Flag used in Sydney cafe siege used by Syrian extremist group

Called the Shahada flag, it differs from the black and white flag used by the terror group ISIS, which has carried out beheadings at other atrocities in Syria and Iraq.

The flag is used by the extremist group, Jabhat al Nusra, which is fighting the Assad government in Syria. But it has meaning for all Muslims, in that the Shahada is the Islamic Creed, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which is recited by Muslims when they pray.

In reciting the Shahada, a Muslim bears witness that Allah is the only true god, and that Muhammad is Allah’s prophet.

Also known as the Al-Nusra Front or Victory Front, Jabhat al-Nusra is a Syrian-based Sunni extremist group that adheres to the global jihadist ideology of Al Qaeda, the group behind the 9/11 attacks in 2001 . 

According to Australian National Security guidelines issued by the Federal Government, Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) sent operatives to Syria in late 2011 for the purpose of establishing Jabhat al-Nusra to fight the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

 

The group publicly announced its presence in Syria in a January 2012 video statement. In early April 2013, Jabhat al-Nusra pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and confirmed the group has received funding and operatives from AQI.

The stated aims of Jabhat al-Nusra, or JN, are to remove the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and once this is achieved, to replace it with a Sunni Islamic state.

Although the group is affiliated with Al Qaeda, JN has previously not emphasised an attack Western targets or global jihad, focusing instead on the ‘near enemy’ of the Syrian state.  

The Australian Government says the group has received direct endorsement from online extremist forums aligned with Al Qaeda and leading jihadist figures, but that previously JN had attempted to play down its extremist ideology and conceal its links to AQI to avoid alienating the Syrian population. 

(dailymail.co.uk)