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Young Islamists Admire ISIS for Its Brutality
(Wall Street Journal) Daniel Nisman and Ron Gilran - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi could very well take the helm of a reinvigorated global jihadist movement. Yet despite his rapid rise, al-Baghdadi has crossed several red lines, and his peers have reproached him. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of al-Qaeda's central leadership, remains widely respected across radical networks as the one and only head of al-Qaeda, which itself is perceived as the sole umbrella network of global jihad. While al-Baghdadi may be viewed with suspicion by the old generation of jihadists, he is rapidly gaining favor among the younger generation, which is struggling to find a sufficiently extremist voice among traditional al-Qaeda branches in the region and beyond. Several upstart jihadist militias and Salafist movements in eastern Libya, Jordan, Gaza and Yemen have also unilaterally declared allegiance to al-Baghdadi, in some cases claiming to have established ISIS branches in their home countries. They've seen al-Baghdadi's ability to bring real results in Iraq, while al-Zawahiri hides in Pakistan's tribal territories.