This Two-Faced Assad Is The Perfect Image Of Syria Right Now

On March 15, 2011 a group of 200 mostly young protesters held a Arab Spring "Day of Rage" in the capital Damascus to demand the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Days of Rage continue 34 months later, but the protestors are now targeting both Assad and the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), an international extremist group that evolved from al-Qaeda in Iraq and commandeered large swaths of Syrian rebel-held territory in 2013.

Many Syrians, including the Western-backed Syrian government-in-exile (SNC), believe that the enemy is two sides of the same tyrant.

One civilian man in Idlib province told The Wall Street Journal that ISIS, which employed draconian laws and barbaric punishments in areas under its control, "is state security exactly like Assad, and people got tired of them telling what to do, and what not to do."

This poster for a Day of Rage this Friday illustrates the notion perfectly:

Now large Syrian rebel groups have now joined together and have begun expelling ISIS from northern towns. Meanwhile, the regime seems to be coordinating with ISIS fighters by shelling towns that ISIS is attempting to retake.

The fight, which has been brewing for months, will define the conflict going forward as the most powerful rebel groups seek to marginalize ISIS while also fighting Assad.

In that way, Syria has come full circle from the March 2011 Days of Rage: Still aiming to topple Assad, only now now he has two faces.