Air
strikes continued to target Isis positions near the Kurdish town of
Kobani and hubs across north-east Syria on Sunday, as the terror group
moved towards a new alliance with Syria's largest al-Qaida group that
could help offset the threat from the air.
Jabhat
al-Nusra, which has been at odds with Isis for much of the past year,
vowed retaliation for the US-led strikes, the first wave of which a week
ago killed scores of its members. Many al-Nusra units in northern Syria
appeared to have reconciled with the group, with which it had fought
bitterly early this year.
A senior source confirmed that al-Nusra
and Isis leaders were now holding war planning meetings. While no deal
has yet been formalised, the addition of at least some al-Nusra numbers
to Isis would strengthen the group's ranks and extend its reach at a
time when air strikes are crippling its funding sources and slowing its
advances in both Syria and Iraq.
Al-Nusra, which has direct ties
to al-Qaida's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called the attacks a “war on
Islam” in an audio statement posted over the weekend. A senior al-Nusra
figure told the Guardian that 73 members had defected to Isis last
Friday alone and that scores more were planning to do so in coming days.
“We
are in a long war,” al-Nusra's spokesman, Abu Firas al-Suri, said on
social media platforms. “This war will not end in months nor years, this
war could last for decades.”
In the rebel-held north there is a
growing resentment among Islamist units of the Syrian opposition that
the strikes have done nothing to weaken the Syrian regime. “We have been
calling for these sorts of attacks for three years and when they
finally come they don't help us,” said a leader from the Qatari-backed
Islamic Front, which groups together Islamic brigades. “People have lost
faith. And they're angry.”British jets flew sorties over Isis positions
in Iraq after being ordered into action against the group following a
parliamentary vote on Friday.
David
Cameron has suggested he might review his decision to confine Britain's
involvement to Iraq alone, but for now the strikes in support of
Kurdish civilians and militants in Kobani were being carried out by Arab
air forces from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Bahrain.
The
US was reported to have carried out at least six strikes in support of
Kurdish civilians near the centre of Kobani, where the YPG, the Kurdish
militia, is fighting a dogged rearguard campaign against Isis, which is
mostly holding its ground despite the aerial attacks.
