In a statement issued yesterday, 13 Syrian rebel groups, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusrah Front, agreed to create an Islamist opposition force in Syria to be run only by groups fighting in Syria, rejecting the Syrian National Coalition and other groups “formed abroad.” The new coalition of powerful Islamist groups also includes members of the Free Syrian Army. The US-backed Free Syrian Army has not responded to the announcement. Kurdish YPG forces clashed with fighters from Al Nusrah, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and rebel groups in Hasakah, and in Raqqah; and with ISIL fighters in Aleppo. UN weapons inspectors returned to Syria to investigate a chemical weapons claim from March.
