ANKARA/BEIRUT The lower Qaeda-linked Nusra Front has kidnapped one of causing United states.S.-backed defy group in east Syria, hostile providers plus a control group said, in a blow to Washington’s makes to educate and cover opponents to overcome Islamic State.
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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a Turkey-based Syrian activist said Thursday that Col. Nadim al-Hassan, who heads a brigade known as “Division 30”, was picked up near the border town of Azaz along with the other six.
He also confirmed that the eight fighters were part of a group of 54 rebels that entered Syria from Turkey around two weeks ago after receiving training there.
The program trains and equips Syrian fighters to combat the hardline Islamic State group.
A statement issued in the name of “Division 30” accused the Nusra Front of being behind the abduction.
A representative of “Division 30” said reports that the group was Western-backed were likely the reason behind the kidnapping.
Syrian opposition sources say members of Division 30 have been trained under the US-led train and equip programme launched in May.
It was also instrumental in the demise of the U.S.-backed Hazzm Movement, which collapsed earlier this year after clashing with the Nusra Front in the northwest.
On Wednesday, Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) targeted headquarters of al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda branch in Syria) with a auto bomb attack in the northern countryside of Aleppo, pro-Nusra sources reported.
The Pentagon had seen the reports but had no information to provide, spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith said.
The kidnapping of the U.S. moderate rebels could put a major dent in the plan to create a safe zone in Syria, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said could pave the way for millions of refugees to return home.
This unit was allegedly going to take a “central role” in “sweeping Islamic State fighters” from northern Syria, while an entirely different CIA program was training a “larger group of fighters” to take out Assad.
The incident came days after the U.S. and Turkey announced the outlines of a deal to help rebels push IS back from the Syrian-Turkish border.
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Pentagon officials say 1,500 volunteers are waiting for the completion of a vetting process to join train-and-equip.
