The United States accused the Iran-backed regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of assisting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) by conducting air strikes against anti-Assad rebels battling ISIS, Reuters reported today.

Islamic State fighters pushed back rival insurgents north of Aleppo on Sunday near the Turkish border, threatening their supply route to the city, fighters and a group monitoring the war said. …

“Reports indicate that the regime is making air strikes in support of ISIL’s advance on Aleppo, aiding extremists against Syrian population,” a post on the U.S. Embassy Syria Twitter account said late on Monday, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Charges of cooperation between Syria and ISIS are not new. Reports last year in British and Lebanese media charged that Assad had longstanding ties to ISIS and its predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq. There is also evidence that Iran supports ISIS.

Former U.S. Army intelligence officer Michael Pregent has observed that “Iran needs the threat of ISIS and Sunni jihadist groups to stay in Syria and Iraq in order to become further entrenched in Damascus and Baghdad.”

[Photo: wochit News / YouTube ]