Everything You Need To Know About the New Nusra Front

The Nusra Front announced its split from al-Qaeda on July 28, with the group renaming itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. The move is being seen as a shrewd attempt to hide their militant ideology and protect themselves from a growing international campaign against militant fighters in Syria.

Appearing in a video on Thursday, the Nusra Front’s leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani revealed his face for the first time, saying that the rebrand was “to remove the excuse used by the international community—spearheaded by America and Russia—to bombard and displace Muslims in the Levant: that they are targeting al-Nusra Front, which is associated with al-Qaeda.”

Their break comes with an official blessing from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. According to Reuters, the leader told the Nusra Front in an audio message that organizational ties could be broken with the global terror group in order to help it continue its battle for Syria. Here’s what you need to know:

The origin

The group’s Syrian commander, Julani, is believed to have joined al-Qaeda and fought in the Iraqi insurgency against U.S.-led forces in early 2000. In 2011, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the current leader of ISIS who then led al-Qaeda’s branch in Iraq) wanted to take advantage of the power vacuum caused by the Syrian civil war, sending seven top lieutenants, including Abu Mohammad al-Julani, to lay the groundwork for a Syrian expansion.

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http://time.com/4428696/nusra-front-syria-terror-al-qaeda/