Update: Friday, February 15, 2013 - 10:18 P.M. EST
A new video posted to YouTube on Thursday, which could not be independently verified, has surfaced of an American with Jabhet al-Nusra fighters in Syria.
Amateur video posted to YouTube in January, which could not be independently verified, purports to show a young American with Jabhet al-Nusra — a group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department — in Syria saying Bashar al-Assad's days are numbered. He is also heard taunting the Baathist regime and its secret police, the Shabiha.
This video, posted to YouTube this week, shows what appears to be the same individual riding in a jeep with Jabhat al-Nusra fighters. The driver and the American arrive at a downed Syrian regime helicopter.
U.S. Department of State, December 11, 2012: Terrorist designations of the al-Nusrah front as an Alias for al-Qa'ida in Iraq
The Department of State has amended the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 designations of al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI) to include the following new aliases: al-Nusrah Front, Jabhat al-Nusrah, Jabhet al-Nusra, The Victory Front, and Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant.
Since November 2011, al-Nusrah Front has claimed nearly 600 attacks – ranging from more than 40 suicide attacks to small arms and improvised explosive device operations – in major city centers including Damascus, Aleppo, Hamah, Dara, Homs, Idlib, and Dayr al-Zawr. During these attacks numerous innocent Syrians have been killed.