The head of the Syria-based and Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusa front has vowed unrestrained rocket attacks on Alawite communities, alongside attacks on President Bashar Assad’s government in revenge for an alleged chemical strike, according to a new recording.
“For every chemical rocket that had [has] fallen on our people
in Damascus, one of their villages will, by the will of God, pay
for it,” said Jabhat al-Nusra leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani
in the audio footage released on YouTube on Sunday. It was posted
on a militant website which usually broadcasts the views of
Al-Qaeda and similar extremist groups.
It simultaneously appeared on the group’s Facebook and Twitter
accounts, suggesting that it was authentic. However, it could not
immediately be verified for its authenticity.
“On top of that we will prepare a thousand rockets that will
be fired on their towns in revenge for the Damascus Ghouta
massacre,” al-Golani continued.
Assad’s government is largely comprised of Alawite Muslims – a
branch of Shi’ite Islam whose villages’ al-Golani swore he would
target. Alawites make up roughly 12 percent of Syria’s
population.
The Al-Nusra front’s existing actions against minorities in northern Iraq have prompted concern after witness reports of kidnappings, rape and murder emerged in early August. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) issued reports that “hundreds of Kurdish civilians have been kidnapped, tortured and their houses have been looted and burned down.”
The Al-Nusra Front’s Sunni Muslims have claimed to be behind some of the most lethal bombings in Syria’s two-and-a-half year conflicts and have led some effective rebel offensives over the period. In April it declared that it was joining with Al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq group. It is considered a terrorist organization by the US.
Al-Golani’s vengeful comments come in the wake of an alleged
chemical attack on Wednesday in an eastern suburb of Damascus.
Death tolls from the reported assault vary from 136 to as high as
1,300.
On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that 355 had
been pronounced dead, while hours later, the NGO Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights placed the number at 322.
It was also just hours after UN disarmament chief, Angela Kane, arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus to apply pressure on the Syrian government to grant access to the site of the reported attack in the Damascus suburbs that took place on Wednesday.
On Sunday, Syria has given the “green light” for UN experts to
visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a
Damascus suburb, state TV reports, citing the Foreign Ministry.
Both the US and France have accused Assad's forces of carrying
out the alleged attack.
A report released on Saturday indicated that the Pentagon was
already making “initial preparations” for a cruise missile
attack on Syrian government forces.
Moscow has commented that it was monitoring events surrounding
the alleged attack. “We’re getting more new evidence that this
criminal act was of a provocative nature,” Russian Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, said in a statement on
Friday.
“In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet
that the materials of the incident and accusations against
government troops had been posted for several hours before the
so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action,” he
said.