Do ISIS and Al-Qaeda like each other?

No. AlQaeda (the original group, once headed by Binladen and today by Ayman al-Zawahiri) backs the al-Nusra Front, a related & overall similar Sunni militant group fighting in the Syrian civil conflict. read more

Al-Qaeda's main goal is to drive the U.S. and its Western allies out of the Middle East so its vision of an Islamic government can begin to rule. ISIS on the other hand, wants to take over Iraq and Syria to impose a global caliphate. read more

To fight the United States, Al Qaeda plots terrorism spectaculars to electrify the Muslim world (and get it to follow Al Qaeda’s banner) and to convince the United States to retreat from the Muslim world: the model is based on the U.S. withdrawals from Lebanon after Hizballah bombed the Marine barracks and U.S. embassy there and the “Blackhawk Down” incident in Somalia. read more