Al Qaeda assaults Iraqi jails, frees hundreds of prisoners
Posted: 22 Jul 2013 10:45 AM PDT
Al Qaeda's affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, launched coordinated suicide assaults last night against two Iraqi jails, killing 26 policemen and freeing more than 500 prisoners.
The al Qaeda affiliate attacked prisons in Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, and Taji, north of the capital, on Sunday in an effort to break out leaders and fighters being held by the government.
The attacks began as suicide bombers struck at the main gate to open a hole for assault teams, Reutersreported. The attacks were accompanied by mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades from supporting units, while blocking forces deployed on the roads to the prisons to fend off Iraqi forces attempting to relieve the besieged prison guards.
Iraqi policemen in Taji fended off the assault, but al Qaeda was far more successful at Abu Ghraib, where hundreds of terrorists escaped. Iraqi forces fought the al Qaeda assault team until Monday morning before regaining control of the prison.
"The number of escaped inmates has reached 500, most of them were convicted senior members of al Qaeda and had received death sentences," a senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament toldReuters. Some of the inmates were recaptured after Iraqi reinforcements reached the prison, but most have escaped.
Ten Iraqi policemen and four al Qaeda fighters were killed during the Abu Ghraib jailbreak. In Taji, 16 policemen were killed while fending off the assault; six al Qaeda fighters were also killed.
Al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has targeted Iraqi prisons several times in the past in efforts to free its operatives and leaders. In one such attack, in September 2012 at the Tasfirat prison in Tikrit, more than 100 prisoners escaped.
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, or Abu Du'a, the emir of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, announced the"Destroying the Walls" campaign in July 2012, and said that the group would place emphasis on efforts "to release the Muslim prisoners everywhere."
Al Qaeda maintains the capacity to organize and execute large-scale, complex attacks such as the assaults on the prisons in Abu Ghraib and Taji. Another such attack, in Haditha in March 2012, killed 27 Iraqi policemen. Al Qaeda in Iraq was able to organize and train more than 100 fighters disguised as police commandos, block the roads into the town, and round up and execute the policemen.
The terror group has also demonstrated the ability to launch coordinated attacks and suicide bombings against security forces, the government, and civilians in multiple cities throughout the country.
The past 24 hours have been especially deadly for Iraqi security forces. In Mosul, 23 Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were killed in a suicide attack that targeted an Army convoy at a market. Also, four more policemen were killed in a separate attack in the northern city.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has stepped up the use of suicide bombers to conduct attacks inside Iraq. In the past 37 days, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has executed 22 suicide attacks and assaults inside Iraq, according to a count by The Long War Journal.
Al Qaeda has not only increased its operational tempo in Iraq after the US withdrew its forces at the end of 2011, but expanded its operations in Syria. The terror group's Iraqi branch formed the Al Nusrah Front in Syria in early 2012, and has since been at the vanguard of some of the heaviest fighting against President Assad's forces. Jihadists are in control of several cities and vast areas of the countryside, and, along with other rebel groups, have imposed sharia, or Islamic law.
Flush with success in Syria, al Baghdadi created the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in April in an attempt to consolidate his control over the Al Nusrah Front. The emir of the Al Nusrah Front rejected the merger, and Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of al Qaeda, weighed in against al Baghdadi. But al Baghdadi has rejected Zawahiri's rebuke and has continued to operate the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
EU adds Hezbollah's military wing to terror list
Posted: 22 Jul 2013 11:45 AM PDT
European Union foreign ministers today reached a unanimous decision to designate the military wing of Iranian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The move, which will likely lead to travel bans and asset freezes, comes after months of deliberation and compromises between the proponents and opponents of the decision.
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's high representative for foreign policy, said the designation "does not prevent the continuation of dialogue with all political parties in Lebanon." In addition, she said that "the delivery of legitimate financial transfers to Lebanon and delivery of assistance from the European Union and its Member States will not be affected."
Hezbollah's role in the July 2012 Burgas terror attack as well as the recent conviction of Hezbollah operative Hossam Taleb Yaacoub in Cyprus are viewed as two of the key pieces of evidence that pushed forward the long-awaited designation. Hezbollah's continued involvement in the Syrian civil war in support of the Assad regime is also seen as a reason for the move.
The US, Israel, and Canada, have long called on the EU to designate Hezbollah. After Bulgaria announced in early February that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack in Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian national, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird called on the EU to designate Hezbollah as a terror organization.
"We urge the European Union and all partners who have not already done so to list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity and prosecute terrorist acts committed by this inhumane organization to the fullest possible extent," Baird said.
Approximately two weeks later, former Obama national security adviser Tom Donilon wrote in the New York Times that "Europe must now act collectively and respond resolutely to this attack within its borders by adding Hezbollah to the European Union's terrorist list."
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni welcomed the EU's decision. "Finally, after years of deliberations, the claim that Hezbollah is a legitimate political party has rightfully failed. Now it is clear to the entire world that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization," she said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly welcomed the decision and said he hoped it "will lead to tangible steps against the organization."
The United States also applauded the designation. "With today's action, the EU is sending a strong message to Hezbollah that it cannot operate with impunity, and that there are consequences for its actions, including last year's deadly attack in Burgas, Bulgaria, and for plotting a similar attack in Cyprus," Secretary of State John Kerry said.
The EU's decision to designate only the military wing of Hezbollah has left some disappointed, however. Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman, for example, said the EU went only half way.
"Any attempt to portray this organization as one that has an extremist side and a more moderate side is like asking whether a cannibal could be a vegetarian," Lieberman said. Similarly, Emile Hokayem, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, tweeted that making a distinction between military and political wings within Hezbollah "is an expedient construct, analytically useless and w[ith] no grounding in reality."
In October 2012, Naim Qassem, the deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, repudiated the idea that the group had separate political and military wings.
"We don't have a military wing and a political one; we don't have Hezbollah on one hand and the resistance party on the other," he said.
Three years before, Qassem told the Los Angeles Times that "Hezbollah has a single leadership.... All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership.... The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."
Hezbollah releases new video on 2006 abduction of Israeli soldiers
Posted: 21 Jul 2013 06:47 PM PDT
Hezbollah's Al Manar TV station today released a new video related to the July 2006 abduction of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, which had led to the start of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The new video details how Hezbollah operatives trained around the area where the abduction took place. The video includes a digital simulation showing how Hezbollah planned the operation.
Khalid Bazzi, also known as Hajj Qasim, who led the operation, is shown in the video speaking to Hezbollah operatives. Bazzi died during the 2006 war in an airstrike by the Israeli Air Force. Imad Mughniyah, a former senior Hezbollah commander who is believed to have masterminded the abduction, is also mentioned in the video. Mughniyah was killed in Damascus in February 2008.
Imad Mughniyah, left, and Khalid Bazzi, right.
While today's video included new material, it also recycled footage from a video released last year that showed portions of the attack itself. Parts of today's video also recycled material from a 2010 program by Al Manar on Bazzi. In that program, Bazzi was praised as "the one who defeated the Zionists."
In July 2008, the bodies of Goldwasser and Regev were returned to Israel in an exchange deal that saw the release of a few terrorists, including Samir Kuntar, and the bodies of nearly 200 Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists. In 1979, Kuntar participated in a terror attack in Nahariya that led to the deaths of a number of Israelis, including four-year-old Einat Haran. Kuntar killed Einat by bashing her skull with the butt of his rifle against a rock.
Videos such as the one released today are not uncommon. For example, in October 2012 Hamas released a video detailing its preparations for the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Shalit wasreturned to Israel in the first part of an exchange deal on Oct. 18, 2011.
