The resurgence of al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq
By: Azeem Ibrahim
Contributors: Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute; Army War College (U.S.). Press
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Carlisle, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 67
ISBN-13: 9781584876267
Subjects: Islamic fundamentalism; Qaida (Organization)
Description: The Syrian civil war has allowed al-Qaeda to recover from its setbacks up to 2010. Its main affiliate in the region seems to be testing a new strategy of collaboration with other Salafist-Jihadist groups and a less brutal implementation of Sharia law in areas it controls. In combination, this might allow the Al Nusrah Front to carve out the sort of territorial control of a region (or state) that al-Qaeda has sought ever since its eviction from Afghanistan. On the other hand, Syria has also seen a civil war between two al-Qaeda inspired factions (Al Nusrah and the Iraq based Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIS]) and indicates there are limits to its ability to cooperate with other anti-Assad factions and gain popular appeal. The extent that the Syrian civil war offers the means for al-Qaeda to recover from its earlier defeats will determine whether the organization has a future, or if it will become simply an ideology and label adopted by various Islamist movements fighting their own separate struggles.
Notes: "May 2014."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-49).
Table of contents: title: Background; title: Al-Qaeda since 9/11; title: The wider dynamics of jihadi terrorism; title: Al-Qaeda's resurgence in Iraq; title: Al-Qaeda in Syria : ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front; title: Al-Qaeda and popular governance; title: Syria today; title: Conclusion; title: Appendix: Al-Qaeda in other parts of the world. Al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM); title: The non-Al-Qaeda insurgents : Syria's Salafi jihadis.