section_path: Syrian civil war/Split from al-Qaeda
section_name: Split from al-Qaeda
paragraph_text: Split from al-Qaeda
  
  The Russian entrance into the war led to military setbacks for the Syrian opposition, causing their foreign backers to exert a greater level of influence over them. In January 2016, al-Nusra held unity negotiations with other rebel groups in a bid to pre-empt any foreign attempt to co-opt these groups against it. When the talks collapsed due to concerns over al-Nusra's affiliation with al-Qaeda, the reformist wing of al-Nusra—which may have comprised a third of its overall membership—presented al-Sharaa with an ultimatum: to sever ties with al-Qaeda and merge with other rebel groups, or face a mass defection.
  
  In July 2016, al-Sharaa convened al-Nusra's Shura Council twice to discuss the matter. The first council was inconclusive, while the second council settled on a "middle way" after several meetings: to break ties with al-Qaeda outside of Syria while retaining them inside Syria. As al-Zawahiri could not be contacted, several senior al-Qaeda leaders, including al-Zawahiri's deputy Abu Khayr al-Masri, approved the split contingent on al-Zawahiri later approving it himself. If he did not, the split would have to be reversed. Al-Sharaa agreed to these terms, which were narrowly approved by al-Nusra's Shura Council.
  
  On 28 July 2016, al-Sharaa announced that al-Nusra had severed ties with al-Qaeda and rebranded as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS). He added that the new organisation would have "no affiliation to any external entity". Ayman al-Zawahiri was publicly supportive of the split, even though he had rejected the plan when it was presented to him. In protest, several leading al-Qaeda loyalists in al-Nusra, including Abu Julaybib, Abu Khadija al-Urduni and Abu Humam al-Shami, left JFS. In September 2016, al-Zawahiri authored a letter that harshly reprimanded al-Sharaa for his "act of disobedience", and admonished al-Masri for giving it his approval. Due to al-Zawahiri's rejection, al-Masri withdrew his support for the split. Al-Qaeda leaders Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah and Saif al-Adel also opposed the split, and al-Sharaa was expected to reverse his decision. However, he refused to do so.