The Syria-based al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Nusra has asked for UN help in getting a two- to three-week ceasefire, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reported Saturday. Both the US and Saudi Arabia have added al-Nusra to the ranks of the “moderate opposition,” the report suggests, since the organization has officially rejected the al-Qaeda goals of world domination through terror attacks. Nevertheless, at least one UN report has accused al-Nusra of crimes against humanity.
Be that as it may, according to DWN “Russian airstrikes have placed the al-Nusra Front, as well as ISIS, under considerable pressure, surrounding them in Aleppo. The Syrian Army, with Russian support, has been advancing undeterred and does not want to negotiate with the terrorists.”
“The precarious situation has forced the terrorist group to try an original move – to bring about a ceasefire in the UN,” DWN writes, citing a Reuters report from a source close to the peace negotiations. The German newspaper suggests the CIA has been backing al-Nusra in its fight to the death against the Syrians and their Russian patrons, but, apparently, both the Pentagon and the White House don’t see the point in that.
DWN is convinced the al-Nusra offer is “a trap for the Russians: the terrorists desire to regroup in order to prevent their utter destruction … because the Russians and Syrians are proceeding with the battle for Syria with the utmost severity.”
“The Russians,” DWN notes, “will not agree to the [ceasefire] proposal. Unlike the West, the [Syrian-Russian-Iranian] alliance is resolute in its fight with ISIS.”