ISIS may surpass al-Qaeda in terms of power in the Middle East, according to a Heritage Foundation Middle East expert.
“Ideologically, they [ISIS] are on the march and perhaps ambitiously seeking to eclipse al-Qaeda as [the] core group,” said James Phillips during an interview with Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland.
According to Phillips, who is the senior research fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at The Heritage Foundation, ISIS has an advantage by being closer to “recruiting pools” of young men in the Middle East and Europe and has an economic lead over its rival terrorist group.
“[ISIS] has more economic backing now than al-Qaeda ever had, so other groups around the Middle East, around the globe, are starting to see ISIS as a potential ‘sugar daddy’ whereas before they might have looked to the al-Qaeda [as the] core group,” said Phillips.
