It is far from easy to map the different ideological components of the highly fragmented armed opposition in Syria. Since the early stages of the uprising, and in the framework of the great battle for legitimacy between the regime and its opponents, raising the bogeyman of Sunnis' Jihadist radicalization has constituted a valuable asset in the hands of the regime and its allies. In the eyes of the religious minorities and the Western public opinion, -always prone to overreact in the face of a supposed "Islamic threat"-, this strategy strengthened the regime's claim of being a "bulwark against Islamism" safeguarding the secular state - despite the sectarian reality of its own policy.
