Nusra Front/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, foreign fighters flowed into that country, many of them fighting for Al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) against the U.S.-led forces. Many of these fighters were Syrian. With the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, many began returning home to combat the Assad regime. AQI sent several top commanders, including Syrian Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, to Syria to begin building a presence in the country. In this context, Nusra Front grew out...