Al-Qaeda

al-Qaeda
الْقَاعِدَةُ
Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
Leaders	Osama bin Laden † (1988–2011) Ayman al-Zawahiri † (2011–2022) Saif al-Adel (2022–present)
Dates of operation	1988–present
Group(s)	al-Qaeda Central (1988–present) al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–2013, became Mujahideen Shura Council in January 2006) Mujahideen Shura Council (January 2006–October 2006, became Islamic State of Iraq in October 2006) Islamic State of Iraq (2006–2013) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2013–2014) al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (2007–present) al-Qaeda in Palestine (2008–present) al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (2009–present) al-Qaeda in Somalia (2010–present) al-Qaeda in the Levant (2012–2017, became Tahrir al-Sham in January 2017) Tahrir al-Sham (alleged, 2017–present) Al-Mourabitoun (2013–2015, joined AQIM in December 2015) Jund al-Aqsa (2014–2017) al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (2014–present) Khorasan Group al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula Imam Shamil Battalion Guardians of Religion Organization (2018–present) al-Qaeda Kurdish Battalions Al Qaeda in the Lands Beyond the Sahel al-Qaeda in Bosnia and Herzegovina al-Qaeda in Mali al-Qaeda in Spain al-Qaeda in the Malay Archipelago
Active regions	Worldwide Predominantly in the Middle East Rebel group with current territorial control in: Somalia[1] Syria[2] Yemen[3]
Ideology	Salafist jihadism[4][5] Wahhabism Qutbism[6] Pan-Islamism[7][8] Anti-Communism[9] Anti-Zionism[10][11] Antisemitism[10][11][12][13][14]
Allies	State allies:  Saudi Arabia (alleged, denied)[15]  Qatar (alleged, denied)[16]  Iran (alleged, denied)[17][18] Non-state allies: Taliban Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Turkistan Islamic Party Lashkar-e-Taiba Caucasus Emirate Haqqani network Egyptian Islamic Jihad Jaish-e-Mohammed Jemaah Islamiyah
Opponents	State opponents NATO ISAF  United States  United Kingdom  France  Russia  Soviet Union (1988–1991)  China[19] Non-State opponents Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Hezbollah Hamas Houthis Southern Movement
Battles and wars	War on Terror In Afghanistan Afghan Civil War (1996–2001) War in Afghanistan (2001–present) In Tajikistan Civil war in Tajikistan In Chechnya Second Chechen War In Yemen al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen Yemeni Civil War (2015–present) In the Maghreb Maghreb insurgency Northern Mali conflict In Iraq Iraq War Iraqi insurgency In Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan Balochistan conflict In Somalia Somali Civil War (2006–2009) Somali Civil War (2009–present) In Syria Syrian Civil War Military intervention against ISIL American-led intervention in Syria In Egypt Sinai insurgency Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014))
Designated as a terrorist group by	Canada  China  France  Iran  Japan  United Kingdom  Russia  United States  United Arab Emirates

al-Qaeda^[35] (Arabic: الْقَاعِدَةُ, al-qāʿidah, "the base") is a global Islamist jihadist multinational organization network that was founded around August 1988 and late 1989.^[36]p75[37] It works as a network, as a stateless army,^[38] and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad on all fronts. Most of the world thinks it is a terrorist organization.^[39][40]

Members of al-Qaeda have performed many acts of terrorism. Most of these have been done against the United States and Shias. Some of its most well-known attacks have been the September 11 attacks, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the attack on the U.S. Navy ship USS Cole in 2000. al-Qaeda has done suicide attacks and simultaneous (at the same time) bombings of different targets.^[41]

Among al-Qaeda's goals is for other countries to stop influencing Muslim countries and for a new Islamic caliphate to be made. There have been reports that al-Qaeda believes that Christian and Jewish Islamophobia is trying to destroy Islam^[42] and that the killing of bystanders and civilians is religiously justified in jihad.

There have been guesses that there are 500–1,000 operatives in Afghanistan and around 5,000 worldwide. However, there is no confirmation of this.

The group is diverse in its beliefs even though the group calls itself Salafi, it has many members who are Hanafi, Shafi`i, Maliki, Wahhabi, and Sufi as the former leader of the group Osama bin Laden was accepting of members as long as they were Muslims in his eyes. A few exceptions include followers of Shiism who curse and reject the companions of Muhammad (exceptions were made for those few who did not reject and curse the companions), and followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.^[43]

