"One [rebel] bluntly, and smilingly,
told me last month: "Of course we're all al Qaida." That relationship was
formalized this week when the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq released a
video announcing that the two groups would drop the pretense of being separate
and operate under a single name, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On
Wednesday, the al Qaida connection was completed when the head of Nusra pledged
allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri, the man who replaced Osama bin Laden at the top
of the terrorist group. The chain of events comes at a time when the Saudi,
Qatari, Turkish and Jordanian governments, with support from the U.S., have
increased weapons shipments to the rebels. Those weapons have also reached
Nusra, which also is getting a steady flow of non-Syrians across the Turkish
border to fight. Turkey has made no steps to stop that traffic."