Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared on a video Sunday entitled, "Onward, Lions of Syria," condemning the "anti-Islam" al-Assad regime and calling on Muslims to join the uprising. He extolled pon followers to rely not upon the West, the Arab League and Turkey for protection, but instead "on Allah alone and then on your sacrifices, resistance, and steadfastness."
Bashar al-Assad claimed AQ's involvement in the uprising from the early days, while opposition forces asserted his allegations were an excuse to crack down and slow Western opposition to his methods of repression.
According to various jihadi websites, foreign supporters of AQ have already joined--and died for--the opposition.
The video was released the day after Western officials told McClatchy Iraqi AQ was behind a double suicide bombing in Damascus last Friday that targeted Syrian security forces and killed at least 28 people.
This isn't entirely surprising, since AQ hates Shi'ites and al-Assad's Alawaite sect is viewed as a branch if Shi'ism. It will be interesting to see how the United States and its allies react to AQ forces moving into Syria to fight the regime. Is it possible to fight on the same side? If not, it may not be a great thing for the Syrian opposition if the West begins to get queazy about involvement in the war. It will definitely make policymakers (here's looking at you, Khalilzad and Lieberman) think twice about arming the opposition.
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