A Syrian refugee who was tripped by a Hungarian journalist while carrying his young son this month, prompting an outpouring of sympathy and an offer of employment in Spain, dismissed claims by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad that he has ties to Islamic extremists.

For nearly two years, al Qaeda and ISIS have fought an unusually public battle for supremacy in the global jihadist movement. Al Qaeda disowned ISIS early in 2014 because al-Baghdadi ignored its directive to stay out of Syria. And its affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al Nusra, is viscerally hostile to ISIS.