Al Qaeda’s branch in Iraq said it has merged with a Syrian rebel extremist faction, in a push by the terrorist organization to exert more influence on the Syrian rebellion and its outcome.
The declaration reflects cross-border coordination between al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria’s Jabhat al Nusra, or the al Nusra Front, a force with growing battlefield clout that has been a target of U.S. efforts to isolate rebel extremists in Syria. The two groups are already closely linked; when the U.S. designated the Syrian group as a terrorist organization in December, it described al Nusra as an alias for the Iraqi group.
The announcement from Iraq followed a statement on Sunday by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calling on Syrian rebels to direct their fight at establishing a “jihadist Islamic state” there as they seek to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
The move is likely to deepen a schism within the Syrian rebel movement between Islamist extremists who shun Western involvement and more moderate fighters trying to work with the political opposition and Western powers. Many of these rebels say the longer the civil war drags on, the easier it will be for al Qaeda in Iraq to influence the fight.
The U.S. has stepped up efforts with Arab partners in the region, and Syrian rebels, to counter the influence of al Nusra. In Iraq, the Central Intelligence Agency has ramped up support to elite Iraqi antiterrorism units to better fight al Qaeda affiliates, The Wall Street Journal reported in March.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday hinted that additional U.S. steps to help moderate rebels were in the works. Mr. Kerry is due to meet the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s leadership in London on Wednesday.
In a 21-minute audio clip posted on militant websites late Monday, al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said his group was providing half of its budget to the conflict in Syria and that al Nusra—whose leaders are generally unknown—won’t have a separate leader.
He outlined how al Qaeda in Iraq, officially called the Islamic State of Iraq, had cells in Syria that were reinforced with fighters from Iraq who helped draw “plans and policies” for the Syrian branch.
Mr. Baghdadi said the merged group would now be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham. Sham denotes a historic and Islamic name for Syria and the surrounding region.
“It is time to announce to the Levantine [Syrian] people and the whole world that Jabhat al Nusra is merely an extension and part of the Islamic State of Iraq,” Mr. Baghdadi said.
He warned Syrians against swapping “the injustice of dictatorship” for “the injustice of democracy that the people of Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have tried before you.”
The authenticity of the clip couldn’t be confirmed, but it was widely posted on militant websites. Websites linked to Jabhat al Nusra confirmed the merger announcement on Tuesday, but the group didn’t post independent confirmation.
Iraqi officials said al Qaeda in Iraq, which shares a decade-old relationship with Syrian jihadists, has been empowered by the Syrian war and has been feeding off the military strength of al Nusra.
“This signals the beginning of a new phase of operations of these armed groups which depends on the exchange of experiences,” said Mowaffak al Rubaie, former Iraqi national security adviser. He saw the announcement of a merger as an attempt to rile up Sunnis in Iraq by convincing them they were fighting the same cause as Syria’s rebels, against Shiite domination.
In Syria, Islamist rebels said the announcement marked what has been happening on the ground for months. One aim of formally uniting the groups is to block other Sunni rebel groups from dominating the fight in Syria or “being the voice of Sunnis in the region,” said a Syrian activist.
Terrorism experts described the announcement as a sign of confidence. “If this means they’re going to cooperate even more, it’s almost like a multiplication of the threat posed by each,” said Bruce Riedel, a counterterrorism expert at the Brookings Institution. “They bring a lot of capabilities together, and they extend the reach of al Qaeda across the entire Fertile Crescent, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.”
Al Nusra first emerged as a shadowy group claiming car bombings in Damascus and Aleppo, Syria’s largest cities, in early 2012. Rebels and U.S. officials say its core fighters are Syrians who fought in the Iraqi insurgency against Western-led coalition forces, and are now using their expertise and ties to al Qaeda in Iraq at home against the Assad regime.
Over the past year, al Nusra has attracted hundreds of foreign fighters from the Middle East and central Asia, who have helped the group and its affiliated fighters score every major opposition battlefield gain in recent months.
In northern and eastern Syria, where rebels control territory, the group, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., is also engaging in the battle for hearts and minds. In Aleppo, al Nusra controls the provision of local services, such as water supply and bread distribution, according to rebels and local residents.
