US Allies in Syria Are Now Fighting Each Other; One Group Is Backed by CIA, Other by Pentagon

In the deepening morass that is the Syrian Civil War -- which includes a multitude of combating forces --  United States-backed insurgents have recently begun waging war with a new foe: other United States-backed insurgents, The New American website reports today (March 30, 2016).

Not surprisingly -- given the complexity of the situation on the ground -- two entirely different groups of insurgents, backed by different factions within the U.S. military establishment for entirely different motives, have been shooting at each other in the increasingly desperate, multi-sided battle unfolding to the north of Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo.

The two Syrian factions -- Fursan al-Haq (Knights of Righteousness) and the Syrian Democratic Forces -- clashed first in the town of Marea, about 20 miles north of Aleppo, in mid-February, with the latter running the former out of town.

Over the next several weeks, similar clashes occurred in the town of Azaz and in the Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsud. Fursan al-Haq is supported by the CIA, and the Syrian Democratic Forces are supported by the Pentagon.