Al-Qaida head urges Iraq Sunnis to wage guerrilla war as ISIS loses land
BAGHDAD - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri on Thursday called on Iraq's Sunnis to prepare for a "long guerrilla" war as ISIS militants lost more land near their de facto capital Mosul.
ISIS has lost this year about a half of the territory it conquered in 2014 and 2015 in Iraq in battles against government and Kurdish forces backed by a US-led coalition as well as Shi'ite militias supported by Iran.
The ultra-hardline group is also retreating in neighboring Syria against an array of US-backed Syrian and Kurdish forces and the government army backed by Iran and Russia.
ISIS split from al-Qaeda in 2014 and its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi doesn't recognize the leadership of Zawahri who succeeded Osama bin Laden after his killing in 2011.
