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Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/27/us-syria-crisis-democrats-insight-idUSBRE9AQ05120131127
After Assad, Syrian Democrats Learn to Fear Al-Qaeda
(Reuters) Mariam Karouny - Across northern Syria, where Assad's government has ceded territory to an array of militias, the rising power is militant Islam and men who see democracy as the work of the devil and hope for a state ruled by religion. Reuters spoke to 19 Syrians who describe themselves as activists for democracy. All gave similar accounts of violence and intimidation by militant Islamists in northern areas. They say Islamist militants have begun a campaign to silence them and free speech in general. Last month, two media activists were shot dead in Aleppo. Some have been seized and are being held. Others have simply disappeared. In particular, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaeda-linked group dominated by foreigners, does not tolerate critics.