1. ↑ Evan Centanni (May 31, 2013). "War in Somalia: Map of Al Shabaab Control (June 2013)". Political Geography Now. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
2. ↑ "Prensa Latina News Agency". Retrieved April 12, 2016.
3. ↑ "Aden intelligence service building targeted". AFP. Gulf News. August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
4. ↑ Moghadam, Assaf (2008). The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, Salafi Jihad, and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks. Johns Hopkins University. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8018-9055-0.
5. ↑ Livesey, Bruce (January 25, 2005). "Special Reports – The Salafist Movement: Al Qaeda's New Front". PBS Frontline. WGBH educational foundation. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
   Geltzer, Joshua A. (2011). US Counter-Terrorism Strategy and al-Qaeda: Signalling and the Terrorist World-View (Reprint ed.). Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-415-66452-3.
6. ↑ Wright, Looming Tower, 2006, p. 79
7. ↑ "The Future of Terrorism: What al-Qaida Really Wants". Der Spiegel. September 11, 2001. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
8. ↑ "al-Qaeda seeks global dominance". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012.
   "Jihadists Want Global Caliphate". ThePolitic.com. July 27, 2005. Archived from the original on September 30, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
   Pike, John. "Al-Qaida". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
   Burke, Jason (March 21, 2004). "What exactly does al-Qaeda want?". The Guardian. London.
9. ↑ United States v. Usama bin Laden et al., Cr. 1023, Testimony of Jamal Ahmed Mohamed al-Fadl (SDNY February 6, 2001).
   "al-Qaeda's origins and links". BBC News. July 20, 2004. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
   Cooley, John K. (Spring 2003). Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} "Conversation With Terror". Time. January 1999. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} "October 6, 2002. Appeared in Al-Qala'a website and then The Observer and The Guardian on November 24, 2002". TheGuardian.com. November 24, 2002. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013.
12. ↑ "frontline: the terrorist and the superpower: who is bin laden?: interview with osama bin laden (in may 1998)". pbs.org. Archived from the original on May 8, 1999.
13. ↑ "New ISIS and al-Qaeda propaganda prioritize the US and Jews as targets". Anti-Defamation League.
14. ↑ "ISIS Augments Its Threats Against Israel". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
15. ↑ Thomas, Carls. "The Saudis channel the mafia: Fears of Saudi retaliation deter truth about 9/11". The Washington Times. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
16. ↑ Haaretz; Press, The Associated (July 11, 2017). "Fact Check: Is Qatar Supporting Terrorism? A Look at Its Ties to Iran, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood". הארץ – via Haaretz.
17. ↑ Study questions Iran-al Qaeda ties, despite U.S. allegations - Reuters
18. ↑ Treasury Targets Al Qaida Operatives in Iran
19. ↑ "The Chinese regime and the Uyghur dilemma" Summary of Castets, Rémi (2003). "The Uyghurs in Xinjiang – The Malaise Grows". China Perspectives. 2003 (5). doi:10.4000/chinaperspectives.648. ISSN 1996-4617. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
20. ↑ Bill Roggio (April 26, 2011). "How many al Qaeda operatives are now left in Afghanistan?". Longwarjournal.org. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
21. ↑ "Al Qaeda in Afghanistan Is Attempting A Comeback". The Huffington Post. October 21, 2012. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
22. ↑ "al-Qaeda map: Isis, Boko Haram and other affiliates' strongholds across Africa and Asia". June 12, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
23. ↑ ^{23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3} Bruce Hoffman (March 6, 2018). "al-Qaeda's Resurrection". Council on Foreign Relations.
24. ↑ "al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)". Council on Foreign Relations. March 27, 2015. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
25. ↑ "Profile: al-Qaeda in North Africa". BBC. January 17, 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
26. ↑ "Mali: qui sont les nouveaux chefs des katibas jihadistes?". Radio France internationale. May 14, 2014. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
27. ↑ "Notorious Extremist Said to Head Al-Qaida West Africa Branch". abc. August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
28. ↑ "AP Investigation: US allies, al-Qaida battle rebels in Yemen". AP News. August 7, 2018.
29. ↑ "Jihadist groups across globe vying for terror spotlight". Fox News Channel. July 10, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
30. ↑ "Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?". BBC News. December 22, 2017.
31. ↑ "Bombs are falling on a rebel enclave in Syria every minute". NBC News. February 21, 2018.
32. ↑ Reality Check team (September 7, 2018). "Syria: Who's in control of Idlib?". BBC News. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
33. ↑ Kyle Orton (March 1, 2018). "A New Branch of al-Qaeda Emerges in Syria". Kyle Orton's Blog.
34. ↑ ""L'intervention française au Mali a déplacé la menace djihadiste vers le sud"". November 18, 2013.
35. ↑ pronounced /ælˈkaɪdə/ al-KYE-də or /ælˈkeɪdə/ al-KAY-də; alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida
36. ↑ Bergen, Peter L. (2006). The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-7892-5.
37. ↑ United States District Court, Southern District of New York (February 6, 2001). "Testimony of Jamal Ahmad Al-Fadl". United States v. Usama bin Laden. James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Archived from the original on December 14, 2001. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
38. ↑ Gunaratna 2002, pp. 95–96. "al-Qaeda's global network, as we know it today, was created while it was based in Khartoum, from December 1991 till May 1996. To coordinate its overt and covert operations as al-Qaeda's ambitions and resources increased, it developed a decentralised, regional structure. [...] As a global multinational, al-Qaeda makes its constituent nationalities and ethnic groups, of which there are several dozen, responsible for a particular geographic region. Though its modus operandi is cellular, familial relationships play a key role."
    See also:
    • Naím, Moisés (January 2003). "The five wars of globalization". Foreign Policy (134): 28–37. doi:10.2307/3183519. JSTOR 3183519.
39. ↑ Ross, Jeffrey Ian (2003). The Dynamics of Political Crime. SAGE. ISBN 978-0-8039-7045-8.
40. ↑ 2010 Amil Khan, The Long Struggle, p 88
41. ↑ Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Alfred a Knopf Incorporated. ISBN 0-375-41486-X.
42. ↑ Fu'ad Husayn 'al-Zarqawi ... "The Second Generation of al-Qa’ida, Part Fourteen," al-Quds al-Arabi, July 13, 2005
43. ↑ Mandaville, Peter (2014). Islam and Politics (2nd ed.). 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA: Routledge. pp. 344–347. ISBN 978-0-415-78256-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)