Iraq al-Qaeda fighters radicalize Syria conflict

In a film clip apparently released on behalf of Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, an al-Qaeda group, fighters charge in slow motion into a hail of bullets as they push towards a northern Syrian air base later captured by terrorists.

“The spark has begun in Iraq, and the fire will grow, God willing,” intones a narrator, promising another operation.

Resurgent at home, al-Qaeda in Iraq has also emerged as a key player on the Syrian battlefield in recent weeks, adding a more radical dimension to the militants and expanding its power across the region.

The group’s territorial ambitions are starkly illustrated by a slogan said to be used by its members on social media: “From (the Iraqi province of) Diyala to Beirut”.

Isis fighters are reported to have played a crucial role not only in the capture of Minegh air base earlier this month, but also in a recent headline-grabbing push into Latakia. The group is meanwhile trying to impose its authority on “rebel-held” areas in northern Syria. Al-Qaeda has had a role in Syria for more than a year through the Jabhat al-Nusra faction, which was originally funded by al-Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate.

But after a failed merger with al-Nusra in April, al-Qaeda in Iraq, rebranded as the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (an old word for Greater Syria), set up its own operations in Syria, alarming those who remember its campaign of terror at home.

“Isis are openly Iraq’s al-Qaeda movement, which is known to be al-Qaeda’s most extreme wing anywhere, so they are everything the opposition groups said they would distance themselves from,” said analyst Aron Lund.

Mr Lund argued that rivalry between the two groups for status within al-Qaeda’s hierarchy could add to the violence.

“Now you have two very powerful al-Qaeda leaders,” he said. “They could try to upstage each other with bigger attacks.”

When Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the Isis leader, announced the takeover of al-Nusra in April, the latter’s leader Abu Mohammed al Golani rejected the move. Although al-Nusra remained loyal to Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s global leader, it would continue to operate under its own banner, he said.

Mr Baghdadi then moved to Syria, Reuters reported. It is not clear to how many fighters he brought with him from Iraq, or whether he recruited from existing terrorist groups, including al-Nusra. But Isis, whose forces are concentrated in northern and eastern Syria, is said to be the main group for foreigners.

“Nowadays when you see foreign fighters, it’s almost always in Islamic State videos,” said Charles Lister, an IHS-Jane’s analyst.

The group has meanwhile put out propaganda on its own YouTube channel, seeking to craft a distinctive identity for itself in Syria. Isis is thought to be committed to the immediate establishment of an Islamic state, and has been accused of brutalizing the local population and attacking other opposition groups.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, last week posted a video apparently showing the group executing two teenagers they were said to have abducted after a failed prisoner exchange.

Isis was also reported to have launched a big attack on a rival opposition group in the northern city of Raqqa. The group has been linked with abductions and public executions in Raqqa and Aleppo.

“The Islamic State are dangerous – Jabhat Nusra are sweet next to them,” said one journalist from the northern city of Raqqa, which has seen regular protests against all militant groups in the past week.

Source: financial times

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