The United States officially labels the Syrian jihadist rebel group Jund al-Aqsa as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization as talks continued on securing a ceasefire in the war-ravaged country.
The US State Department says the four-year-old group was originally a unit of the al-Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda arm in Syria, before splitting off to carry out operations independently.
Syrians fleeing from the town of Souran, in northern Hama, drive past burning vehicles on September 1, 2016, after fighters from the Jund al-Aqsa Islamist Brigade took control of the town from Syrian government forces. (Omar haj kadour/AFP)
Today, Jund al-Aqsa operates primarily in the Idlib and Hama provinces, but remains “openly allied” with al-Nusra, already designated a terror group two years ago, the State Department says.
It says Jund al-Aqsa was behind two suicide bombings in Idlib in March 2105 and a February 2014 “massacre” of 40 civilians in Maan in central Hama. The designation, and parallel sanctions by the US Treasury Department, forbid US entities and individuals from any transactions with the group.
— AFP
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