The Informer
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • POLITICS
  • CRIME WATCH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • VIDEOS
  • GRAPEVINE
  • MORE
    • BUSINESS
    • SPORTS
    • SPECIAL REVIEW
    • OPINION
    • WORLD NEWS
    • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Advertisement
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • POLITICS
  • CRIME WATCH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • VIDEOS
  • GRAPEVINE
  • MORE
    • BUSINESS
    • SPORTS
    • SPECIAL REVIEW
    • OPINION
    • WORLD NEWS
    • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
The Informer
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Al Qaeda rebrands to Hayat Tahrir al Sham

by The Informer
September 13, 2017
in News, World News
Reading Time: 2min read
Al Qaeda rebrands to Hayat Tahrir al Sham
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsappShare on LinkedInShare via Email

RelatedStories

Tharaka-Nithi senator Kindiki takes sabbatical in active politics after losing running mate position

Kindiki to take a break from elective politics from 10th August 2022

Al Qaeda is on the rise again in the shadow of the Islamic State group in Syria, experts say.

The news comes 16 years after the jihadists shocked the United States in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), the Sunni group that last month seized control of the northern Syrian city of Idlib, is simply a ‘rebranding’ of al Qaeda that is positioning itself as more moderate than the Islamic State in hopes of a resurgence, according to experts.

“ISIS may be today’s preeminent terrorist threat, but Al-Qaeda in Syria is worrisome. It is al Qaeda’s largest global affiliate at this point,” said former White House counter-terrorism director Joshua Geltzer.

Speaking on the current terror threat against the United States at the New America think tank, Geltzer and other experts said they expect HTS to take center stage among jihadists as the Islamic State group loses ground on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq.

HTS is simply a cosmetic name-change for al Qaeda, they said. In consolidating control of much of Idlib province, it has eliminated or absorbed rival groups, and is modernizing its propaganda on the web-savvy model of the Islamic State.

“The organisation itself seems to have more lives than a cat,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Gartenstein-Ross was speaking with Geltzer at the launch of a report on the current jihadist threat published by the New America think tank.

 He called Al-Qaeda a “much stronger” organisation than in 2010, when its weakness gave way to the rise of Islamic State.

“It has skillfully played itself off of ISIS to portray its organisation as being the ‘moderate jihadists’, people who you might not like but you can do business with.”

As such it has more popular support, and some official support in the Gulf States.

“Being more restrained than ISIS has been very helpful,” Gartenstein-Ross said.

The New America report stresses the need to focus on Islamic State as the most dangerous external threat at the moment, while noting that since 9/11 all lethal jihadist attacks in the United States have been by US citizens or permanent residents.

But it says al Qaeda could resume the role of the foremost threat in the future, gathering followers turned off by the Islamic State’s most extreme tactics.

While current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is turgid and uninspiring, the younger leaders in Idlib are learning from the way that Islamic State mastered the use of social media to attract followers.

“Al Qaeda in Syria has undergone cosmetic changes to its naming and organisational design, but without truly renouncing its affiliation with its mother organization,” the study said.

The Informer

Previous Post

Thugs attack GSU officer in Kabete

Next Post

Kimunya among four Jubilee MPs named to House Business Committee

More Stories

Photo/ Courtesy
News

President Uhuru congratulates new elected Somalia leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

May 16, 2022
Photo/ Courtesy
Elections 2022

Martha Karua the iron lady

May 16, 2022
Photo/ Courtesy
News

President Kenyatta holds talks with U.S. Army General Townsend

May 16, 2022
Next Post
Kimunya among four Jubilee MPs named to House Business Committee

Kimunya among four Jubilee MPs named to House Business Committee

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
CS Balala, Tourism Fund CEO, among others implicated in Sh8billion rip off

CS Balala, Tourism Fund CEO, among others implicated in Sh8billion rip off

May 14, 2022
Media magnate SK Macharia lose Sh1.2 billion estate succession appeal case against grandson

Media magnate SK Macharia lose Sh1.2 billion estate succession appeal case against grandson

May 12, 2022
Kenyans grumble with Flu-like symptoms amid widespread breakout

Kenyans grumble with Flu-like symptoms amid widespread breakout

May 14, 2022
National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority officials implicated in Sh231million dam tender

National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority officials implicated in Sh231million dam tender

May 14, 2022
Juventus players accidentally share photo of naked Bonucci

Juventus players accidentally share photo of naked Bonucci

May 9, 2022
Tharaka-Nithi senator Kindiki takes sabbatical in active politics after losing running mate position

Tharaka-Nithi senator Kindiki takes sabbatical in active politics after losing running mate position

May 16, 2022
Photo/ Courtesy

Kindiki to take a break from elective politics from 10th August 2022

May 16, 2022
Photo/ Courtesy

President Uhuru congratulates new elected Somalia leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

May 16, 2022
Photo/ Courtesy

Martha Karua the iron lady

May 16, 2022
Photo/ Courtesy

President Kenyatta holds talks with U.S. Army General Townsend

May 16, 2022

Top Stories

Tharaka-Nithi senator Kindiki takes sabbatical in active politics after losing running mate position

Tharaka-Nithi senator Kindiki takes sabbatical in active politics after losing running mate position

by John Willy
May 16, 2022
0

Photo/ Courtesy

Kindiki to take a break from elective politics from 10th August 2022

by Wangeci Thuo
May 16, 2022
0

World News

Photo/ Courtesy

President Uhuru congratulates new elected Somalia leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud

by PSCU
May 16, 2022
0

UAE leader Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan dies aged 73

UAE leader Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan dies aged 73

by Benson Mbare
May 13, 2022
0

Opinion

Digital world should gear toward promoting the common good

Digital world should gear toward promoting the common good

by The Informer
April 22, 2022
0

The urgency to redeem Nairobi is absolute

The urgency to redeem Nairobi is absolute

by The Informer
March 26, 2022
0

  • Contact Us

© 2022 | The Informer - All Rights Reserved theinformer.co.ke

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • POLITICS
  • CRIME WATCH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • VIDEOS
  • GRAPEVINE
  • MORE
    • BUSINESS
    • SPORTS
    • SPECIAL REVIEW
    • OPINION
    • WORLD NEWS
    • CONTACT US

© 2022 | The Informer - All Rights Reserved theinformer.co.ke