Islamic State becoming ‘dominant voice’ among global jihadists
The United States intensifies military planning against the Islamic State; Syria’s new Cabinet; Israel faces "highly complex reality" in Syria; IS-linked group threatens more terror, beheadings in the Sinai Peninsula; what Egypt lost in the Al Jazeera trial.
Matthew Olsen, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, said on Sept. 3 that the Islamic State (IS) “threatens to outpace al-Qaeda as the dominant voice of influence in the global jihadist movement.”
Bruce Riedel writes this week that al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri announced in his latest video the formation of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and avoided reference to IS and what is happening in Iraq and Syria.
Riedel notes that Zawahri’s stance “makes sense now that [IS leader Abu Bakr al-] Baghdadi and IS are so successful, at least for the moment, in Syria and Iraq. In any case, IS and al-Qaeda are now competitors for command of the global jihad.”
US President Barack Obama announced a more assertive strategy against IS and foreign fighters at the NATO summit in the past week, including a core alliance of states in the region and increased support for Iraqi military and moderate Syrian opposition forces to battle IS.
