The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has decimated al-Qaeda by taking its recruits and ripping it apart, reports The Guardian.
“Two of al-Qaida’s most important spiritual leaders have told the Guardian that the terror group is no longer a functioning organization after being ripped apart by Isis,” states the article.
“In a wide-ranging interview, Abu Qatada, a Jordanian preacher who was based in London before being deported in 2013, and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, regarded as the most influential jihadi scholar alive, say the al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is cut off from his commanders and keeping the group afloat through little more than appeals to loyalty,” it continues.
According to insiders in Jordan, al-Qaeda has lost money and recruits to ISIS in the Middle East.
“He operates solely based on the allegiance. There is no organizational structure. There is only communication channels and loyalty,” Maqdisi said, referring to his close friend al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri.
The terrorist group’s leader is “isolated,” notes Qatada, adding that al-Qaeda is losing to ISIS.
Qatada, the preacher from Jordan, was born Omar Mahmoud Othman and is considered a “truly dangerous individual” by the British government, reports The Guardian.
ISIS members are “cancer” developing within the jihadist movement, said Qatada.
“Last week, ISIS fighters in Afghanistan were reported to have beheaded 10 members of the Taliban, and on Wednesday al-Qaida in Libya vowed retaliation after blaming Isis for the death of one of its leaders,” notes the article.
“But the US has been slow to grasp the implications of al-Qaida’s decline and possible collapse despite extensive study of Isis,” according to intelligence insiders.
Intelligence officials told The Guardian that the turf war between al-Qaeda and its former offshoot “has left the US struggling to catch up with the tectonic shifts within the global jihadi movement.”
Al-Qaeda cut off its affiliation with ISIS in 2014.