A Syrian man lowers a basket filled with some belongings as civilians collect items from their damaged apartments before fleeing the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on April 10, 2
DAMASCUS: The head of Syria’s jihadist Al Nusra Front pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri yesterday, but distanced his group from claims it has merged with Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Al Nusra’s announcement is likely to bolster assertions by President Bashar Al Assad’s regime that it is fighting “terrorists” who want to impose an Islamic state. “The sons of Al Nusra Front pledge allegiance to Sheikh Ayman Al Zawahiri,” Abu Mohammed Al Jawlani said in a recording.
But, he added, “we were not consulted” on a claim by Al Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi on Tuesday of a merger with Al-Nusra. “We inform you that neither the Al-Nusra command nor its consultative council, nor its general manager were aware of this announcement. It reached them via the media and if the speech is authentic, we were not consulted.”
Jawlani stressed his group would not change. “Al-Nusra Front will not change its flag, though we will continue to be proud of the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq, of those who carry it and those who sacrifice themselves and shed their blood for it,” said Jawlani, acknowledging he had fought in Iraq alongside the ISI, Al Qaeda’s Iraqi offshoot.
Afp
