Al-Qaeda: Al-Nusra Front Our Syria Branch

Local Editor

Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda announced that al-Nusra Front in Syria was its branch in that country and that both groups would operate under one name, according to the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.

The leader of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said his group and Syria's al-Nusra Front would now jointly go under the name of the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant", the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

"It's now time to declare in front of the people of the Levant and (the) world that the al-Nusra Front is but an extension of the Islamic State of Iraq and part of it," the SITE monitoring service quoted Baghdadi as saying in an audio speech issued on forums on Monday.

Baghdadi claimed the group was willing to ally with other groups "on the condition that the country and its citizens be governed according to the rules dictated by Allah."

Experts have long said that al-Nusra Front was receiving support from al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in neighboring Iraq. Al-Nusra Front gained notoriety for its suicide bombings in Syria and horrible crimes all over the Syrian territories.
According to the US, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq "is in control of both AQI and Al-Nusra" and reports on Internet forums indicate hundreds of militants have made the trip from Iraq into Syria to fight with the group.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org