Reuters news agency quotes him as saying the the move was necessary “to remove the excuse used by the worldwide community – spearheaded by America and Russian Federation – to bombard and displace Muslims in the Levant: that they are targeting the Nusra Front which is associated with al-Qaeda”.
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An analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, says “al-Qaida is stealthier than the Islamic State”. “This was done not only with permission, but under Al-Qaeda’s guidance”, said a researcher in Washington, DC, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The United States, which considers Nusra a terrorist organization, immediately expressed its skepticism. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday the US continues to assess that Nusra leaders intend to attack the West and said the U.S.-led military campaign is focused on a number of extremist groups, including Nusra and the Islamic State group.
U.N. Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura also warned, “the clock is ticking for the Aleppo population”.
FILE – This photo posted on the Twitter page of Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front on April 1, 2016, shows fighters from al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, marching toward the northern village of al-Ais in Aleppo province, Syria.
Nusra’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, said in a video announcement that the Front no longer had any ties to an outside group, meaning it is formally no longer a branch.
“The threat of external intervention against Jabhat al-Nusra has… sparked an intense internal debate within the group’s senior leadership regarding the overt nature of its relationship to al-Qaida”.
Nusra also renamed itself. The Al-Nusra Front – which is expected to announce its break from Al-Qaeda – is a jihadist group allied with rebels fighting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
“It will still oppose the most moderate of opposition groups in Syria”.
Al-Qaeda appear to have sanctioned the move with their leader Ayman al-Zawahri, giving Nusra his blessings. In its stead would rise a new faction: the Front for the Conquest of Syria.
But it also has strong terrorism ties, and experts believe that the group is playing a long game to outlive ISIS and eventually take over Syria to create an Islamic emirate.
Russian diplomats specifically noted that Mohamad Golani had thanked Al Qaeda for understanding the necessity for breaking away and asked it for instructions on how to carry out jihad in the new conditions.
Since September 2015, it has mainly been a target of air strikes by Russia, Assad’s main ally. Nusra’s purported break with al-Qaida could ease its reluctance.
The U.S. and Russian Federation are trying to hammer out an agreement on a new military partnership in Syria.
Al Nusra counts 7,000 to 8,000 fighters, according to Thomas Pierret, a Syria specialist at the University of Edinburgh. But the efforts have had little success, given Nusra’s prowess on the battlefield. Those complexities are lessened by Nusra’s public announcement, however.
The rights group said it had documented 47 cluster munitions attacks, which killed or wounded dozens of civilians in opposition-controlled territory in the last two months. The U.S.is exploring a possible partnership with Moscow against Jabhat al Nusra, moreover.
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Leaflets have been air-dropped on rebel-held parts of Aleppo since Wednesday, telling civilians they would be given safe passage out and providing maps to exit routes.
