A merger between terrorist groups spells even more trouble for Syrians caught in the middle. By Jamie Dettmer. 
 
 Syrians battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad shouldn’t settle for democracy as the reward for their sacrifices but should embrace strict Islamic sharia law when the Syrian regime has been finally defeated, says the emir of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. 
 
 In a recorded audio message lasting 20 minutes and released yesterday to jihadi websites, Al-Baghdadi acknowledged that Al Qaeda has been involved in the fighting in Syria, confirming that the Jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which has become one of the most effective and disciplined rebel formations in the civil war, is an extension of Al Qaeda in Iraq, otherwise known as the Islamic State of Iraq. 
 
 Al-Nusra, which has launched more than 40 successful bombing attacks against mainly government military targets, often using suicide bombers, has been tagged a terrorist organization by the Obama administration because of its links with al-Qaeda. It has been enjoying growing cachet among Syrian rebels from recent operational accomplishments on the battlefield and has been in the vanguard of many successful full-scale rebel clashes with Assad forces. 
 
 Al-Baghdadi says that al-Nusra’s ties with Al Qaeda were kept obscure for security reasons and to provide Syrians the opportunity to judge the jihadist fighters through their own eyes as opposed through the filter of a biased international media that would immediately have dismissed them. 
 
 According to the Al Qaeda leader, there were already jihadist cells in Syria before the conflict erupted. These cells were “awaiting the chance” to expand their operations and when the civil war started Abu Muhammad Al-Julani was dispatched along with other Iraqi jihadists to establish al-Nusra and to set strategy. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been splitting its funds with al-Nusra, he says. 
 
 His boast will be seized on by the Assad regime, which has consistently spun the propaganda line that the rebellion is a foreign conspiracy relying on terrorists and foreign Jihadist fighters. 
 
 The evidence on the ground is that al-Nusra has been able to swell its ranks with homegrown fighters as well foreigners drawn from elsewhere in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia and with a sprinkling from Europe. 
 
 The Obama administration, which took major criticism from Syrian rebels for tagging al-Nusra a terrorist organization, will likely highlight al-Baghdadi’s remarks as final justification for its desgination. 
 
 Al-Baghdadi is a highly effective if brutal leader. He has been responsible for directing large-scale operations in Iraq such as the August 28, 2011 attack on the Umm al-Qura mosque in Baghdad that killed prominent Sunni lawmaker Khalid al-Fahdawi. He has had deep experience in setting up jihadist groups and organized the flow of fighters from Syria and elsewhere into Iraq, a recruitment process that strengthened Al Qaeda in Iraq, say U.S. intelligence sources. He became the emir of Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2010. 
 
 On December 2, 2012 Iraqi officials claimed that they had captured him in Baghdad following a two-month-long investigation but later admitted they had lifted a less important jihadist leader. Al Baghdadi became notorious before taking over the Al Qaeda leadership for running Islamic courts to try locals for working with the Iraqi government and coalition forces and would sometimes abduct whole families. Those he found guilty were publicly executed. 
 
 Al-Baghdadi’s remarks are likely to complicate the arming of Syrian rebels by Gulf powers. Since January, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have increased significantly weapon supplies to brigades affiliated with the Free Syrian Army in the hope that the weapons would shift the balance of the war decisively and quickly in favor of the rebels. But videos posted by al-Nusra last month show their fighters using Croatian anti-tank weapons the Gulf powers are thought to have earmarked for the FSA. 
 
 The British and French governments have been pushing to increase the flow of weapons to the Syrian rebels and for a European Union arms embargo to be lifted, but other European nations have resisted, arguing the equipment would fall into the hands of jihadist groups such as al-Nusra. European critics of the Anglo-French position say the intended recipients of the weapons, the FSA rebel units, work too closely with al-Nusra to keep the weapons to themselves, say German diplomats involved in EU negotiations. 
 
 “We are concerned that the FSA isn’t really a cohesive force with a single command-and-control structure,” says a German diplomat based in Brussels. “The FSA can’t stop weaponry from being shared with al-Nusra and other jihadists,” he says. 
 
 According to al-Baghdadi al-Nusra will now be officially merged with Al Qaeda in Iraq and the two groups will operate under the name Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham. The name change is significant and highlights Al Qaeda’s ambitions to use the Syrian conflict for greater regional goals. Al-Sham refers to Greater Syria, a pan-Arab geographical definition of a hypothetical united Arab state that corresponds to a medieval Arab province encompassing the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Levant as well as Western Mesopotamia. 
 
