Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Al Qaida has resumed its offensive against Western-backed rebels in Syria.

An Al Qaida militia, deploying surface-to-air missiles, has launched an offensive along the Syrian border with Turkey.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was reported to have captured the Syrian town of Atma after expelling a unit of the Free Syrian Army.

“There was not much of a fight,” a witness said.

Opposition sources said ISIL was being supplied from Islamists in Turkey. They said Al Qaida captured the head of the FSA-aligned Suqur Al Islam, identified as Mustafa Waddah.

The ISIL capture of Atma, deemed a hub for rebel fighters and supplies, on Nov. 21 was said to have represented the latest offensive by Al Qaida in
northern Syria. Atma contains thousands of Syrians who fled fighting in other border areas.

Suqur Al Islam has broken away from other FSA units in a battle for
weapons. In late mid-November, Suqur seized seven trucks laden with arms
sent by the FSA’s Syrian Military Command.

On Nov. 22, seven rebel units declared a merger called the Islamic
Front. The units were identified as the Liwa Al Tawhid, Ahrar Al Sham, Suqur
Al Sham, Al Haq Brigades, Ansar Al Sham, Army of Islam, and the Kurdish
Islamic Front.

The commander of the Islamic Front has been identified as Zahran Aloush.
In a statement, the front named Hassan Aboud the political director, with
Ahmed Issa Al Sheik as head of the Shura Council. Al Sheik was also said to
be the new commander of Liwa Al Tawhid.

“This [Islamic Front] will be an independent, political, military and
social formation,” the front said.

  Al Qaida militia retakes town near Turkish border from Free Syrian Army, Atma, Free Syrian Army, Islamic Front, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Suqur Al Islam