The head of al Qaeda's Syria wing
Nusra Front said he saw no solution soon to a conflict with the rival
Islamic State group in Syria that has killed hundreds of fighters,
according to an interview with Al Jazeera aired on Wednesday
Members of al Qaeda's Nusra Front walk along a street in the northwestern city of Ariha.
Nusra Front, loyal to the successors of
Osama bin Laden, and Islamic State are the two most powerful forces
fighting government forces in Syria. The groups have fought each other
since a split in 2013 largely due to a power struggle between leaders.
"There is no solution between us and
them in the meantime, or in the foreseeable future. We hope they repent
to God and return to their senses...if not then there is nothing but
fighting between us," Abu Mohamad al-Golani told the channel. It was not
clear where or when the rare interview took place.
It was the second of a two-part
interview and included footage of a Nusra training camp, weaponry, a
lesson inside a classroom as well as images of a prison and a food
packing operation inside Nusra-held territory.
The group has made gains in northwestern
Syria alongside other insurgent groups in recent weeks, seizing the
city of Idlib, the town of Jisr al-Shughour and bringing armed groups
closer to government-held coastal areas north of the capital.
Golani said his Sunni Muslim militant
group had around 30 percent foreign fighters including "a small number"
of Americans. The foreign contingent also included Europeans and many
Asians, Russians and Chechens, he said.
The two-part interview on the
Qatari-financed channel appeared to be an attempt by Nusra Front to cast
itself to an Arab audience as a Syrian national movement.
Iran
This has triggered debate among Western
diplomats following Syria's conflict who still see it as a dangerous,
hardline group that is not clearly distinguishable from Islamic State.
In last week's instalment Golani had
made clear he took orders from al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had
told him to focus Nusra's fight on Syria. This week he evaded a
question about whether Nusra was thinking of splitting from al Qaeda.
Nusra follows al Qaeda's hardline
interpretation of Islam and sees Shi'ite Muslim power Iran as a major
foe. Golani said Iran, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was
using only militias to fight jihadists in Syria.
He said Tehran had also sent military
experts but not its national troops to Syria and said Nusra was
determined to fight Iranian-backed groups.
"We will cut off the arms of Iran in our
region, and as for Iran, it will be handled by those (inside it)," he
said, alluding to possible revolt by minority Sunnis and Kurds.
Syria's United Nations envoy said last
week the interview violated U.N. counterterrorism resolutions and was an
attempt by Qatar to whitewash the group's image. The channel has not
responded to requests for comment.
Source: Reuters