Al Qaeda tells Syrian branch Nusra Front it can drop links
BEIRUT - Al Qaeda told its Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, that it could break organisational ties with al Qaeda if it needed to in order to preserve its unity and continue its battle in Syria, in an audio statement released on Thursday.
Nusra Front is the most powerful faction in Syria opposing both President Bashar Assad and the Islamic State group.
It is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and has been sanctioned by the UN Security Council, although it frequently fights on the same side as mainstream groups favoured by Washington and its Arab allies.
"You can sacrifice without hesitation these organisational and party ties if they conflict with your unity and working as one body," al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in an audio statement directed to the Nusra Front.
"The brotherhood of Islam among us is stronger than any organisational affiliation ... your unity and unification is more important to us than any organisational link ... it comes above organisational belonging," Zawahri said.
He said that this organisational affiliation should be sacrificed if it ran counter to the unity of jihadist fighters against their enemies
