Al-Qaeda’s two longest-running affiliates, Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),issued a joint statement calling upon their “brothers” in Iraq and Syria to “stop killing each other and unite against the American campaign and its evil coalition that threatens us all”.
Evan Jendruck, Terrorism Analyst at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre analysed the joint statement issued by AQAP and AQIM claimed that it was the first joint statement ever to be released by the two groups, illustrating the growing ties between the different Al-Qaeda affiliates.
However, the statement itself is not overly notable, and it stops short of offering explicit support for the Islamic State. It is yet another example of Al-Qaeda affiliates attempting to hold the middle ground regarding the dispute between the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
“Significantly, the joint statement underlines the increasingly decentralized nature of Al-Qaeda Central and the growing co-operation among the different Al-Qaeda branches, which only helps to increase the resiliency of the global Al-Qaeda network.
Similar statements of solidarity with the Islamic State by other Islamist militant groups will likely continue to surface in response to the new US air strikes taking place in Syria and Iraq, but they do not necessarily mean that support for the Islamic State itself is growing,” Evan Jendruck, added.