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Al-Qaeda's Syrian Arm Shifts Tactics in War
(Wall Street Journal) Raja Abdulrahim - Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and Islamic State both seek to establish a state governed by a strict reading of Islam. Yet Nusra is seeking to win a degree of consent from those it rules and has voiced an interest in governing with other rebel groups, while Islamic State has relied on violence or the threat of violence. Islamic State "is in a rush to success and a rush to impress," said Charles Lister, a fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. "Al-Qaeda has always played a more longer strategic game." The Syrian Network for Human Rights said Nusra is responsible for the deaths of 282 civilians, including 60 women and 32 under age 18, and for the disappearances of 44 others. Against this history of ruthlessness, longtime observers of Syria's rebel factions are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward Nusra's apparent shift in direction.