TIL Desk/World/Beirut-The head of Al-Nusra Front in Syria said his jihadist group was breaking ties with Al-Qaeda and changing its name, in remarks broadcast on Thursday. Abu Mohamad al-Jolani said Al-Nusra would change its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Conquest of Syria in Arabic) and expressed his gratitude to the “commanders of Al-Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties”.
In a rare televised message, Jolani said the new group “will have no links whatsoever with foreign parties”. The announcement came a week after US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said they had agreed on “concrete steps” to save a failing Syria truce and tackle jihadist groups like Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group.
Jihadist sympathisers and observers have been speculating online about a possible split between Al-Nusra and the network founded by Osama bin Laden to which it pledged allegiance in 2013. Al-Qaeda prepared the ground for the announcement earlier Thursday in an online message.
