Almost immediately after the U.S. announced airstrikes against Khorasan, some media outlets began to debate whether, given the Khorasan group’s ties to core al-Qaeda and the al-Nusra Front, the group existed as a separate entity.

After introducing the group, Business Insider said that the debate surrounds “whether Khorasan is an independent Al Qaeda franchise or a subset of Nusra,” and mentioned Aaron Zelin, a Richard Borow Fellow at the Washington Institute think-tank, “who believes the two groups to be one and the same.”Jeremy Bender and Brett Logiurato, “Meet the Khorasan, the Terrorist Group That’s Suddenly a Bigger Threat than ISIS,” Business Insider, September 23, 2014, http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-khorasan-group-airstrikes-isis-islamic-state-2014-9.

Al Jazeera America consulted Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, who said that Khorasan is “not actually a separate group” but instead the contingent of al-Qaeda operatives within the al-Nusra Front that come from Afghanistan and Pakistan.“What Is the Khorasan Group?,” Al Jazeera America, September 23, 2014, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/23/syria-khorasan-airstrikes.html.

An article published by the BBC said that the name Khorasan Group was “apparently coined by the U.S.” in order “to describe a group of al-Qaeda veterans who have travelled to Syria to take advantage of the situation there.”“Al-Qaeda Khorasan Cell in Syria Attack ‘Was Imminent,” BBC News, September 23, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29330395. The article goes on to say that “Jihad supporters online believe the US is using the phrase to refer to operatives within al-Nusra Front or the group itself.”“Al-Qaeda Khorasan Cell in Syria Attack ‘Was Imminent,” BBC News, September 23, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29330395. The following day, BBC also called into question whether Muhsin al-Fadhli was, in fact, the leader of Khorasan. The BBC quoted Mustafa Alani of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre’s assessment of Fadhli as “more of a preacher than a commander.”“What Is the Khorasan Group?,” BBC News, September 24, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29350271. On September 25, BBC wrote that “US officials seem to have come up with the term Khorasan on their own.”Tara McKelvey, “New Militant Group Khorasan Creates Mystery and Fear,” BBC News, September 25, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/news/29334548.