Syria wants al-Nusra on UN blacklist

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has called on the United Nations Security Council to class the insurgent al-Nusra Front as an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group.

According to Syria’s state news agency SANA on Thursday, in letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Damascus expects the UN to fulfill its role to safeguard global security and class the foreign-sponsored group as terrorist.
The foreign-backed insurgents have formally pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, the head of the al-Nusra, said the group was loyal to the al-Qaeda chief in an audio message on Wednesday.
Jawlani’s remarks came a day after the leader of al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq network, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced merger with the al-Nusra Front to play an even greater role in the crisis in Syria.
Baghdadi said in a recording, “It is time to declare to the Levant and to the world that the al-Nusra Front is simply a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq.”
The Syrian ministry added such statements prove previous warnings of Damascus against the relationship between the armed terrorist groups and al-Qaeda.