Much has been said about Al Nusra Front in Syria, about its structure, role, importance and the threat it poses. An Iraqi official even said: “If we do not fight Al Nusra Front in Syria, it will fight us in Baghdad”.
Is Al Nusra Front really so powerful? Why have the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and other European Union countries included Al Nusra on their lists of terrorist organizations? However, several Shia groups are not on these lists.
Some Arab states have also started attacking Al Nusra Front without any valid reason. Some countries have even started arresting those thinking of going to Syria to take part in the war there. They are scared of a repeat of the experience of Afghanistan. Is this fear justified?
Accurate information is not easy to come by in the midst of hostilities. Even journalists cannot be neutral while covering news about this organisation, scared as they would be of government action against them.
When I googled Al Nusra Front, I got several results, including news, articles and studies. I did not open sites run by Russian, Iranian or Iranian-supported agencies that openly back the Syrian regime, such as Press TV, Al Manar and others.
Then I tried to search for articles from research centres. This was the result:
Al Nusra Font was officially formed on January 23, 2012, which means it is less than two years old. It is a relatively young group that has drawn huge attention during this period. A large number of news websites have described Al Nusra as “the most aggressive and successful arm of the rebel forces in Syria”.
After its first public statement on January 24, 2012, the United States put Al Nusra on its list of terrorist organisations. Australia and Britain followed the US and blacklisted it.
At the beginning of 2013, one year after the front’s first public statement, it had about 6,000 fighters. Since then it has received a large number of volunteers who get ten days of intensive religious training before getting military training that lasts three weeks.
The front has its own intelligence network that infiltrates the military units of the Bashar Al Assad regime. It has taken several dissident officers and soldiers to safe places. The front still carries out such operations and posts relevant details on YouTube every now and then.
The front also has fighting units in Syria’s eight governorates. Its strength or weakness depends on the support it gets from residents of those areas. Al Nusra has fighters in the coastal areas, the upper regions, and the Shia and Druze areas. It dominates in the Sunni areas.
The front is organised as an army, with units and brigades. It has secret cells in Damascus and its outskirts.
Stanford University says the Front aims to unify the various rebel forces, Islamise the Syrian revolution under the banner of jihad, and make it stronger by getting more weapons and soldiers and improving training methods. It also aims to make Syria an Islamic state, to revive the caliphate system.
According to the university, the front has been successful because of a large number of suicide operations, its high spirits and it being a united and disciplined force with an effective leadership.
Iraqi journalist and The Guardian’s foreign correspondent, Ghaith Abdul Ahad, wrote a long article about Al Nusra Front on July 10, 2013, in which he said that the front had fighters from Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt and other countries.
For those who do not know, Ghaith Abdul Ahad is an Iraqi Christian who attained fame after the US invasion of Iraq. He has reported from Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. His articles about conflicts in these countries had authenticity that was lacking in reports from Western news organisations.
Israel’s Jerusalem Post has published excerpts from a 150-page report published by Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (terrorism-info.org.il).
The Jerusalem Post conducted an interview with the head of the Center, Dr Reuven Erlich, who said, “What Al Qaeda did in Afghanistan in 10 years, the Front has achieved in Syria in less than two years. It will spread – to the region and then to the whole world.” ( I think this is the reason the Front was put on the terrorist list.)
“Syria is at the entrance of Europe, and shares borders with Israel. Geopolitically, it’s more important than Afghanistan,” he added. “The good news is that there is very little chance of the Front succeeding in creating a caliphate, according to the researchers. The bad news is that its spread threatens the whole region.”
However, the report was not able to figure out who was the leader of the Front, “Al Gawlani,” as it said that he might be an element of the Syrian opposition who migrated to Iraq to join Al Qaeda and then came back to Syria after the revolution began, accompanied by an Al Qaeda leader to set up Al Nusra Front in Syria. There are between 500 and 600 European Muslim volunteers in the Front, mainly from France and Britain, the report said.
During conflicts and wars that destroy all principles of humanity, such as the one Bashar Al Assad has been waging against his own people, religious organisations find themselves a place on the battlefield.
Even Communist Russia allowed Orthodox priests to perform prayers for soldiers who fought under an atheist leadership that does not have any consideration for religion. Therefore, considering Jihadi movements terrorist organisations without justification is misjudgement, especially during something like the Syrian conflict.
If Al Nusra Front indulges in internal conflicts, it will get diverted from its main goal of overthrowing Assad. My personal view is that its goals will change after it has ended the threat from the Syrian regime and its supporters. Freedom opens new horizons that are different from what exists during war.
