Zawahiri’s General Guidelines and the Collapse of Al Qaeda’s Levant Network

This article addresses the factors leading to Al Qaeda’s continued fragmentation and collapse of its efforts create a jihadi state in Levant. It does so two parts. First, we look at development far enemy strategy that deviated from past warfare strategies. Second, examine dysfunctional response Arab Spring. The protests untethering Mideast states inflammation sectarian tensions accelerated transformation into fractured network committed localized (increasingly sectarian) insurgencies. After bin Laden’s 2011 killing, Zawahiri September 2013 released his General Guidelines for Work Jihad tie branches insurgencies wider struggle against Zionist-Crusader dominated world order.1 He failed do so. Upon exploring jihadism’s splintering three discordant factions represented by focus, ISIS sectarianism Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) insurgencies, this concludes has led an ineffective but dangerously resilient global movement. Key words: Jihadism, extremism, sectarianism, insurgency Received: 2022-12-17 Revised: 2023-01-15