Al-Qaeda's general command said on Monday it had no links with the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), in an apparent attempt to reassert its authority over fragmented Islamist fighters in Syria's civil war.
After a month of rebel infighting, Al-Qaeda disavowed the increasingly independent ISIS in a move likely to bolster a rival Islamist group, the Nusra Front, as Al-Qaeda's official proxy in Syria.
ISIS follows Al-Qaeda's hard-line ideology and, until now, the two groups were officially linked. Many foreign fighters and ISIS observers, however, say that Al-Qaeda central and ISIS had in fact been effectively separated since before the group, which was originally the Al-Qaeda branch in Iraq, spread into Syria.
In a message on jihadi websites on Monday, the Al-Qaeda General Command said ISIS "is not a branch of the Al-Qaeda group.
ISIS has been using similar methods in Syria.
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