Syria: US Takes out 20+ Al-Nusra Rebels, Grudgingy Admits Group Is 'One in the Same' With Al-Qaeda
Took
out Al-Nusra's chief spokesperson – a guy they
backed against Soviets in Afghanistan and was a friend of Osama Bin
Laden
6
April, 2016
Well
what do you know. When the present Syria ceasefire (which
now hangs by a thread)
was being first arranged in Geneva in February the talks dragged on
because United States' John Kerry was trying to get the Russians to
agree they would not target Al-Nusra during the ceasefire (albeit the
US itself formally insisted Al-Nusra was a terrorist organization).
Yet
now it is the US which is taking
credit for
a strike that took out 22 Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa members
including Nusra's spokesperson Radwan Nammou or Abu Firas
Al Suri:
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the US military conducted an air raid on a meeting of officials of Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front on Sunday in northeast Syria, targeting Abu Firas al-Suri and other leaders.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Suri, his son and at least 20 jihadists of Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa and other fighters from Uzbekistan were killed in strikes on positions in Idlib province.
To
make things more ironic Al Suri was a veteran of the Soviet Afghan
War where he was on the same side as the American CIA. It was also
where Al Suri became an associate of Osama bin Laden:
He said Suri was a Syrian national and a "legacy" Al-Qaeda member who fought in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and 1990s.
He "worked with Osama bin Laden and other founding Al-Qaeda members to train terrorists and conduct attacks globally," Cook said, adding that Sunday's strike killed several enemy fighters.
Al
Suri - kinda embarrassing when a top rebel spokesperson is a friend
of Bin Laden
However,
before the US made every effort to pretend
it was actually bombing a group distinct from Al-Nusra,
the so called "Khorasan group" which it turned out nobody
in Syria had ever heard of.
This
time, however, the
Department of Defense was forced to admit that
it struck at Al-Nusra which is anyway one and the same as Al-Qaeda.
It's
not information that was volunteered freely, however. In fact it took
no less than three journalists asking the same question until the DoD
spokesperson finally stopped covering for Nusra
First
(Joe):Q:
Just to follow-up on your opening statement, could you provide us
with more details? Where the strike against Abu Firas al- Suri took
place. And now, can
we consider that all the Al-Nusra Front leaders are a legitimate
target for the U.S.?
MR. COOK: Again, it happened in Northwest Syria. I'll leave it at that for now. Andwe've been targeting Al Qaida leaders for some time, as you know. And that has always been a legitimate target.
Q: And the Nusra Front. If you consider Al Nusra Front leaders a legitimate target?
MR. COOK: We have always considered Al Qaida leaders to be legitimate targets. Of course, Al Nusra has its ties to Al Qaida. And that is something that we've been very upfront about for years. And continues to be an ongoing, active part of our efforts, will be to target Al Qaida leadership.
Second
(Barbara):
Q: Can I quickly, quickly follow up on Joe's question? While this person was clearly al-Qaida, and al-Qaida is tied to Jabhat al-Nusra, was this meeting that you referenced -- well first, was it a -- an al-Nusra meeting, an al-Qaida meeting? Did you strike him because of his previous connections to al-Qaida and his history with al-Qaida, or are you now striking Jabhat al-Nusra?
MR. COOK: I'm not going to get into intelligence here and operational details. What I can tell you is that we targeted al-Qaida members meeting in northwestern Syria and this individual, who has a long history in Al Qaida, we deemed that he was present at that meeting and we're trying to determine if he's been removed from the battlefield.
Third
(Thomas):
Q: I just want to make a -- just want to go back to the strike in northwest Syria. I just want to make it clear, does the U.S. consider al-Nusra a legitimate military target in the air campaign over Syria?
MR. COOK: We consider Al Qaida members in Syria to be legitimate targets, and that was the focus of this strike.
Q: So you are making a difference between al-Nusra and Al Qaida in this case?
MR. COOK: In this particular strike, which is what I'm referring to, we were targeting Al Qaida members.
Q: Not al-Nusra?
MR. COOK: Again, there's -- al-Nusra has been an affiliate of -- of Al Qaida, and so to the extent that there's a distinction there, we feel like the targeting of Al Qaida members in -- in Syria in consistent with the targeting of Al Qaida members we've conducted in other parts of the world.
Q: So in this case, al-Nusra and Al Qaida are interchangeable?
MR. COOK: In this instance, we're talking about a historic -- Al Qaida members who may be affiliated with al-Nusra. Now, al-Nusra has been an affiliate of Al Qaida, so it's in very much -- one in the same. And in this instance, we targeted someone we know as said -- someone who was present who has had a history in higher leadership of Al Qaida dating back to Afghanistan, and -- and -- so we will await to see what the results of that strike were and whether or not he was removed from the battlefield.
Here's
an interpretation of what that lengthy (and cringy) exchange was
about. The DoD spokesperson starts out with the prepared position:
We're taking out Al Qaeda members. Al-Nusra has links to Al-Qaeda so when we're taking out Al-Qaeda members we're also taking out people who happen to be Al-Nusra members.
But
for once the journalists are actually doing their job and won't
accept such incredible tales without a follow-up. He's asked the same
thing six times by three different people. You can almost see
the cornered Cook thinking to himself:
Come on guys why are you badgering me on this? Be team players! Don't you understand? I can't say it!
Until
he breaks:
Oh screw it! I'm just gonna say it! Yeah, ok, ok! Yeah, Al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda are one and the same! There I said it! OK guys, are you happy now! You made me say it!
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