Study: Al-Qaida Thinking Longer-term Than Rival IS

Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria is building a larger base of support among insurgents in the war-torn country, and is having some success in persuading regional governments that it should be seen as a useful partner, by marketing itself as the moderate alternative to Islamic State extremists, a forthcoming study claims.

By restraining its fighters from enforcing as strict a Sharia law code as the Islamic State group and developing ties with Islamist rebel militias, Jabhat al-Nusra is becoming an “organic part” of communities in insurgent-held areas, the study argues.

The gradualist strategy of disguise, and cooperation with other militant organizations, contrasts with the boastful and indiscriminately violent path by Islamic State extremists as jihadist groups vie for the loyalty of extremist affiliates and offshoots.

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“Nusra and the Islamic State have adopted very different public images,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism scholar and lead author of the study, “The War between the Islamic State and al-Qaida.”

“While the Islamic State constantly projects an image of strength, and flaunts its overt brutality as a demonstration of its ability to impose its will forcefully, Nusra attempts to appear moderate in comparison, a jihadist organization that other militant groups, and Middle Eastern states, can do business with,” Gartenstein-Ross told VOA.

“But the  image Nusra seeks to project does not match the reality,” he said.

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