The declaration reflects cross-border coordination between al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria’s Jabhat al Nusra, or the al Nusra Front, a force with growing battlefield clout that has been a target of U.S. efforts to isolate rebel extremists in Syria. The two groups are already closely linked; when the U.S. designated the Syrian group as a terrorist organization in December, it described al Nusra as an alias for the Iraqi group.
The announcement from Iraq followed a statement on Sunday by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calling on Syrian rebels to direct their fight at establishing a “jihadist Islamic state” there as they seek to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
The move is likely to deepen a schism within the Syrian rebel movement between Islamist extremists who shun Western involvement and more moderate fighters trying to work with the political opposition and Western powers. Many of these rebels say the longer the civil war drags on, the easier it will be for al Qaeda in Iraq to influence the fight.
The U.S. has stepped up efforts with Arab partners in the region, and Syrian rebels, to counter the influence of al Nusra. In Iraq, the Central Intelligence Agency has ramped up support to elite Iraqi antiterrorism units to better fight al Qaeda affiliates, The Wall Street Journal reported in March.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday hinted that additional U.S. steps to help moderate rebels were in the works. Mr. Kerry is due to meet the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s leadership in London on Wednesday.
In a 21-minute audio clip posted on militant websites late Monday, al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said his group was providing half of its budget to the conflict in Syria and that al Nusra—whose leaders are generally unknown—won’t have a separate leader.
He outlined how al Qaeda in Iraq, officially called the Islamic State of Iraq, had cells in Syria that were reinforced with fighters from Iraq who helped draw “plans and policies” for the Syrian branch.
Mr. Baghdadi said the merged group would now be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham. Sham denotes a historic and Islamic name for Syria and the surrounding region.
“It is time to announce to the Levantine [Syrian] people and the whole world that Jabhat al Nusra is merely an extension and part of the Islamic State of Iraq,” Mr. Baghdadi said.
He warned Syrians against swapping “the injustice of dictatorship” for “the injustice of democracy that the people of Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have tried before you.”
The authenticity of the clip couldn’t be confirmed, but it was widely posted on militant websites. Websites linked to Jabhat al Nusra confirmed the merger announcement on Tuesday, but the group didn’t post independent confirmation.
Iraqi officials said al Qaeda in Iraq, which shares a decade-old relationship with Syrian jihadists, has been empowered by the Syrian war and has been feeding off the military strength of al Nusra.
“This signals the beginning of a new phase of operations of these armed groups which depends on the exchange of experiences,” said Mowaffak al Rubaie, former Iraqi national security adviser. He saw the announcement of a merger as an attempt to rile up Sunnis in Iraq by convincing them they were fighting the same cause as Syria’s rebels, against Shiite domination.
In Syria, Islamist rebels said the announcement marked what has been happening on the ground for months. One aim of formally uniting the groups is to block other Sunni rebel groups from dominating the fight in Syria or “being the voice of Sunnis in the region,” said a Syrian activist.
Terrorism experts described the announcement as a sign of confidence. “If this means they’re going to cooperate even more, it’s almost like a multiplication of the threat posed by each,” said Bruce Riedel, a counterterrorism expert at the Brookings Institution. “They bring a lot of capabilities together, and they extend the reach of al Qaeda across the entire Fertile Crescent, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.”
Al Nusra first emerged as a shadowy group claiming car bombings in Damascus and Aleppo, Syria’s largest cities, in early 2012. Rebels and U.S. officials say its core fighters are Syrians who fought in the Iraqi insurgency against Western-led coalition forces, and are now using their expertise and ties to al Qaeda in Iraq at home against the Assad regime.
Over the past year, al Nusra has attracted hundreds of foreign fighters from the Middle East and central Asia, who have helped the group and its affiliated fighters score every major opposition battlefield gain in recent months.
In northern and eastern Syria, where rebels control territory, the group, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., is also engaging in the battle for hearts and minds. In Aleppo, al Nusra controls the provision of local services, such as water supply and bread distribution, according to rebels and local residents.
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