On 9/11 anniversary, al-Qaida rebounding as a threat

WASHINGTON: Al-Qaida is on the rise again in the shadow of the Islamic State group in Syria, 16 years after States in the September 11, 2001 attacks, experts said Monday.

They said that 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-Qaida that is positioning itself as more moderate than the Islamic State in hopes of a resurgence.

terrorist threat, but al- Qaida in Syria is worrisome. It is al this point,” said former White House counterterrorism director Joshua Geltzer.

Speaking on the current terror Geltzer and other experts said they expect HTS to take center stage among jihadists as the Islamic State group loses ground on the

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

“The organization itself seems to have more lives than a cat,” America report on the current jihadist threat.

‘Moderate jihadists’

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

“It has skillfully played itself off of IS to portray its organization people who you might not like but you can do business with.”

As such it has more popular sup the Gulf States.

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

- es 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 citizens or permanent residents.

But it says al-Qaida could resume the role of the foremost threat in the future, gathering followers turned off by the Islamic

While current leader Ayman alZawahiri 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-Qa-da in Syria has undergone cosmetic changes to its naming and organizational design, but - tion with its mother organization,” the study said.