In a long awaited declaration, the leader of [what was formerly known as] Jahbat al-Nusra, Abu Muhammad Al-Julani declared the dissolution of Nusra and in an all the more drastic step, the formation of a new group, Jabhat Fath al-Sham, which would no longer be affiliated with al-Qaeda. The declaration comes as no surprise, as debates inside and outside of the group have been brewing over the past months over the need to break with al-Qaeda, a debate which was all the more exacerbated following the formation of the international coalition against ISIS and the tensions that emerged between Nusra and other Jihadist factions such as Ahrar al-Sham. In fact, several key figures in Nusra have long advocated for this split. The most prominent of whom was Abu Maryam al-Qahtani. Early this week, reports indicated that Jabhat al-Nusra’s Shura Council had taken the decision to split from al-Qaeda, and that an announcement was forthcoming. The statement
"Thoughts are the greatest wealth of any nation."