Al Qaeda Leader calls for ‘disbanding’ affiliated unit in Syria

In a significant development ahead of the Geneva II talks on the Syrian crisis, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called for disbandment of its affiliated unit, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). ‘The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is to be abolished, while the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) remains functioning (in Syria),’ al-Zawahari told Al Jazeera in an audio-taped message, according to reports on Sunday. He said that ISIL leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi ‘made a mistake by establishing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant without asking for our permission, or even informing’. The jihadist Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra) would continue to function as ‘an independent branch of Al Qaeda.