A man sits under a sign with flag belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) along a street in the city of Mosul June 12, 2014.
IN PHOTO: A man sits under a sign with flag belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) along a street in the city of Mosul June 12, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer REUTERS/Stringer

Counter-terrorism veterans have noticed that U.S. President Barack Obama has been comparing the Islamic State and Iraq and Syria and Al-Qaeda and referring to them as "one and the same." The Guardian reports that the Obama administration is often combining the two groups in public when he talks about terrorism.

Reports said many U.S. officials question the split between Al-Qaeda and ISIS, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called the separation as a "publicity stunt." According to counter-terrorism veterans, Mr Obama's tendency to combine the two is reminiscent of the Bush government's "exaggerated links" between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein which was seen as part of a strategy to sell the Iraq invasion in 2003. Kerry has repeatedly said ISIS and Al-Qaeda are legitimate targets of airstrikes.

ISIS may have been Al-Qaeda in Iraq in the beginning but the leaders of Al-Qaeda had renounced all ties with the Islamic State in Feb. 2014, reports said. It was the first time the organisation has not claimed responsibility for its former affiliate.

Former CIA analyst Nada Bokos said ISIS was not part of Al-Qaeda since their leader Zawahiri denounced them. ISIS leader Baghdadi has previously declared a separate caliphate. Analysts believe ISIS was not operating as part of Al-Qaeda. Former CIA official Glenn Carle, who supports the action against ISIS, reiterates that the two groups are not the same.

ISIS has since recruited members coming from all over the world including Australia. Two of the known Australian ISIS jihadists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar were seen in the riots that happened in Sydney's Hyde Park in 2012, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The two terrorists were seen in a photograph standing next to each other while a police officer tells the crowd to carry out their protests peacefully. The rally was held in protest of an anti-Islamic film released on YouTube when it suddenly escalated into violence. Reports said six police officers and 19 protesters were injured in the riots.

Sharrouf and Elomar left Australia 15 months after the violent protests to begin their life with the extremist group ISIS. Australia's counter-terrorism experts believe the photos of the two Australian jihadists were proof of a previously unknown link between the local radical Muslims and the Islamic State.