Will Qatar be the new
sponsor of Nusra Front?
"Firstly, there are no “good choices” in Syria today. Qatar has surmised, it seems, that supporting or transforming the Nusra Front, is one of the “least worst” options.
Secondly, the Nusra Front has pledged to concentrate its efforts on removing the Bashar al-Assad government, as opposed to attacking the “far enemy” (ie Western states). On this point, the Nusra Front is aligned tightly with Qatar, which also is implacably against the government and fundamentally believes that the situation in Syria will only improve if he is removed.
This idea is also reflected in the Nusra Front’s composition, which is far more Syrian-dominated than the foreign jihadist-magnet that is IS.
This is why Qatar is hoping to bring the Nusra Front in from the cold. If the state can get the group to eschew its al-Qaeda affiliation and adhere to a broadly moderate Islamist platform, Qatar can officially commence, with Western blessing, the supply of one of the most effective fighting forces in Syria."
This is why Qatar is hoping to bring the Nusra Front in from the cold. If the state can get the group to eschew its al-Qaeda affiliation and adhere to a broadly moderate Islamist platform, Qatar can officially commence, with Western blessing, the supply of one of the most effective fighting forces in Syria."
With western blessing? I very much doubt it. The main force with unofficial western blessing these days is the regime; as for Nusra, it has been, after ISIS itself, the main recipient of US bombing. I think the only way the US *may* give underhanded blessing to a Qatari backing of Nusra would be to help Nusra's current drive to wipe out non-Islamist FSA brigades throughout the north (and perhaps they will soon start in the south). The aim of such backing would not be to enable a Nusra victory over the regime (just as the aim of the US' unsuccessful 2-year attempt to get the FSA to go "sawhat" against Nusra was not to strengthen the FSA against the regime either), but rather, in both cases, to weaken both democratic and jihadist elements of the resistance by getting them to smash each other. In this case, if Nusra comes out on top in the north, with ISIS in the northeast, then the US/Assad can confirm that the only alternatives to Assad are two "Islamic terrorist" organisations - so the US will have all the reasons it needs, including the current UN resolution behind it, to bomb the hell out of Nusra.
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