"Say Hello to my li'lle friend!"

 'We are not Scarface!'

"... The group is well funded – probably through established global jihadist networks – in comparison to moderates. Meanwhile pro-democracy rebel group commanders say money from foreign governments has all but dried up.... On global jihadist websites it has claimed responsibility for car and suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of civilians as well as military targets across Syria. For many Syrians Nusra is synonymous with al-Qaeda. Many of their fighters are foreign jihadists; some fought with al-Qaeda in Iraq. Mr Rasoul sought to deny that they were extremists: “There is a wrong image in the West that Jabhat al-Nusra is Scarface. Jabhat al Nusra is human and we don’t hate anyone. We don’t hate Christians.
“We are not al-Qaeda. Just because some of our members share in its ideas, it doesn’t mean we are part of the group.”
Mr Rasoul would not be drawn on the Nusra Front’s exact plan for Syria’s future. But in rebel-held Aleppo a new sharia court is fast becoming a central power in the city. It is shared with the three other hardline Islamist groups operating in rebel territory: Ahrar al-Sham, Fijr al-Islam and Liwa Tawhid, though Jabhat al-Nusra takes the lead...."