Militants in Iraq and Syria have announced that they are merging, according to the Associated Press. The merge unites the Syrian group Jabhat al-Nusra with Iraq's al-Qaida-affiliated group the Islamic State of Iraq.
The announcement comes a day after a suicide bomber enabled an explosives-filled car to detonate near Sabaa Bahrat Square in Damascus, another AP report indicated.
Here's a rundown of the latest news regarding the Syrian civil war.
* This is the first confirmation that Jabhat al-Nusra has connections to al-Qaida in Iraq.
* The leader of the Iraqi group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, made the announcement via an audio message. "It is time to announce to the Levantine people and the whole world that Jabhat al-Nusra is merely an extension and part of the Islamic State of Iraq," he said, according to the AP.
* Jabhat al-Nusra has emerged as a significant player in the rebel forces fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad for control of Syria.
* The suicide blast in Damascus killed 15 people, catching buildings and cars on fire in the center of the city on Monday. One hundred forty-six people were wounded.
* Car bombings and suicide bombings have been on an uptick in the capital over recent months.
* Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell of the U.S. State Department commented on the explosion during a press briefing, saying that the department was still looking into the situation for more information.
* "We have consistently in the past condemned events that target civilians and perpetrate this kind of violence," Ventrell said. "And let me add to that and just say there clearly are some elements - like we've been very clear about al-Nusrah and some extremists elements - who perpetrate a vision and perpetration violence that is directly at odds with the well-being of the Syrian people. And so we roundly condemn that."
* U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has had his proposal to send a chemical weapons team to Syria rejected by the country, according to the AFP.
* A Syrian foreign minister said that "Syria cannot accept such maneuvers on the part of the UN secretariat general, bearing in mind the negative role that it played in Iraq and which cleared the way to the American invasion," he was quoted by the AFP as saying.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-militants-merge-iraq-al-qaida-group-152200000.html
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