Ribal Al-Assad welcomes US decision to designate Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist group

US blacklists Syria's al-Nusra Front as terrorist group

Obama administration imposes sanctions on Syrian resistance group and says al-Qaida has been supplying cash and weapons

www,guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 11 December 2012

The Obama administration has declared one of the Syrian resistance groups an al-Qaida front, as part of a gradual move by the US towards recognition of more moderate elements of the opposition.

The State Department said the al-Nusra Front for the People of the Levant, which is taking part in the fight on the ground against president Bashar al-Assad, is an alias for al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), and designated it as a "foreign terrorist organisation". The Obama administration said that AQI has been supplying money, weapons and manpower to the al-Nusra Front.

In a statement issued Tuesday morning, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "Since November 2011, the al-Nusra Front has claimed nearly 600 attacks – ranging from more than 40 suicide attacks to small arms and improvised explosive device operations – in major city centres including Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Dara'a, Homs, Idlib, and Deir al-Zor. During these attacks numerous innocent Syrians have been killed.

"Through these attacks, al-Nusra has sought to portray itself as part of the legitimate Syrian opposition while it is, in fact, an attempt by AQI to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes. AQI emir Abu Dua is in control of both AQI and al-Nusra."

Syrian rebels defy US and pledge allegiance to jihadi group

Rebel groups across Syria are defying the United States by pledging their allegiance to a group that Washington will designate today a terrorist organization for its alleged links to al-Qaeda.

10 December 2012

www.telegraph.co.uk

A total of 29 opposition groups, including fighting "brigades" and civilian committees, have signed a petition calling for mass demonstrations in support of Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist group which the White House believes is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The petition is promoting the slogan "No to American intervention, for we are all Jabhat al-Nusra" and urges supporters to "raise the Jabhat al-Nusra flag" as a "thank you".

"These are the men for the people of Syria, these are the heroes who belong to us in religion, in blood and in revolution," read a statement widely circulated on Syrian opposition Facebook pages.

Jabhat al-Nusra made its mark early this year with a string of suicide bombings, a tactic it continues to use. Aided by fighters from abroad and Syrians who have returned from other wars in the Middle East, it has also led battles for a number of military bases and has secured a string of recent victories. Along with allied jihadist groups, it captured the Sheikh Suleiman base west of Aleppo yesterday morning, and has also dented the infrastructure of the regime in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Although Jabhat al-Nusra remains separate from the Free Syrian Army, many FSA leaders now recognise its strength and order their forces to cooperate with it.

Syria Uses Scud Missiles in New Effort to Push Back Rebels

www.nytimes.com

12 December 2012

WASHINGTON — President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have resorted to firing ballistic missiles at rebel fighters inside Syria, Obama administration officials said Wednesday, escalating a nearly two-year-old civil war as the government struggles to slow the momentum of a gaining insurgency.

William Burns, the deputy secretary of state who led the American team to the Morocco gathering, said Wednesday that he had invited opposition leaders to Washington, including Sheik Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, the coalition leader.

Mr. Khatib, however, took issue with a decision by the Obama administration to classify Al Nusra Front — one of several armed groups fighting Mr. Assad — as a foreign terrorist organization.

“The logic under which we consider one of the parts that fights against the Assad regime as a terrorist organization is a logic one must reconsider,” Mr. Khatib said. “We can differ with parties that adopt political ideas and visions different from ours. But we ensure that the goal of all rebels is the fall of the regime.”

Obama administration officials have said that the Nusra Front is an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the terrorist group that has sought to foment sectarian violence there and topple the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.

Commenting on the story Ribal Al-Assad, Director of the ODFS, said:

"I welcome the US Government's decision to designate Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist group because it is an Al Qaida terrorist group. I have been warning of the jihadist's attempting to hijack the revolution for over a year and am very concerned that a total of 29 opposition groups, including fighting "brigades" and civilian committees, have signed a petition calling for mass demonstrations in support of Jabhat al-Nusra.

"Also the fact that Sheikh Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, the Syrian coalition leader took issue with the decision by the Obama administration to classify Al Nusra Front as a terrorist organisation is very telling of where he is coming from.

"These are signs that Syria may be heading from dictatorship to theocracy, which is not what the Syrian people want. Therefore the international community must ensure that all jihadi Islamist groups are not part of the picture in Syria.

"I call on the UN, US and the EU to impress upon states in the Middle East who are arming the opposition and sending jihadist proxies to fight to stop as their actions have escalated the conflict in Syria and divided the country and region along its sectarian faultline.

"I also call on the UN, US and the EU bring together all the Syrian opposition groups onto one platform so they become a genuinely inclusive opposition, which works towards a diplomatic solution based on the principles of the Kofi Annan Plan, which are to de-escalate the violence and have a ceasefire leading to a peaceful Syrian led transition through dialogue and negotiation."