Syrian rebel Nusra leader: Assad will soon fall

Abu Mohamad al-Julani, leader of the Syrian rebel Nusra Front, told Al Jazeera in a rare interview aired Wednesday that his group is focusing on Damascus and toppling Assad. Turning to the Alawite community, he said: “If they drop weapons, disavow Assad, and return to Islam, then they are our brothers.” With his back to the camera, al-Julani said Nusra is not at war with Christians and his group received no foreign state funding. The Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front has made gains in northwestern Syria alongside other insurgent groups in recent weeks, seizing the city of Idlib, the town of Jisr al-Shughour and coming close to government-held coastal areas north of the capital. It is also fighting in southern Syria and has clashed with the rival ISIS in a number of locations.

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