section_path: Syrian civil war/Conflict with ISIS
section_name: Conflict with ISIS
paragraph_text: Conflict with ISIS
  
  As al-Sharaa carved out a fiefdom in Syria between 2012 and 2013, the Iraqi leadership of ISI grew suspicious of him. Al-Nusra became increasingly popular for providing social services and cooperating with other Syrian rebel groups against the Assad regime, and al-Sharaa ignored al-Baghdadi's orders to begin fighting these groups and assassinate opposition activists. Al-Baghdadi's top aide, Abu Ali al-Anbari, travelled to Syria to investigate al-Sharaa, concluding that he was a "cunning person; two-faced; glows when he hears his name mentioned on satellite channels".
  
  Concerned about al-Nusra's popularity and al-Sharaa's perceived insubordination, al-Baghdadi unilaterally announced that al-Nusra would merge into ISI to form the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in April 2013. The proposed merger would have eliminated al-Nusra's autonomy and allegiance to al-Qaeda's central command by placing all its leaders, decisions, and operations under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 's direct control. To preserve al-Nusra's independence, al-Sharaa publicly pledged allegiance (bay'ah) directly to al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who issued a declaration that confirmed al-Nusra's independence from ISI, proclaiming that Syria was the "spatial state" of al-Nusra Front and that ISIL's rule was restricted to Iraq. The U.S. State Department listed al-Sharaa as a " Specially Designated Global Terrorist " in May 2013.
  
  Al-Zawahiri repudiated al-Baghdadi's merger move which was announced without consulting or informing al-Qaeda's central command, and appointed Abu Khalid al-Suri as his emissary to mediate between the two groups and supervise the implementation of the accords. In late 2013, al-Zawahiri ordered al-Baghdadi to accept the annulment of the merger, who refused and attempted to proceed with it. By February 2014, efforts to end the dispute between ISIS and al-Nusra had failed, leading to al-Qaeda formally severing its ties with ISIS in February 2014 and leaving al-Nusra as the sole representative of al-Qaeda in Syria. After the assassination of Abu Khalid al-Suri on 23 February, al-Sharaa denounced ISIS and likened them to the Iraqi " sahawat " who fought against al-Qaeda alongside the U.S., accusing them of undermining the fight against Assad by fighting rebels. Open warfare between ISIS and al-Nusra ensued; al-Sharaa warned that the fighting risked giving a reprieve to Assad. Over the following months, ISIS captured much of the territory controlled by al-Nusra and the Syrian opposition, leaving an estimated four thousand fighters on both sides dead by February 2015. In June 2015, al-Sharaa told Al Jazeera that no resolution to the conflict was forthcoming, and that unless ISIS "repent to God and return to their senses", there would be "nothing but fighting between us".