Al-Julani claimed that he and all the other al-Nusra leaders had never gave permission to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to merge the groups.

[14] Ayman al-Zawahiri wrote a letter to both Al-Julani and al-Baghdadi, who were both under his command at the time, in which he stated that he does not permit them to merge.

[17][18] In October 2013, months after the merge, al-Zawahiri gave al-Baghdadi a final chance to disband ISIL, and return the jihadist movement in Syria to al-Nusra, and revive the Islamic State of Iraq and let it take control of the jihadist movement in Iraq.

[38][39][40] Jama'at Ansar al-Islam later drastically declined, although remained active and continued to fight the Islamic State.

Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the former leader of AQAP, also intended to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State if they came to Yemen.

[47] Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State also fight on opposing sides in the Mali War and the Boko Haram insurgency.

Following heavy fighting, ISWAP overran the Boko Haram troops, cornering their leader Abubakar Shekau.

Shekau's death was regarded as a major event by outside observers, as he had been one of the main driving forces in the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria and neighboring countries since 2009.