The al-Qaeda leader has reportedly approved the split so the Nusra forces could concentrate on their fight against the Syrian government.
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According to Reuters, the leader told the Nusra Front in an audio message that organizational ties could be broken with the global terror group in order to help it continue its battle for Syria. Arabic, bottom right, reads, “Jihadis on their way to Khalsa village”.
Al-Qaida’s branch in Syria is considering splitting ties with the global terror group, but the Nusra Front’s intention to make it more appealing to the West may in fact be a tactical move aimed at undermining ongoing talks between the USA and Russian Federation on a military partnership in Syria.
The move by al-Nusra means that there are now no official al-Qaeda groups fighting in Syria.
“The aim of this “game” is an attempt to remove al-Nusra from the list of terror groups, but the despicable face of extremism and terrorism can not be purified through such moves”, the Mehr news agency cited him as saying. Josh Earnest, White House spokesman stated that the United States will assess the situation and Nusra leaders.
“After studying the situation in Syria … we approve any possible action that will preserve jihad in the Levant”, Masri said. It could alter the strategic alignment on the ground if the renamed Nusra gains acceptance among other rebel groups.
On his reasoning for the formation of a new group, Jolani listed a desire to “strive to bridge the gaps between the groups of mujahideen and ourselves”, “unite the masses of the sham”, and “expose the deceptions of the worldwide community”, naming the U.S. and Russian Federation as its heads.
The group retains its Islamic militant ideology and commitment to jihad, and the formal break was carried out with the blessing of al-Qaida’s central leadership, which recognized it was needed to protect the group.
The group’s leader, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, made the announcement in a video that was the first public pronouncement to show his face.
With that in mind, we should lend little weight to yesterday’s announcement by the leader of Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN), Muhammad al-Jawlani, that his jihadi group has broken with al Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda appeared to approve of the move.
“The brotherhood of Islam that bonds us is stronger than any obsolete links between organizations”, he said, “These organizational links must be sacrificed without hesitation, if they threaten your unity”. A doctor for a medical charity that operates in Aleppo also said the army had fired artillery at families gathering near another humanitarian corridor, in the opposition-held Bustan al Qasr neighbourhood.
The Cold War-era superpowers are running separate military missions in Syria against their common foe Islamic State, but are on opposite sides in the wider civil war, with Moscow supporting Assad, and Washington saying he must step down.
Both analysts deemed it unlikely that Ahrar al-Sham, the other main fighting force in northern Syria, would join the new Nusra venture. But Ahrar al-Sham has been reluctant, seeking to be closer to the Syrian opposition political scene dealing with the West. That line is already hazy, hurting efforts at a peace process.
Al-Nusra Front has been targeted by US-led airstrikes on several occasions, but less often than the IS.
The U.S. and Russian Federation are trying to hammer out an agreement on a new military partnership in Syria. Officially terroristic organizations announced about this fact on Thursday.
But, without any evidence that the group has really renounced any of its more extremist policies, these groups and their supporters have the same hard choice to make.
One U.S. national security official said it was hard to negotiate with the Russians as long as the wider objectives of Moscow and Washington diverge.
Syria’s state broadcaster also announced “the opening of three passages to allow citizens out of eastern districts” of Aleppo.
The expert confirmed the presence of a division within the ranks of al-Nusra Front. But al-Golani refused, pledging his allegiance directly to al-Zawahri, who went on to throw al-Baghdadi and his group at the time al-Qaida’s Iraq branch out of the terror network.
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A larger coalition between the Nusra Front and other groups “would then quickly and easily dismantle numerous US-backed groups among the Syrian rebels in the north”, he wrote.
