Some members of the U.S.-trained Syrian rebel group called Division 30 told American news website McClatchy that Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) orchestrated Al-Nusra attacks against the group last month, despite the existence of mounting reports to the contrary. The rebels allege that Turkey tipped the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front to abduct a number of Syrian rebels, including its Turkmen leader Colonel Nedim Hasan, and kill some of the 54 graduates of the Pentagon program on July 29, which was co-organized with Turkey. A senior Turkish intelligence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, vehemently denied the rebel allegations and said that claims were "completely baseless and part of the psychological operation targeting Turkey." The source said that Turkish Foreign Ministry's silence over the issue was natural, since the claims were adressed to Turkish Intelligence. "Turkey and United States are allies and work together to bring stability to the Syrian territory" he added. A government official also conveyed the same sentiment and said that the timing of the report was interesting, "Turkey and United States just reached an agreement to support Syrian rebels. This story seems like a part of a campaign against Turkey in the midst of this deal." Only the Americans and the Turks knew about the plans for the train-and-equip fighters to enter Syria, said a Division 30 officer. "We have sources who tell us the Turks warned Nusra that they would be targeted by this group."However, in contrast to unnamed rebels' claims, both Turkish and American news sources had reported about the U.S.-trained rebels' transfer to Syria well before the Nusra Front attacks. Rebel movement on the ground was not a secret for the observers. Al-Jazeera Turk reported two weeks before the Nusra attacks that 54 members of the newly trained Syrian rebels crossed the Syrian border from the Turkish town of Kilis at the Öncüpınar border gate on July 12 with 30 pickup trucks. The report included a picture of the rebel convoy, detailed their weaponry and also said the convoy was waiting west of Azaz in Malikiyah. Anonymous sources said the rebel group would be placed on the Sawran Front against ISIS forces. Another news report appeared in the Washington Post on July 15 that said the first contingent of U.S.-trained Free Syrian Army (FSA) members crossed the Syrian border from the training facility in Jordan back into Syria this week, citing a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity. The article also hyperlinked to "unverified pictures" on Twitter showing a convoy of new-looking Toyota pickups carrying American-made heavy weapons that match the picture published by Al-Jazeera. These reports did not stop the rebel spokesman from blaming Turkey or the U.S. of collaborating with al-Nusra Front. Division 30 spokesman Capt. Ammar al-Wavi still insisted that "only people aware of the trainees' plans to enter Syria were Turkish and American staffers" at a joint command center in Gaziantep. He said his comrades were taken by al-Nusra militants "within 10 minutes" and he knows that "someone aligned with al-Nusra informed" on their presence in Syria. This part of the story also raises some legitimate questions. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told McClatchy that Colonel Hasan and his men appear to have been seized from outside the Syrian city of Azaz, where their headquarters is located, after a lunch meeting with other rebels. Agence France-Presse (AFP), again referencing the same nongovernmental organization, said the men were abducted while returning from a meeting in Azaz to coordinate efforts with other factions. These reports hint that other rebel factions also knew that Hasan and his men were in Azaz before the attack. Other than unsubstantiated claims, these abductions underline that American intelligence failed to asses al-Nusra Front's intentions concerning the newly trained Syrian rebel groups. U.S. airstrikes also could not prevent the abduction. Several current and former senior administration officials told The New York Times last month that the Nusra attack took American officials "by surprise." "This wasn't supposed to happen like this," said one former senior American official. A senior Pentagon official accepted that the threat to rebels had been misjudged and officials were trying to understand why al-Nusra Front had turned on the trainees. The U.S. and Turkey signed an agreement in February to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition forces, and after months of delay due to logistical issues, the program started in Kırşehir in May. The program was to take place in Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but so far it has taken place in Turkey and Jordan only.According to the agreement, groups of 300 to 2,000 FSA soldiers were planned to be trained, but only 54 have been so far. Pentagon officials recently reported the program is moving slower than expected due to complications in vetting volunteers and transporting them from Syria for training. Moreover, Turkish media outlets recently reported that dozens of moderate opposition fighters have withdrawn from the program after they refused to sign a contract assuring that they would not fight against the Syrian regime. Many Syrian volunteers prefer to use their training to fight both ISIS and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, which was the original aim of the revolution before it got complicated.