Al Qaeda(tm) grants exclusive rights over franchise in Syria to Jabhat al-Nusra

[Watser?]

The CEO of Al Qaeda International Operations Ayman Al-Zawahiri has granted exclusive rights to the Syrian branch to the Jabhat al-Nusra or Victory Front.

APA - Qaeda chief says Nusra Front alone runs Syria ops

[Dingfod]

$25,000 and a cut of the profits like a Sears appliance store franchise?

[Watser?]

Syria: A Cold War Deepens Between Jihadis | Al Akhbar English

[Watser?]

Even now that Western media are depicting the fighting in Syria as between the 'secularists' of the FSA and al-Qaeda/ISIS, the UAE newspaper the National tells a different story: Syria's western-backed rebels get helping hand from Islamist fighters | The National

“The FSA and Al Nusra join together for operations but they have an agreement to let the FSA lead for public reasons, because they don’t want to frighten Jordan or the West,” said an activist who works with opposition groups in Deraa.

“Operations that were really carried out by Al Nusra are publicly presented by the FSA as their own,” he said.

So the 'foreign' ISIS is being replaced with the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra. That is all that's happening.

[Watser?]

Apparently Al-Qaeda granted them exclusive explosive rights in Lebanon too:
Suspected suicide attack kills four in Beirut suburb
Nusra Front Lebanon branch claims latest Beirut bombing

See, this shows just how much difference there is between ISIS (bad, bad guys) and Jabhat al-Nusra (good guys because part of the 'Syrian rebels' fighting the bad, bad ISIS guys...)

[Vivisectus]

Meanwhile, the good guys are more than welcome to join the peacetalks. Not Iran though, as they reject the notion that booting out the current regime is a given.

Offer to Iran on Syria peace talks withdrawn - European News | Latest News from Across Europe | The Irish Times - Tue, Jan 21, 2014

[Watser?]

Hmmm, I guess we have another contender for Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Even though the headline says he 'acknowledges al Qaida past', he really is acknowledging his al-Qaeda present:

A top official of a major Syrian rebel group acknowledged Friday that he considers himself a member of al Qaida, an admission that undercuts Western hopes that the new Islamic Front would prove to be an acceptable counter to the rising influence of other al Qaida affiliates in Syria.

Abu Khaled al Suri, who is a top figure in the rebel group Ahrar al Sham, made the statement in an Internet posting in which he argued that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, another radical rebel group, was not al Qaida’s representative in Syria and was not doing the work of al Qaida’s founder, Osama bin Laden, its current leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, or al Qaida’s late leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was killed by an American missile in 2006.

BEIRUT: Key anti-Assad rebel leader acknowledges al Qaida past, potentially complicating U.S. aid in Syria | Syria | McClatchy DC

[Watser?]

Another al-Nusra attack in Lebanon: Deadly Hermel attack claimed by al-Nusra Front

[Watser?]

The Syrian town of Kessab, once a popular holiday destination, has recently come under heavy gunfire from rebel groups linked to al-Qaeda. Armed men entered the town, looted Armenian shops and homes, taking families hostage, and desecrating the town's three churches.

The attack has forced at least 2,000 ethnic Armenian civilians to seek refuge in Latakia and other neighboring hills. For Syria watchers, this incident further highlights the systematic targeting of Christian communities in the country.

Syria’s Kessab: The devastation of an Armenian safe haven | Al Akhbar English

Latakia Offensive Stirs Dark Memories for Armenian-Syrians - Middle East Real Time - WSJ

Representatives of the Armenian-American community met with US State Department officials on Friday to ask that pressure be placed on Ankara to end its alleged support of rebels attacking the predominantly Armenian town of Kessab in Syria.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) issued a statement on Friday saying that ANCA had joined a delegation to urge the US government to take immediate action to end the “vicious onslaught on the historically Armenian town of Kessab, Syria, which was overrun by al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists in an attack launched from Turkey on March 21.”

Rebel groups, including the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, seized control of Kessab on Sunday.

Armenian-American community asks US to pressure Ankara

Erdogan tried to get YouTube banned in Turkey over this: Here Is The YouTube "Start A False Flag War With Syria" Leaked Recording That Erdogan Wanted Banned

Meanwhile the Syrian army has started a heavy counter offensive:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Mid...#axzz2xH2rzlEY

[Watser?]

Dutch Jesuit priest killed by Jabhat al-Nusra in Homs: http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/13828...-in-Homs.dhtml

[Watser?]

In a sign of how sharp the divisions have become, ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani has accused Al Qaida leaders of betraying the jihadist cause. “Al Qaida today is no longer a base of jihad (holy war),” Adnani said in a statement posted on jihadist forums, playing off the militant group's name, which means “the base” in Arabic.

“Its leadership has become a hammer to break the project of the Islamic State,” Adnani said, adding that “the leaders of Al Qaida have deviated from the correct path”. “They have divided the ranks of the mujahedeen (holy warriors) in every place.”

Syria rivalry sharply splits jihadist ranks

[Watser?]

The war in Syria: ISIS’s most successful investment yet

[Watser?]

Video purports to shows IS beheading Lebanese soldier Anadolu Agency

This soldier was kidnapped by Jabhat al-Nusra and now somehow is beheaded by ISIS.

[Dingfod]

Islamic State: Winning friends and influencing people the world over.

[1Samuel8]

Originally Posted by Watser?

The CEO of Al Qaeda ....

Upon my initial glance at the OP, I thought I clicked on "The Cloaca" sub-forum by mistake.

[Watser?]

Syrian rebels, government clash in Golan Heights

JaN controls the part of the Golan Heights that is not occupied by Israel, which is rly, rly close to the part of the Golan Heights that is (they have a fence where occupied Golan Heighters can shout at the other side and vice versa). And yet again they mysteriously managed NOT to attack what is supposed to be their biggest enemy.

[1Samuel8]

Originally Posted by Watser?

The CEO of Al Qaeda International Operations Ayman Al-Zawahiri has granted exclusive rights to the Syrian branch to the Jabhat al-Nusra or Victory Front.

Fantastic news!!!

Al-CIA-Da!! Legitimizing the monopolization of the use of force everywhere!!!

[Dingfod]

Now the wooden shoe is on the other foot: Netherlands joining in on the Daesh gangbang, sending F-16s to bomb Islamic State militant targets in Syria.