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Bashar Assad

New developments indicate Syria is becoming a venue for renewed support for jihadists, suggesting that efforts by the Obama administration over the past seven months to wean the regime of President Bashar Assad from Iran and its support

for Sunni jihadists may be sputtering, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Even as it shows favor toward Iran, Syria is giving support to the Sunni Salafi-Jihadi movement in Iraq by allowing members to launch renewed attacks from Syria into Iraq.

Assad is from the Alawite tribe, a minority party linked more closely to the Shiites, even though the population of Syria is predominantly Sunni.

One indication of the Syrian shift in approach is that a senior al-Qaida leader has moved to Syria to command renewed terrorist attacks in Iraq as the U.S. winds down operations there, according to security experts.

Since June, Issa Al Masri has been based in Damascus from where he is reorganizing al-Qaida operations in Iraq. He is credited with planning some of the most recent and deadly attacks in Iraq that in August alone killed more than 90 Iraqis.

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Al Masri, also known as Abu Amr Abdul Hakim, had been in Iran since earlier this year. According to security experts, al-Qaida cooperates with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. These experts add that Al Masri also is close to Abu Khalaf, a senior al-Qaida operative, who has revived the al-Qaida in Iraq operation in eastern Syria to launch attacks into Iraq.

The development has experts concerned that al-Qaida is seeking safe haven in Syria following attacks in Iraq, much as al-Qaida and the Taliban seek refuge and regroup in Pakistan after staging attacks in Afghanistan against U.S. and NATO forces.

"Last week's battery of negotiations and bombings, as well as the charge of diplomatic distrust it generated, shows just how explosive and uncertain engaging Damascus over Iraqi border security really is," said Andrew J. Tabler of the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy.

"The only way to truly 'solve' this issue would be for Damascus to publicly disavow the al-Qaida facilitators within its country and expel the Iraqi Baathists who support them from its soil," he said. "Last week's deadly blasts in Iraq clearly show Damascus is unwilling to take such a step."

Perhaps in response to these developments, the Obama administration has extended sanctions against Syria for another year despite its attempts to engage Syrian officials and drive a wedge between Syria and Iran.

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