Syurian rebel fighters pledgle allegiance to Al-Qaeda

[Johan]

Syria crisis: Al-Nusra pledges allegiance to al-Qaeda

The leader of the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group fighting in Syria, has pledged allegiance to the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani said the group's behaviour in Syria would not change as a result.

Al-Nusra claims to be have carried out many suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks against state targets.

On Tuesday, al-Qaeda in Iraq announced a merger with al-Nusra, but Mr Jawlani said he had not been consulted on this.

Al-Nusra has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US.

Debates among Western leaders over whether to arm Syria's rebels have often raised the concern of weapons ending up in the hands of groups such as al-Nusra.

"The sons of al-Nusra Front pledge allegiance to Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri," Mr Jawlani said in a recording released on Wednesday.

But Mr Jawlani said al-Nusra had not been consulted on the merger with al-Qaeda in Iraq and insisted his group would not change its stance in Syria.

The al-Nusra statement assured Syrians that the "good behaviour" they had experienced from the front on the ground would continue unchanged, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.

Mr Jawlani said that the oath of allegiance to Zawahiri "will not change anything in its policies", our correspondent adds.
Controversial ties

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State in Iraq, which is the Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda, had said on Tuesday that his group would be joining with al-Nusra under the name The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

But Mr Jawlani said he only heard about the announcement from media and had no prior knowledge of it.

Even though Mr Jawlani said in the statement that al-Nusra had received help from the Islamic State in Iraq group, correspondents say al-Nusra clearly does not want to highlight those ties.

Al-Nusra is seen as trying to win the support of the population in rebel-held areas, and also to keep the goodwill of the other opposition groups who do not want to be associated with al-Qaeda.

Spokesmen for the Free Syrian Army, considered the main armed opposition group in Syria, reacted to Wednesday's statement by distancing themselves from al-Nusra.

"We don't support the ideology of al-Nusra," FSA spokesman Louay Meqdad told the AFP news agency.

"There has never been and there will never be a decision at the command level to coordinate with al-Nusra," Mr Meqdad went on, while admitting that there had been co-operation between FSA brigades and al-Nusra on "certain operations".

Also on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the crisis in Syria will be at the "top of the agenda" when G8 foreign ministers meet in London this week.

Activist groups reported that more than 70 people had died in violence in Syria on Wednesday. More than 60,000 people are estimated to have died since the uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

So, this a a civil ,war between one of the most terrible dictator alive and a group of salafist terrorists. I wish this war to last for many years 'cause the most people will die, the better it will be.

 

[Jeep!]

One faction of many; the rebels have basically been a coalition of different forces tentatively united against Assad's government. Once he's ousted, further civil war as this alliance collapses was basically an inevitability anyway, but at that stage foreign intervention becomes much easier as it's impossible to imagine that Putin (currently pally with Assad) would continue to support jihadist forces (hell, given their history in Afghanistan he'd probably consider it patriotic to crush any salafist forces there).

 

[Jack Davenport]

I guess this takes Obama's "game changer" pledge off the table. Lucky Bastage.

 

[vodkazvictim]

Ah shit.

 

[bobjustbob]

Couldn't be happening to a nicer country. Syria has been the headquarters for every radical terrorist organization since time began. It's like if you want to set up a corporation you do it in Delaware. Syria welcomed all of these radicals in there and now they all get to play together. Fuck them all. I don't want to hear anything about their atrocities or humanitarian support. But you want to know something? Some country somewhere is going to start making noises about USA support to deal with that shit. Mark my words.

 

[rivasky]

This is also a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and Qatar equip and finance the al Qaeda groups fighting in Syria, Iran is doing the same with Assad. Reportedly, they have asked Hezbollah in Lebanon to join Assad's troops. This is more than just Syria.

 

[Mayhem]

Couldn't be happening to a nicer country. Syria has been the headquarters for every radical terrorist organization since time began. It's like if you want to set up a corporation you do it in Delaware. Syria welcomed all of these radicals in there and now they all get to play together. Fuck them all. I don't want to hear anything about their atrocities or humanitarian support. But you want to know something? Some country somewhere is going to start making noises about USA support to deal with that shit. Mark my words.

I have no problem with humanitarian support, even though a lot of it will probably wind up where we don't want it too. But no matter how much I hate a country, I feel bad for the innocents who suffer from it.

This is also a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and Qatar equip and finance the al Qaeda groups fighting in Syria, Iran is doing the same with Assad. Reportedly, they have asked Hezbollah in Lebanon to join Assad's troops. This is more than just Syria.

Despite my above comment, fine with me. Let them all kill each other in their own confined space.

 

[bobjustbob]

Lebanon and Jordan kicked out of that shit. Egypt decided too until recently. Yea they all want a piece if Israel, The whole fucking collective of sand nations would love to claim it as it's own. Would throwing Israel under the bus solve any of the tensions or hate there? Hell no. They would all be goose stepping in the sand with their Koran burned if allied forces didn't sweep in. They know it today as they did back then when the state of Israel was formed. Those negotiations were going on as a predecessor to flooding the region with allied forces.

It was simple, give the Jews some land and that was your payment for saving your asses. No. This is holy land. Fuck you. Agree to the terms presented to you at the time and live with them. Axis forces were all over your sand in every middle eastern country and into Africa.

Let them fuckers in the middle east slash each other's throats. Leave Israel alone and stand by your agreement.