Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Ramzy Mardini is quoted in the New York Times on the decentralization of al-Qaeda’s leadership:
But while counterterrorism can be effective in stopping specific threats, depriving militant groups of the unstable environments where they flourish and organize is much harder.
“What you are seeing in the Middle East is a problem of militancy combined with ungoverned territory,” said Ramzy Mardini, a fellow at the Atlantic Council. “That is the real problem, not which groups belong to Al Qaeda and how can we get rid of them.”