International Shia News Agency

Farsnews/ ISIL and Al-Qaeda Tie the Knot

SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association) – Al-Qaeda has decided to endorse ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Once a rival of ISIL and hence called by Washington “good al-Qaeda” referring to Jabhat al-Nusra, the official al-Qaeda wing in Syria has now decided to back ISIL – kind of:

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an al-Qaeda affiliate in good standing, has issued a statement urging “jihadists” support ISIL against the United States. In a way, Ayman al-Zawahiri of al-Qaeda and “Caliph Ibrahim” of ISIL have finally decided to put aside their fatal differences and tie the knot. It’s an “arranged marriage” though, made in hell, and no, these terrorist groups are not strange bedfellows: They are only shifting sentiment and tactic.

It’s not quite the same thing as a statement from the parent al-Qaeda, but AQAP’s assessment is a reasonable facsimile, and suggests that even if the parent organization isn’t there yet, al-Qaeda is warming up to ISIL. It will be an “interesting” wedding vow, particularly after the “moderate” rebels in Syria stabbed al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra in the back and ran away with ISIL.

The three-some liaison was inevitable, as the US war in Syria was launched “against” ISIL, but immediately expanded to include “moderate” rebels and “Khorasan,” a US-invented term for Jabhat al-Nusra. The move gave the terrorist groups another common enemy, attacking them all at the same time – besides attacking Syria and its infrastructure.

So the Pentagon is now bombing Syria – with Saudi-funded missiles and bombs – to destroy Syria AND Saudi-backed al-Qaeda, ISIL, and old “moderate” rebel forces. At the same time, the US is planning for regime change in Damascus with the help of a new breed of “moderate” rebels when they are trained in Saudi Arabia by next year! Who said the Obama claque had no strategy for the newest war?

Far from it, the Obama administration has had a strategy for Syria from the outset and the ISIL canard was nothing but a pretext to begin this new war of aggression: It was only last year that Obama tried and failed to create the political conditions for airstrikes against Syria, making allegations of the use of nerve gas weapons that were later discredited.

With al-Qaeda and ISIL now a couple, and the old version of “moderate” rebels out of the picture, Obama is seeking to achieve the same goal by a different route, using the United Club of ISIL as a new pretext to get American military forces into Syria, where “together” they will become the spearhead of the campaign to oust the elected government and install a pro-US stooge regime in Damascus – even if that takes an arranged marriage to distract attention from the bigger imperial objective: Destabilization of the Middle East.

Evidence from the last 13 years suggests that the United States has been a key factor when it comes to destabilizing significant chunks of the region and encouraging the growth of terrorist organizations. Under the same imperial scenario, and in yet another lame war, the Obama and his crew are at it again: This time in Iraq and Syria.

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