October 29, 2014 | Quote

Analysts: IS Ignores al-Qaida’s Call to Reunite to Fight West, but Their Feud Has Tapered Off


WASHINGTON – Al-Qaida is using U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a reason to extend olive branches to the renegade Islamic State group, saying the two should stop feuding and join forces to attack Western targets — a reunification that intelligence analysts say would allow al-Qaida to capitalize on the younger group's ruthless advance across the region.

Analysts are closely watching al-Qaida's repeated overtures, and while a full reconciliation is not expected soon — if ever — there is evidence the two groups have curtailed their infighting and are cooperating on the Syrian battlefield, according to activists on the ground, U.S. officials and experts who monitor jihadi messages.

Al-Qaida is saying, “Let's just have a truce in Syria,” said Tom Joscelyn, who tracks terror groups for the Long War Journal. “That is what's underway now. … What we have seen is that local commanders are entering into local truces. There are definitely areas where the two groups are not fighting.”

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Issues:

Al Qaeda Syria