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Al Nusra break from Al Qaeda does not change US approach to group - official

WASHINGTON, July 28 (KUNA) -- The US will continue to consider Al Nusra a military target in Syria despite the group's decision to break off from Al Qaeda on Thursday, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby affirmed Thursday.
"There has been no communication that I'm aware of that would indicate any sort of a different approach to this group at this point," Kirby told reporters. "This announcement just got made and again, we judge an organization by its actions, its ideologies, its objectives." Kirby commented on reports of a Russian and Syrian humanitarian exercise in Aleppo to "appear to be a demand for the surrender of opposition groups and the evacuation of Syrian civilians from Aleppo." He added, "What needs to happen is the innocent people of Aleppo should be able to stay in their homes safely, and to receive the humanitarian access... according to the UN Security Council resolution". (end) ak.hb