Advocates of robust American action in Syria to help remove Bashar al-Assad from power have typically made two arguments. One is the humanitarian case, urging the Obama administration to prevent further bloodshed in what is now turning into a campaign of sectarian cleansing against Syria’s Sunni Arab majority. The other is the strategic case, which argues that by bringing down Assad the White House can set back the Iran-led resistance bloc. But now it’s clear there’s a third rationale for America to help get rid of Assad as quickly as possible: The Assad regime is closely allied with al Qaeda.

In an interview in the Sunday Telegraph, the most recent defector from Assad’s regime explains how Syrian security services use al Qaeda to advance regime interests. Nawaf Fares, formerly the Syrian ambassador to Iraq, contends that the regime was behind the May al Qaeda attacks outside a military intelligence building in the al-Qazzaz suburb of Damascus, which killed 55 people and injured 370.