Also known as “freedom fighters” among the McRINO brigade.
Via Washington Times:
Syria has become al Qaeda’s largest safe haven, with more than 10,000 fighters who outnumber the terrorist network’s core organization in Pakistan and its affiliates in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
The development, analysts say, provides al Qaeda with a new base from which to attack Western targets, attract recruits to its jihadist doctrine, finance its operations and expand its influence throughout the Middle East.
In addition, the terrorists are consolidating their hold in Syria — generating revenue by selling oil confiscated from wells in the eastern part of the country, setting up Islamic courts and other means of government, and enforcing borders with neighboring countries, the U.S. ambassador to Syria said Thursday.
“Their control of those borders delayed our aid deliveries into Syria,” Ambassador Robert Ford told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The delays were because we had to wait until our friends in the opposition recaptured border points so we could get aid back in to them.”
“They are — whether intentionally or not — they are almost acting as allies of the regime. And it is a huge problem for our friends in the moderate opposition,” Mr. Ford said.