Syria rebels warn they will turn to Qaeda if West fails them

DHAKA: With the West still refusing to arm Syria`s opposition in the bloody fight against the regime, rebels in the flashpoint northern city of Aleppo warn that they could turn to Al-Qaeda for help.

‘We don’t want Al-Qaeda here, but if nobody else helps us, we will make an alliance with them,’ said Abu Ammar, a rebel commander in the central Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo, scene of raging battles for almost a month.

‘And you can bet if Al-Qaeda comes here, they will brainwash the people,’ he said.

‘If Al-Qaeda enters Aleppo, the city will become their base within three months.’

Syria’s opposition has frequently called on a divided and deadlocked international community to act to halt President Bashar al-Assad’s campaign of repression against a peaceful uprising that is now an armed insurgency.

It is pushing for the establishment of a no-fly zone similar to the one the United Nations authorised for Libya last year, or the channelling of weapons to the poorly equipped rebel Free Syrian Army.

But the FSA remains massively outweighed by the regular army.

BDST: 1535 HRS, AUG 16, 2012

Edited by Robab Rosan, Cultural Affairs Editor