Just hours after al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri gave his blessing for the severing of formal ties, al-Jolani said Jabhat al-Nusra would change its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
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The announcement praises both al Qaeda and Usama bin Laden and states that the newly-branded organisation remains committed to jihad and indeed seeks to unify the jihadist groups in Syria (presumably under its own leadership).
Ahmed Hassan Abu al-Khayr, al-Qaida’s second in command, said it instructed “the leadership of the Nusra Front to go ahead with what protects the interests of Islam and Muslims and what protects jihad” in Syria.
In a recording aired by Al Jazeera’s Arabic news channel, al-Julani thanked the “commanders of Al Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties”.
The fact that al-Qaeda appears to have mandated the separation also will not help convince skeptics that the new group has really severed its ties or loyalties to al-Qaeda, said Ludovico Carlino of the IHS risk consultancy group.
The move was being made “to remove the excuse used by the global 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”, said al-Golani.
The distribution of his audio message by the Syrian jihadist group – in addition to Masri’s reference to studying the Syrian arena – further points to his presence in Syria.
The reason for the split, and the reason al-Qaeda endorsed it, was to “remove the pretext used by powers, including the USA and Russian Federation, to bomb Syrians”.
Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, also offered an amnesty to rebels who lay down their arms and surrender within three months.
The Iranian diplomat further called on the worldwide community to pay special attention to the root causes of terrorism and its consequences, and to exert pressure on the founders and sponsors of these groups in order to eradicate them.
Scores of fighters dubbed “moderates” have been killed and wounded due to their alliance with Nusra, although Washington had asked them to distance themselves from Nusra early this year.
Opposition groups have been hesitant to merge with Jabhat al Nusra for fear that affiliation with an al Qaeda branch would justify Russia’s air campaign and cause the US -led coalition to target them. Nusra’s purported break with al-Qaida could ease its reluctance.
Syria analyst Aymenn Al Tamimi put the number of Al Nusra militants at between 5,000 and 10,000 – with 80 percent of them Syrians. Al-Nusra is a key member of the Al-Qaeda network, alongside North Africa’s Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), based in Yemen.
But for Jolani, the primary aim of the disassociation was to bring the group closer to other opposition factions. One leaked USA proposal would call for a sharing of intelligence and targeting for strikes against IS and Nusra on the condition Russian Federation commits to convince its ally Assad to ground Syria’s bombers and start a political transition process.
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Since September 2015, it has mainly been a target of air strikes by Russia, Assad’s main ally.
