Yet again, the US and Al-Qa`idah are on the same side

"Although the United States and the Sunni jihadists share a common enemy — the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite sect represents an off-shoot of Shiite Islam — they have starkly different motivations." "That, Hassan hastened to add, "is not a reason for Americans to be afraid." Unlike in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said, the United States and the jihadi fighters are on the same side in this war."