Tunisian jihadist calls for clerics, youth to fight in Syria

Tunisian jihadist calls for clerics, youth to fight in Syria

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 10:59 PM PDT




Abu Abdullah al Tunisi, kneeling, right. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.


In a newly released jihadist video, a Tunisian fighter from the Muhajireen Army, a terrorist group composed primarily of foreign fighters and Syrians who are closely tied to al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, urged clerics and Muslim men to travel to the country to wage jihad against the government of President Bashir al Assad. The video highlights the close relationship between the Muhajireen Army and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al Qaeda affiliate.

The video, which was released on July 18 on Twitter and Facebook accounts run by the Muhajireen Army, was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"The video's title gives the name of the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), suggesting a relationship between the groups," SITE noted in a statement accompanying the translation of the video.

The Muhajireen, or Emigrants' Army, fights alongside both the newly formed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant. Both groups are official al Qaeda affiliates. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the emir of the ISIL, is vying for control of al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria. Ayman al Zawahiri rejected Baghdadi's announcement of the formation of the ISIL and said that the Al Nusrah Front is its official affiliate. But Baghdadi rejected Zawahiri's ruling [see LWJ report, Islamic State of Iraq leader defies Zawahiri in alleged audio message].

A large majority of foreign fighters associated with al Qaeda are said to have joined the ISIL. The Muhajireen Army appears to have sided with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as well.

The video featured Abu Abdullah al Tunisi, who implored both Muslim scholars and men to fight in Syria as part of their obligation to wage jihad.

Al Tunisi's call for clerics to preach on the battlefield echoes that of slain al Qaeda ideologue Abu Yahya al Libi, who, before his death in a US drone strike, would routinely castigate preachers who refused to fight in the theaters of jihad.

"You are also a role model for people, so when you talk about jihad, the scholars here must proceed to the land of jihad first for people to follow them," al Tunisi said. "We shouldn't lecture to people about jihad, jihad, jihad, and then we find the scholars and reciters staying at their homes or accepting to be among those who stay behind. Don't say we are in a front and we bear the burden of preaching, for here is the place for preaching, and here is the place for the Caliphate."

"You lecture about jihad and explain about jihad, so take the path of jihad," he later said.

Al Tunisi also advised "the Muslim youth in general and the youth of Tunisia in particular" to join the fight, and called on Muslim "mothers and sisters" to "incite the youth for jihad and deployment."

Background on the Muhajireen Army

The Muhajireen Army is commanded by Abu Omar al Chechen, a jihadist from Russia's Caucasus region. Hundreds of fighters from the Islamic Caucasus Emirate are thought to be in the ranks of the Muhajireen Army.

In the past, the group has been known to fight alongside the Al Nusrah Front and has participated in overrunning several Syrian military bases with the al Qaeda affiliate.

In June, the Muhajireen Army, which does not have its own official propaganda media outlet, claimed credit for two suicide assaults on an airbase in Aleppo and for shooting down a Syrian Army helicopter using a surface-to-air missile.

At the end of March, Abu Omar al Chechen announced that the Muhajireen Brigade, which at the time consisted primarily of foreign fighters, had merged with several Syrian jihadist groups and formed the Muhajireen Army. The group has "more than 1,000 Mujahideen, Muslim volunteers from different countries, including the Caucasus Emirate," stated Kavkaz Center, a propaganda arm of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate.

The Muhajireen Army, the Al Nusrah Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are considered to be the fighting units of choice for the more than 700 European jihadists estimated to be fighting in Syria.


US charges Belmokhtar with murder of Americans in Algerian gas plant attack

Posted: 19 Jul 2013 10:56 PM PDT




Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Image from Sahara Media.


The US Department of Justice charged a dangerous al Qaeda leader in Africa who is responsible for attacking a natural gas facility at In Amenas, Algeria, and kidnapping and murdering scores of people.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is also known as Khalid Abu al Abbas and Khalid al Daas, was charged in absentia today with eight terrorism-related counts, including conspiracy to kidnapping and providing material support to al Qaeda. If convicted, the kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of death.

The Justice Department cited Belmokhtar's involvement in the January 2013 siege at the In Amenas facility in Algeria as well as the kidnapping of two United Nations diplomats in Niger in 2008.

In the In Amenas attack, Belmokhtar's al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, "took numerous workers inside the facility hostage by force, including Algerian nationals and citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, the Philippines, Colombia, Romania, and other nations, while other workers fled or hid inside the facility," the Justice Department stated in a press release announcing the charges.

"The terrorists attached explosives to some of the hostages, wound detonation cord around their necks, and threatened to kill them," Justice continued. "During the siege of the facility, numerous hostages, including three US citizens, were killed."

More than 40 fighters from Belmokhtar's unit carried out the attack on the natural gas facility. Belmokhtar claimed the operation in the name of al Qaeda.

The In Amenas siege ended after Algerian special forces assaulted the facility. Nearly 60 people, many of them foreigners, were killed during the fighting. Belmokhtar's jihadists executed some of the hostages.

The In Amenas operation was launched immediately after French forces invaded Mali to eject al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, and Ansar Dine from the north of the country. The three al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups controlled northern Mali for 10 months and were threatening to take over the Malian capital when France intervened.

Belmokhtar's jihadist activities spans decades

Belmokhtar has served with al Qaeda and its predecessors in north and Saharan Africa for decades. He fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, then joined with jihadists in Algeria fighting against the government with the al Qaeda-linked Armed Islamic Group and later the GSPC, or Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. The GSPC officially merged with al Qaeda and formed al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in 2006.

Last December, he split with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb due to leadership issues with the group. AQIM accused him of failing to follow administrative guidelines, bypassing AQIM bureaucracy, and reporting directly to al Qaeda's central command in the Afghan-Pakistan region.

Although Belmokhtar split with AQIM in December 2012, he still conducts joint operations with the group as well as with MUJAO. Belmokhtar reports directly to al Qaeda's central leadership, according to his spokesman. Documents found by The Associated Press after French forces drove the al Qaeda alliance from their strongholds in northern Mali confirmed that Belmokhtar had a direct line to al Qaeda's central leadership.

In addition to the In Amenas assault, Belmokhtar's Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade is responsible for two other major terrorist attacks in Niger this year.

In late May, Belmokhtar's force launched two suicide assaults, the first of their kind in Niger, targeting a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. The attacks were executed along with fighters from MUJAO, and Belmokhtar claimed that their purpose was to avenge the death of Abou Zeid, a senior al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb commander who was killed by French and Chadian forces while fighting in Mali earlier this year.

The US added Belmokhtar to its list of Specially Designated Global terrorists in 2003, and in June 2013 alsoadded him to the Rewards for Justice list of most-wanted terrorists. A $5 million reward, which puts him in the top echelons of most-wanted terrorists, was offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction. In 2004, an Algerian court sentenced Belmokhtar to life in prison; in 2007 he was sentenced to death for terrorist activities.