The Assad regime’s brutality has created an environment inside Syria that al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) is working hard to exploit. In an effort to establish a long-term presence in Syria, AQI is trying to rebrand itself under the guise of a group called al-Nusrah Front. By fighting alongside armed Syrian opposition groups, al-Nusrah Front members are seeking to hijack the Syrian struggle for their own extremist ends. Today, the United States announced that it will list al-Nusrah Front as another alias used by the Foreign Terrorist Organization AQI, and will designate it under Executive Order 13224. These actions against al-Nusrah Front underscore its connection to AQI so that everyone, especially the Syrian people, can distinguish between armed opposition groups that are fighting for a more unified, just, and pluralistic Syria and terrorist elements whose extremism has no place in a post-Asad Syria.
The al-Nusrah Front was formed by AQI and has pledged allegiance to its leader, Abu Du’a. Over the last year, AQI leaders have dispatched personnel, money, and materiel from Iraq to Syria to attack Syrian regime forces. Al-Nusrah Front has claimed responsibility for nearly 600 attacks –– in most major city centers. These acts, which have killed and wounded hundreds of Syrian civilians, do not carefully target the regime. Nusrah doesn’t care if it kills civilians...
http://alhayat.com/Details/461404