Hello, Sir. Thank you for joining us. First of all, why al-Qaeda decide to publicly announce the break just to feel exposed or is there any other reason behind this statement for the Western press? What is your impression?
Well, animosity has been growing between the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS and other rebel groups, and that has fueled deadly infighting. That has also harmed the movement against President Assad, the infighting has trapped their ability to launch an effective campaign against the Syrian regime. Now al-Qaeda Central lead by Ayman al-Zawahiri has spoken in the past of the fact that the al-Qaeda affiliate needs to focus its aims more against the Assad regime rather than fight other Syrian rebel groups. And the fact is that those calls have fallen unanswered which is party why now Al-Qaeda Central is taken this move against its affiliate.
Now, in related issue, many say al-Qaeda is gradually loosing its control over the territory mid arising in fighting in Syria? Is that really so?
The main area of concern internationally has been that the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria have been very actively engaging in recruiting British, German and French nationals to fight for their cause. And that has been of major concern for Western governments because of the potential blowback where their citizens could become radicalized ideologically as well as be equipped militarily. And with those skills they would return home, to their countries of origin, and in a position to plot and plan deadly mass casualty attacks, very similar to what we saw in the aftermath of 9/11 right up till 2006, where British nationals were trained in Pakistan by al-Qaeda and then come home to plan major mass casualty plot. Al-Qaeda’s ability to recruit in Syria has not diminished or shown any sign of weakening, it actually has been quite consistently active and that itself is another concern.
Now, Sir, let’s talk a little bit about ISIL. Initially, ISIL was the al-Qaeda branch in Iraq. Then why did it expand its operations into Syria. What is it fighting there for? What are their interests in Syria?
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been a group that grew in the aftermath of the US led operations in Iraq from 2003, led by individuals like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi although he was killed, the group itself still conducted a number of attacks against the US soldiers as well as carrying the attacks against Iraqis but most importantly developing sectarian conflict inside Iraq itself. It was inevitable once the battle against the Assad regime began, that those elements in Iraq would align themselves with individuals of a similar ideological lining in Syria. Iraq and Syria are very closely intertwined in many ways. At one point both countries had Ba’ath Party president. There is often been people transferring from either country for jobs or economic reasons. Historically, the connections between Syria and Iraq are very strong. So it was inevitable that even that terrorists and extremists would use e connections to align themselves. It illustrates the fact that the al-Qaeda franchise continue to expand and to proliferate and the group itself is very much following the same ideological pattern as other al-Qaeda factions, which is to create an Islamic state based on Sharia law opposed to manmade laws, opposed to any type of form of democracy, a very stringent rigid doctrine.
The views expressed here are solely those of the interviewee and may not represent the views of the Voice of Russia editorial team
Al-Qaeda calls to its Syrian affiliate to fight Assad only remained unanswered - expert
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