Al Qaeda isn't going away, it's metastasizing

I've omitted much detail from the following August 14 Long War Journal report on a new jihadist group; I quote just enough to underscore that any wonk or U.S. government official or mouthpiece who claims that al Qaeda is no longer a serious threat is either poorly informed or blowing smoke:

'Brigades of Osama bin Laden' forms in the West Bank
By Bill Roggio

A new jihadist group calling itself the Brigades of Osama bin Laden has announced its formation, in a statement that was recently released on terrorist-linked web forums.
[...]
The Brigades of Osama bin Laden said its focus is on Jerusalem and it was formed to "support the one religion [Islam] under the pure banner of righteousness that is not besmirched by any factional or sectarian or secular mark." It did not overtly threaten to attack Israel or the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank.
[...]
Across the border in the Egyptian Sinai, four jihadist groups -- al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula and its military arm, Ansar al Jihad, the Mujahideen Shura Council, and Jund al Sharia -- have all emerged since the Arab Spring. The terror groups have conducted attacks against Egyptian forces and a pipeline transporting natural gas to Israel. Just last week, one of these groups, likely with the help of one of the Gaza-based jihadist groups, attacked an Egyptian military base, killed 16 soldiers and seized two armored personnel carriers, and then attacked the Israeli border. One of the two APCs made it one mile inside Israeli territory before being destroyed by the Israeli Air Force. (See LWJ report, Global jihadists' overrun Egyptian Army outpost on Israeli border)