Al-Qaeda in Iraq was a spent and defeated force when the US withdrew its final troops from Iraq in 2011. In recent months it has staged a comeback and has committed multiple attacks against the Iranian puppet government of Iraq. It’s revival is due to the Syrian War and the rise of al-Nusra Front. In an irony of history, Bashar Assad help create al-Qaeda in Iraq, which in turn help created al-Nusra Front at the begging of the Syrian War in 2011 from members of the Syrian military who had been tasked as liaisons with the group. Nusra rapidly became the most effective fighting force of the Syrian Rebels. In their battles with the Syrian Army and Hezbollah, they have proved to be man for man the best fighters in the conflict. Not only are they ruthless, but they are disciplined and their latest offensive in the Alawite homeland of Latakia demonstrates they have strategic planning. This success brought out jealousy from its parent organization.

In March of this year the leaderof  al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Baghdadi which since 2005 been known as the Islamic State of Iraq, declared that it was taking over al-Nusra Front. The new organization was renamed the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Syria). However this caused a rift, as Nusra leader and former al-Julani never agreed to the merger. The foreign fighters who had been with Nusra joined ISIS while the Syrian fighters stayed with Nusra. This caused confusion as both groups are al-Qaeda affialites, but there are differences. Nusra’s goals is for a Syrian led Islamic Empire and in areas they controlled, they tolerated Christians for now. ISIS are your typical al-Qaeda head choppers going around killing for the sake of it. They have no discipline and are just a bunch of thugs. They have committed atrocities against Christians, which was blamed on Nusra, who actually do not support these attacks for now. This has led to tensions between the 2 groups, but they cooperate militarily. Using Syria as a base, ISIS is back reeking havoc on the Iranian puppet state of Iraq.

BEIRUT — A rebranded version of Iraq’s al-Qaeda affiliate is surging onto the front lines of the war in neighboring Syria, expanding into territory seized by other rebel groups and carving out the kind of sanctuaries that the U.S. military spent more than a decade fighting to prevent in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the four months since the Iraqi al-Qaeda group changed its name to reflect its growing ambitions, it has forcefully asserted its presence in some of the towns and villages captured from Syrian government forces. It has been bolstered by an influx of thousands of foreign fighters from the region and beyond.

The group, now known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is by no means the largest of the loosely aligned rebel organizations battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and it is concentrated mostly in the northern and eastern provinces of the country. But with its radical ideology and tactics such as kidnappings and beheadings, the group has stamped its identity on the communities in which it is present, including, crucially, ­areas surrounding the main border crossings with Turkey.

[….]

The Islamic State also coexists uneasily in many places with Jabhat al-Nusra, which it sought to absorb in April. Jabhat al-Nusra’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is a Syrian who fought with al-Qaeda in Iraq, then returned in 2011 to set up a Syrian counterpart. He rebuffed the merger attempt.

That set the stage for a contest of wills with his Iraqi counterpart, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in which Jabhat al-Nusra has sought to label itself as the more Syrian — and less extremist — of the two groups. On Saturday, the State Department said it believed that Baghdadi has relocated to Syria.

If Assad falls, al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham will turn on each other. Nusra is Islamic Syrian Nationalist and will have the support of the Free Syrian Army. They will end up on top, but ISIS will continue to do their head chopping and suicide bombing crap

Here is a video of al-Nusra training and the key moment is 5:50 into the video. They are watching a US Navy Seal training video and emulating the tactics.

Here is al-Nusra shooting down a Syrian Army Helicopter using the radar based OSA 9K33 (SA-8 Gecko).

Unlike ISIS who are just a bunch of terrorist, or Hezbollah who are hyped up militia, al-Nusra Front is a well trained disciplined fighting force. They are not your run of the mill terrorists which makes them potentially more dangerous than al-Qaeda or Hezbollah ever was.

After reading my Syrian posts and the videos I have linked, do any of you buy the propaganda  that the Syrian rebels are fighting for democracy or need our aid? We are helping to a create a monster in Syria which will come back to haunt us.

Update: Even if Nusra and the FSA triumph in Syria, the war will continue. One of the leaders of the Syrian rebels claim they will not stop until Hezbollah is destroyed.

Syrian National Coalition member responsible for security and defense Kamal al-Labwani warned Tuesday that the rebels will fight Hezbollah in Lebanon after the group provided military support for the Syrian regime.

“ Hezbollah has fought against us on our land, we will fight it on its own turf, but not for the time being,” Labwani was quoted as saying by NOW during a press meeting Amman, Jordan

Labwani added that “after our victory in Syria, we will work to get rid of Hezbollah’s military wing with the cooperation of the Lebanese people and abolish the party , which we consider as our enemy.”

Labwani vowed : “We will not rest until Hezbollah is eliminated.”

If Assad falls, the Lebanese Shia should pack their bags and move to Iraq or Iran.