Al-Qaida breaks with Syria group in mounting feud

Al-Qaida breaks with Syria group in mounting feud

Al-Qaida breaks with Syria group in mounting feud

CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida’s central leadership broke with one of its most powerful branch commanders, who in defiance of its orders spread his operations from Iraq to join the fighting in Syria and fueled bitter infighting among Islamic militant factions in Syria’s civil war. The break, announced in a statement Monday, appeared to be an attempt by the terror network’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, to establish control over the feuding militant groups in Syria and stem the increasingly bloody reprisals among them.