 In recent weeks al-Nusra fighters have come closer to Lebanon and the likelihood has increased of a confrontation along the border between Lebanon’s Shiite armed movement Hezbollah and Sunni jihadists with al-Nusra, who have been moving into Shiite villages on the Syrian side of the border along a 30-mile stretch in the mountainous al-Nabk area about 50 miles north of Damascus, say Lebanese intelligence sources. 
 
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 In his audio message al-Baghdadi says the new merged group will not abide by geographical borders or be constrained by ethnic affiliations. That echoes what al-Nusra has said in recent months to other smaller Jihadist groups fighting in Syria. 
 
 In January al-Nusra issued a call to arms after a meeting in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour with nine other jihadist groups. Al-Nusra urged all jihadist brigades to “unite in the cause of Allah, organize the efforts and the attacks against the soldiers of disbelief and apostasy, and distinguish the ranks of truth from falsehood.” The statement continued: “We call upon our sincere mujahedin brothers all over the strong Levant to unite their ranks in groups, pure of the filth of suspicious groups and the infiltration of people who have no qualities or faith, in order to clarify their banner and purify their path.” 
 
 As well as being at the forefront of major battles with Syrian government forces, al-Nusra has unleashed a bombing campaign. Its first suicide bombing came nine months after the uprising against Assad began with a two-car bomb attack on December 23, 2011—targeting the regime’s intelligence offices, killing at least 44 people, and wounding more than 160. According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, it is likely that two female suicide bombers from Iraq carried out that attack. Since then the pace of al-Nusra bombings has increased from one a month in the first three months of 2012 to four to six a month now. 
 
 The group has been careful in the past to limit its jihadi messages when interacting with locals in rebel-held territory and has talked more in terms of assisting the poor. It has basked in growing popularity in the rebel areas of Idlib and Aleppo provinces tucked under the border with Turkey. Civilians contrast the discipline and honesty of al-Nusra fighters with some FSA fighters and argue the jihadists share war spoils with civilians unlike FSA units. ||||| The main rebel alliance will boycott the talks set to begin Nov. 23 if the goal is not the end of the regime. Secretary of State John Kerry is working to bring together rebels and Assad in Geneva. 
 
 This image made from video from Syrian state television shows the aftermath of a truck bomb attack in Hama, Syria, on Oct. 20. (Photo: AP) Story Highlights Secretary of State John Kerry wants peace talks to begin in Geneva next month 
 
 Moderate Islamist rebel leaders say talks must result in Assad facing justice 
 
 Supreme Military Council represents secular and moderate Islamic brigades 
 
 A Syrian opposition group fighting to overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad said Monday that peace will not happen unless the focus of the talks shifts to ending Assad's rule and trying him for war crimes. 
 
 Secretary of State John Kerry has been working with his Russian, Chinese and European counterparts to bring together Syria's rebels and Assad for peace talks set to begin Nov. 23 in Geneva. 
 
 The spokesman for the main rebel alliance says the rebels will boycott the talks if the goal of the meeting is not the end of the Assad regime. 
 
 "We want this bloodbath to end, but we want a clear guarantee this Geneva II will end the war in Syria, that Bashar al-Assad will have no future in Syria or any kind of solution," said Louay Mokdad, spokesman for the Supreme Military Council, which seeks to establish democracy in Syria and includes brigades that seek an Islamic state and others that don't. "We want clear guarantees he will step away and that the people who killed the Syrian people will face justice and the law, including Bashar al-Assad." 
 
 Mokdad said world powers working to organize the talks must agree beforehand that Assad will leave and face justice as part of any solution. 
 
 The State Department's point person on the Syrian peace process, Robert Ford, "believes there is no military solution for Syria," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Having the Syrian opposition at the Geneva talks is important, and "we're still looking at having it in November," Psaki said in Washington Monday. 
 
 A boycott of the talks by rebels would be a blow to the Obama administration's strategy for ending the conflict, which the United Nations says has killed more than 100,000 people. 
 
 Kerry announced during a news conference in May with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that the Syrian government and the rebels, including the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army, has agreed to peace talks. 
 
