Al Qaeda’s powerful Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, says it is cutting ties with the global militant network.
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The group, formerly known as Jabhat al Nusra, officially split from al Qaeda earlier this week after long-time strains in the relationship.
It was the first time Jolani had shown his face, nearly five years after he was dispatched from Iraq to create an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of Islamic State’s precursor organization, the Islamic State of Iraq.
This could however play into the United States connections with Syria.
One reason for the disassociation, Jolani said, was to “remove the excuses before the worldwide community, headed by America and Russian Federation, in their bombardment and displacement of the Muslims in Syria under the pretense of targeting Al Nusra Front, which is part of Al Qaeda”.
“It is noteworthy that in his statement, Al-Julani felt it necessary to thank the leadership of al-Qaeda for “understanding” and for instructions how to wage a jihad in the best way under new circumstances”, it said.
The message also included a brief comment from al-Zawahri, saying, “The brotherhood of Islam is stronger than any organizational links that change and go away”.
The Russians do not need much of a pretext to bomb enemies of the Assad regime, and the USA clearly is not buying this “rebranding” strategy.
The United States, which considers Nusra a terrorist organization, immediately expressed its skepticism.
In fact, a report earlier this year from the Institute for the Study of War, and American Enterprise Institute, portrayed the Nusra Front as “much more unsafe to the US than the ISIS model in the long run”.
“We judge a group by what they do, not by what they call themselves”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “Thus far, there’s no change to our views about this particular group. In the last hour or so, since this announcement’s been made, we certainly see no indication that would give us a reason to change the designation of this group”, he stated.
The US has labeled Nusra as a terrorist organization and is skeptical about the statement.
Many avowedly disagree with their radical al-Qaeda ideological approach, but keenly recognise that it is, nevertheless, a powerful player. Also, they are making the charade much less convincing by actively seeking closer ties with other Islamist groups in Syria.
Some experts saw the announcement as a response to reports that the United States and Russian Federation are considering increased military and intelligence cooperation to target Jabhat al-Nusra. Nusra is one of the groups excluded from the cessation of hostilities agreement, along with ISIS.
Established in late 2011 by al-Qaeda in Iraq, Nusra seeks to oust the Syrian government and create an “Islamic emirate” under Sharia law.
While Jabhat Fatah al-Sham will now be independent, their exact relation with Al-Qaeda remains up for debate, according to some.
“Its “brotherhood” with another, also banned in Russian Federation organization, Al-Qaeda, as if discontinues”.
This would enable Masri to continue Zawahiri’s strategy of spreading jihadi ideology without explicit connections to al-Qaeda at present, with an eye toward reasserting al-Qaeda as the Wal-Mart of jihad once ISIS has been defeated.
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Nusra also renamed itself. The factions may oppose airstrikes against them. From that constant turmoil, they could supply al-Qaeda with weapons and trained fighters to strike targets across the world. But his exact words on its relations with Al-Qaeda were less explicit than the mainstream narrative leads us to believe.
