Leader of Al Qaeda-Linked Group in Syria Calls For Ceasefire Within Assad's Opposition

The leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, the Al
Qaeda-linked rebel group fighting against the Assad regime, has
called for an end to the recent violence that has erupted between
different factions of Assad’s opposition.

In an audio recording Jabhat al-Nusra’s leader, Abu Mohammed
al-Golani, blames much of the recent violence on another group with
links to Al Qaeda, the Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Reuters has been unable to confirm the authenticity of the
recording, but reported that “it was posted on a Twitter account
used by the Nusra Front.”

Rebels in Syria recently
killed 34 foreign Al Qaeda-linked fighters, most of whom were
reportedly from ISIL.  

ISIL recently took control of the Iraqi city of
Fallujah, which is less than 50 miles west of Baghdad, and has
taken over parts of Ramadi, which like Fallujah is in the
Sunni majority Anbar province. According to an
Iraqi military spokesman, Al Qaeda-linked fighters have set up
a government in Fallujah and are the only source of order
there.

As Reuters’ reporting explains, ISIL’s activities in Iraq are
only part of a wider goal, namely the creation of “a radical
Islamic state out of the chaos of neighbouring Syria’s civil
war.”

Unsurprisingly, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) have
blamed President Obama for the fall of Fallujah, calling the
situation “predictable.”

In their
statement, McCain and Graham, who
have both argued for arming rebels in Syria, also say that the
Obama administration’s policy in Syria has failed. It is worth
keeping in mind that were the U.S. to have sent the weapons McCain
and Graham wanted to rebels in Syria there would have been a chance
that the weapons would eventually end up in the hands of ISIL, who
are now in control of Fallujah.

The news from the last few days has highlighted that groups like
ISIL are not ones that the U.S. should risk inadvertently
supporting.