BEIRUT (Reuters) – The most feared and effective rebel group battling President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond overthrowing the Syrian leader.

Al Qaeda’s Iraq-based wing, which nurtured Nusra in the early stages of the rebellion against Assad, has moved in and sidelined the organization, Nusra sources and other rebels say.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front have counter-attacked east of Damascus to retake a town that served as a conduit for arms from Jordan into the capital before it was seized by government forces last month, rebel sources said.

The rebels’ struggle to end four decades of Assad family rule has been complicated in part by internal divisions along ideological and political lines, as well as a shortage of heavy weaponry that could decisively turn the tide of conflict.

DOHA/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Qatar, which has taken a lead in arming the Syrian opposition, is coordinating with the CIA and has tightened control of the arms flow to keep weapons out of the hands of al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters, according to rebels and officials familiar with the operation.

With Britain and France discussing lifting an EU ban on arming the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, Western countries are concerned about making sure no arms end up in the hands of groups like Jabhat al-Nusra, which has pledged support for al Qaeda and which Washington considers a terrorist group.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – In Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zor, a network of tribes and smugglers has exploited the chaos of war to create an illicit oil trade that makes European hopes of buying crude from President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents a distant prospect.

Powerful Sunni Muslim tribes have deployed armed fighters around oil production facilities and pipelines that have fallen under their control and set up smuggling and trade deals, according to sources in the province including rebels, an oil company employee and people with ties to the tribes.

BEIRUT, May 10 (Reuters) – In Syria’s eastern province of
Deir al-Zor, a network of tribes and smugglers has exploited the
chaos of war to create an illicit oil trade that makes European
hopes of buying crude from President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents
a distant prospect.

Powerful Sunni Muslim tribes have deployed armed fighters
around oil production facilities and pipelines that have fallen
under their control and set up smuggling and trade deals,
according to sources in the province including rebels, an oil
company employee and people with ties to the tribes.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized a strategic town east of Damascus on Wednesday, breaking a critical weapons supply route for the rebels, activists and fighters said.

Rebels have held several suburbs ringing the southern and eastern parts Damascus for months, but they have been struggling to maintain their positions against a ground offensive backed by fierce army shelling and air strikes in recent weeks.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Syria’s opposition outlined its vision for an era after President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, rejecting “all forms of terrorism” and vowing to keep weapons out of the “wrong hands” in a nod to the demands of its Western backers.

After six hours of meetings in a palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, the declaration by the main opposition Syrian National Coalition was welcomed by allies including the United States and Britain.

ISTANBUL, April 20 (Reuters) – Syrian opposition figures
voiced frustration with their international backers on Saturday
in the face of reluctance from some to supply the rebels with
weapons and a call for them to distance themselves from
extremist forces.

Speaking at a meeting of the Friends of Syria in Istanbul,
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Germany was
sceptical about supplying weapons to the rebels but said the
subject should be discussed by the European Union.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s opposition says it hopes their international backers meeting in Istanbul on Saturday will give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel groups is the best way to end the dynastic rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The 11-nation “core group” of the Friends of Syria, including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been deadlocked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011.

BEIRUT, April 19 (Reuters) – Syria’s opposition says it
hopes their international backers meeting in Istanbul on
Saturday will give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel
groups is the best way to end the dynastic rule of President
Bashar al-Assad.

The 11-nation “core group” of the Friends of Syria,
including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been
deadlocked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces
killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the
streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011.