It's ALL al-Qaeda (and muslims).
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Jabhat al-Nusra Is Growing Menace To Mideast and Beyond
By: Bruce Riedel for Al-Monitor. Posted on April 8.
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 but its ultimate goals are much bigger, attacking
America and its allies in the heart of the Middle East.
About This Article
Summary :
Bruce Riedel warns that Jabhat al-Nusra is the world's fastest-growing
al-Qaeda franchise and a threat to the entire region.
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.
The Syrian group has also tried to export its violence to Jordan. In
October, the Jordanian intelligence service foiled a plot based in Syria by
al-Qaeda to stage a mass casualty terror attack in Amman that was apparently
modeled on the 2008 attack by Pakistani terrorists on Mumbai, India. The
Jordan attack would have begun with suicide bombings in two shopping malls
in Amman, then when the security forces rushed to deal with those, other
attackers would have struck the American Embassy and other western diplomats
in the city.
Jordanian authorities believe that the plot was scheduled to coincide with
the anniversary of November 9, 2005, terrorist attacks in Amman, in which 60
people were killed and 115 injured in multiple hotel bombings. Al Qaeda
claimed responsibility for the plot, citing its rejection of Jordan's
alliance with the United States and Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
Jordanian intelligence said that the group nicknamed its new terror plot
"9/11 the second" after the 2005 bombings. Among those arrested were two
cousins of the Jordanian founder of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musaib al Zarqawi,
who planned the 2005 attacks.
For now, the jihadists are focused on Syria and winning the war against
Assad. But their ambitions are much larger. The groups' amir or leader uses
the nom de guerre of Mohammad al Golani, a clear indication of al Qaeda's
hope to use Syria as a base for attacking Israel. Israeli sources say
elements of Jabhat al-Nusra have already appeared opposite the Israel
Defense Forces on the Golan Heights.
With a base in Syria, the jihadists can threaten American interests in the
entire Levant region, Europe and our allies in Turkey, Jordan and Israel.
The worst danger is that the al Nusra front will get control of some of
Syria's large chemical weapons arsenal. Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad,
built a major chemical weapon capability in the 1980s which includes the
deadly nerve agent Sarin which was first developed by the Nazis. Al-Qaeda
has been trying to get a weapon of mass destruction for years. In February,
Jabhat al-Nusra fighters seized the remnants of the North Korean-built
nuclear reactor destroyed by the IDF in September 2007. Next the group could
grab a working chemical weapon.
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