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10Aug15

Proposed buffer zone leads al Qaeda to withdraw fighters from northern Aleppo province

The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, has released a statement saying its fighters have been ordered to withdraw from their frontline positions north of Aleppo. Al Nusrah's jihadists had been fighting against the Islamic State in the area. The move comes in response to Turkey's attempt to establish a buffer zone for forces fighting Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's organization.

The statement, which was released via Twitter on August 9, does not indicate that Al Nusrah is siding with the Islamic State in the multi-sided conflict. The group makes it clear that it will continue to fight Baghdadi's men elsewhere. Instead, Turkey's cooperation with the US-led coalition, which has targeted veteran al Qaeda leaders in northern Syria, has forced Al Nusrah to change tactics.

The al Qaeda arm says it is relinquishing control of its territory in the northern part of the Aleppo province. Other rebel groups will step into the void.

Al Nusrah criticizes the proposed buffer zone in its statement, saying it is intended to serve Turkey's national security interests and is not part of a real effort to aid the mujahdeen's cause. The Turkish government fears a Kurdish state on its southern border, according to Al Nusrah, and that is the real impetus behind its decision. The Kurds are one of the Islamic State's main opponents and have gained territory at the expense of Baghdadi's jihadists in recent months.

The al Qaeda branch also says it cannot find religious justifications for cooperating with the joint US-Turkey initiative.

There is an even simpler explanation for Al Nusrah's rejection of Turkey's buffer zone: the US has been striking select al Qaeda operatives in Al Nusrah's ranks.

The Pentagon announced earlier this month that it had begun flying drones out of the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. Some of the air missions are reportedly backing up US-trained rebel forces on the ground. Those very same fighters have battled Al Nusrah, which has killed or captured a number of the "moderate" rebels.

In late July, for instance, Al Nusrah claimed that it had captured members of a group called Division 30, which has reportedly received American assistance. Other members of Division 30 were killed during clashes with Al Nusrah after the al Qaeda arm raided the group's headquarters north of Aleppo. Subsequently, a statement attributed to Division 30 disavowed any role in the US-led coalition's campaign. The statement also said that Division 30 would "not be dragged [into] any side battle with any faction, as it did not, and will not, fight against Al Nusrah Front or any other faction."

Regardless, the Defense Department is providing air support to US-backed rebels, who have been dubbed the New Syrian Force. And Al Nusrah has made it clear that any American effort to influence the anti-Assad and anti-Islamic State insurgency will be treated as a hostile act.

Separately, the US has also repeatedly targeted senior al Qaeda leaders in Al Nusrah's ranks. Labeled the "Khorasan Group," this cadre of al Qaeda veterans has been plotting attacks in the West.

Al Qaeda's view of cooperation with Turkey, independent from US-led coalition

From al Qaeda's perspective, tactical cooperation with Turkey, or elements of the Turkish government, is one matter. Working with the US-backed coalition, which Turkey supports in some ways, is another issue altogether.

Consider what Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official who also served as al Qaeda's deputy general manager until his death in April, said about Turkey earlier this year. In a question and answer session that was released online, al Ansi was asked how the jihadists should deal "with countries like Qatar and Turkey, whose policies tend to benefit the mujahideen." Al Ansi replied that there "is no harm in benefiting from intersecting interests, as long as we do not have to sacrifice anything in our faith or doctrine." However, al Ansi warned, this "does not alleviate their burden for collaborating with the Americans in their war against the mujahideen." The jihadists "need to be attentive to this detail," al Ansi explained.

In other words, al Qaeda's members and like-minded jihadists can benefit from working with Turkey and Qatar, as long as those nations do not cross the line by advancing America's "war against the mujahideen." Given the circumstances described above, this is exactly how Al Nusrah now views Turkey's proposed buffer zone.

However, as Al Ansi made clear, this does not preclude the possibility of tacit cooperation between al Qaeda's Syrian branch and parts of the Turkish government on other matters. Indeed, because of their "intersecting interests" in Syria -- namely, both want to see Bashar al Assad's regime toppled -- Turkey has been slow to recognize Al Nusrah as a threat in its own right.

In September 2014, Francis Ricciardone, the former US ambassador to Turkey, accused the Turks of working with Al Nusrah. "We ultimately had no choice but to agree to disagree," Ricciardone said of his discussion with Turkish officials. "The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including Al Nusrah, whom we finally designated as we're not willing to work with."

Since early on the rebellion against the Assad regime, Turkey has permitted large numbers of foreign jihadists to travel into Syria. At various points, this benefitted not only Al Nusrah, but also al Qaeda's rivals in the Islamic State, which Turkey now opposes.

For instance, in October 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported on meetings between US officials, Turkish authorities and others. "Turkish officials said the threat posed by [Al Nusrah], the anti-Assad group, could be dealt with later," according to US officials and Syrian opposition leaders who spoke with the newspaper. Officials also told the publication that the US government's decision to designate Al Nusrah as a terrorist group in December 2012 was intended "in part to send a message to Ankara about the need to more tightly control the arms flow."

Eventually, in 2014, Turkey also designated Al Nusrah as a terrorist organization. Turkish authorities have also reportedly launched sporadic raids on al Qaeda-affiliated sites inside their country.

Still, al Qaeda has found Turkey to be a hospitable environment in the past. According to the US Treasury Department, al Qaeda has funneled cash and fighters through Turkish soil to Al Nusrah.

In October 2012, Treasury said that a network headed by al Qaeda operative Muhsin al Fadhli was moving "fighters and money through Turkey to support al Qaeda-affiliated elements in Syria." In addition, al Fadhli leveraged "his extensive network of Kuwaiti jihadist donors to send money to Syria via Turkey."

It remains to be seen how Al Nusrah will react to Turkey's latest moves, beyond rejecting the proposed buffer zone.

[Source: By Thomas Joscelyn, The Long War Journal, NJ, 10Aug15]
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small logoThis document has been published on 11Aug15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.