For several months, EA’s analysts have argued against a simplistic reduction of Syria’s conflict to a takeover by “extremists” and “jihadists”.

See Syria Special: Did Jabhat al-Nusra Pledge Allegiance to Al Qa’eda?
Syria Video Analysis: How Media Obsession with “Extremism” Misleads Us

It appears to have been a futile effort, at least with respect to most leading Western media. Headlines proclaim the takeover of much of northern Syria by the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham, even though the group has only a fraction of the fighters in the insurgency and is being challenged by other leading factions. They dwell on the phrase “Al Qa’eda-linked”, even with insurgents who have no such connection. A cartoon in The Economist shows the genie of a menacing, bearded man — holding a sub-machine gun and a blood-stained knife — emerging from a bottle to face President Assad.

The repetition of images like these has intersected with — and may have even fed — a shift among some Western governments to consider Assad’s stay in power, fearing the supposedly lone alternative of “extremist” rule of Syria.

Yet, occasionally, a reporter or analyst offers a detailed examination of the situation in Syria’s northern towns that returns to our argument: the political picture is far more complex than these easy, scary headlines.

On Wednesday, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi wrote for the Brown Moses blog about the town of Al-Bukamal in Deir Ez Zor Province near the border with Iraq, captured by insurgents last year.

Rally in Al-Bukamal in July:

Asking the question, “Who exactly controls or is present in the town?”, al-Tamimi finds no less than six groups: Kata’ib Junud al-Haq, Katiba Bayariq al-Sunna, Kata’ib Allahu Akbar, Liwa Allahu Akbar, Liwa al-Mujahid Omar al-Mukhtar, and Liwa al-Qadisiya al-Islamiya.

None of these groups has received the media attention given to the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham, although Kata’ib Junud al-Haq is the local affiliate of another bogeyman, the “terrorist”/”Al Qa’eda-linked” Jabhat al_Nusra. So, to answer his question, al-Tamimi goes through a granular examination of evidence from websites and social media.

He finds stories of shifting alliances: for example, Kata’ib Junud al-Haq sided with the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham this spring but switched to ISIS’s rival Jabhat al-Nusra. Other groups are affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, or with factions of the Islamic Front.

He finds clashes between groups, followed by cease-fires, most recently in September.

In the main, he finds that almost all the groups are made up of Syrians rather than foreign “extremists”, moving outside Al-Bukamal to fight throughout Deir Ez Zor Province. Some envisage a Syria based on Sharia law — in the words of one leader, “moderate and for justice” and protecting minority rights. One group says it has no ideology or program beyond removing the Assad regime.

He concludes that “the town of Abu Kamal defies simple characterizations”:

It would be wrong to think of Abu Kamal as a mere stronghold for “extremist groups”. The reality is that there are factions of a range of orientations in Abu Kamal, from non-ideological…to standard Islamist…and pan-Islamist/jihadist.

And this is not just the case with Al-Bukamal. Al-Tamimi explains that, in contrast to the media’s portrayal of the dominance of the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham, “this kind of arrangement can similarly be found in a number of towns with an ISIS presence, such as Tel Abyaḍ in Raqqa governorate, and Idlib towns like Saraqeb, Salqin and Ma’arat an-Na’aman”.

None of this is to deny the influence of extremist groups in the Syrian conflict. An Amnesty International report this week highlighted the abuses and unlawful killings of ISIS as it tried to establish its authority.

Yet, to reduce the Syrian story to one of “Al Qa’eda-linked” jihadists taking over the insurgency, leaving no alternative to President Assad, is not so much journalism as it is a convenient, scary narrative.

This remains a patchwork, fragmented conflict in which the “local” — for better or worse — prevails in many of Syria’s towns.