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Ayman Al-Zawahiri Influence

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As of 10SEP2015 Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over as leader of al-Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden, sent a message accusing the ISIS leader and self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of sedition, and declared all-out war against the Islamic State however no sooner than five days after this statement Al- Zawahiri extended an olive branch saying that all Muslim’s should work together against the common enemy.
So to say the least these two organizations have complicated relations at best. This current state of hostility has not always been the case though, at one point though shaky al-Qaeda, and ISIS’s precursors were allied. To illustrate this I will take us back in time to the origins of ISIS and al-Qaeda’s relationship in Iraq. …show more content…

Though al-Zawahiri declared war upon Isis declaring al- Baghdadis caliphate illegitimate also extended an olive branch towards ISIS saying they could work together. This confusing chain of events could be his way of trying to influence what he sees as an undisciplined and misguided organization to drift towards his view of how jihad should be fought, possibly trying to turn ISIS back towards al-Qaeda’s leadership in the event of Baghdadis death. There is I believe, a certain amount of personal animosity between al-Zawahiri and al- Baghdadi which prevents them from actively agreeing on what is best for the Muslim world and how that world should be led and because of this makes cooperation between the two groups unlikely at this point. However having said this, the very fact that al-Zawahiri is attempting cooperation with ISIS is troubling. He realizes that an alliance preferably under al-Qaeda leadership would strengthen his influence for the greater battle against the west. An alliance such as this could be devastating for the west as it could give the platform and funding for the jihadists to launch more frequent larger scale attacks throughout the world and draw more radicalized followers to their cause. This is currently an unlikely situation in my view because ISIS and Al-Qaeda are actively competing against each

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