Al-Nusra Front in Syria awakens White House

Panic must have struck Western capitals and anxiety must have hit half of the Arab capitals when Al-Qaeda declared that Al-Nusra Front, which leads the Syrian rebels in the fight against Bashar Assad, is part of its ranks. The fears further increased following the announcement that Iraq’s Al-Qaeda merged with Al-Nusra Front in Syria, thus creating the biggest empire of terrorism in the world. Let's look back to see where the mistake happened. At the beginning the Americans were certainly happy that a revolution erupted against Bashar Assad's regime. For the United States, it was a heavenly gift that would compensate for the errors made in Iraq. And it is only natural that they will welcome the overthrow of Assad because such a move will inevitably shake Iran. The terrible mistake they made was that they considered the Syrian uprising as a free gift. I imagine that back then the White House was thinking as such: We let the situation locally develop, let the Syrian people accomplish the task, the raving revolution will topple the regime, hopefully a democratic regime supportive of Western democratic systems is established afterward and a new era begins. Of course, this vision is closer to a daydream. The Syrians' desire to get rid of a regime is 40 years old. The police regime had prevented them from even thinking of change. But with time, they lost patience and hope in reforming the regime. The changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen encouraged them to venture against the brutal regime. The uprising is truly a legend for anyone who knows Syria and its challenges well. Today, the people’s dream is about to be achieved. They besiege Assad in Damascus despite Iran, Hezbollah and Russia's support. The situation until here seems promising except that during the 20 months of fighting there, Al-Qaeda infiltrated Syria making use of the security vacuum and the long duration of fighting which came as a result of the international community's reluctance to intervene. Syria has become the greatest inspiring story for everyone in the region. Its daily tragedies and gallantry are in people's minds and hearts. It is at this point that Al-Qaeda saw the greatest of opportunities since its defeat in the American war against terrorism. Al-Qaeda thus exploited this opportunity to recruit young men, collect funds and spread videos and news of its heroism in fighting the regime troops.I tell those who failed to sense danger when they abandoned supporting the revolution against Assad that they are confronting the biggest terroristic threat. We have been warning for about two years that the revolution must not be hijacked by schemers. We knew that the war in Syria will be the most notorious influential war in our region. Al-Nusra Front which was established under the slogan of the revolution can be nothing more than another Al-Qaeda faction. We know that Al-Nusra Front is merely one small group that is a lot smaller than the Free Syrian Army that most Syrian rebels belong to and we know the difference in number is great. But Al-Nusra is capable of corrupting the revolution, and it is capable of pitting the international public opinion against the revolution. It is the reason that France changed its stance to arm the opposition and that the US objected to expelling Assad's regime from the UN and handing over Syria's seat to the interim Syrian government. But we are currently amid the last 15 minutes of the age of Assad's regime, and it is too late to alter political stances. The two options are: Either a weak defeated regime run by Iran in Damascus or a revolution followed by fighting against Al-Qaeda like what is happening in Libya and Yemen and like what happened before that in Somalia. Al-Qaeda's announcement that it adopts Al-Nusra must increase our determination to support the Free Syrian Army to help it win and help the Syrian rebels calling for the establishment of a civil state. These are the ones who peacefully protested for four months and then had to turn to arms to protect themselves and their areas from the regime troops. After they succeeded in gaining the support of Arab and Islamic countries, Al-Qaeda came into the picture at a time when the West abandoned supporting the Syrian people. Now, Arab and Western government must realize the gravity of the threat coming from Syria if they allow the war to prolong and Al-Qaeda to expand. In this case, Al-Qaeda will later be a lot bigger than it was during Bin Laden's time in the utmost of his influence. Why? Because it is hijacking the Syrian revolution through its propaganda and claims that it liberated Syria from its Nero. Thus, it will gain the sympathy of millions, and the war will be bigger and more difficult. Al-Qaeda which lost is appeal during the past years aims to gain the admiration of millions who hate it by participating in toppling Assad. After that, "Syria's Al-Qaeda" will be bigger than Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan's Al-Qaeda all put together. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.