Syrian Rebels trying to get international help for their cause of overthrowing the regime of Bashar al-Assad suffered a big setback when al Qaeda announced an alliance with one of the rebel factions.

The announcement came in the form of an audio recording released to jihadist websites, in which the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed the merger with Jabhat al-Nusra.

The head of al-Nusra then complicated matters with his own announcement claimed it wasn't merging with al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, but instead was pledging its allegiance to al Qaeda's overall leadership.  Which is worse.

That forced the rest of the rebels to quickly distance themselves from Al-Nusra.  But it’s also a major problem for any foreign entity thinking about supporting the rebels, because now they know the most-effective fighters are not fighting for a free Syria, but for the establishment of an ultra-fundamentalist state.

Meanwhile, The United Nations has hit a brick hall trying to get the Assad regime to allow international weapons inspectors to investigate the alleged chemical attack in Aleppo in March.  The government and rebels accused each other.