AL-QAIDA’S Syrian branch turned on its Western-backed allies yesterday — just as a peace deal with other factions was being signed in Kazakhstan.

The Levant Conquest Front (LCF) moved against fellow Salafist extremists Ahrar as-Sham and the Army of Mojahedin — a major faction of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).

LCF — a rebranding of the UN-proscribed Nusra Front — seized or besieged towns and villages held by its erstwhile friends across occupied Idlib province and western areas of neighbouring Aleppo province.