Buried at the end of this Al Jazeera story on tensions between the Free Syrian Army and an al Qaeda affiliate, a leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed that the FSA is selling weapons to the terror group:

And we asked its vali [wali] – or governor of Allepo province, Abu Atheer – why some accuse them of trying to weaken Syrian opposition groups by taking control over border villages. He didn’t want to be filmed. But he told us: if we wanted to cut the supply lines it is easier for us to take the warehouses of the FSA. Anyhow we are buying weapons from the FSA. we bought 200 anti-aircraft missiles and Koncourse anti tank weapons. We have good relations with our brothers in the FSA. For us, the infidels are those who cooperate with the West to fight Islam. If confirmed, purchasing weapons from the Free Syria Army won’t be good news for the West. It is men like these the West doesn’t want to arm and it has urged the FSA to retake areas under their control. It could be a recipe for yet another war within a war that will decide the new face of Syria.

The US government believes it can vet the Free Syrian Army and distribute weapons to trusted groups. How the Obama administration believes it can do this when it doesn’t have a significant presence in Syria defies explanation.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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