Al Qaeda and allies announce ‘new entity’ in Syria

Five insurgency groups in Syria, including Al Qaeda’s rebranded branch, have announced the creation of a “new entity” to fight Bashar al Assad’s regime. The five organizations that have merged are: Jabhat Fath al Sham (formerly known as Al Nusrah Front), Harakat Nur Al Din Al Zanki, Liwa Al Haqq, Ansar Al Din and Jaysh Al Sunnah.

In a statement released online, the joint venture partners say they have merged to form Hay’at Tahrir al Sham, or the “Assembly for Liberation of the Levant.” It is led by a jihadi known as Abu Jaber (also known as Hashem al Sheikh), the former head of Ahrar al Sham, which continues to operate under its own name in Syria. A photo of Abu Jaber from his Twitter feed can be seen on the right.

Various groups tried to unite behind Abu Jaber’s leadership in Aleppo early last year, but it appears that effort never took off. Still, the unity initiative in Aleppo indicates that the jihadis have been pushing for Abu Jaber to serve as a possible front man for some time. Some reports have identified Abu Jaber as a former member of al Qaeda in Iraq. [See FDD’s Long War Journal report, Aleppo-based rebel groups reportedly unite behind Ahrar al Sham’s former top leader.]

Abu Jaber quickly announced on his Twitter feed that he had resigned from Ahrar al Sham. He also said that his newly-created entity would enter into a ceasefire with other groups in northern Syria. Jabhat Fath al Sham, al Qaeda’s rebranded arm, had been clashing with smaller rebel organizations in recent weeks.

A new logo for Tahrir al Sham has already been created and disseminated online. It can be seen on the right.

The five organizations say they decided to unite “[d]ue to what the Syrian revolution is undergoing today [with] plots that plague it and internal conflicts that threaten its presence,” according to a translation of their statement published by Bilad al Sham Media, a small, pro-al Qaeda jihadi outfit. The groups say it required “great effort from us in order to unite the word and the ranks.”

“And we call on the factions in the arena to fulfill this covenant and to join this new entity in order to unite our banners and to preserve the fruits and the jihad of this revolution, so that this may be the seed of unifying the capacities and strength of this revolution,” their statement continues. The merger is intended to “preserve” the “course” of the revolution, such that “its desired objectives” can be “reached,” including “most notably the overthrow of this criminal [Assad] regime.”

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