Al Qaeda group in Yemen urges all jihadists to support the Islamic State

The Islamic State (IS) has been disowned by Al-Qaeda for not following orders. The Jabhat al-Nusra or Nusra Front is now recognized as the official representative of Al Qaeda in Syria.

Al-Qaeda disowned the Islamic State back in February of this year. IS was then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or the Levant (ISIS or ISIL) and earlier as Al Qaeda in Iraq. Now a branch of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula(AQAP) has issued a statement urging all jihadists to support the Islamic State against the United States. The call for solidarity is significant since the leader of AQAP is thought to have been appointed the "general manager" and deputy to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. The AQAP statement said in part: "We urge all Muslims to back their brethren, with their souls, money and tongues, against the crusaders. We call on anyone who can wear down the Americans to strive to do so by military, economic or media means."
The expression of solidarity with IS from AQAP may be in part a result of US bombing raids in Syria. The US bombed the IS in Syria but it also bombed positions of what it called "Khorasan" near Aleppo. Khorasan is just a fancy name, invented by US intelligence, for a group within the Al Nusra front. Rebels of all descriptions were outraged by these bombings since the Nusra Front is cooperating with other rebel groups against the Assad regime and are key fighters in the Aleppo area. The US bombing of the Nusra Front may lead to the group also expressing solidarity with the Islamic State in time. Up to now there has been conflict between the two groups.
 If the Nusra Front decides to support the Islamic State this will make the US hopes of creating a force of moderate rebels to fight the IS and Assad a pipe dream. Indeed, the US plans are not yet even worked out with the Free Syrian Army only with exile political groups. Al-Qaeda rejects the IS declaration of a caliphate with Baghdadi as its head, however the AQAP statement insists that they are all brothers: "We urge all mujahidin to set aside their differences and inter-factional fighting and move instead against the crusade targeting all." Judging from the appended video Jabhat al-Nusra is not interested in recruiting cowboys.

Al-Qaeda-linked group captures Fijian UN peacekeepers

The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force(UNDOF) has been in the Golan Heights area since 1974. There are 1,223 troops from six countries in all: Fiji, India, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, and the Philippines.

Syrian rebels including the Al-Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front have been fighting in the Golan Heights area with the Syrian military for some time. On Saturday, rebels surrounded a UN military encampment within the Golan Heights and clashes ensued. A different encampment was also surrounded by Nusra Front rebels but the UN peacekeepers were able to flee. Syrian rebel groups were able to take control of the Quneitra crossing on the border between Syria and the Israeli controlled part of the Golan Heights. During the occupation 44 Fijian troops were taken captive. Subsequently the rebels surrounded two other UN encampments.

 At the Rwihana base just 1.5 miles from the Quneitra crossing al-Nusra fighters surrounded 40 Filipino peacekeepers and ordered them to surrender. Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said that more than 70 Filipino troops had escaped from the two areas that came under attack. General Gregorio Catapang said the Filipinos had returned fire and managed to escape only after a seven-hour siege. 

 The head of the Fijian army on Sunday said negotiations for release of the 44 Fijian troops "kidnapped" by rebels was ongoing but their location was unknown. A UN press office statement said. Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga of the Fijian Army said that they had assurances that the men were being well-treated:[quote"However, we are still very concerned that we cannot confirm at this stage their exact location, whether they are still in Syria or whether they have been moved to neighboring countries".  

UNDOF was set up after the Golan Heights were seized by Israel during the Yom Kippur war.The Fijian and Philippine troops are serving with UNDOF in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Syria and Israel are still technically at war. 

  A commander with the Nusra front claims that the peacekeepers were being held because UNDOF was helping Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In return for the release of the Fijians, Al-Nusra Front is said to be demanding the release of top Al Qaeda leader Mussab al-Suri.

 The UN said that the Philippines has decided to pull out of UNDOF. Austria, Japan, and Croatia have already pulled their troops out of UNDOF because of the deteriorating security situation. The Philippine government will repatriate its 331 peacekeepers when their tour of duty ends in October.

"The Syrian rebels would be immeasurably weaker today without al-Qaeda in their ranks,"

 This statement would not doubt be unremarkable if it came from a supporter of Assad's view that his fight is not a civil war but against terrorists. However, the source is Ed Husain a Senior Fellow For Mideastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
    Husain claims that the main rebel force, the FSA (Free Syrian Army) battalions are divided, unorganized and often ineffective. Assad still has far superior armaments and dominance in the air and a professional army. Without outside intervention the rebels are not likely to progress very far unless the Assad regime self destructs from within. However, the Al Qaeda forces in Syria bring discipline and religious fervor to the battle. They are accustomed to fighting vastly superior forces and not at all discouraged by that. They are also often well-funded by wealthy Sunni benefactors from the Gulf oil states who want to see Sunnis regain control of Syria from the Shia Alawites. The Al Qaeda fighters in Syria who call themselves Jabhat al-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Front for the Protection of the Levantine People) are gaining both in strength and the number of their operations.
   In March there were only seven attacks attributed to the group but by June they had carried out sixty six operations including many in the key battlegrounds of Aleppo and Damascus. The group is gaining adherents from the FSA members and also foreign fighters from Libya and Iraq among other countries.
  Al Qaeda is not just interested in overthrowing Assad but in establishing an Islamist state in all or part of Syria. Failing that, they want at least to make Syria a safe haven for operations elsewhere such as in Iraq.

   As long ago as May U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta admitted Al-Qaeda's presence in Syria. However the  U.S.counter terrorism chief Daniel Benjamin said in July that the U.S. would simply ask the Free Syrian Army to reject Al Qaeda. That is probably much easier said than done. When the west supported jihadists against the Soviets in Afghanistan the eventual result was the rise of the Taliban. Something similar could very well evolve in post-Assad Syria. For more see this article.