BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s ragtag rebel groups and insurgents trying to oust President Bashar Assad have turned their guns on each other in some of the worst infighting yet, with al-Qaida-linked fighters battling other factions in a split between supporters and opponents of the Russian-led push for a new peace process for the war-torn country.
The clashes – mainly in opposition-held areas in northern Syria – have led to the formation of two new coalitions but have also raised the specter of more fractures among rebel factions, already struggling to recover from their December loss of the eastern half of the city of Aleppo to Assad’s forces.