Jabhat Al-Nusra, also referred to as Al-Nusra Front and later known as Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham was a Sunni Islamist political organization and paramilitary group that fought against Ba'athist regime forces in the Syrian civil war. Its aim was to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic state ruled by Sharia in Syria.
Formed in 2012 by Ahmed al-Sharaa, The Washington Post described Al-Nusra Front in November of that year as "the most aggressive and successful" of the rebel forces. While secular and pro-democratic rebel groups of the Syrian revolution such as the Free Syrian Army were focused on ending the decades-long reign of the Assad family, Al-Nusra Front also sought the unification of Islamist forces in Syria, anticipating a new stage of the civil war. It denounced the international assistance in support of the Syrian opposition as "imperialism"; viewing it as a long-term threat to its Islamist goals in Syria.
In December 2012, the US Department of State designated it as a "foreign terrorist organization". In April 2013, Al-Nusra Front was publicly confirmed as the official Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda, after Al-Qaeda Emir Ayman Al-Zawahiri rejected the legitimacy of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, leader of the newly-formed Islamic State. In March 2015, the militia joined other Syrian Islamist groups to form a joint command center called the Army of Conquest. In July 2016, Al-Nusra announced that it was breaking ties with Al-Qaeda and re-named itself to Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham ("Front for the Conquest of the Levant").
The announcement caused defections of senior Al-Nusra commanders and criticism from Al-Qaeda ranks: Al-Qaeda Emir Ayman Al-Zawahiri denounced the move as an "act of disobedience". On 28 January 2017, following violent clashes with Ahrar Al-Sham and other rebel groups, Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham (JFS) merged with four other groups to form Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a new Sunni Islamist militant group. Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham denies any links to the Al-Qaeda network and said in a statement that the group is "an independent entity and not an extension of previous organizations or factions". Mutual hostility progressively deteriorated into violent confrontations, with Al-Nusra commander Sami al-Oraydi accusing HTS of adopting nationalist doctrines. Sami Al-Oraydi, alongside other Al-Qaeda loyalists like Abu Humam Al-Shami, Abu Julaybib and others, mobilised Al-Qaeda personnel in northwestern Syria to establish an anti-HTS front in the region, eventually forming Hurras Al-Din on 27 February 2018.
Name
From 2012 to 2013, Al-Nusra Front's full name was the "Support Front for the People of the Levant by the Mujahideen of the Levant on the Fields of Jihad" ().
Ideology Al-Nusra Front was estimated to be primarily made up of Syrian jihadists. Its goals were to overthrow Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria and to create an Islamic emirate ruled by Sharia, with an emphasis from an early stage on focusing on the "near enemy" of the Syrian regime rather than on global jihad. Syrian members of the group claimed that they are fighting only the Assad regime and would not attack Western states; while the official policy of the group was to regard the United States and Israel as enemies of Islam, and to warn against Western intervention in Syria, Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani stated that "We are only here to accomplish one mission, to fight the regime and its agents on the ground, including Hezbollah and others". In early 2014, Sami al-Oraydi, a top sharia official in the group, acknowledged that it is influenced by the teachings of Al-Qaeda member Abu Musab al-Suri. The strategies derived from Abu Musab's guidelines included providing services to people, avoiding being seen as extremists, maintaining strong relationships with local communities and other fighting groups, and putting the focus on fighting the government.
The tactics of Al-Nusra Front differed markedly from those of its rival jihadist group ISIL; whereas ISIL has alienated local populations by demanding their allegiance and carrying out beheadings, Al-Nusra Front cooperated with other militant groups and declined to impose the sharia where there has been opposition. Analysts have noted this could have given the Al-Nusra Front a greater long-term advantage.
In early 2015, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri instructed Al-Nusra Front leader Al-Julani to pursue the following five goals:
Better integrate his movement within the Syrian revolution and its people Coordinate more closely with all Islamic groups on the ground Contribute towards the establishment of a Syria-wide Sharia judicial court system Use strategic areas of the country to build a sustainable Al-Qaeda power base Cease any activity linked to attacking the West
Both Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra tried to take advantage of ISIL's rise by presenting themselves as "moderate" in comparison. While they had the same aim of establishing Sharia and an Islamic state, they intended to implement it in a more gradual manner. Al-Nusra criticized the way ISIL alienated people by precipitously instituting Sharia, preferring the more gradual approach favored by Al-Qaeda of preparing society through indoctrination and education before implementing the hudud (scripturally-mandated punishment) aspects of Sharia. They particularly criticised ISIL's enthusiasm for punishments such as amputation and stoning. However, Al-Qaeda agrees that hudud punishments should be implemented in the long term. The main criticism of defectors from ISIL is that the group is killing and fighting other Sunni Muslims, and that they are unhappy that other Sunnis like Jabhat Al-Nusra are being attacked by ISIL.
