Alwaght- During the rise and presence of al-Nusra Front terrorist group in Syria it pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda terrorist group but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and all of the powers opposing the Syrian government have tried to paint the terrorist group as a completely Syrian opposition group in a bid to get its name out of the terror blacklist. This is because the foreign anti-Syrian government players specifically the Arab countries that so far supported al-Nusra Front, ISIS, and other terrorist groups fighting the Syrian government want to keep al-Nusra Front as the most influential armed group in western Syria and as a force paving the way for them to direct the conflict in Syria. They want to hold it as a trump card in any upcoming negotiations to make the most out of it in Syria’s political future.
Al-Nusra Front can take role in the future in the Syrian political process, therefore, the foreign backers of terrorist groups in Syria want to keep al-Nusra Front strong and take advantage of it. Perhaps success of al-Nusra Front in Syria is the last winning card held by its supporters for helping Al-Qaeda terrorist group survive in the Muslim world, because today Al-Qaeda cannot exist anywhere but in Yemen.
In fact, al-Nusra Front along with ISIS is the leading opposing players on the ground in Syria. If these two are removed, the share of opposition groups in northern fronts of Syria is perhaps less than 5 percent. Therefore, if al-Nusra Front is branded under terrorism category and on the other side ISIS is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization, practically the Syrian opposition in the northern front is generally exposed to weakness and even demise as the two are holding ground there.
So, when the political system in Syria is seriously started and new political structure is introduced, these groups would disappear in practice, and only their ideology would keep living on in some hidden layers of the Syrian society.
Although al-Nusra Front has ostensibly splitted from Al-Qaeda, it like its former parent organization holds a "pro-Ummah" discourse and so it doesn't fully agree with the national governments. It does not recognize the political boundaries and has announced hostility to the West and the Israeli regime as its major pathway. At the same time, it holds an inflexible interpretation of Prophet Muhammad's and his companions' teachings. But sometimes it considers its interests and thus shows pragmatic behaviors. Working with secular groups and regional regimes is seen as part of its pragmatic reaction to the periodic developments.
It is notable that the Jordanian nationals are leading ISIS in Iraq as well as Al-Nusra Front in Syria. But it is not yet clear if Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the leader of al-Nusra Front, is Jordanian or Syrian. But before him Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a Jordanian national who was released from the Jordanian prison and went to Afghanistan and then to Iraq and became leader there.
The CIA, Pentagon, and Mossad pick Jordanian leaders for Al-Qaeda because after arrest the leaders are handed over to Jordan. Jordan government is dependent regime to the West and so the nature of their links is not uncovered. But in case the leaders are chosen from Iraq or Syria they risk making revelations about their ties with the Western sides.
