Syrian al-Qaeda Kills ISIS-Linked Rebel Leaders

With everyone else in the world piling on ISIS after Friday evening’s Paris attacks, al-Qaeda’s Syria faction, Jabhat al-Nusra, is also reporting that they killed multiple leaders of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a faction with a presence in southern Syria and ISIS ties.

Nusra’s statement emphasized the ISIS link of the slain leaders, naming Abu Ali al-Baridi as one of the slain. The only other detail offered was that they were killed in an “heroic suicide bombing.” The attack reportedly took place in the Golan Heights.

Though the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade itself has long publicly denied any formal link with ISIS, Baridi had issued a video of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and several other figures in the group are seen as sympathetic to ISIS.

In addition to claiming credit for the suicide bombing, the al-Qaeda statement went on to urge ISIS and its supporters to surrender to al-Qaeda before it is too late. ISIS was initially al-Qaeda’s Iraq wing, but had a very high-profile split with them and the two sides have been at war ever since.