A video called The Heirs of Glory was issued by Al-Nusra in 2015, which included old audio by Osama bin Laden (such as his 1998 announcement that "So we seek to incite the Islamic Nation so it may rise to liberate its lands and perform Jihad in the path of Allah, and to establish the law of Allah, so the Word of Allah may be supreme"). The video glorified the 11 September attacks and the Islamists Sayyid Qutb and Abdullah Azzam. Its magazine, Al Risalah, was first issued in July 2015. In 2015 Al-Qaeda leader Al-Zawahiri urged ISIL fighters to unite with all other jihadists against their enemies and stop the infighting.
In an Amnesty International report in July 2016, the Al-Nusra Front was accused of torture, child abduction, and summary execution. In December 2014, Al-Nusra Front fighters executed a woman on accusations of adultery by shooting. They have also executed women accused of extramarital relations by stoning. Overall, they have "applied a strict interpretation of Shari'a and imposed punishments amounting to torture or other ill-treatment for perceived infractions."
Allegations of sectarianism Members of the group were accused of attacking the religious beliefs of non-Sunnis in Syria, such as the Alawites. The New York Times journalist C. J. Chivers cites "some analysts and diplomats" as noting that Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State "can appear less focused on toppling" the Assad government than on "establishing a zone of influence spanning Iraq's Anbar Province and the desert eastern areas of Syria and eventually establishing an Islamic territory under their administration".
On 10 June 2015, Al-Nusra fighters shot dead at least 20 Druze civilians in Qalb Loze after one of them, a supporter of the Assad regime, opposed the expropriation of his house by a Nusra commander. Al-Nusra's leadership issued an apology and claimed that the killings had been carried out against the group's guidelines. In an official statement issued a few days later, the organization expressed "deep regret" regarding the incident, acknowledging that the killings were carried out by certain members without orders from the leadership and in violation of the organization's policies. Al-Nusra Front also sent a delegation to the Druze community in the village and assured that the perpetrators of the massacre would be brought to trial in a Sharia court.
Analysts at the American magazine Foreign Affairs asserted that there was absolutely no reference to the Druze in Al-Nusra's "apology", claiming that Al-Nusra forced the Druze to renounce their religion, destroyed their shrines and now considers them Sunni. Emile Hokayem, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, asserted that the Al Jazeera news network was actively involved in the "mainstreaming" of the Al-Nusra Front in Syria.
Flags
Structure Leadership The leader of Al-Nusra was Ahmed al-Sharaa. During his time as emir, he went by the name of Abu Mohammad Al-Julani, which implied that he is from the Golan Heights (al-Jawlan, in Arabic). Prior to the formation of Jabhat Al-Nusra, he was a senior member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, heading operations in Nineveh Governorate. On 18 December 2013, he gave his first television interview, to Tayseer Allouni, a journalist originally from Syria, for Al Jazeera, and spoke classical Arabic with a Syrian accent.
Name Position Situation Ahmed al-Sharaa Emir Founder and Emir of Al-Nusra Front Sami al-Oraydi Deputy Emir Deputy leader and senior religious official in Al-Nusra Left the group after the formation of Tahrir Al-Sham.Abu Maria Al-Qahtani Emir of the Eastern areaHeld the position of general religious authority and Emir of the Eastern area until 30 July 2014
Hierarchy The structure of the group varied across Syria. In Damascus, the organisation operated in an underground clandestine cell system, while in Aleppo, the group was organised along semi-conventional military lines, with units divided into brigades, regiments, and platoons. All potential recruits were required to undertake a ten-day religious training course, followed by a 15–20-day military training program.
Al-Nusra contained a hierarchy of religious bodies, with a small Majlis-ash-Shura (Consultative Council) at the top, making national decisions on behalf of the group. Religious personnel also played an important role in the regional JN leadership, with each region having a commander and a sheikh. The sheikh supervised the commander from a religious perspective and is known as dabet Al-shar'i (religious commissioner).
Foreign fighters A number of Americans have attempted to join the fighting in Syria, specifically with Al-Nusra. Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, also known as Hasan Abu Omar Ghannoum, was arrested in California on 11 October 2013, on charges of attempting to travel to join Al-Qaeda, after reportedly having fought in Syria. As of November 2013, there had also been five additional publicly disclosed cases of Americans fighting in Syria, three of which were linked to Al-Nusra. In February 2015, charges of conspiracy to support terrorism were laid against six Bosnian-Americans who were alleged to have financially supported another Bosnian-American, the late Abdullah Ramo Pazara, who they alleged died fighting with Al-Nusra in 2014.
In September 2015 Nusra absorbed Imam Bukhari Jamaat, an Uzbek group which is a part of Al-Qaeda. Child soldiers were used by Katibat Imam Al-Bukhari. Al-Fu'ah and Kafriya were attacked by the group in September 2015. They also participated in the 2015 Jisr Al-Shughur offensive.
It was estimated that al-Nusra's fighting force was about 30% foreign fighters and 70% native Syrian fighters in July 2016.
Media All statements and videos by Al-Nusra Front have been released by its media outlet, Al-Manarah Al-Bayda () (The White Minaret), via the leading jihadist web-forum Shamoukh Al-Islam ().
Relations with Al-Qaeda