Al-Qaeda leader, Al-Zawahri, tells jihadists in Syria to “unite or die”

Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman Al-Zawahri, called on rival jihadist fighters in Syria to “unite or risk death”. He also decried the militants of ISIS as “extremists” in an audio recording posted online on Sunday.

As successor to Osama bin Laden, Zawahri has the allegiance of Al-Qaeda branches in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. But the group’s dominance is being challenged by ISIS, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq and followings in Libya and Yemen.

In Syria, al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front and ISIS are the two most powerful groups fighting government forces. Once a single group, they split in 2013, largely due to a power struggle among leaders.

“We have to want the unity of the Mujahideen in Sham (Syria) so it will be liberated from the Russians and Western crusaders. My brothers … the matter of unity is a matter of life or death for you,” Zawahri said