Syrian Rebels Burn Pot Field

A clue as to who is fighting against Assad

This is a video, posted on Monday to Facebook, of one of Syria's stronger rebel factions setting a marijuana field ablaze. The incineration of the weed underscores a basic problem for the U.S.'s approach to Syria's bloody civil war.

No, not because the U.S. suddenly decriminalized marijuana. It's because the Farouq Brigades, generally considered a competent and media-savvy rebel militia, is promoting its willingness to destroy a drug crop. That's an action usually identified more with Islamic militant groups than secular ones. And it goes to show how little the U.S. still knows about the Syrian opposition, even as Washington debates directly arming the rebels.