Saudi mediator fails to reconcile ISIL, al-Nusra front

A Saudi mediator has failed to reconcile Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups fighting against each other in Syria, media reports said. Saudi mediator Abdullah Al-Mohisini declared that his mediation efforts for reconciliation of the ISIL and Al-Nusra Front has not worked out, Panoram Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported. “The ISIL did not accept my plan for reconciliation with the Al-Nusra Front,” Al-Mohisini said in a 35-minute audio message released on a social network. He underlined the depth of animosity and hatred of the militants against each other. Al-Mohisini urged ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi to agree with the formation of a religious court to deal with the differences among the militant groups. After the failure of the Saudi effort, Al-Qaeda disavowed the ISIL, whose members have been locked in deadly clashes with Syrian armed opposition, according to a statement posted on jihadist websites. Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had already ordered the group in May 2013 to disband and return to Iraq, and announced that another group, the Al-Nusra Front, was Al-Qaeda's official branch in war-torn Syria. "Al-Qaeda announces it is not linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as it was not informed of its creation... (and) did not accept it," the group said in a late Sunday statement. ISIL "is not a branch of Al-Qaeda, has no links to it, and the (Al-Qaeda) group is not responsible for its acts," it added. Extremists were initially welcomed by some rebels in Syria's conflict, but allegations of brutal abuses against civilians as well as rival opposition fighters has sparked a backlash. ISIL and other foreign-backed opposition groups (including extremist militants) have been engaged in deadly clashes few months ago. After more than two years of fighting side-by-side and leading one of the bloodiest conflicts in the recent history of Middle-East, al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been making increasing moves against each other in the last few months. Militants in Syria have been committing numerous war crimes against people and Syrian army soldiers throughout the country during their bloody war. Sources said the number of antigovernment combat factions has reached 1750, including the FSA, "ISIL, and other groups working for different agendas. The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states. The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history. As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists. Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.