Pentagon Claims Strike On Imaginary Group Killed Another Imaginary Leader

[Syrian Rebels Never Heard of “Khorasan,” Only Al-Nusra Hit In Airstrikes.]

Syria rebels, experts say US airstrikes hit Al-Nusra Front not “Khorasan”

Published Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The US says it has hit a group called “Khorasan” in Syria, but experts and Syria’s so called “moderate” opposition argue it actually struck al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, al-Nusra Front, which fights alongside the Syria rebels.

In announcing its raids in the northern province of Aleppo on Tuesday, Washington described the group it targeted as Khorasan, a cell of al-Qaeda veterans planning attacks against the West. But many cast doubt on the distinction between Khorasan and al-Nusra Front.

“In Syria, no one had ever heard talk of Khorasan until the US media brought it up,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Rebels, activists and the whole world knows that these positions (hit Tuesday) were al-Nusra positions, and the fighters killed were al-Nusra fighters,” added Abdel Rahman, who has tracked the Syrian conflict since it erupted in 2011.

Aron Lund, editor of the Syria in Crisis website run by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, raised similar doubts.

“The fact that news about this al-Qaeda-run, anti-Western cell linked to al-Nusra emerged just over a week ago, through US intelligence leaks — well, it’s certainly an interesting coincidence,” he told AFP.

“And it certainly helped make the case for attacking them, for why this mattered to US national security, and for why this was not about attacking a rebel group in Syria but about attacking a group hostile to the US.”

Even though al-Nusra officially pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and was named the group’s official Syrian branch, amost all Syria “rebel groups” have been willing to cooperate with the extremist group against the Syrian army.

That history of cooperation has left some so-called “moderate” Syria rebels on the ground suspicious and even angry about the strikes on al-Qaeda.

Ibrahim al-Idlibi, an activist in Idlib province, said the opposition backed strikes against ISIS, but not against al-Nusra, or the so-called Khorasan.

“Some of these strikes only serve Western interests,” he said.

Al-Nusra “has stood with the rebels against both Daesh and the regime,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Syria’s rebels have often rejected the world community’s designation of al-Nusra as a “terrorist” group and has criticized Washington for adding the group to the list of “terrorist” organizations.

Many are also angry that the strikes are targeting jihadists, like al-Nusra, but not the Syrian army.

In a statement, the rebel Supreme Military Command affiliated with the opposition National Coalition emphasised “the need to avoid targeting moderate national and Islamic forces”.

“We demand that the attacks focus on the forces of tyranny… represented by the Assad regime and its supporters.”

And targeting al-Nusra could even prove controversial within Washington’s anti-jihadist alliance.

Some key members are believed to maintain channels of communication with al-Nusra, including Qatar, which has helped negotiate the release of prisoners held by the group.

Al-Nusra’s terrorism in Lebanon

In August, the Lebanese army clashed with the al-Nusra and ISIS jihadists in the northeastern town of Ersal, on the Syrian borders, leaving 10 Lebanese soldiers dead.

The extremist group recently executed Lebanese soldier, Mohammad Hammieh, and is now threatening to execute second Lebanese soldier, Ali Bzal.

Hamieh was one of 18 soldiers and police being held hostage by the group in the outskirts of Ersal.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)