Highlight: Al Qaeda, which recently declared war against the Islamic State released a propaganda video, terming IS as an illegitimate group.
Summary
The group’s leader Ayman al Zawahiri launched an ideological attack on the Islamic State’s caliphate, criticizing its formation that was not consultative.
Al Qaeda has consistently criticized Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s Islamic State for failing to arbitrate its differences with other jihadist groups in sharia courts. In the recent past, the Islamic State has been criticized for killing fellow Muslims who are innocent. In June, the Islamic State forces killed two veteran jihadists in Derna, Egypt.
Zawahiri has also cited the manner in which Abu Bakr al Baghdadi endorsed power upon himself as not ethical. He says that Baghdadi endorsed power on himself with the backing of some few people surrounding him.
Zawahiri ends the video with a warning for Baghdadi’s followers. He tells them not to fight any man unless they are certain that he is “an enemy of Islam and deserves to be fought.”
Forecast
After declaring to fight the Islamic State, Al Qaeda has come out to rubbish IS credibility in what amounts to ideological attack.
Experts on counterterrorism foresee strategic gains in the fight against terror should the two mammoth terror groups turn their arms against each other. Considering an allegiance between the two could be globally suicidal, it is only of strategic advantage that the two use all avenues suitable for each other’s downfall.
