Who exactly is America fighting in Syria?

But the U.S. was alone in expanding the attacks to a new group: Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda. In recent days, U.S. officials had sounded the alarm about a Nusra cell they called “Khorasan,” which they said was actively plotting attacks on America. It said it had conducted eight strikes against the cell — which had only been discussed openly by U.S. officials within the last week. James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, was the first U.S. official to publicly acknowledge Khorasan when he warned of it at a conference last week.

It seemed unlikely that many Syrians — who support Nusra because it has focused on fighting the Syrian regime, unlike ISIS, which has warred with other rebel groups in a fight for territory — would see the distinction between Nusra and Khorasan that U.S. officials have sought to make in recent days. In its statement, the Central Command stressed the idea that the Khorasan cell was attacked in order to “disrupt the imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests.”

Aaron Zelin, an expert on extremist groups at the Washington Institute, told BuzzFeed News that there is “no difference at all” between Nusra and Khorasan.