faction of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, who spoke to the AP using the name Abu Musafer. The rebel commander said he was aware the two groups had met and believed the talks ended with agreements to both halt inter-group clashes and forge new offensives against Kurdish fighters in some areas of northern Syria.
The AP also reported pockets of informal truce agreements between the groups last month, particularly in some areas in northern Syria. For the last year, ISIL and Nusra Front have clammored to control the struggle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and gain new territory in Syria.
Such a deal may not be permanent, however, according to experts who say agreements to team up or stop inter-fighting do not represent an official plan to join forces, at least not yet. US officials who have also monitored the militants' activity say a complete partnership is currently "not likely."
Still, last week's peace accord poses a more complex problem for the United States and its allies, who began an airstrike campaign against ISIL militants in Syria in late-September.
Though it initially targeted only ISIL posiitons in Syria, the U.S.-led aistrikes garnered fierce backlash from several groups on the ground in Syria, including some Western-backed factions, who condemned the campaign as a serious backstep in the fight against Assad as the attack's scope does not currently include plans to strike Syrian government positions.
On Thursday, the Washington TImes reported that US President Barack Obama's military advisors revealed the administration's new consideration of ground troops in Syria this week as the militants' rolled out the farm house peace agreement. Included in this agreement is reportedly also the plan for ISIL and Nusra Front to team up and attack U.S.-backed rebels throughout Syria.
This week's news from Syria came alongside a backdrop of a rare appearance by ISIL leader Abu al-Baghdadi, who cast doubt on Iraqi government claims of his critical wounding when a new audio-recording of his taped speech circulated the Internet on Thursday.
Last week, coalition airstrikes also targeted Nusra Front positions in an attempt to aid the Western-backed rebels fighting them. But many believe the move will only lead to more bitterness among anti-government forces in Syria and could strengthen the ties already forming between ISIL and Nusra Front militants.
