Al Qaeda is using airstrikes by coalition forces in Syria to offer a hand of reconciliation to the renegade Islamic State (IS), arguing that the two extremist groups should stop dividing and join forces to attack Western targets, analysts say.
Analysts are closely monitoring al Qaeda's repeated attempts at reconciliation with IS, and while it is not expected to be fully reconciled anytime soon, there is evidence that the two groups are cooperating on the Syrian battlefield, according to data from US officials, activists on the ground and experts monitoring messages from jihadists, AP reported.
Al Qaeda is saying, "let's have a truce in Syria," said Tom Josselin, who tracks terrorist groups for the Long War Journal.
"That's what's happening right now...What we're seeing is local commanders making truces. There are definitely areas where the two groups are not fighting," Jocelyn added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, also reported that IS and the Nusra Front group, an ally of Al Qaeda in Syria, have stopped fighting in parts of the country since the airstrikes began on September 23.
A member of the US Senate Intelligence and Military Affairs Committee, Sen. Angus King of Maine, said it was likely that the two groups were cooperating, at least on a tactical level, but that there was certainly no collusion between them.
IS was expelled from Al Qaeda in May for disobeying orders from leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. So far, IS has not responded to Al Qaeda's calls for reunification.
The most recent such call came on Oct. 17 from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen's branch, which condemned airstrikes by coalition forces and called on rival extremist groups to stop infighting and turn their gaze toward the West together.
A reconciliation with Al Qaeda leaders would allow IS to benefit from the wide international network that Al Qaeda has, but would also limit the extremist group from carrying out its own attacks.
As for Al Qaeda, it would gain a boost from IS's newfound popularity in jihadi circles, which provided it with an influx of new members as well as money.
The U.S. Treasury Department said last week that IS earned about $XNUMX million a day from selling oil on the black market. Some analysts believe that if the two groups continue to spend time and resources fighting each other, it reduces the terrorist threat to the West.
Experts who monitor terrorist networks say, however, that continued infighting could fuel a competitive spirit over which group will be the first to launch a new attack against the West.
Jihadi groups around the world have recently been quick to declare allegiance to IS, but Jocelyn says they are mostly smaller players, not al Qaeda allies.
"The Islamic State is the strongest jihadist group in Iraq and Syria, but the evidence so far shows that al-Qaeda is stronger everywhere else," he added.
IS extremists have captured about a third of the territory of Iraq and Syria, and their advance has been the reason for airstrikes by US-led coalition forces in both of these countries.
Al Nahyan: Prevent IS and Al Shabaab from merging
UAE Foreign Minister Abdul bin Zayed al-Nahyan warned that the Islamic State organization could join forces with Islamic extremists in Somalia.
"More needs to be done to prevent that," he added.
IS and al-Shabaab of Somalia are descended from the terrorist organization al-Qaeda and both use similar tactics of suicide attacks and attacks on non-civilians.
"What really scares us is what we are seeing from the Islamic State and whether we will see some kind of cooperation in the future between terrorist groups like the Islamic State and Al-Shabaab," El Nahyan said in Somalia at a conference on fighting piracy.
He did not provide specific intelligence about the active cooperation of IS and Al Shabaab, although there is speculation that Somali Islamists could turn away from Al Qaeda and become allies of the Islamic State.
Al-Shabaab got a new leader, Ahmad Umaru, last month and confirmed its closeness to Al-Qaeda after the terrorist group's previous long-time leader was killed in US airstrikes on the Somali capital.
Gallery
Bonus video:
