The leader of Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front in Syria was killed. Business Insider/AFP

Al-Nusra Front fighters in Aleppo. Business Insider/AFP.

The leader of Al-Qaeda's force in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, has died, dealing a major blow to the organization. Business Insider/AFP. It is unclear how Abu Hammam al-Shami, along with some of his commanders, died. The Syrian government are claiming Shami was killed in a commando raid though it is possible that he died of injuries sustained in an U.S. airstrike, which killed several other Al-Nusra leaders. Al-Nusra has been aggressively fighting in the Idlib province and had just defeated its secular rival, the Hazam movement, which had received support from the United States. Al-Shami was considered an Al-Qaeda loyalist at a time when the Nusra front is deciding what its connection to the terrorist group should be. Another faction is arguing that the group should split from Al-Qaeda and become its own movement. 

My Comment:

ISIS gets all the headlines, but Al-Nusra is just as dangerous as ISIS and has it own mini-state in Syria. They have been doing a good job at fighting everyone who opposes them in their stronghold, including other rebel groups, the Syrian government and occasionally ISIS itself. They are Al-Qaeda's organization in Syria and that fact alone makes them a huge threat. Unlike ISIS Al-Qaeda is much more interested in attacking the west. With the Nusra front, Al-Qaeda has a large pool of seasoned fighters to use for operations. Killing al-Shami isn't going to destroy the al-Nusra front, but it will do quite a bit of damage to them, which is a good thing. 

As for the report that Al-Nusra front might be splitting off into its own organization, I'm a bit worried. After all ISIS formed the same way and they were a lot more brutal then their parent organization. Al-Qaeda is evil of course, but they can't match how evil ISIS became. I'm hoping that the al-Nusra front doesn't follow the same path. I'm thinking they are thinking of spinning off into their own organization because they have control of a significant part of Syria. That, and Al-Qaeda itself is now just a shadow of the organization it used to be, recent terror attacks excepted.

The really bad news is how effective al-Nusra has been in either defeating or co-opting the so called "secular" militias like the Hazam movement. Al-Nusra is the biggest rebel group outside of ISIS and for many of the smaller organizations it seems impossible to compete with them. Given that the Syrian government is also putting a ton of pressure on the more secular groups, they have little choice but to throw their lot in with al-Nusra or be defeated by them or the government. The real problem is that some of these groups have received U.S. weapons... which are now in the hand of an Al-Qaeda affiliate. I've seen pictures of the al-Nusra Front with brand new TOW missile launchers. While those missiles will most likely be used against the regime, other rebel groups or even ISIS, it is possible that the weapons will be used against western targets. That's the worst case scenario of course, but it is still possible. That alone might justify more airstrikes against Al-Nusra. 

As far as Syria goes it is rapidly becoming crystal clear that the only real group left to oppose both ISIS and the al-Nusra front is the Syrian government. There aren't all that many secular rebels left and every time we arm them they tend to lose those arms to the two terrorist organizations. I'm not saying that the Syrian government would do any better if we armed them, but I am saying that we are not getting what we pay for when we arm these so called secular groups. If anything we should keep U.S. arms out of the conflict until a better alternative arises. There are no good choices left in Syria, so it may be time to stop throwing good money after bad. Mind you, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be conducting airstrikes in support of the Kurds in the North, but we should probably hold back on giving anyone else weapons. 

And as a final note, I don't believe for a second that Shami died in a Syrian commando raid. He was killed by the airstrike.