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Fighters abandoning al-Qaeda affiliates to join Islamic State, U.S. officials say
U.S. spy agencies have begun to see groups of fighters abandoning al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Africa to join the rival Islamist organization that has seized territory in Iraq and Syria and been targeted in American airstrikes, U.S. officials said.The movements are seen by U.S. counterterrorism analysts as a worrisome indication of the expanding appeal of a group known as the Islamic State that has overwhelmed military forces in the region and may now see itself in direct conflict with the United States. "Small groups from a number of al-Qaeda affiliates have defected to ISIS," as the group is also known, said a U.S. official with access to classified intelligence assessments. "And this problem will probably become more acute as ISIS continues to rack up victories." Even before its assault on Kurdish territories in northern Iraq this month, analysts said the Islamic State had shown an almost impulsive character in its pursuit of territory and recruits, with little patience for the elaborate and often time-consuming terror plots favored by al-Qaeda. U.S. officials estimate that the Islamic State has as many as 10,000 fighters, including 3,000 to 5,000 from countries beyond its base in Iraq and Syria. Its ranks have swelled with the emergence of the civil war in Syria -- a country relatively easy to reach from both in the Middle East and Europe -- as a larger magnet for jihadis than Afghanistan or Iraq were. Daniel Benjamin, a professor at Dartmouth University who previously served as the top counterterrorism official at the State Department, said "Their skill at maneuver is really kind of extraordinary compared to groups you would compare them to," including al-Qaeda's affiliates in Yemen and Mali" "They are not constrained by that fear of failure other al-Qaeda groups have shown," he added, or the group's tendency to "spend years preparing single attacks." Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-08-10 |
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