Al-Qaida cuts ties with militant group

Statement hints at Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’s lack of teamwork

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

BEIRUT - Al-Qaida formally dissociated itself with Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant on Monday, sealing a rift with the most radical group fighting in both countries that has exposed the shrinking influence of the al-Qaida leadership over a new generation of emerging radicals.

The repudiation came after the failure of repeated efforts by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to heal a dispute between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and another group, Jabhat al-Nusra, that has resulted in fighting in parts of rebel-held northern Syria.

In a statement posted on jihadi forums, al-Qaida’s General Command said the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant “is not a branch of the al-Qaida group …. [Al-Qaida] does not have an organizational relationship with it and is not the group responsible for their actions.”

The rejection leaves Jabhat al-Nusra, which is widely regarded as more moderate than the hard-line Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, as al-Qaida’s officially anointed affiliate in Syria, where a multitude of armed groups are battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad and also, in some places, one another.

It also means that al-Qaida no longer has a representative in Iraq, where the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant originated and where it poses a significant challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s control over the country.

The statement suggested the notorious intractability of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the most extreme of the Islamist groups fighting in Syria, was to blame for the break.

It cited the importance of consultation and teamwork, qualities the group has ignored in its aggressive expansion across northern Syria since it announced its formation in the country last April.

“Clearly Zawahiri believes that ISIS is a liability to the al-Qaida brand,” said Aaron Zelin, who tracks jihadi movements at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy. “They are not playing nice with other groups, and they are acting as a sovereign state, aggravating other rebels and hurting the effort against the regime.”

The group’s brutal tactics, including beheadings, floggings and bans on smoking, music and other perceived un-Islamic behaviors, have drawn the anger of many Syrians, culminating a month ago in a widespread revolt against the group across northern Syria in which Jabhat al-Nusra has fought the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant alongside more moderate rebels.

But the group has fought back and has managed to retain control of the northeastern province of Raqqa and significant portions of rural Aleppo, putting it in control of much of the area’s resources, including its oil fields that help it operate independently of the al-Qaida leadership, said Aymenn al-Tamimi, who monitors jihadi activity in Iraq and Syria with the Middle East Forum.

Although Jabhat al-Nusra is now the sole al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, it is the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant that is more aggressively pursuing the al-Qaida agenda of establishing an Islamic caliphate, setting up the institutions of state that enable it to administer the areas it controls, he said.

“It’s ISIS who is actually building the caliphate,” he said.

“Al-Qaida central doesn’t control territory in the manner ISIS does.”

This is the f irst time al-Qaida has formally severed ties with one of its affiliates, and it points to the extent to which the global jihadi movement has evolved in recent years, spawning multiple new groups across the region in the wake of the Arab uprisings, Zelin said.

“You have this wide tapestry of jihadi groups now, like a spider’s web,” he said. “All of these groups have the same ideology; they’re part of the jihadi framework, but they might have different focuses.”

In Syria on Monday, the government extended its aerial campaign against rebel-held areas in Aleppo, conducting a series of airstrikes that killed at least 18 people, including five children, activists said.

Assad’s air force has pounded opposition areas of the divided city since mid-December, reducing apartment blocks to rubble and overwhelming hospitals and medical clinics with the wounded.

On Sunday, government aircraft also targeted areas of east Aleppo under rebel control, killing nearly 40 people.

Monday’s air raids hit the districts of Hanano, Qadi Askar and Mouwasalat, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group, which monitors the conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said helicopters dropped crude bombs - barrels packed with explosives, fuel and scraps of metal - on the neighborhoods, causing immense damage.

Since it began with largely peaceful protests in March 2011, the Syrian conflict has killed more than 130,000 people and forced almost a third of the country’s prewar population of 23 million from their homes.

Information for this article was contributed by Liz Sly of The Washington Post and Ryan Lucas of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/04/2014