As I’ve pointed out in the past, Al Qaeda and their affiliates often join and support good popular causes in the Middle East - it’s part of how they operate. It’s for essentially the same reasons that HAMAS runs ‘charities.” They gain recruits and momentum by joining popular causes and trying to suborn them and the people leading them to their evil ends. It’s a front for their efforts to destabilize.

It’s a new day in Islam however, and after 11 years of watching as Al Qaeda and their affiliates murdered more Muslims than anyone else, the people of Syria probably have a wary eye on this ally of convenience.