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26Dec14

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Al-Qaida group pledges ongoing jihad in Syria

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The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front said on Friday that it will keep fighting the Syrian troops and will not halt the "jihad" in Syria.

In a statement carried by the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the group said that "We tell our people in the Levant (Syria) that our war against the Syrian troops will not stop and no one can stop it."

The group addressed the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, saying "we say to so-called de Mistura and the agents of the West that, God willing, you wouldn't dissuade us from our path to protect our oppressed people in Sham (Syria) and we will continue our jihad until victory or martyrdom."

The statement apparently came against the backdrop of the recent efforts by Mistura, who proposed a "frozen zones" in the northern province of Aleppo in order to establish a cease-fire that could later be replicated in other parts of the country.

Many rebel groups refused the initiative, but the Syrian government said that it was "worth studying," and that it was waiting for further details of a final say from Mistura, mainly the results of the envoy's tour in the countries that have influence on the armed rebels in Syria.

The statement of the Nusra fighters is a clear indicator that the group would be another snag in the face of achieving pacification in the war-torn country.

The Syrian government has for long urged the international community to pressure countries that support the terrorist groups in Syria to stop doing so.

The al-Nusra Front, locally known as Jabhat al-Nusra, is a branch of al-Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon. The group announced its formation on Jan. 23, 2012 during the Syrian Civil War. Since then, it has been described as the most aggressive one among the rebel groups, surely before the emergence of the most powerful Islamic State militants.

The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Britain, the United States, and Turkey.

[Source: Xinhua, Damascus, 26Dec14]

Syria War

This document has been published on 29Dec14 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.