Syria’s powerful Nusra Front says ending link to al Qaeda

Al Qaeda’s powerful Syrian branch announced on Thursday it was ending its relationship with the global jihadist network founded by Osama bin Laden and changing its name, to remove what it called a pretext used by world powers to attack Syrians.
In the first known video statement ever to show his face, the leader of the Nusra Front, Mohamad al-Golani, announced that the group would re-form under a new name, with “no ties with any foreign party”.
The move was being made “to remove the excuse used by the international community — spearheaded by America and Russia — to bombard and displace Muslims in the Levant: that they are targeting the Nusra Front which is associated with Al Qaeda,” he said. The group would now be called Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
Golani appeared in the video flanked by two other Nusra Front figures, in front of Jabhat Fatah al Sham’s new white flag. Nusra Front’s old flag was black, the color used by ultra-hardline jihadist groups such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Earlier on Thursday, bin Laden’s successor as al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, announced that he was giving the Nusra Front his blessing to break away. In his message, Golani thanked Zawahri for putting the interests of the Syrian people ahead of organizational interests.
The move appeared to be an attempt to appeal to Syrians who have long had deep misgivings about Nusra’s links with al Qaeda and the significant presence of foreign jihadists among its ranks, which set it apart from Western-backed rebel groups.
It could alter the strategic alignment on the ground in Syria if the renamed Nusra gains acceptance among other rebel groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.
But Assad and his Russian allies are unlikely to accept the rebranding as requiring them to halt military operations that have put the Syrian leader in the strongest position on the battlefield for years.
The Nusra Front, long one of the most powerful rebel forces in Syria’s five-year, multi-sided civil war, was excluded along with Islamic State from a U.S. and Russian-backed ceasefire this year, a loophole other rebels blamed for the truce’s collapse.
Nusra is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and United Nations. Assad’s other opponents have long said its presence gave the government and its Russian allies a pretext to abandon the truce and launch advances under the cover of anti-terrorist operations permitted under the ceasefire
Reuters