Jabhat Al-Nusra Is Growing Menace To Syrian Army

Ana Ghoib Syeikh Malaya 3:19 PG

Members of Jabhat al-Nusra take their practice position on the front line during a fight with Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Dec. 24, 2012. (photo credit by REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)


As the Syrian civil war gets ever more violent and destructive, there is a big beneficiary. Al-Qaeda and its franchise in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra — which is now the fastest-growing al-Qaeda front in the world, attracting fighters from across the Islamic world. Today it's focused on destroying the Bashar al-Assad regime.

The Syrian franchise gets crucial support from the al-Qaeda core in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri issued a public call in February 2012 in which he urged “every Muslim and every free and honest person in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to rise and help their brothers in Syria with everything they have and can do.”

Zawahiri’s call, just after the announcement of the creation of Jabhat al-Nusra and its first major attacks in Aleppo, was clearly coordinated with the fighters on the ground. Since that call, at least one senior member of the al-Qaeda Shura Council in Pakistan has traveled to Syria to further coordinate plans and operations with the core hiding in Pakistan.  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton termed the exchanges of messages between al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria as “deeply disturbing” in one of her final interviews in office.

Jabhat al-Nusra, translated variously as the Victory Front or the Support Front for the Syrian people, was officially founded in January 2012, almost a year after the first demonstrations against the dictatorship of President Basher al Assad.   It was created with the additional assistance of the al Qaeda franchise in Iraq which was formed nearly a decade ago during the American invasion of Iraq.  The Iraqi base provided a safe haven for setting up the front in Syria and still provides sanctuary for the Syrian group.

Estimates of the size of Jabhat al-Nusra vary but they may now account for up to a quarter of the opposition fighters in Syria. The al-Qaeda presence is stronger around Aleppo and the north than around Damascus but it is becoming a national phenomenon. Without doubt they are among the most effective fighters in the resistance to the Assad regime and the most willing to use multiple simultaneous suicide bombings, an al-Qaeda trademark. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has a wealth of experience in developing large sophisticated bombs which has been exported into Syria.

And the front is attracting more fighters rapidly, not just among Syrians but from across the Muslim world.  One estimate suggests that as many as 5000 foreign fighters have gone to Syria. A review of jihadist websites found more than 130 martyrdom notices — obituaries posted on extremist websites ‘celebrating’ the martyrdom of fighters in Syria.  Most are relatively new; 85 of the 130 were posted in the last few  months.  The majority of these were for fighters in Jabhat al-Nusra. They came to Syria from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Palestine, Lebanon, Australia, Chechnya, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, France, Iraq and Spain.

Several senior European intelligence officials have told me that there is a wave of angry young Muslim men from all across Western Europe going to Syria to join al-Qaeda and fight Assad.  The largest contingent is from the United Kingdom, perhaps over a hundred already. The Danish press reported that a 39-year-old Danish citizen, Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane,  along with another unnamed Danish citizen, were killed fighting in Syria. Abderrahmane, the son of a Danish mother and an Algerian father, had served two years in Guantanamo after being captured by American forces in Afghanistan in 2002. Danish reports say at least thirty Danish Muslims have gone to fight with Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria.

Jabhat al-Nusra is not the only jihadist group fighting in Syria that is linked to al-Qaeda. Other smaller groups with a local focus also support the al Qaeda movement and align themselves with Jabhat al-Nusra.

Assad, of course, from the beginning of the uprising against his tyranny has blamed it all on terrorists and al-Qaeda.  But the truth is that by refusing to give up power and by resorting to a brutal war against his own people, Assad has created a self-fulfilling prophecy and brought al Qaeda to Syria. The longer the war goes on, the stronger al-Qaeda will get in Syria.