The West fears that the Syria conflict might come to replicate even more the murderous sectarian carnage of post-invasion Iraq. In much of north-east Syria up to the Iraqi border, Jabhat and another radical militia, Ahrar al-Sham, dominate the rebel movement and have arrested rival brigade leaders. Last week they paraded three hooded men they said were Assad soldiers in the square before shooting them in the back of the head. The executioner said he represented the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria".