A Nusra Front official told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the leader of the group plans to declare a split from al-Qaeda soon and merge with other insurgent groups.
Advertisement
Syrian state media are reporting that government forces have taken another neighborhood from rebels in the contested northern city of Aleppo.
Al-Haj said that despite the split, al-Nusra Front would certainly keep the same ideology.
Speaking in January, Kagan observed that the Nusra Front chose not to overtly attack the West “because the al-Qaeda leadership’s priority is preserving success in Syria and avoiding being targeted by the U.S”. 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. Even if Jabhat al-Nusra appears to be focused on Syria, it could easily make the shift to external attacks, which has always been Al Qaeda’s focus.
But unlike IS, which opposes all those who fail to swear allegiance, Al-Nusra works alongside an array of rebel groups fighting Assad’s regime and has popular support.
In May 2015, al-Nusra came close to severing formal ties with al-Qaida after the 7,000 member group dominated by Syrian fighters came under strong behind-the-scenes pressure from Gulf states to do so, with the promise that arms and supplies would be forthcoming, according to rebel commanders at the time.
Perhaps it would have been more crafty for the al-Qaeda bosses to avoid admitting they ordered the “breakaway” as a propaganda ploy to “protect jihad”.
The Nusra Front, which was formed as al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, announced Thursday it was ending its connection with the terror network and changing its name to the Levant Conquest Front. This evening, Al-Golani revealed that the group’s new name is Jabhat Fatah Al Sham.
Al-Nusra Front, whose leader on Thursday announced its break from Al-Qaeda, is a well-organised, battle-hardened jihadist group allied with rebels fighting the Syrian regime.
Meanwhile, the U.S.is desperately trying to organize its military operations with Russian Federation, which continues to conduct some strikes in Syria counter to USA interests. Instead, it was meant to remove the excuse used by the worldwide community – led by the United States and Russian Federation – to “bombard and displace Muslims… under the pretense of targeting Jabhat al Nusra”.
He also urged the Nusra Front to unite with other factions against “Crusaders” and form a good “Islamic government”. “And that’s how we’re going to judge going forward, as we have in the past… and they are still considered a foreign terrorist organization”.
Some Syria researchers doubt that the group will now be fully independent of Al-Qaeda.
Advertisement
A break with al Qaeda could pave the way for greater support from Gulf states such as Qatar for Nusra Front, the most powerful faction in Syria’s five-year conflict opposing both President Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State militant group.
