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Front-line Syrian rebel group linked to al Qaeda, U.S. believes

Posted Sunday, Dec. 02, 2012

QALAT AL MUDIQ, Syria — When the group Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for car and suicide bombings in Damascus that killed dozens of people in January, many of Syria’s revolutionaries said the organization was a creation of the Syrian government, designed to discredit those who opposed the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Nearly a year later, however, Jabhat al Nusra, which U.S. officials believe has links to al Qaeda, has become essential to the front-line operations of the rebels fighting to topple Assad.

Not only does the group still conduct suicide bombings that have killed hundreds, but it also has proven to be critical to the rebels’ military advance. In battle after battle across the country, Nusra and similar groups do the heaviest front-line fighting. Groups that call themselves the Free Syrian Army and report to military councils led by defected Syrian army officers move into the captured territory afterward.

The prominence of Nusra in the rebel cause worries U.S. and other Western officials, who say its operations rely on the same people and tactics that fueled al Qaeda in Iraq — an assertion that is borne out by interviews with Nusra members in Syria.

Among Nusra fighters are many Syrians who say they fought with al Qaeda in Iraq, which waged a violent campaign against the U.S. presence in that country and is blamed for suicide and car bombings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis since the U.S. troops left a year ago.