28-03-2024 04:55 PM Jerusalem Timing

Yemen Qaeda Chief Praises Iraq ISIL

Yemen Qaeda Chief Praises Iraq ISIL

An influential Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen praised the Takfiri group ISIL, but without pledging allegiance to its self-proclaimed "caliph" or leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

An influential Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen praised the Takfiri group ISIL, but without pledging allegiance to its self-proclaimed "caliph" or leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Al-Qaeda chief in Yemen Ibrahim al-Rubaish "I congratulate all the mujahedeen on different fronts and all Muslims for the victories won by our brothers in Iraq against the puppets," Ibrahim al-Rubaish said in a video posted online.

Rubaish is considered to be the religious affairs chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based franchise of the global terror network, formed in a 2009 merger of its Saudi and Yemeni branches.

"Who does not welcome the victories of Sunnis and the defeat of (the current premier Nouri al-) Maliki's gangs that have mistreated the Sunnis?"

However, Rubaish held back from giving his support to Baghdadi, who at the end of June proclaimed the establishment of a “caliphate” straddling Iraq and Syria, with himself as "leader for Muslims everywhere".

The AQAP chief instead urged "an end to infighting between (extremist) mujahedeen", and called for "a common front to battle the enemies of our community, the puppets of Iran".

AQAP remains faithful to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egypt-born successor to Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.