Al-Qaeda Leader Calls For A Long Guerrilla War If ISIS Is Defeated.

Ayman Al Zawahiri, the leader of Al-Qaeda, has called upon Sunni Muslims in Iraq to prepare for a “long guerrilla war” if ISIS loses more territory in their country. Zawahiri issued the call in a video that was released on Thursday by Al-Qaeda’s al-Sahab Media.

In the four-minutes video Zawahiri refers to the defeats ISIS suffered recently in Iraq, saying that “the cities, towns and mosques of the Sunnis of Iraq are burning these days. They torture and kill on the pretext of fighting against the group of Ibrahim al-Badri (known as Abu Baker al-Baghdadi, ISIS’ leader) but the main goal is to exterminate the Sunnis in Iraq, in a planned campaign led by the Shiite Iran the Iraqi government.”

“Only the Sunnis can protect themselves against the Shiite-Crusader campaign,” says Zarqawi, and adds what sounds like an expectation that ISIS will lose more territory in Iraq soon: “The Sunnis in Iraq should not surrender after cities fall to the hands of the Shiite-Iranian army, but should prepare themselves for a long guerrilla war to defeat the new Iranian-Crusader occupation.” He is also calling for “the mujahideen in Syria” to assist their brothers in Iraq in preparing for the war, saying that “it’s the same war” and urging to follow the part of the previous al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musaab al-Zaraqi, who “began its jihad in Iraq with a small number of people (fighters) and equipment.”

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced that the local Iraqi forces have  dislodged ISIS from the Qayyara oil producing region, located 35 miles south of Mosul, ISIS’ last major stronghold in Iraq and the second largest city in the country. The operation to take Qayyara was launched this week by local Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S-led international coalition against ISIS.

Last June ISIS fighters in Iraq lost Falluja; this was a major blow for the jihadi group,morally and strategically. However, Mosul is what many call “the ultimate prize in the war against the Islamic State,” with 600,000 people currently living under the group’s control—according to the UN Refugee Agency. ISIS captured the city in June 2014; it has since become their key stronghold, which makes it a crucial target in the battle against the jihadist group. The battle to retake Mosul will likely bemuch larger and more complicated. Iraqi forces officially began the long-awaited battle over Mosul last March, recapturing some villages near the city.

Al-Qaeda has not operated in Iraq since its announcement in February 2014 that it is cutting ties with Baghdadi’s group. In July, the Nusra Front, which was known as the official branch of al-Qaeda in Syria,announced it was splitting from the global jihad organization and establishing its own Syrian jihadist group named Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or the Front for the Liberation of Syria.