What if al Qaeda Gets Syrian Chemical Weapons? -- Michael Crowley, Time
Even in light of recent evidence that Syria‘s embattled ruler, Bashar al-Assad, might have used nerve gas against his own people, Barack Obama seems reluctant to escalate American involvement in Syria’s brutal civil war. But another scenario involving chemical weapons could force Obama into the deeper engagement he has long resisted: the alarming prospect that radical Islamists could acquire Syrian chemical weapons and try to use them beyond Syria’s borders, perhaps even within the United States.
“I think we should be worried,” says Jeffrey White an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former military intelligence officer. “As the war progresses and the rebels gain territory, assuming they do, inevitably they’re going to close in on some of the regime’s chemical facilities.” In fact, that has already happened. Earlier this year, rebel fighters with the powerful Jabat al Nusra faction–a group the State Department calls an extension of al Qaeda in Iraq–battled close enough to a major Syrian chemical stockpile near Aleppo that the regime is believed to have relocated its weapons to another location.
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More News On Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda's track record with chemical weapons -- CNN
Tunisia hunts al Qaeda-linked militants near Algeria -- Reuters
Tunisia links two wanted jihadist groups to Qaeda -- Ahram Online/AFP
Syria group 'pledges allegiance' to al-Qaeda -- Al Jazeera
Arming rebels in Syria could help Al Qaeda, King says -- Politico
Top Israeli Official Warns of Al-Qaeda in Syria -- Algemeiner
Remove the UN arms embargo or we cannot defeat al-Qaeda, says Somalia -- The Telegraph
Hollande says France taking AQIM threat seriously after video -- Reuters
Al-Qaeda in North Africa urges attacks on French interests -- Ahram Online/AFP
Qaeda in North Africa urges hits on French interests -- Global Post/AFP
A Homemade Style of Terror: Jihadists Push New Tactics -- New York Times
Al Qaeda magazine found on laptop of bomber's widow: Suspicion over FBI Tsarnaev's wife grows after radical Islamist files found along with traces of explosive residue throughout her home -- Daily Mail
Drone Strikes Are Winning War in Yemen -- for Al-Qaeda -- Bloomberg editorial
Al Qaeda is still the West's nightmare -- The National
Terror threat from Gitmo prisoners is exaggerated -- Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Bailey Cahall, Special to CNN
