BEIRUT — When the United States opened its aerial campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria this week, its first salvo also hit an al-Qaeda cell it says was planning terrorism attacks — a move that has injected more chaos into the conflict.
Amid fears they could be targeted next, two rebel factions have evacuated their bases, and residents in areas under the control of other Islamic brigades cower at home, wondering whether their districts will be hit.
While al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., among the Syrian opposition it has a degree of support and respect because its fighters are on the front lines battling President Bashar Assad’s forces.
To them, the U.S. strikes, which hit several Nusra Front facilities and killed dozens of fighters, appeared to signal an American move to take out any faction that adheres to an Islamic ideology — a large segment of the rebellion against Assad.
U.S. officials say the strikes were aimed at a cell of hardened jihadis within the Nusra Front called the Khorasan Group, which the United States says poses a direct and imminent threat to Western interests.
On Thursday, FBI Director James Comey acknowledged that the U.S. did not have precise intelligence on where or when the group might attack, adding that there was no indication the airstrikes had disrupted the cell’s plots.
“It’s hard to say whether that’s tomorrow, three weeks from now or three months from now. But it’s the kind of threat you have to operate under the assumption that it is tomorrow,” Comey said in Washington.
U.S. intelligence officials say the group has been trying to perfect a non-metallic bomb that can get past airport security.
But many in the Syrian opposition are skeptical of the U.S. claims and think the airstrikes are aimed to hurt the Nusra Front, and by extension the anti-Assad uprising. The Khorasan Group, a name given the cell by American officials, was unheard of publicly less than a month ago.
“I don’t think it’s ever been a separate group on the ground,” said Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on Syrian and Iraqi militants. “I think the problem for the U.S. is that in wanting to target Nusra, there’s still this problem that Nusra has local support.”
The Nusra Front remains locked in battle with the Islamic State group as well as Assad’s forces — all the while fighting arm-in-arm with Western-backed groups against both. It is that cooperation with other rebel groups that could be undermined by the U.S. airstrikes, said Aron Lund, editor of the Carnegie Endowment’s Syria in Crisis report.
Another source of instability in the rebel ranks stems from concerns among Islamic rebel brigades — and there are many — that U.S. airstrikes could target them as well.
“Residents are terrified that they will be bombed,” said activist Hassan Taquleden via Skype from the opposition-held Damascus suburb of Douma. “Honestly, we are barely handling the strikes by Assad. It would be a disaster if the coalition hits here, even with the pretext of helping” moderate rebels.
