Baghdad Traces Iraqi Terror Links To Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra
Ali Abdel Sadah reports that the Iraqi government is investigating links between Iraqi al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra, which the US has declared a terrorist group.
![Police present a suspected al-Qaeda militant to the media in Kirkuk Police present a suspected al-Qaeda militant to the media in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, October 7, 2012. Six suspected militants accused of bomb attacks and armed robbery were arrested after raid operations, police in Kirkuk said. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags : - Tags: CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW POLITICS)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2013/01/RTR38VTP.jpg/RTR38VTP.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=sM6n4OJ0)
The Iraqi government is tracing the links between the Islamic State of Iraq, which is the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, and Jabhat al-Nusra, which is active in the Syrian revolution against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
In September 2012, the US State Department categorized Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist organization. US Ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford, who visited Baghdad recently, told Al-Monitor that “Jabhat al-Nusra’s fighters make up less than a third of the fighters opposed to Assad.”