Jihadist groups, including the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, are cheering on the announcement that al Qaeda’s affiliates in Iraq and Syria are henceforth to be known as the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.”
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the emir of al Qaeda in Iraq, announced the formation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Baghdadi merged al Qaeda in Iraq’s Islamic State of Iraq, and the Al Nusrah Front. Baghdadi admitted that AQI formed Al Nusrah.