Al-Qaida attacks HQ of rebel group it calls US ‘agents’

The Ministry refuted the allegations of the letter sent by Turkey to the UN Secretary-General and the head of the Security Council and asserted that the Syrian Army and Armed Forces are fighting ISIS and al-Nusra across Syria, while journalists have published photos of Turkish soldiers exchanging pleasantries with ISIS personnel on the borders between the two countries.

The same Al-Qaeda affiliate, Nusra Front, led an attack on the Division 30 near Azaz at around 4:30 a.m. on Friday.

Combined with the seven rebels killed on Friday, this would mean at least 13 of the 54 original Division 30 members who entered Syria in mid-July have been neutralised.

Nusra Front, one of the most powerful insurgent groups in northern Syria, has a record of crushing rebel groups that have received support from Western states, including the Hazzm movement that collapsed earlier this year.

Reports surfaced after Division 30, reportedly the first group of Syrian rebels to receive training from the US Department of Defence (DoD), issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the capture of the battalion’s leader, Nadim Hassan, along with an unspecified number of companions. Witnesses also said unknown aircraft, widely believed to be from the American-led air coalition, were supporting the moderate rebels in their fight against Nusra. Five members of Division 30 were killed as they held off the attackers, it said.

The U.S. program to train and arm Syrian rebels was delayed because of “technical reasons”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said this week.

“We warn soldiers of (Division 30) against proceeding in the American project”, Nusra said in a statement distributed online, as stated by Reuters.

Al-Nusra has previously attacked US-backed groups in northern Syria, including the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the Hazm Movement, leading to the dissolution of both factions.

“All the information that we have is that none of the… new Syrian forces have been captured”, Marine Corps Brigadier General Kevin Killea said in a briefing with reporters.

In a series of cross-border strikes, Turkey has not only targeted the ISIL group but also Kurdish fighters affiliated with forces battling ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

The war, in which various fighting groups have carved out what are fluid areas of control, has killed at least 230,000 people.

In eastern Syria, the U.S. backed coalition destroyed three bridges on the Euphrates river including one close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, as indicated by the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees activist group.

“Using these bridges, it would take IS only a few minutes to reach the Iraqi border from Albu Kamal”, Abdel Rahman said.

The Pentagon confirmed strikes in the area, and a senior US officer said they will have a “profound impact” on IS abilities to carry out operations in the neighbouring and strategically important Iraqi province of Anbar.