The Alliance of Necessity and the Cooperation of the Authority: The defeated ISIS merges into declining base despite hostility

Ahmed Adel

The retreat of Al-Qaeda and ISIS in the Middle East has led the two terrorist organizations resorting to cooperation of necessity in the West African region, despite the ideological difference between them.

Alliance of crisis and defeat cooperation

A report prepared by the Washington Post newspaper highlighted the possibility of an al-Qaeda and ISIS coalition in West Africa, warning of that alliance, and warning of a real crisis threatening the regional security of that region.

According to statements by American and French officials, to the Washington Post, the Al Qaeda and ISIS organization used advanced tactics in their terrorist operations against civilians and the two camps, particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which led to their complete control over a large number of villages and cities.

The report suggested that the retreat may be tactical, due to the fear of drawing attention to them in the current period, indicating that Al Qaeda and ISIS need more time to train their militants and collect more elements, and plan attacks that could ultimately reach targets. International.

Hostility in the Levant and cooperation in Africa

The report pointed out that, despite the extreme hostility between al-Qaeda and ISIS in both Syria and Yemen, the alliance between them in West Africa is clear, thanks to tribal ties and practical interests, through terrorists who are recruited from the two armed organizations.

In 2015, Abu al-Walid al-Sahraoui, an Algerian terrorist, called – Habib Abdi Sidi – announced the pledge of allegiance to his terrorist group known as “Al-Murabitun” to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, although he announced it in 2013, accompanied by Mukhtar Belmokhtar, dubbed “Abi al-Abbas” the founding of the “Al-Murabitun” organization.

In July 2019, Muhammad Saleh Anadif, head of the United Nations Mission in Mali, reported that there is increasing evidence, confirming that both Al Qaeda and ISIS-linked groups in West Africa are currently cooperating at the operational and intelligence levels.

According to the American newspaper report, quoting a counterterrorism official, the U.S. Agency monitored the end of 2019 of the two organizations together in a coordinated operation to isolate the city of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where they controlled highways, blew up bridges, launched attacks against military convoys, and succeeded in stopping road traffic until the government forces arrived to reopen them.

The merger of the defeated

In the same context, Hisham Al-Najjar, a researcher in Islamic groups affairs, said that there is a general retreat for the two organizations, especially in the Middle East. After the ISIS defeats in Syria and Iraq, the role on Al-Qaeda also came with a decline not only in Syria, but in Yemen as well.

Al-Najjar confirmed, in a special statement to the Reference that despite the fact that the joint challenges may resort to what is known as a balance of weakness, that is, a weak tactical merger, until they pass together from this stage and gain the strength necessary for both of them.

That is so that they are allowed to work individually again, but whoever monitors closely the maneuvers and records that take place between the two organizations.