ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Al-Qaeda's Syrian-based affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra once again targeted a US-backed opposition group in Syria and stole their weapons, which included US-made anti-tank missiles. The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group, Rami Abdulrahman, told Reuters on Sunday that Nusra fought the US backed 13th Division rebel group in the country's northwest, detained scores of them and stole their weapons. The 13th Division is one of the few opposition groups in Syria to have been directly supplied US-made weaponry (the other notable one would be the Free Syrian Army-affiliated Southern Front whose members have received US training in Jordan and have also been given weapons), including TOW anti-tank missiles which Nusra has reportedly stolen. It fights under the flag of the Free Syrian Army which is considered one of the more moderate groups arrayed against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It admitted on its Twitter page that Nusra had attacked their bases and stolen their weapons but did not elaborate or provide specific details. Nusra has fought alongside other armed groups against the regime (including the Jaish al-Fatah group which successfully conquered most of Idlib last year) but has also fought other anti-Assad groups in order to seize more territory for itself. While a ceasefire has been in place in Syria since February 27 it hasn't included Nusra nor Islamic State.
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