It seems that the Middle East is destined to pay the price of destructive errors and ambitions of major powers. Yesterday, Al Jazeera broadcast an interview with Abu Mohammed Joulani the leader of the Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda branch in Syria. Joulani said there were no plans to attack the West, and that the goal of his group is crawling towards the capital Damascus and overthrowing the government of Bashar Al Assad.
If we assume that Joulani is not lying this time, which he is, could there be anyone in the West who can believe that al-Qaeda is now being friendly to the West and would limit its activity in the Syrian territory, that if they do not threaten Western countries directly, they would threaten their interests and alliances in the Middle East?
Nusra front has moved from military operations to foreign policy. Joulani is now constructing a new Al-Qaida political discourse as Nusra has become one of the strongest organizations and militant groups operating in Syria, leading the Jaysh al-Fath (army of conquest) which consists of seven factions. The JF defeated Assad’s forces in the northwest of the country in the past two months, and seized large areas of Idlib governorate, including provincial capital Idlib.
Joulani said al-Qaeda leadership instructed not to “use the Levant as a base to target the United States and Europe.” “We emphasize that our mission is to overthrow the regime and its allies such as Hezbollah, and reach an understanding with partners to establish good Islamic governance,” he added. The Nusra-led JF features a mosaic of organizations and movements in Syria. The alliance is backed or at least overlooked by the Americans and several regional countries as media reports confirm. Washington would not mind “organization States” in the Middle East; a state for Daesh, one for al-Qaeda, and another for the Muslim Brotherhood, and so on.
In fact, this scheme may be a starting point for the partition plan of the new Middle East. The US goal is not clear to some in the current phase. Some political theorists consider it an American alternative to the transfer of the inter-Muslim conflict to the inside, directing anger to regional regimes instead of Western countries, which these organizations accuse of sponsoring “authoritarian dictatorship” and other terms from the erroneous vocabulary of the American political discourse. Washington wants to exercise pressure and extract concessions from influential Arab capitals.
Some say that the Abu Mohammed Joulani has his “own religious project”, but murder, kidnapping, slaughter and bloodshed is so far all he undertook.
Did Washington believe the promises of Al Qaeda? Did their relationship become “intimate”? It is possible to understand this in the light of the US foreign policy, which is based on pragmatic foundations without any moral considerations. Certain principles and values govern this policy. Slogans are sometimes raised only for political behavior to discredit. Double standards are not the essence of the problem. The real problem lies with those who believe that such principles can ensure the interests of great powers dominating the new world order.
The dreams of Zawahiri in the caves of Afghanistan and Joulani and his partners in Syria would not stop at Damascus. Their ambition would take them to other Islamic and Arab capitals.
US experts, strategists and research institutes will not fail to produce realistic perceptions and estimates to predict moves by Al Qaeda in Syria and other Arab and Islamic countries. The concern, however, is the alliance of necessity that could arise between the parties willing to share the cake of interests, which would incur enormous damage and heavy losses to Arab and Muslim peoples.
Joulani has the green light by Washington to move towards Damascus. He promised the West he will only take one bite of the Arab cake. That said, the interests of the Arab countries will be looked after by loyal leaders who will not give up on them as long as they are alive. Even the US’s favorite barbarians will not control our fate.
