US says Al-Nusra split from Al-Qaeda doesn't change status

WASHINGTON: The US government said Thursday it will continue to consider Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, Al-Nusra Front, a security threat despite the group's announcement that it was breaking ties with the global terror network.
"Al-Nusra Front leaders continue to maintain the intent to conduct eventual attacks in and against the West," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
Al-Nusra announced the split in a video, broadcast by Al-Jazeera, which showed its leader Abu Mohamad al-Jolani for the first time.
Jolani said Al-Nusra changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front of the Conquest of Syria) and would unify ranks with other mainstream fighters in Syria.
"We certainly see no reasons to believe that their actions or their objectives are any different," said State Department spokesman John Kirby.
"They are still considered a foreign terrorist organisation," Kirby said. "We judge a group by – by what they do, not by what they call themselves."
Al-Qaeda, founded by Osama bin Laden and to which Al-Nusra pledged allegiance in 2013, encouraged the split to protect "the jihad of the Syrian people".
Analysts said Al-Nusra aims to rebrand and defend itself as it comes under increased pressure after Moscow and Washington agreed to step up joint efforts against jihadist groups.
US intelligence chief James Clapper called the split "a public relations move".
"Whether or not they are actually separating from Al Qaeda – that remains to be seen," Clapper said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Al-Nusra emerged in January 2012, 10 months after Syria's conflict began with anti-government protests that were brutally repressed by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Unlike the IS group, which opposes all those who fail to swear allegiance, Al-Nusra has worked alongside an array of rebel groups fighting Assad and has popular support. — AFP