Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Al Qaida has formally merged with the leading Islamist
rebel militia in Syria.

Al Qaida in Iraq has reported the merger with Syria’s Al Nusra Front for
the Protection of the Levant, deemed the leading rebel militia in the war
against President Bashar Assad.

AQI said its Islamic State of Iraq and Al Nusra would now be known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

“It is time to announce to the Levantine people and the whole world that
Al Nusra Front is merely an extension and part of the Islamic State of
Iraq,” Islamic State chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi said.

In an audio statement on April 8, Al Baghdadi, believed to be an alias,
said AQI was playing a leading role in the Sunni revolt in Syria. He said
his group was investing half of its budget to help overthrow the Assad
regime, which has been fighting Sunni rebels for more than two years.

The 21-minute audio asserted that Al Baghdadi would now lead both
Islamist State as well as Al Nusra. So far, Al Nusra has not responded to ISI’s announcement, but a website linked to the group confirmed the merger.

“We thus declare the cancellation of the name of the Islamic State of
Iraq and the name of Al Nusra Front and grouping them together under one
name, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” Al Baghdadi said.

Western intelligence agencies have long linked AQI and Al Nusra, saying
the two groups share military training facilities in Iraq’s western province
of Anbar. In 2012, the United States placed Al Nusra on the State
Department’s list of terrorist groups, saying Al Nusra was a front of Al
Qaida.

  Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, Al Qaida merges with top anti-Assad rebel force in Syria, devotes half of budget to overthrow of Assad, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant