Al-Qaeda and West in cahoots in Syria?

Al-Qaeda’s presence in Syria is bringing tensions to boiling point in the tumultuous country, given their interests coincide with those of the West, this could lead to a marriage of convenience for the seemingly opposing forces.

Amid renewed Arab league talks about finding a solution to the increasingly escalating situation in Syria, Iraqi intelligence reports of Al-Qaeda entering the fray, moving into Syria from Iraq.

The current leader, of al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahri has called upon his followers to back the opposition and bring down Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The West is currently looking to offer all the support it can to Assad’s foes with a view to further isolating him, and with Al-Qaeda now present in the region, this could mean supporting a supposed enemy in the War on Terror.

Journalist and author Afshin Rattansi told RT that Al-Qaeda’s presence was indicative of alliance between the West and Al-Qaeda. He said the US had used the presence of Al-Qaeda militants to suit its own ends before in both Libya and in Afghanistan.

“Once again, the US and European Union states as usual supporting Al-Qaeda as they did in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. Will they never learn?”

He suggested their embroilment in the conflict betrays the US’s real motivations in the conflict, describing them as not “protecting the interests of the US citizens nor European leaders.”  Many see the West’s moves towards military intervention in Syria as a move to assert “hegemonic power” in the region.

Rattansi says the situation for US is rather precarious as that military intervention would result in “widespread disaster in the Middle East and blow-back for the United States”.

“Al-Qaeda must be thinking ‘Well we’ll work with the US yet again and who knows, in a couple of years time another 9/11 and America will learn again what Al-Qaeda and what Sunni extremism and Salafism means.’”