Syria’s Jabhat al-Nusra Considering Leaving al-Qaida to Form New Entity

Leaders of Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra are contemplating severing ties with al-Qaida to establish a new entity with the support of Gulf States trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad from power.

“The exercise could transform Nusra from a weakened militia group into a force capable of taking on Islamic State at a time when it is under pressure from bombing raids and advances by Kurdish and Iraqi military forces,” Reuters reports.

One of the main priorities of the new entity would be to battle the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra’s main competitor in Syria.

The move would also increase the influence of Qatar and its allies in the effort to oust Assad and may give Jabhat al-Nusra a boost in funding, sources within and close to Jabhat al-Nusra and Qatar told Reuters.

“A new entity will see the light soon, which will include Nusra and Jaysh al-Muhajereen wel Ansar and other small brigades,” said Muzamjer al-Sham, a prominent jihadi figure who is close to Nusra and other Islamist groups in Syria.

“The name of Nusra will be abandoned. It will disengage from al-Qaida. But not all the Nusra emirs agree and that is why the announcement has been delayed,” said Sham. While it awaits the final word from its decision-making Shura council, Jabhat al-Nusra has turned its attention away from fighting the Assad regime and has launched offensives on Western-backed groups, seizing their territory in an attempt to consolidate the group’s power in northern Syria and “pave way for the new group.”

Harakat Hazm, a Western-backed group that has been vetted by the U.S. to receive military support, was routed from its new main headquarters in Aleppo province this week after months of clashes with Jabhat al-Nusra. The Syrian Revolutionaries Front, another of the Western-backed groups, was also driven from Idlib province by Jabhat al-Nusra last fall.

The U.S. State Department said the dissolution of Harakat Hazm “would have an impact on the moderate opposition’s capabilities in the north.”

The rebranding of Jabhat al-Nusra with the additional support of Qatar would further complicate the war in Syria as efforts are underway by the Pentagon to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State.

Christian Militia at the Forefront of the Battle Against the Islamic State in Northeastern Syria

The Guardian reports on efforts by Christian militia in Syria to protect some of the last Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria, after the Islamic State captured 300 hostages and forced thousands of Christians into exile last week.

“For the past week, about 450 militiamen have tried to defend four Assyrian Christian villages among a cluster of 30 ancient settlements in Hassakeh province that had survived more than two millennia of war, invasion and insurrection,” the paper writes.

The Assyrian Christians were kidnapped in the Tal Tamr area of Hassakeh, a strategic area near the Iraqi and Turkish borders, where the militant group has seized 10 Christian villages.

The Islamic State released 19 of the hostages on Sunday and has reportedly released four more since then. The reasons for the release of the four were not immediately clear, with some saying that ISIS will use them as part of a prisoner exchange.

The kidnappings have magnified fears of more atrocities targeting Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

ISIS has expelled and purged Christians from its self-declared caliphate for over a year, destroying and looting churches, forcing some to pay a jizya [tax] to ISIS, and murdering or kidnapping others.

“The purge has led to the plains of Iraq’s Nineveh province being emptied of its entire Christian population, as well as of Yazidis, Shabaks and Turkmen,” the Guardian reports.

The most recent kidnapping in Hassakeh highlights the existential threat to Christians living in Syria.

“Last Monday, an estimated 8,000 Assyians remained in the heartland area near Hassakeh province. That number could now be as low as 2,000 and is falling fast,” the Guardian reports.

Kino Gabriel, one of the leaders of the Syriac Military Council, called on support from the international world to protect the remaining Assyrian civilization, citing the U.S.-led coalition strikes supporting the Kurds fighting the Islamic State in Kobani as an example.

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