Not long ago, the threat of terrorist attacks against the United States boiled down to two words: al Qaeda. But this week's U.S. airstrikes against al Qaeda offshoots show the President is playing whack-a-mole against a new generation of terrorists. The attacks Tuesday inside Syria came in three waves and targeted ISIS, the Khorasan Group and, apparently, al-Nusra Front. The groups share a similar ideology. But there are key differences. Here's how each stacks up: ISIS What its name means: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Some world leaders use the acronym ISIL, or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
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ISIS, al-Nusra Front and the Khorasan Group all spawned from al Qaeda
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The U.S. launched airstrikes against ISIS and the Khorasan Group this week
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Al-Nusra says its leader was killed in the strikes; the U.S. has not confirmed
The new al Qaeda franchise is a collection of @placeholder members who have moved into Syria.