Interesting interview with Abu Muhammad al-Julani.
Quite a few "surprises". My guess is that Al-Nusra is trying to distance itself from Al-Qaeda (which is a dead organization anyway) and that the group will eventually reform.
Almost all of their fighters are locals too.
I never believed for 1 second that they had any interest in attacking the West. Nor have I seen them attacking civilians deliberately, not even the Alawites whose sons are slaughtering their people.
If Hezbollah is a "legitimate" group that has a "right" to influence the events in Syria despite being foreigners then a group like Al-Nusra which is mostly local should be able to do that.
If not then no distinctions should be made between those various armed groups, whether Al-Nusra or foreign Shia militias (trash from Lebanon and Iraq mainly) etc. ISIS is obviously not included here as they are enemies of everyone and cannot reform.
It's evident now that the Syrian opposition overall (secular and Islamist) ranging from exiles (all ideologies) to Ahrar ash-Sham will shape the future Syria with ISIS and likely Al-Nusra elements as well being sidelined and eventually combated.
Although my gut feeling tells me that most of the current Al-Nusra members will return to what they were doing before. At most they will campaign for an Islamic Syria which is in their full right.
What's your opinion about that brother?
@Dr.Thrax