Al-Qaeda Eclipsed by Brutality and Influence of Islamic State

Clearly ISIS has taken al-Qaeda's inhumanity to a higher level.

And of course Ayman al-Zawahri's not pleased at being overshadowed.

At USA Today, "Al-Qaeda overshadowed by Islamic State's influence":

WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda's call Thursday for a jihad (holy war) in India is the latest sign of how the terror group is battling to stay relevant in the face of the rival Islamic State's savage rampage in Iraq and Syria.

The Islamic State, an al-Qaeda breakaway group whose brutality has gained it global notoriety, is overshadowing the old-guard terrorist group from which it sprang.

"They are today's story as compared to al-Qaeda, which is definitely yesterday's story," said Omar Hamid, an analyst at IHS, a consulting firm.

The rivalry between the two groups and the growing power of the Islamic State have forced the United States to rethink its approach to combating terrorism in the region.

President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, writing a joint newspaper opinion piece Thursday, called the Islamic State "brutal and poisonous" and urged NATO leaders meeting in Wales to confront the militant group.

The Islamic State "threatens to outpace al-Qaeda as the dominant voice of influence in the global extremist movement," Matthew Olsen, director of the U.S. government's National Counterterrorism Center, said Wednesday.

Particularly worrying to Olsen are 100 Americans and more than 1,000 Europeans recruited by the Islamic State to fight in Syria's 3-year-old civil war. "These foreign fighters are likely to gain experience and training and eventually return to their home countries, battle-hardened and further radicalized," Olsen said.

"Everybody wants to join ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) because ISIS looks like it's on the march," said Evan Kohlmann, an analyst with the security firm Flashpoint Global Partners.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri released a videotape Thursday calling for the establishment of a wing of the group based in the Indian subcontinent.

"Our brothers in Burma, Kashmir, Islamabad, Bangladesh, we did not forget you and will liberate you from injustice and oppression," the al-Qaeda leader said.

Analysts say the plea is less about expansion than it is an attempt to prove its relevance in a world where its influence is declining...

More.