In my first post on the quarrel between al-Qaeda and ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham), I laid out the depth of the problem facing al-Qaeda. In this post, I’ll take a brief look back at the origins and root causes of the disagreement between the two groups as well as the appeals that are being made by ISIS and al-Qaeda in their attempts to convince other jihadist groups to support them. 

Recent advances in Iraq by the al-Qaeda clone known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) have raised fears that the entire country could fall to extremists.  Although the collapse of security throughout much of Iraq seems sudden, it did not spring from a void, but rather is the result of a return of sectarianism to Iraq and of the steady growth of ISIS over the past two and a half years. 

The current conventional wisdom in Washington is that al-Qaeda (AQ) is no longer a real threat and that it has been dismantled by the US drone attacks in conflict areas. That is nothing but wishful thinking and shortsightedness.

Over the past five months, critical events have occurred in the on-going dispute between al-Qaeda’s leadership and the Syrian-Iraqi jihadist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS). 

In an unexpected and unprecedented turn of events, al-Qaeda members and jihadists from all over the world who embrace the ideology of global jihad are now doubting the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and calling for his removal.