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. This was no break from al Qaeda, but rather the execution of a deliberate global strategy on behalf of the movement.
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A six-and-a-half-minute audio message attributed to Zawahiri, he said that Nusra should split from al-Qaeda if the decision improved the unity of groups fighting a common enemy in Syria.
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. That way, it has an easier time recruiting people whose primary goal is ousting Assad, and it has a better hope at avoiding USA airstrikes that target terrorist groups.
The Syrian jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front, has announced that it has split from al-Qaeda. Observers with sources in Syria said his real name was Ahmad Hussein al-Shar’a, born in 1984 in Daraa, southern Syria.
“Whether or not they are actually separating from Al Qaeda – that remains to be seen”, Clapper said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Al-Qaeda prepared the ground for the announcement earlier yesterday in an online message urging the affiliate to sever ties to “protects the jihad of the Syrian people”.
Nusra, for example, has been seeking an alliance with the powerful hardline Islamist rebel faction Ahrar al-Sham. A man sitting next to Nusra’s leader during his statement is believed to be a longtime Al-Qaeda operative.
But, as terrorism expert Thomas Joscelyn pointed out on Twitter, the language of Jolani’s announcement is very careful.
But that would be more hard if Nusra becomes even closer to other rebels.
Nusra is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and United Nations. “And there continues to be increasing concern about Nusra Fronts’ growing capacity for external operations that could threaten both United States and Europe”.
The intervention by Osama bin Laden’s successor in an internal strategic debate among al-Nusra leaders that has waxed and waned for more than two years comes as the Assad regime offered unarmed rebels in besieged parts of Aleppo an escape route.
Kyle Orton, a Syria expert and analyst for the Henry Jackson Society said of the release of Al-Jolani’s picture: “By finally showing the face of its leader, Al-Qaeda has emphasised to the population that it is a local, accessible force that is “one of them”. It was reported by state-run news agency SANA.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani appeared in camera for the first time to announce his group’s name has also changed to Jabhat Fath al Sham, or The Front for liberation of al Sham.
Indeed, perhaps the core audience for this rebranding exercise are other groups in Syria.
The Nusra Front was created in January 2012 and emerged as one of the strongest groups fighting against the forces of Assad and his allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
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Meanwhile, president of the Syrian National Coalition Anas Al-Abdah described what was happening in Aleppo after the regime of Bashar Assad took control of it as “a war crime, a genocide and a forced displacement”.
