by WorldTribune Staff, April 19, 2017
The terror chiefs who head the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaida networks are holding discussions on the possibility of forming an alliance, Iraq’s vice president said.
“There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing [ISIS leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi and representing [Al Qaida leader Ayman] Zawahiri,” Ayad Allawi said on April 17, citing what he said were knowledgeable contacts in both Iraq and the wider Middle East.
Allawi did not provide further details on how the terror groups, known for abusing women and children and for dispatching underlings on suicide missions, would work together.
ISIS was formed by Baghdadi after factions fighting in Syria’s civil war split from Al Qaida. The two terror groups have since fought over recruits, funding and which is best suited to inherit the mantle of global jihad.
Baghdadi declared the creation of ISIS’s caliphate from the al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, which also is said to have been a point of contention with Al Qaida.
While losing ground across both Syria and Iraq, ISIS – like Al Qaida – is likely to pose a renewed threat in the form of a global insurgency for many years to come, Allawi said.
“I can’t see ISIS disappearing into thin air,” he said. “They will remain covertly in sleeper cells, spreading their venom all over the world.”