ISTANBUL -- The first Syrian rebel group to receive U.S. heavy weapons officially dissolved over the weekend after losing hundreds of men in back-to-back battles against Jabhat al-Nusra, the al Qaeda offshoot in Syria, officials from the group told International Business Times. The disintegration of Harakat Hazzm marks a turning point for the fight to control the surroundings of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city and economic center. The area, once controlled by what the U.S. considered moderate rebels who could be trusted and armed to fight President Bashar Assad, is now dominated by Sunni Muslim extremists.

Harakat Hazzm, the first Syrian rebel group to receive long-range TOW missiles from the U.S., fought in the northern countryside outside Aleppo. Some rebels defected, with their U.S.-supplied anti-tank missiles and personal weapons, to more extremist groups fighting in the area, while others folded into the Levant Front -- a combination of multiple rebel groups, some with connections to al-Nusra.

The breakdown of moderate forces in northern Syria and the rise of extremist groups is making it more difficult for the U.S. to pinpoint reliable allies in the region to support.

In the spring of 2013 the U.S. selected groups of rebels fighting within the Free Syrian Army, first through a classified CIA-led program, which was formally announced in August 2013. The program allowed for the transfer of U.S.-made weapons to Turkey via other countries’ aircraft. The weapons were then driven into Syria by truck. The program was partially funded by Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Sunni states. http://www.ibtimes.com