U.S. is Tracking Multiple Terror Plots against the West out of Syria

The U.S. is tracking multiple terror plots based out of Syria that target the West—threats that current and former intelligence officials say have been traced to al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate and not to Islamic State, the extremist group that has seized the world's attention.

Disclosures about the plots, which include bombings, are raising new questions about whether U.S. military strategy focusing on Islamic State militants could end up missing part of the threat Western countries face from Syria.

In addition to Islamic State, groups in Syria that pose a threat
to the U.S. include Nusra Front, shown above in Damascus in
July. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The U.S.-driven focus on Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, already has prompted questions from some senior military and intelligence officials as well as independent experts and analysts.

"Does ISIS represent a threat to the U.S.? Yes, of course, but it isn't the only issue," said John Cohen, who recently left his post as the top counterterrorism official at the Homeland Security Department to teach at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "The threats emanating from Syria go beyond the threat posed by ISIS."

At the White House, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the threat posed by Islamic State militants is different from that posed by other extremist groups in Syria and "if left unchecked" could present a risk to the U.S. domestically.

"ISIL is not the only group we focus on in the region. The actions we take—not all of which are public—are tailored appropriately to the threats we face," she said.

Khorasan group as deadly as IS, warns US

Islamic State extremists, who have seized control of territory and towns across Iraq and Syria, represent a serious danger to U.S. and Western interests, mainly in the region, said the officials. But so do groups more tightly affiliated with the Pakistan-based leadership of al Qaeda.

Two such groups are the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, and a cell of al Qaeda leaders now in Syria that works closely with Nusra Front known as Khorasan.

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