AMMAN/CAIRO (Reuters) - The head of Syria's Nusra Front, an offshoot of al Qaeda, urged insurgents on Monday to escalate attacks on the strongholds of President Bashar al Assad's minority Alawite sect in retaliation for what he said was the indiscriminate killing of Sunni Muslims by invading Russians.
The audio message from Nusra Front leader Abu Mohamad al-Golani, posted on YouTube, said Russia's military intervention since last week was aimed at saving Assad's rule from collapse but was doomed to fail, as had previous Iranian and Hezbollah military support.