This is what dithering gets you…
Via Daily Mail:
A jihadist group that has pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda has taken over swathes of Syria as western forces have focused their efforts on defeating Islamic State.
The al-Nusra Front have carved out their own territory in the region, raising fears a second jihadist mini-state could thwart any attempts to end the barbarity.
The hardline Islamist fighting group has been gaining control across Idlib province in northern Syria since November, driving out other rebel groups, including western-armed moderates.
Syrian rebel activists and commanders have said that in the past week – as airstrikes have focused around IS strongholds in the region – the Nusra Front have begun to extend its control into the northern city of Aleppo.
Aleppo is seen as one of the last areas in northern Syria with a significant presence of moderate rebel groups.
Mazen Alhor, an opposition activist in the city, said: ‘Nusra are trying to do in Aleppo what they did in Idlib — they want to wipe out the (western-backed) Free Syrian Army.
‘They are starting to behave like ISIS — kidnapping, enforcing Islamic rules. They have a strategy, they want an Islamic state.’