The New York Times conveys broad and increasing concerns over the infiltration of Syrian rebel forces by Al Qaeda-linked elements, as the U.S. State Department prepares on Tuesday to issue a statement declaring that the Jabhat al-Nusra front which recently seized a military base in northern Syria is a front...

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The Sunni-backed Syrian opposition is increasingly controlled by al-Qaeda-linked forces who have crossed into Syria from Iraq, according to statements made yesterday by U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. The concerns highlight the complexity of Syria’s three-way proxy war between Sunni-backed opposition forces, the Iran-backed regime, and regional Kurdish groups....

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Turkish forces conducted a two-day ground operation in Iraq earlier this week, penetrating as far as 3 miles into Iraqi territory in order to target Kurdish groups. The Turkish military campaign comes as Iraq expelled Turkey’s state oil operator from an exploration contract, though analysts linked that move more to...

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The Turkish military over the weekend dispatched F-16s across the border into Iraq, bombing bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and killing five. The PKK – which is identified as a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and others – is locked in a decades-old war with Turkey, the...

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Iran has provided drones to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to opposition forces speaking to CNN. Syrian government troops have reportedly turned the unmanned aircraft against Syrian civilians and rebel forces. The reports come in the aftermath of intelligence reports published in September that documented how “planes...

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