The man entrusted with the task is Saif al Adel, the organisation's number three, and he is allegedly already in Syria.

Saif al Adel, the Qaeda organisation's number three

Adel was the second envoy sent to Syria by Zawahri, as another al Qaeda operative, al Suri, was killed in February in the aftermath of a suicide attack that took place in Aleppo. At the time, his comrades blamed the attack on ISIS.

Two days ago the Egyptian Zawahri leading al Qaeda launched an appeal two all "Sunni Muslims" calling on them to join hands instead of fighting against each other and rally together against Russia and the West.

This message was delivered only a month and a half after al Zawahri called ISIS caliph, al Baghdadi, "an impostor" and claimed the "Islamic State", born out of an al Qaida cell, lacked any legitimacy.