Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Al Qaida, under pressure from Gulf Arab supporters, has disavowed its franchise in Iraq and Syria.

The Al Qaida general command asserted that it was not maintaining links to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. In a statement on Feb. 2, Al Qaida, led by Ayman Zawahiri, said ISIL was not part of the global Islamist insurgency.

“It is not a branch of the Al Qaida group,” Al Qaida said.

The online statement was released amid a growing assessment within the Sunni opposition in Syria as well as Arab intelligence agencies that ISIL was working with the regime of President Bashar Assad. The opposition said ISIL was linked to Syrian intelligence, which facilitated the flow of Al Qaida fighters to Iraq from 2003 through 2010.

“[Al Qaida] does not have an organizational relationship with it [ISIL] and is not the group responsible for its actions,” Al Qaida said.

ISIL has been deemed the most powerful Islamist militia in Syria and spent much of the last year attacking rebel forces, including Al Qaida’s Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant. In January 2014, Saudi-sponsored rebel militias attacked ISIL positions in fighting that killed about 2,300 people.

In 2013, Al Qaida sought to mediate the feud between ISIL and Nusra. But
ISIL was said to have defied Zawahiri’s orders to stop a takeover of Nusra.

Western intelligence sources said ISIL and Nusra continued to cooperate
on a tactical level. But they said ISIL’s killing of Nusra fighters have
alarmed Gulf Arab financiers of Al Qaida.

“[Al Qaida] has no connection with the group called ISIS, as it was
not informed or consulted about its establishment,” Al Qaida said. “It was
not pleased with it and thus ordered its suspension. Therefore, it is not
affiliated with Al Qaida and has no organizational relationship with it.”

  Al Qaida concluded Iraq’s ISIL was an Assad asset, Arab intelligence, Ayman Zawahiri, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Nusra Front