So when did Al-Qa`idah begin to operate in Syria?

Yaman sent me this:  "His talking points are taken from the official state department press release, which, most interestingly to me, reports that the group has been active in Syria since Nov 2011. That's over a year ago! Can you imagine. The regime was imagining al-Qaeda in Syria before it was there, and the opposition mocked those claims. Then when al Qaeda came, they were considered marginal, non representative, people who will leave as soon as the regime falls. Now "we are all al-Nusra." What bitterness, despair, and endless massacre will do."