Saturday February 23, 2013

I've Been Thinking:

Jabhat al Nusra is the most important group fighting against the ruling regime in Syria.

Founded on January 25, 2012 - only about 13 months ago - they continue to grow in ranks and have become very effective at striking regime targets. Attacks perpetrated by Jabhat al Nusra include car bombs in Damascus, bombing the TV station, suicide bombing in Aleppo, and the Taftanaz attack which was an attack against an air force base with 48 helicopters. This group has also been responsible for brutal executions in Sarqeb.

Jabhat means "the front" and Nusra means "support." It is often mis-translated as the Support Front but the full name of the group is, Jabhat al-Nusrah li-Ahl al-Sham and that means "The Front for the Support of the Syrian People." And "the front" refers to the battle front.

Jabhat al Nusra is al Qaeda. They are growing because more and more al Qaeda members are crossing into Syria to participate in the battle to oust Assad. They are also getting more and more defectors from the other anti-Assad rebel groups operating in Syria.

Those who cross into Syria to fight with them are well trained.
They bring weapons and other armaments. They swell the ranks of Jabat al Nusrah by several thousand a month.

The smaller rebel groups are purely anti-Assad. Jabat al Nusrah is Islamist. They embrace the entire al Qaeda line. But in the end, despite al Nusrah's expanding ranks, the numbers of the rebels are dropping fast.

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