New jihadist group emerges in Syria aiming to create a 'caliphate'

Brazil Agency - A new jihadist faction, the Group of Followers of Furqan in the Levant Country, announced its creation in Syria on Monday (9) and stated that its objective is the establishment of a "caliphate". The information is from the EFE agency.

In several statements published on its Twitter account, the authenticity of which could not be verified, the organization explained that it is "a Sunni Muslim jihadist entity made up of emigrants and followers" in Syria and that it advocates the establishment of the religion and the return to the "caliphate" through jihad (holy war).

"We believe that jihad is imposed on all Muslims today, in the face of the deployment of our enemies of Muslims everywhere," one of the texts states. The group affirmed that it opposes the "continuous attacks" of the United States and Russia, whom it will confront "with the sword," as well as the Turkish army and allied rebel groups.

One of the statements is accompanied by illustrations of the flags of Turkey and the Syrian revolution, which uses the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as its insignia, in flames. It is not yet known whether this new group is linked to the Levant Freedom Organization – the former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda – or to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS).

The Furqan refers to "the norm," a word used by Islamists to allude to the Muslim holy book, the Quran. The creation of the new group coincides with the announcement made this Monday by the Turkish Armed Forces that military units have entered Syria for an exploratory mission in the Idlib province, within the framework of the Astana agreements on the implementation of the ceasefire in the Arab country.

Furthermore, both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a Syrian Kurdish official reported that Turkish troops entered the village of Dara Aza, in the neighboring province of Aleppo and near the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, last night.