The leader of Al-Qaida's Syria wing Nusra Front said his group was aiming to capture Damascus and the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad would happen quickly.
"We will continue our focus on Damascus and on toppling this regime," Abu Mohamad al-Golani told news channel Al Jazeera in a rare interview aired on Wednesday. "I assure you, Assad's fall won't take a long time."
The group's leader added that members of the Alawite minority sect should renounce Assad and change their beliefs in order to be safe.
"If they drop weapons, disavow Assad, do not send their men to fight for him and return to Islam then they are our brothers," Golani said. Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
He said Alawites were part of a sect that had "moved outside the religion of God and of Islam." He said his Sunni Muslim militant group was not at war with Christians.
It was not clear where the interview took place and Golani's face was not shown.
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.658396
