Al-Qaeda's Patient Approach in Syria May Be Paying Off

SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint thanks for the read a share on this topic. Interesting?

A SNAKE IN THE GRASS(ROOTS)
When IS declared its "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, it imposed itself on local populations by sheer force. This strategy of terrorizing civilians into submission was the group's preferred method as early as the mid-2000s, when it was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and known as al-Qaeda in Iraq. Since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, however, al-Qaeda's core leadership has sought to avoid alienating locals in order to facilitate a sustainable, long-term paradigm of Islamist governance, advising its affiliates to act accordingly. This caused friction between al-Qaeda and earlier iterations of IS, culminating in their formal split in 2014.