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According to the US state department:

Under al-Jawlani’s leadership, ANF has carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria, often targeting civilians. In April 2015, ANF reportedly kidnapped, and later released, approximately 300 Kurdish civilians from a checkpoint in Syria. In June 2015, ANF claimed responsibility for the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province, Syria.

But the "massacre" cited in the report is disputed and a report from opposition website Yalla Souriya states that the a local killed a JaN fighter which caused the attack.

"One local protested and attacked JAN who sent a person to clarify the situation. The Druze who protested killed the envoy and his friends shot several gunshots killing 3 persons," who may be some of the killed civilians.

http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Qalb_Lawzah_Massacre

Is that true that "ANF has carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria"?

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Sakib Arifin
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    @MohammadSakibArifin Focusing on "targeting civilians" is a meaningful distinction, and might be better placed in the question. The personal remarks in the comments are not appropriate. –  May 10 '17 at 19:33
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    @notstoreboughtdirt: But then it's a question about [motivations](https://skeptics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/621/politics-beliefs-and-motivations-questions-should-not-be-allowed-here)... – Nate Eldredge May 10 '17 at 19:34
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    @NateEldredge it seems to me that whether an attack "targeted" civilians is *usually* a pretty objective question in practice, even if *in principle* such a question might be unanswerable without being able to read the militants' minds. There's no subjectivity to whether, say, the 9/11 or 7/7 attacks were targeting civilians or not. – Mark Amery May 10 '17 at 19:39
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    It's also worth noting that, [per Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nusra_Front), early in its engagement in Syria Al-Nusra declared *"We promise to protect the lives of civilians and their possessions from security and the Shabiha militia"*, and that they've publicly apologized in the past when fighters in their employ have killed civilians (and denounced such conduct). It sounded stupid to me to ask "Has this Islamist group forked from Al-Qaeda really carried out terror attacks on civilians?", but a little research suggests that the answer isn't as obvious as I thought. – Mark Amery May 10 '17 at 19:53
  • @MarkAmery if there is evidence that a group used intentional force (which US backed forces regularly do but they don't get the terrorist flag) then it gets designated as a terror org. Even UN most likely didn't directly designate JaN as a terror org. – Sakib Arifin May 10 '17 at 19:54
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    @MohammadSakibArifin Stop accusing people of lying (for any reason, including their religious beliefs). – Sklivvz May 10 '17 at 22:04
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    @Sklivvz He did lie. And my comment was deliberately meant to trigger him. To show him how misinformed he is. – Sakib Arifin May 11 '17 at 12:57
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    @MohammadSakibArifin just don't accuse anyone. People are wrong all the time without lying. Assume best intentions per our [help] policy and move on. – Sklivvz May 11 '17 at 14:36

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According to Profile: Syria's al-Nusra Front 10 April 2013:

Al-Nusra - or The Front for the Defence of the Syrian People - first announced its existence with a video posted online in January last year.

In the statement, the group said it was behind many of the suicide bombings that have rocked Syria since the uprising began in March 2011

For more information see Profiling Jabhat al-Nusra The Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, Analysis Paper No. 24, July 2016

Throughout early 2012, Jabhat al-Nusra was still a small, largely cell-based terrorist organization operating at a low tempo. For example, by March 1 it had conducted only three attacks, from which casualties included 40% civilians.

...

Attacks on civilian targets undoubtedly occur—in Alawite districts of Homs city through 2014– 2015, for example—but they remain proportionally the exception.

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One unit of Jabhat al-Nusra gunmen massacred 20 Druze civilians in Idlib in June 2015, while the first batch of the ill-thought-out $500 million U.S. Department of Defense Train and Equip Program were attacked by Jabhat al-Nusra within 24 hours of their activation in mid-July 2015.

So the organization primarily attacks police and military targets, but also attacks civilian targets.

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DavePhD
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