Al-Qaeda’s Syrian offshoot has issued a loyalty pledge to Isis at a remote town on the Iraqi border, a monitor said.
The merger is significant as it opens the way for Isis to take control of both sides of the border at Albu Kamal in Syria and al-Qaim in Iraq, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Isis – which aspires to create an Islamic state that straddles Iraq and Syria – has spearheaded an lightening jihadist offensive that has captured swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad this month.
After months of clashes between the two sides, al-Qaeda’s official Syrian arm the al-Nusra Front “pledged loyalty to Isis” in Albu Kamal, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
“The pledge comes amid advances by Isis in Deir Ezzor province” in eastern Syria on the Iraqi border, Abdel Rahman told AFP.
