New York Times: Al Qaeda Setting Up Parallel Emirate in Syria

… by  Gwenyth Todd, 

A number of Al-Qaeda veterans have secretly been sent to Syria, where their goal is to do the groundwork for the establishment of an emirate, US and European intelligence officials have told the New York Times. Such a mission would imply competing with Islamic State.

Al-Qaeda is reportedly planning to set up an alternate headquarters in Syria, using its local affiliate, Al-Nusra Front. The step could mean that Syria gains increasing importance for Al-Qaeda, as well as the potential for violent escalation between the two terrorist groups, officials told NYT.

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Another, possibly even more alarming, consequence could be Al-Qaeda’s establishment of an emirate in Syria. Earlier this month, the group’s leader in Pakistan, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released his first audio statement in months, which could be taken to mean his blessing to set up the emirate, Western officials say.

This new entity may pose an elevated terror threat to the world as the terror group will gain immediate access to fighters from Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.

“The combination of an Al-Qaeda emirate and a revitalized Al-Qaeda central leadership in northern Syria would represent a confidence boost for the jihadi organization’s global brand,” Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, also wrote in Foreign Policy magazine earlier this month.

The organization may seem to relate more to ordinary Muslims than Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), too.

“Al-Qaeda would present itself as the smart, methodical and persistent jihadi movement that, in contrast to the Islamic State, had adopted a strategy more aligned with everyday Sunni Muslims,” Lister added.

US officials seem to be concerned about this prospect as well.

“We have destroyed a large part of Al-Qaeda. It is not completely eliminated, so we have to stay focused on what it can do,”CIA director John O. Brennan told NBC earlier in May.

Some Al-Qaeda leaders allegedly oppose the creation of an emirate now, believing the timing isn’t right for such a step, NYT reported Sunday. There are between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters in Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, Al-Nusra Front, while IS has up to 25,000, most of them in Iraq and Syria.

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Gwenyth Todd

{p}Gwenyth Todd is a former Adviser to President Clinton and various US Secretaries of Defense on Near Eastern, South Asian, European and South American issues.{/p}

{p}An expert in international security policy, she stayed out of the limelight until her successful efforts to prevent the Bush administration from starting a war with Iran between 2005-2008 caused Iran War advocates to attempt to have her killed or rendered to US authorities under the Patriot Act.{/p}

{p}Among many other citations and awards from US and foreign government officials, she received the highest civilian award issued by the US Secretary of Defense for her work on Turkish issues.{/p}

{p}She received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.A from Georgetown University and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She now resides outside the United States where she still is periodically harassed by US officials.{/p}

{p}She speaks French, Spanish, Turkish and Arabic and has lived in every inhabited continent. She supports Veterans Today’s mission of bringing hidden truths to the attention of the public.{/p}