Islamic State seeking alliance with al Qaeda, Iraqi vice president says

[webfact]

Islamic State seeking alliance with al Qaeda, Iraqi vice president says

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO: A member of the Iraqi rapid response forces walks past a wall painted with the black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants, at a hospital damaged by clashes during a battle between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in the Wahda district of eastern Mosul, Iraq, January 8, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani/File Photo

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State is talking to al Qaeda about a possible alliance as Iraqi troops close in on IS fighters in Mosul, Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi said in an interview on Monday.

 

Allawi said he got the information on Monday from Iraqi and regional contacts knowledgeable about Iraq.

 

"The discussion has started now," Allawi said. "There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and representing Zawahiri," referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of al Qaeda.

 

Islamic State split from al Qaeda in 2014 and the two groups have since waged an acrimonious battle for recruits, funding and the mantle of global jihad. Zawahiri has publicly criticized Islamic State for its brutal methods, which have included beheadings, drownings and immolation.

 

It is unclear how exactly the two group may work together, Allawi said.

 

Islamic State blazed across large swathes of northern Iraq in 2014, leaving the Iraqi central government reeling. Baghdadi declared a caliphate over the territory the group controlled from the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul the same year, which also became a point of contention with al Qaeda.

 

Last October, Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite volunteer fighters, commonly referred to as the Popular Mobilization Units teamed up with an international coalition, including the United States, to drive Islamic State from of Mosul and the areas surrounding the city.

 

The group has been pushed out of the half of Mosul that lies east of the Tigris River, but Iraqi soldiers and their allies are now bogged down in tough fighting in the narrow streets of the Old City of Mosul, west of the river, according to Iraqi security officials.

 

Islamic State has used suicide bombers, snipers and armed drones to defend the territory under their control. The group has also repeatedly targeted civilians or used them as human shields during the fighting, according to Iraqi and American security officials.

 

The militant group has lost ground in Mosul but still controls the towns of Qaim, Hawija and Tal Afar in Iraq as well as Raqqa, their de facto capital in Syria.

 

Even if Islamic State loses its territory in Iraq, Allawi said, it will not simply go away.

 

"I can't see ISIS disappearing into thin air," Allawi said, referring to the group by a commonly used acronym. "They will remain covertly in sleeping cells, spreading their venom all over the world."

 

(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh, editing by Larry King)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-18

[Credo]

This is starting to sound like a corporate merge; Islamic-Terrorism, Inc.

[ballpoint]

As part of the merger, all Islamic State stockholders will be given one Al Qaeda share, plus a goat for each ISIS share they own.  The huge flock of goats suddenly appearing at Langley Va. has been reported as "coincidental" by the CIA.

[chilli42]

Why would that be strange or unexpected? ISIS was born out of the Iraq chapter of al Qaeda.  The CIA thought they would be another puppet anti government group in Syria.  Makes sense that they would consolidate back in Iraq after all of the setbacks both groups have had.  They are like weeds.  Kill them in one place and the seeds sprout in another.

[Stargeezr]

Is this sort of like the Mafia families  that  get joined together to expand their businesses more, except in this case, the business is death to all who are not Islamic terrorists.

Geezer