After graduating from Wellesley College in 2003, Dania Akkad worked as a daily newspaper reporter at The Salinas Californian and The Monterey Country Herald, covering everything from crime to agribusiness. In 2008, she moved to Syria and worked as a staff writer for Syria Today before completing a Master’s in Near and Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on politics at The School of Oriental and African Studies. Tweets at @daniaakkad. https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/contributor/dania-akkad/rss en Opposition Groups & Rebel Forces Fri, 29 Jul 2016 09:50:30 +0000 Dania Akkad https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/07/29/jabhat-al-nusra-rebrands-after-split-from-al-qaida https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/07/29/jabhat-al-nusra-rebrands-after-split-from-al-qaida The leader of the Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra), Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, has announced that the organization would split from al-Qaida and become the Levantine Conquest Front, aiming to “close the gap” between Syria’s fighting factions.