Syria rebel group's dangerous tie to al Qaeda

I did post this link in another thread, but I thought maybe I should start a new thread instead of trying to hyjack the other one. I probably don't know as much as I should about the situation in Syria, but this just sounds scary.

On Tuesday, al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq announced that it had merged with the Syrian opposition group Jabhat al-Nusra to form the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The announcement came in the form of an audio message from the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, that was distributed to key jihadist websites.

The merger was first reported by SITE, a Washington-based group that tracks jihadist material online. The authors were able to confirm the announcement by monitoring the jihadist site, Ansar al Mujahideen, which frequently posts material from al Qaeda, including Tuesday's news of the merger of the Syrian and Iraqi wings of al Qaeda. Complicating matters, on Wednesday al Nusra claimed it wasn't merging with al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, but instead was pledging its allegiance to al Qaeda's overall leadership."

The fact that al-Nusra has publicly aligned itself with central al Qaeda is worrisome. A long-term safe haven for this group in Syria could be the prelude for the formation of an organization with the wherewithal to attack the West, just as al Qaeda's sojourn in Afghanistan when it was controlled by the Taliban prepared the group for the 9/11 attacks.

Can you please post the link to this? I also saw this but I can't remember where.

To me it sounds like propaganda. It sounds like an excuse to intervene.

I want the truth!

reply to post by ExPatRat

I sorry, I forgot to post the link.
link
Washington Post
Video on Reuters

We knew this when they were shooting in to the sky, what is this

reply to post by RegisteredUser


Al-Nusrah have been in Syria pretty much since the beginning of the war. They are from Iraq and if you think about the types of weapons that have been used in Iraq (car bombs etc), a similar type of warfare has occured in Syria. There is no doubt that Al-Nusrah and the rebels have formed some sort of alliance... If they are successful, the real question is whether that alliance will conitue or whether they will turn on each other.

reply to post by DarknStormy


But the real truth is - who is funding these different organizations of islamist fundamentalist?

My guess would be the CIA with the american people's tax dollars and the money they make off the illegal drug trade all over the world.

I want people to know that the people of america do not want to fund further chaos in the middle east - our gov't steals our money and propagates this bull#. If we could overthrow these people we would, but we are victims - just as the middle east and central america are victims of this blood-money-power lust of a few elites.

Rest assured. All these will come back to bite the hands that feed them. We know who.

Blowback is such a witch.


End of the day, how many enemies can a country takes on ?

reply to post by Happy1


I don't think your government was expecting the terrorist elements to be so involved that they pretty much run the oppostion right now, especially a group who have been slaughtering civilians in Iraq. I understand that most US citizens wouldn't support whats happening but when it comes down to it, even we are powerless these scenarios only prove it.

The Al-Nusra Front has been quite a interest of mine for quite some time and this news is highly significant. It is important to highlight that the Al-Nusra Front has already been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States Government; they have long been of the belief that the group was essentially a front for Al-Qa’ida in Iraq. Yet publically it has appeared that Al-Nusra have been shunning this reputation as “Al-Qa’ida boys in Syria” because of the negative connotations that go along with being a “Al-Qa’ida associate”. Now however it would seem that they have embraced this, with the official merger of the two groups.

There is another reason why this is significant and that is to do with the American response. Currently one of the major drivers behind American foreign policy in Syria has been to support the secular rabbles to put off an islamist takeover of the country. The Americans know that Assad is going to fall and that they need to appear to be backing the people rather than the tyrant but they know that when he falls there will be a power vacuum. America want to make sure it is there people who fill this vacuum, they want to ensure that it is filled by secular individuals sympathetic to America. What they don’t want is for a Al-Qa’ida group to fill the a power vacuum left by Assad, taking control of its people and most importantly its WMDs. As such the merger of these two groups ramps up the pressure on America to tip the scales in the balance of the secular rebels, and therefore I would not be surprise if in the next week or two we see Amierca offering up yet more support to the FSA.

On another and all be it small not I do find myself disagreeing with Peter Bergan on one small note. He says that it shows that Al-Nusra have “aligned themselves with centeral al-Qa’ida”. I would disagree with this and I am surprised he has written it, if by “central” he means “core” then he is wrong. Core Al-Qa’ida, that is to say the same origination that conducted the 9/11 attacks no longer exists, Bergan has almost admitted as much himself before. I have great respect for this journalist so my presumption is that he’s put it in to simply illustrate the change in name but I disagree with him. Al-Qa’ida in Iraq is not “central Al-Qa’ida”. Its probably just me nit-picking on an otherwise outstanding article I just wanted to raise the point.

S&F OP for bringing this to my attention.