Reuters
Militant Islamist fighters on a tank take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014.
As ISIS continues to advance on the Syrian town of
Kobani and close in on Turkey's border, experts in Islamic radical
movements think the terror group may merge with its al-Qaeda mother organization soon. Together, the group would represent the greatest terror threat to the civilized world.
"I think Britain, Germany and France will witness significant attacks in their territories by the Islamic State. Al-Baghdadi [the leader of the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS] may reconcile with al-Zawhiri [the leader of the al-Qaeda central organization] to fight the crusader enemy.
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The attacks by the United States and her allies will unite the two groups," said Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi researcher who just finished writing a book about ISIS based on his unique access to the organization's documents and years of research and advising Iraqi security forces.
"I have been monitoring al-Qaeda's leaders' rhetoric towards Baghdadi. They are getting softer and softer….The Islamic State, regardless of how big or small it becomes, will come back to its mother: al-Qaeda," he added.
"I think Britain, Germany and France will witness significant attacks in their territories by the Islamic State. Al-Baghdadi [the leader of the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria, otherwise known as ISIS] may reconcile with al-Zawhiri [the leader of the al-Qaeda central organization] to fight the crusader enemy.
Read MoreThe intellectual battle against ISIS
The attacks by the United States and her allies will unite the two groups," said Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi researcher who just finished writing a book about ISIS based on his unique access to the organization's documents and years of research and advising Iraqi security forces.
"I have been monitoring al-Qaeda's leaders' rhetoric towards Baghdadi. They are getting softer and softer….The Islamic State, regardless of how big or small it becomes, will come back to its mother: al-Qaeda," he added.
Break between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda
ISIS and al-Qaeda have a long, tangled history with one another. ISIS was the al-Qaeda official branch in Iraq until last February. However, they finally split after disagreements over operations in Syria.
The recent US intervention in the region along with the new US-led airstrike campaign against ISIS has actually forced the two groups to renew negotiations. For example, recent reports suggested that ISIS and al-Nusra Front are together planning the war against the US-led alliance.
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The al-Qaeda affiliated Khorasan group in Syria that was also targeted in the recent air attacks declared a few days ago in an audio message that it had joined ISIS. Add to that the Taliban in Pakistan who are hopping on board the ISIS train and you have a potential jihadi World War III.
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Other experts think that ISIS could be dissolved and swallowed by al-Qaeda, leading to the same result.
"The Islamic State has killed many of al-Qaeda's operatives in Syria and Iraq.... I think that al-Baghdadi will be killed, either by an attack by the U.S.-led alliance or by al-Qaeda.... The Islamic State doesn't have the elements of survival like the al-Qaeda mother organization. It is most likely that it will be dissolved within al-Qaeda," said Ibrahim al-Somaidaei, an Iraqi security analyst and former intelligence officer based in Amman, Jordan.
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