Al Qaeda Nearly Destroyed, Thanks To ISIS

It has been about 14 years since the start of the U.S. war on terror, and Al Qaeda is nearly defeated, thanks to ISIS. Two Al Qaeda insiders described the fall of the terrorist organization in interviews published by the Guardian.

The Guardian secured interviews with Jordanian preacher Abu Qatada, based in the U.K. before his deportation, and with Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, considered the most influential scholar on jihad alive today. Both say Al Qaeda has been nearly destroyed by ISIS.

Maqdisi didn’t hold back when describing the situation of his “close friend” Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

“He operates solely based on the allegiance. There is no organizational structure. There is only communication channels and loyalty.”

Qatada agreed that Zawahiri is becoming increasingly isolated and ISIS’ slick, media-savvy propaganda campaign has drained the organization of new recruits. He also affirmed that Al Qaeda is losing the ground war.

Ironically, ISIS used to be known as “Al Qaeda in Iraq” and flew Zawahiri’s banner. According to the Daily Mail, ISIS was thrown out of the terrorist organization after they repeatedly refused to follow orders from above and engaged in behavior too brutal for the jihadis.

For example, earlier this year, ISIS burned Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh to death, which Al Qaeda condemned as a “deviant act.”

ISIS’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad took the ejection from Zawahiri’s terror network as an act of war against his self-declared caliphate, the Islamic State.

Qatada is also a harsh critic of the new terrorist organization, referring to ISIS as a “cancer” on the jihadi movement. The jihadi also claimed that “ISIS don’t respect anyone,” another stark contrast with Al Qaeda.

Terrorists with the Islamic State recently beheaded 10 members of the Taliban in Afghanistan and declared that they would not accept other jihadi groups operating in their territory, for example.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Al Qaeda still has a decently functioning cell in Yemen, a country the U.S. abandoned once it descended into civil war. Now, government forces struggle for survival against Houthis rebels and terrorist organizations.

As for the U.S., it still seems to struggle to adapt to the constantly changing loyalties and power dynamics in the Middle East.

Former intelligence analyst Derek Harvey explained the center of the problem.

“There’s such a cadre of people so closely tied to the Al Qaeda brand within the IC [intelligence community] that I think they don’t see what else is going on outside the organization.”

As a result, senior officials, even President Obama, have repeatedly conflated ISIS with its former master organization and often consider the fight between the two a “mere squabble” rather than an existential struggle.

Nevertheless, Al Qaeda, America’s first organizational enemy in the war on terror might be nearing its end, but whether the U.S. is ready for the newest name in global Jihad, ISIS, is another matter.

[Image Credit: Getty Images]