In an unexpected and unprecedented turn of events, al-Qaeda members and jihadists from all over the world who embrace the ideology of global jihad are now doubting the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and calling for his removal. While the Syrian Jihad has been of paramount concern to world governments, with hundreds of foreign fighters pouring in to participate in the fighting, the country has also been an arena for internal strife and bloody battles between the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front and al-Qaeda's former branch, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Members of al-Qaeda and jihadists together blame Zawahiri for mismanaging the conflict in Syria and enflaming sedition, and advocate new leadership.