 The Free Syrian Army is the collection of ex-Assad officers and others who are fighting Assad but it does not have control over several other Syrian brigades and foreign fighters allied with al-Qaeda. 
 
 Kerry has said that any political solution must include Assad's departure from power and that such a solution be negotiated with Assad. Assad has said he would be willing to attend the peace conference but has no intention of stepping down. 
 
 Earlier this month, Assad said he intends to run for re-election when his term ends next year. 
 
 Assad has allied with Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah to crush a rebellion that began as peaceful demonstrations against his rule. The uprising has become a nationwide civil war that is dragging in fighters and backers from the Middle East, including al-Qaeda terrorist outfits that seek to make Syria a base and Islamic state. 
 
 The rebels are being supported and organized with help from the Arab monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both of which see Iran as a threat to their regimes. 
 
 In seeking a negotiated solution, the United States is backing the Syrian National Coalition, a political group established outside the country that says it wants to create an inclusive and democratic Syria. The SNC works with the Supreme Military Council, a group of rebel military leaders fighting Assad's forces. 
 
 Members of the two groups differ on strategy for peace talks and military campaigns. Members of the political coalition differ on whether to push for new free and fair elections that Assad could take part in, or demand he be ousted from power. Members of the military coalition differ on how closely they should work with foreign fighters who are winning battles against Assad but seek an Islamic state. 
 
 Al-Qaeda-linked extremists, led by Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamist State of Iraq and al-Shams, have fought alongside Syria's other rebel forces. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have helped funnel weapons to these factions. 
 
 Mokdad told USA TODAY on Monday that ongoing meetings to establish a new leadership structure would help unite the various non-al-Qaeda-linked factions fighting Assad. 
 
 Several fighter units in Syria, including some nominally under the Free Syrian Army, announced recently that they have split from the SMC to form a new battle coalition called Jaish al Islam (Army of Islam). The Army of Islam said it pulled together rebel units that are committed to making Syria an Islamic state in which Islamic law is the sole source of legislation. 
 
 Mokdad said the development does not mean that the groups under the Army of Islam banner are leaving the Syrian Military Council. He said they agree with the SMC on a democratic Syria but don't agree on the way the Syrian National Coalition is pursuing peace talks. 
 
 Mokdad said the new group wants "a clear guarantee Bashar Assad will step away and the people who killed the Syrian people face justice." 
 
 Many rebels agree. 
 
 "No one inside Syria supports Geneva II," said Badawi al-Mugarbil, a 33-year-old activist in Homs. "How will the rebels and the murderer sit on the same table, while blood is still being shed all around Syria?" 
 
 However, the incident highlights the difficulties the opposition has faced in presenting a unite front. The SNC has not always stood side to side with the on-the-ground insurgents currently fighting against the Syrian military, who belong to a wide variety of groups with differing goals and ideologies. 
 
 "It's hundreds of rebel groups, and they all have their own policy on this, so it's really hard to negotiate in that way," said Aron Lund, a Swedish analyst who has written several reports on Syrian opposition politics. 
 
 It's unclear what, if anything, would replace the talks should they fail to be held, but many of the rebels do say they are open to some form of negotiations. 
 
 "Our main goal is to protect Syrian people and save their blood," said Ahmad, a 25-years-old spokesman for the Ahfad al-Rasoul Battalions rebel group in North Idlib. "Any political solution along these lines, we are ready to support." 
 
 Contributing: Abdulrahman al-Masri in Amman, Jordan; Jesse Singal in Berlin 
 
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– Some of Syria's most powerful rebel groups have disavowed the Western-backed National Syrian Coalition's government in exile, in a move that may further complicate efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the country's civil war. Thirteen groups, spearheaded by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, released a statement last night declaring that the newly-formed interim government "does not represent or recognize us" and urging their fellow rebels to make Sharia law "the sole source of legislation." Three of the signatories control large amounts of territory, CNN reports. The jihadis aren't the only ones dismissing the opposition government, either. Syria's deputy foreign minister yesterday dismissed the coalition as having little influence, the New York Times reports. He further dimmed the prospect of peace talks by saying the regime wouldn't negotiate with anyone who'd taken up arms against it, though it might talk to religious leaders "who have influence on the ground." Russia, meanwhile, said a peace deal could only be reached if the US stopped calling for Bashar al-Assad's ouster, Reuters reports.