The videos above showcase the Islamic Front walking around the crossing, as well as fighting for it.
The Islamic Front, a powerful coalition of Islamist groups in Syria, was also involved (which was implied when I mentioned Ahrar ash-Sham in the first article to mention this) in the taking of the Quneitra border crossing with the Israeli-held Golan Heights. As I have previously noted in the past few days, both the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's official group in Syria, and the Western-backed Syrian Revolutionaries Front, have also disseminated videos and pictures detailing their part in the battle, as well as them holding the crossing.
In the wake of all these groups releasing pictures and videos showing their victory, forty-three UN peacekeepers are still being held by Nusra. It appears that these troops are from Fiji and the Philippines. As the Long War Journal has noted, the UN has, so far, been quite reserved in this situation. I agree with their assessment that they may be wanting to use the Islamic Front as a negotiating partner by not identifying the group responsible for their kidnapping.
With three groups claiming control of the border crossing, it makes one wonder if they are sharing control of the crossing. As I have already speculated before, Nusra may avoid full-scale control of the crossing in fear of Israeli intervention. Sharing control would make it both easier to control and defend, as the role would not be put on any one particular group.
As this Vice News documentary reports, the US is supplying the SRF with weapons, training and supplies to fight ISIS. While one fighter says that the US only sends weapons to those groups fighting ISIS, it still makes one wonder if the US funds the entirety of the SRF or just those groups in Idlib like in the video. However, like Aris Roussinos points out below, a picture of a SRF fighter I used from one of Aris' tweets in an earlier article is seen wearing US-supplied digicam gear.
@arisroussinos Guy in the pic seems to be wearing the distinctive US-supplied (?) digicam popping up with SRF, Hazm, Jaish Mujahideen btw
— aris roussinos (@arisroussinos) August 27, 2014
It is also now clear that the SRF fights directly alongside al-Nusra Front.
-- Caleb