From a reader: "Charles Lister for the Brookins institute is explaining that Al Qaeda/Nusra is “asserting it's control” and “implementing Sharia law” – “almost certainly” – because the Americans are arming the “moderates” (however they might be). And all this time we thought that Al Qaeda was expanding in Syria because the Americans *were not* arming the “moderates”…
“This assertion of control — and also increased implementation of Sharia law — is almost certainly a reaction to an increasingly evident expansion in the level of lethal and relatively sophisticated military assistance being provided to moderate rebels by the U.S.-led Military Operations Center (MOC), based across Idlib’s border in Hatay. While this assistance is nothing new — having begun in late 2013 — the very fact that it has continued and indeed expanded over a period of nine months is a cause for concern for the Al-Qaeda affiliate.”"
“This assertion of control — and also increased implementation of Sharia law — is almost certainly a reaction to an increasingly evident expansion in the level of lethal and relatively sophisticated military assistance being provided to moderate rebels by the U.S.-led Military Operations Center (MOC), based across Idlib’s border in Hatay. While this assistance is nothing new — having begun in late 2013 — the very fact that it has continued and indeed expanded over a period of nine months is a cause for concern for the Al-Qaeda affiliate.”"
