oss 100 kroner!
I 2016 endret al-Qaida navn på sin filial i Syria fra Jabhat al-Nusra til Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS). Men det ga ingen merkbare taktiske fordeler og nederlagene over for den syriske armeen fortsatte. I januar 2017 gjorde al-Qaida så et nytt taktisk trekk for å justere merkevaren. JFS gikk inn i fronten Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). Det er en medarbeider i RAND Corporation som skriver dette. RAND er en tenketank for US Army.
Forfatteren, Colin P. Clarke, skriver a
The recent move by JFS to create Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) is less a rebranding than an opportunistic attempt at expansion. This has occurred while Ahrar al-Sham — HTS’ rival and a group the West views as more moderate — is divided and weakened and as other moderate Syrian rebels are no longer receiving aid from the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, on grounds that that supplies could be co-opted by groups linked to al Qaeda.
Det er nærliggende å tro at USA ønsker en slik re-branding av al-Qaida, men Clarke er tydeligvis ikke sikker på at det vil virke
The most likely scenario is that the change in nomenclature is merely an attempt to buy time and live to fight another day. Indeed, the rebranding has done nothing to slow down the group’s operations tempo of conducting attacks.
I konklusjonen på artikkelen lanserer han derimot ideen om at al-Qaida kan prøve å bli en politisk enhet i Syria, slik Hezbollah er i Libanon.
If jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda in Syria can succeed in rebranding themselves, they can take steps toward positioning themselves as political players if or when negotiations to end the civil war in Syria gain traction.
Dette framstår nærmest som en konsulentuttalelse fra RAND til al-Qaida.
Tony Cartalucci på Landdestroyer kommenterer dette syrlig slik:
It is ironic that while RAND cites Hezbollah as an example America’s future Al Qaeda political front may follow, Hezbollah remains a designated terrorist group by the US State Department – despite the fact that the organization serves as one of the primary fronts waging war against both Al Qaeda and its spin-off, the self-proclaimed «Islamic State.»
Geopolitically, the United States has painted itself into a corner where all options are bad options. Its various political ploys are now standing in direct contradiction of one another.
Leoparden kan kanskje skifte navn, men flekkene sine blir den ikke kvitt.
