He painted a picture far removed from his organisation’s blood-curdling reputation. On global jihadist websites it has claimed responsibility for car and suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of civilians as well as military targets across Syria. For many Syrians Nusra is synonymous with al-Qaeda. Many of their fighters are foreign jihadists; some fought with al-Qaeda in Iraq. Mr Rasoul sought to deny that they were extremists: “There is a wrong image in the West that Jabhat al-Nusra is Scarface. Jabhat al Nusra is human and we don’t hate anyone. We don’t hate Christians.