The US had spent over a year training a specialist group of Syrian rebels to fight against ISIS on the ground. “With all the immense military power the US has at its disposal, the start to the mission is nothing short of an embarrassment and if it has any hope of succeeding, it needs to show results fast,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center and an expert on Syrian insurgent groups. But it was not until last week that they were officially designated as part of an international coalition fighting ISIS. No sooner than it had started its mission than a local al-Qaida affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, kidnapped seven of its members, including the commanding officer. The rest of the division have now decided that they will not fight against al-Nusra and that they are against US attacking al-Qaida groups in Syria.
The US had spent over a year training a specialist group of Syrian rebels to fight against ISIS on the ground. But it was not until last week that they were officially designated as part of an international coalition fighting ISIS. No sooner than it had started its mission than a local al-Qaida affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, kidnapped seven of its members, including the commanding officer. The rest of the division have now decided that they will not fight against al-Nusra and that they are against US attacking al-Qaida groups in Syria.