US military equipment and ammunition, sent to Syria as part of a failed effort to arm “moderate” forces to battle Daesh, were instead handed over to an al-Qaeda group in the country, according to a report.
“I communicated with al-Qaeda’s branch, Al Nusra, to protect and safely escort me and my soldiers for two hours from North Aleppo to West Aleppo,” Maj. Anas Ibrahim Obaid, who said he brokered the deal, told Fox News from his home in the western Aleppo area.
“In exchange, I gave them five pickup trucks and ammunition,” said the man, who is better known on the battlefield as Abu Zayd.
The US issued those trucks and ammo to him in 2015 under the administration of former President Barack Obama, as part of a $500 million program to “train and equip” a new “ideologically moderate” force to fight Daesh terrorists.
Zayd said the program, one of at least two designed to funnel arms to rebel groups in Syria, was rigged with…