Al Qaeda And ISIS Had A Spectacular Falling Out. Here's What Happened

Al Qaeda And ISIS Had A Spectacular Falling Out. Here's What Happened

To an outsider it may seem they have a lot in common, but al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, are nothing less than bitter rivals. While they were once allied, a complex blend of power struggles, ideology and strong disagreements over ISIS's especially brutal tactics pulled the extremists apart.

ISIS “is not a branch of the al-Qaeda group . . . does not have an organizational relationship with it and [al-Qaeda] is not the group responsible for their actions,” al-Qaeda's leadership communicated decisively in February.

Here's the backstory of how the groups went from partners to bitter enemies in a few years.

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