BAGHDAD ā The lone Syrian rebel group with an explicit stamp of approval from Al Qaeda
has become one of the uprisingās most effective fighting forces, posing
a stark challenge to the United States and other countries that want to
support the rebels but not Islamic extremists. Money flows to the group, the Nusra Front, from like-minded donors
abroad. Its fighters, a small minority of the rebels, have the boldness
and skill to storm fortified positions and lead other battalions to
capture military bases and oil fields. As their successes mount, they
gather more weapons and attract more fighters.
The group is a direct offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraqi officials and
former Iraqi insurgents say, which has contributed veteran fighters and
weapons. āThis is just a simple way of returning the favor to our Syrian brothers that fought with us on the lands of Iraq,ā said a veteran of Al Qaeda in Iraq, who said he helped lead the Nusra Frontās efforts in Syria. The United States, sensing that time may be running out for Syriaās president, Bashar al-Assad,
hopes to isolate the group to prevent it from inheriting Syria or
fighting on after Mr. Assadās fall to pursue its goal of an Islamic
state.
As the United States pushes the Syrian opposition to organize a viable
alternative government, it plans to blacklist the Nusra Front as a
terrorist organization, making it illegal for Americans to have
financial dealings with the group and most likely prompting similar
sanctions from Europe. The hope is to remove one of the biggest
obstacles to increasing Western support for the rebellion: the fear that
money and arms could flow to a jihadi group that could further
destabilize Syria and harm Western interests.
When rebel commanders met Friday in Turkey to form a unified command
structure at the behest of the United States and its allies, jihadi
groups were not invited. The Nusra Frontās ally, Al Qaeda in Iraq, is the Sunni insurgent group
that killed numerous American troops in Iraq and sowed widespread
sectarian strife with suicide bombings against Shiites and other
religious and ideological opponents. The Iraqi group played an active
role in founding the Nusra Front and provides it with money, expertise
and fighters, said Maj. Faisal al-Issawi, an Iraqi security official who
tracks jihadi activities in Iraqās Anbar Province.
But blacklisting the Nusra Front could backfire. It would pit the United
States against some of the best fighters in the insurgency that it aims
to support. While some Syrian rebels fear the groupās growing power,
others work closely with it and admire it ā or, at least, its military
achievements ā and are loath to end their cooperation. Leaders of the Free Syrian Army, the loose-knit rebel umbrella group
that the United States seeks to bolster, expressed exasperation that the
United States, which has refused to provide weapons throughout the
conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people, is now opposing a
group they see as a vital ally.
The Nusra Front ādefends civilians in Syria, whereas America didnāt do
anything,ā said Mosaab Abu Qatada, a rebel spokesman. āThey stand by and
watch; they look at the blood and the crimes and brag. Then they say
that Nusra Front are terrorists." He added, āAmerica just wants a pretext to intervene in Syrian affairs after the revolution.ā The United States has been reluctant to supply weapons to rebels that could end up in the hands of anti-Western jihadis, as did weapons that Qatar supplied to Libyan rebels
with American approval. Critics of the Obama administrationās Syria
policy counter that its failure to support the rebels helped create the
opening that Islamic militants have seized in Syria.
The Nusra Frontās appeals to Syrian fighters seem to be working. At a recent meeting in Damascus, Abu Hussein al-Afghani, a veteran of
insurgencies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, addressed frustrated young
rebels. They lacked money, weapons and training, so they listened
attentively. He told them he was a leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, now working with a
Qaeda branch in Syria, and by joining him, they could make their mark.
One fighter recalled his resonant question: āWho is hearing your voice
today?ā
On Friday, demonstrators in several Syrian cities raised banners with
slogans like, āNo to American intervention, for we are all Jebhat
al-Nusra,ā referring to the groupās full name, Ansar al-Jebhat al-Nusra
li-Ahl al-Sham, or Supporters of the Front for Victory of the People of
Syria. One rebel battalion, the Ahrar, or Free Men, asked on its
Facebook page why the United States did not blacklist Mr. Assadās
āterroristā militias. Another jihadist faction, the Sahaba Army in the Levant, even
congratulated the group on the āgreat honorā of being deemed terrorists
by the United States.
