26-04-2024 11:01 PM Jerusalem Timing

Zawahiri Declares War on ISIL’s Baghdadi

Zawahiri Declares War on ISIL’s  Baghdadi

The leader of Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a new audio message accused top leader of the so-called ’Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, of “sedition”.

Zawahiri, BaghdadiThe leader of Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a new audio message accused top leader of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, of “sedition” and insisted the Iraqi terrorist recluse was not the leader of all Muslims as al-Baghdadi had claimed 14 months ago in a Mosul mosque, a report in ABC news said.

In the new audio tape, which was released online Wednesday, al-Qaeda leader appeared to confirm that he had not directly addressed infighting among ISIL and al Nusra Front, for fear of legitimizing ISIL.

"That division -- now formally declared by the highest ranking official of the group that apparently slaughtered almost 3,000 Americans 14 years ago -- could provide an opening that American counter-terrorism operatives could find a way to exploit," he added.

Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen said that the US could use misinformation to further pit the two against each other and encourage the series of gunfights and assassinations each has waged against the other -- like when ISIL reportedly killed a top Zawahiri emissary trying to broker a ceasefire between the gunmen in Syria in February 2014.

The "franchise" in Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as Khorasan Province of ISIL, “has been fighting non-stop” with the Taliban and al Qaeda there, a counter-terrorism official told ABC News.

ISIL, formerly the al Qaeda branch in Iraq, split from the larger group two years ago, after it received finance from major countries in the region.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said in one of his speech that ISIL has been formed by a joint work between the US, Saudi and Pakistani intelligence services.