Al-Qaeda seizes weapons, bases from US-backed Syrian rebels

BEIRUT: US-backed Syrian rebels say Al-Qaeda militants have seized their bases and stolen weapons in a series of raids in the northern Idlib province.
Division 13 of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is led by the prominent rebel commander Ahmed Al-Seoud, said on Twitter Sunday that the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front occupied and looted its posts late the night before.
It gave no further details, bu the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, says Nusra seized anti-tank missiles, armored vehicles, a tank, and other arms from the division, which has received weapons, training, and money from the US government.
Both the FSA and the Nusra Front are fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory, said the Nusra Front had also detained dozens of members of the 13th Division rebel group.
Nusra Front accused the rebel fighters of launching surprise attacks on its own bases in the town of Maarat Al-Numan in Idlib province in northwest Syria. It said some Nusra fighters had been captured.
The clashes came two weeks into a cessation of hostilities in Syria and on the eve of peace talks in Geneva between President Bashar Assad’s government and the opposition.
The halt in fighting, agreed by government forces, rebel groups and their international backers, excludes Nusra Front and Daesh militants.
Nusra Front fighters have often taken part in offensives alongside other rebel groups. But they have also fought them for territory, defeating groups such as the Western-backed Syria Revolutionaries Front and the Hazzm group last year.