Owen Bennett-Jones - 'Al-Qaeda and Islamic State: Brothers in Arms or Rivals?'`

On Monday, 20 February 2017, the David Davies Memorial Institute and the Centre for Intelligence and International Security Studies was pleased to welcome renowned journalist and author Dr. Owen Bennett-Jones to the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.  Dr. Bennett-Jones delivered a lecture entitled 'Al-Qaeda and Islamic State: Brothers in Arms or Rivals?', which explored the tensions between the two most prominent terrorist groups in existence.  The talk was attended by a large and attentive audience, keen to benefit from Dr. Bennett-Jones’s extensive experience as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East.

Dr. Bennett-Jones opened his remarks by pointing out that in the month of January, IS claimed responsibility for dozens more attacks than Al-Qaeda.  He argued that this disparity is consistent with the different approaches of the two terrorist groups, with IS adopting a more aggressive agenda, although one that may ultimately prove to be less sustainable in the long term.  The Islamic State has focused on controlling territory, enforcing Islamic Law, and establishing a caliphate.  Members of IS, a militant Sunni movement, have targeted Shia Muslims and their holy sites, provoking retaliatory attacks on Sunnis and increasing sectarian violence.  Leaders of IS hoped that the retaliatory attacks by Shia Muslims in Iraq would contribute to a sense of persecution in the Sunni community, which would, in turn, make their organization more attractive as an alternative to Iraq’s Shia-dominated government.  In contrast, Al-Qaeda has cautioned against inflaming sectarian tensions.  Historically, Al-Qaeda has focused their attacks on the ‘far enemy,’ meaning the Western world in general and the United States in particular.  Although IS has been the more visible and active of the two groups in recent years, it now seems to be on the back foot, with its territory and income shrinking as enemy ground forces advance.  Furthermore, its plans to establish a welfare state have failed; to maintain control of its remaining territory, members of IS rely on fear.  Dr. Bennett-Jones argued that if this trend continues, Al-Qaeda may in fact prove to be the more resilient of the two groups.  However, he also cautioned against coming to any definitive conclusions too quickly, given that jihadist groups view their struggle in terms of decades or even centuries.  The event concluded with a series of questions from the audience on, among other things, what the West is missing in its efforts to combat jihadist groups and prevent radicalization, which group has the stronger foothold in North Africa, and how organized the Islamic State really is.