US Edition 
Former US soldier turned Syrian rebel
A former US soldier has taken up arms with the most notorious of Syria's rebel groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, said to be an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Eric Harroun, 30, previously fought with other groups for the Free Syrian Army and claims to have killed several Syrian soldiers and an Iranian.
"I was separated in a battle and most of my group was K.I.A. (killed in action) and al-Nusra picked me up," Mr Harroun said in an interview with Fox News.
"Getting into al-Nusra is not rocket science," he said. "It just takes balls and brains." The former soldier served in the US army from 2000 to 2003, but was never deployed. He was then invalided out after suffering head injuries in a car accident.
His father, Darryl Harroun, suggested he might be suffering mental health issues. "He was already suffering from depression before that, and the accident just kind of multiplied it," he said.
He converted to Islam after becoming friends with two Iraqis living in the United States.
He came to Syria after participating in the Tahrir protests in Cairo in 2011 and then travelling extensively in the Middle East. He is now believed to have left for Turkey after he came to the attention of the regime, who accused him of being a spy.
In one video, he is seen delivering a personal message to President Bashar al-Assad, saying: "Your days are numbered. You're going down in flames. You should just quit now while you can, and leave. You're going to die no matter what." The video is posted on Mr Harroun's Facebook profile, which displays several images of him posing with rocket launchers and machine guns in combat fatigues.