In a blistering new message, the leader of al Qaeda denounces the leader of ISIS as the illegitimate leader of a phony caliphate.

Exposing a glaring hostility between the two jihadi groups, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda, openly attacks ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for usurping the jihadi movement.

“We do not acknowledge this Caliphate,” he says, according to a translation from SITE Intelligence
posted Wednesday. “We do not see Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi as one worthy of the Caliphate.”

He dismissed al-Baghdadi as a pretender who declared himself caliph with the support of only “a
few unknown people,” and established ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, “by force and with explosions and car bombs,” instead of by “the choice of the people” through “approval and
consultation.”

He also faulted al-Baghdadi for failing to support Muslims who are not in the Islamic State’s territory.

“When Gaza was burning beneath Israeli bombs, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did not support it with one word, but his main concern was that all the mujahideen pledge allegiance to him, after he assigned himself to be the Caliph without consulting them.”

And he accused al-Baghdadi of sedition, for encouraging al Qaeda followers to abandon their pledges, and instead promise their loyalty to ISIS.

It is unclear when the recording was made. But despite his tirade, al-Zawahiri does leave open the
possibility of working with ISIS to fight their common enemies.

“Were I in Iraq or in Sham [Syria], I would cooperate with them in fighting the Crusaders,” he says.