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On September 28, 2014, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) released an audio recorded message by its leader Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani warning that the widespread Muslim reaction to the U.S airstrikes on Syria will include attacks on U.S. and European soil. Al-Joulani also cautioned the Syrian people and Syrian rebels against joining the U.S-led military campaign against the Islamic State (IS). He told JN's fighters to remain steadfast in their continued fight while urging Sunnis in Lebanon to attack Hizbullah. He expected Muslim scholars to support the mujahideen and oppose the U.S.-led military campaign in Syria.
The nearly 26-minute- long message was released on the jihadi forum Al-Fida'. The following is a summary of the audio:
Al-Joulani began his message with the accusation that the U.S. had undermined the jihad in Syria from the Syrian revolution's beginning, for example by designating JN as a terror organization. Lacking justification for military intervention in Syria the U.S., charged Al-Joulani, latched onto IS as a convenient pretext. The current intervention, on the heels of the two failed Western military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, reflects the West's failure to comprehend the region and learn from its past mistakes.
Al-Joulani compared the fragile and unpredictable Middle East to "volcanos and earthquakes." Accordingly, he anticipated a "volcanic eruption" among Muslims to U.S. airstrikes in Syria. The region's tyrannical regimes, given their previously demonstrated inability to control their population will face an even tougher challenge to maintain order during the "Crusader campaign" against Muslims in Syria. Al-Joulani added that U.S. airstrikes in Syria will merely increase support for the mujahideen, just as the war against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan increased the organization's momentum and support. Al-Joulani predicted that JN's long term benefits would outweigh short term damage.
Al-Joulani reminded Americans and Europeans that their previous interference in the Muslims' affairs led to "tragedies and sorrows": "Have you forgotten your dead and wounded in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia? Have you forgotten the horrors of 9/11? And the [USS] Cole?And the threat to your interests that are spread throughout the region? Have you forgotten O people of the West, how much you paid and will pay due to these reckless wars?"
Furthermore, the Jabhat Al-Nusra leader warned the Western peoples that their leaders were deceiving them in promising to limit the campaign in Syria to aerial action in order to "keep your sons safe from the mujahideen’s attacks". Instead, he claimed "this will bring the battle to your own countries". Muslims, he noted, would not stand by with folded arms while the West bombarded their fellow Muslims: "Not only your leaders will pay the toll of war but it is you who will pay the bulk of it." Therefore, Al-Joulani counseled Americans and Europeans to pressure their respective governments to stop their anti-Muslim aggression.
Addressing the Syrian people, Al-Joulani commended them for standing up to the Syrian regime. He also informed them that the purpose of the "Crusader alliance's" arrival was to undermine their victories against the "Nusairi" [Alawite] regime. Al-Joulani assured them that although the airstrikes would attrite JN's fighting capacity, the group would continue doing its utmost to fight the Syrian regime.
In a message to other Syrian rebel groups, Al-Joulani warned them not to aid the Western coalition's efforts in the region such as targeting IS. Al-Joulani fears that the West may seek to win over certain rebel groups by exploiting their antipathy towards the IS. Those seeking to fend off IS's aggressions should do so independently rather than as part of the Western-led coalition.
Al-Joulani turned to the Sunnis in Lebanon and beseeched them to emulate their Syrian brothers by targeting Hizbullah. He recited Hizbullah's crimes against the Sunnis in Syria, and warned that same was in store for Sunnis in Lebanon. Sunnis in Lebanon should not allow their children to join the Lebanese army that Al-Joulani denigrated as a Hizbullah tool, but they enable their children to fight alongside the mujahideen by arming them.
Al-Joulani also solicited the support of Muslim scholars, authors etc. for the Syrian people and the mujahideen against the “Crusader campaign.”
Addressing his own JN fighters, Al-Joulani urged them to continue fighting and remain steadfast. Local Syrian fighters were expected to provide shelter and defend their foreign comrades. Al-Joulani (in a possible dig at IS) commanded his men to show compassion to others, act justly, and steer clear of extremism.
