(Image source: As-Sahab / YouTube)
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
ANCHOR NATHAN BYRNE
On Sunday, Al Qaeda head Ayman Al-Zawahiri urged militants from neighboring countries to join the fight against Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
In a video, Zawahiri said protesters should not rely on the West, Turkey, or the Arab League. Instead, he urges Muslims to aid Syrians any way they can in toppling the Assad regime. (Video source: YouTube)
It’s the latest attempt by Al Qaeda to insert itself into Arab Spring conflicts. But McClatchy Newspapers reports it’s not just idle talk. U.S. officials told McClatchy Al Qaeda has already carried out attacks in Syria.
“The Iraqi branch of al Qaida … carried out two recent bombings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and likely was behind suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 28 people in the largest city, Aleppo...”
An Iraqi official told the Associated Press that militants are already moving across the border to Syria. CNN points out, these new revelations are playing right into the Assad regime’s story.
“The Syrian government has consistently argued since the beginning of this uprising nearly 11 months ago that it is fighting armed terrorists linked to Al Qaeda.”
Reports from Syria have shown anti-Assad protesters becoming increasingly militarized. There are reports of protesters fighting the Syrian army using tactics much like Al Qaeda in Iraq used against U.S. forces. A BBC correspondent says these new reports will make any international response to the Syria crisis much more difficult.
“There have already been reports of Islamic militants crossing into Syria from Iraq. … If violent Islamic extremists are becoming increasingly involved, it is going to muddy the waters of an already very complex situation...”
On Sunday, the Arab League proposed a joint peacekeeping mission with the U.N. At the same meeting, the head of the League’s observer mission in Syria resigned.
