Nusra threatens West and Arab nations
Last updated: 24 hours ago
Al- Qaeda vows retaliation over military operation
in Syria as air raids target ISIL fighters besieging
Kurdish town .
The Syrian branch of al-Qaeda has promised
retaliation over air strikes in Syria , as the US -led
coalition widened its assault on ISIL targets and
British jets flew their first combat missions over
neighbouring Iraq.
In its first reaction to the US -led military operation
in Syria , the Nusra Front said the air strikes were
a " war against Islam" , and threatened to attack
the worldwide interests of participating Western
and Arab countries .
A US attack on a Nusra base in Aleppo on the first
day of the air campaign killed dozens of the
group' s fighters.
Nusra - listed as a terrorist group by the US and
the UN - is one of the most powerful groups
fighting the Syrian regime . It has also declared
ISIL its sworn enemy .

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In a video posted online on Saturday, a Nusra
spokesman threatened the coalition partners .
" These states have committed a horrible act that
is going to put them on the list of jihadist targets
throughout the world , " Abu Firas al- Suri
said . " This is not a war against al- Nusra , but a
war against Islam ." The US has been supported in its Syria air campaign by Arab allies Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar , Saudi Arabia and the UAE .
The warning came on a day the Pentagon said
seven targets were hit in Syria , including at the
border crossing into Turkey of the Kurdish town of
Ain al-Arab , called Kobane by Kurds, which has
been under siege by fighters of ISIL.
The US Central Command said an ISIL building
and two armed vehicles were destroyed in the
strikes. ISIL' s campaign in the area has driven 160 , 000 refugees into Turkey and hundreds more , clutching whatever they could grab, crossed the border on Saturday.
Al Jazeera' s Stefanie Dekker , reporting from the
Turkish side of the border, said the Kurds who had
left their homes in Syria seemed to be
disappointed by the US -led air campaign .
" Many of the people we have spoken to do not see
the usefulness of the strikes as the ISIL continues
to push into their areas, " she said .

Hit by ISIL rockets

The UK- based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights monitoring group said ISIL rockets hit Ain
al-Arab after the strikes , for the first time since the
group' s assault began on September 16, wounding
12 people .
As part of Saturday' s assault, coalition aircraft
targeted the Euphrates valley city of Raqqa , which
ISIL fighters have made the headquarters of the
" caliphate" they declared in June over a vast area
comprising parts of Iraq and Syria .
The US and Arab allies began air strikes against
ISIL and in Syria on Tuesday, more than a month
after the Pentagon launched an air campaign
against the self - declared jihadists in Iraq.
The US had been reluctant to intervene in Syria ,
but acted after ISIL captured more territory and
committed widespread atrocities, including
beheading three Western hostages .
More countries , including the UK , are involved in
strikes in Iraq.
On Saturday, jets took off from Britain ' s RAF
Akrotiri on Cyprus for Iraq but returned to base
without dropping their laser -guided bombs .
Belgium and Denmark have also approved plans to
join France and the Netherlands in targeting ISIL in
Iraq, allowing the US to focus on the more
complex operation against its Syria base .
In a related development , Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could take a military
role in the coalition , the Hurriyet daily reported on
Saturday.
He said the government would go to parliament
with a motion on October 2 , after which " all the
necessary steps" would be taken.

Source: http://m.aljazeera.com/story/2014927224526662127