The European Union yesterday announced that it had reached a unanimous decision to designate the so-called military wing of Hezbollah as a terror organization. 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.
In a new report released today, the Israeli daily Haaretz detailed the "lengthy diplomatic, legal and intelligence campaign waged jointly by Israel, Britain, the United States, the Netherlands and Canada" that led to the designation. With regard to the Burgas investigation, the report regurgitates much of what has been known, but it also provides new details further implicating Hezbollah in the attack.
Haaretz reports:
The smoking gun, though, was the bomb's composition, including the specific type of plastic explosive used - which proved identical to the composition of 24 bombs discovered by Israeli security services in Nazareth in August 2012. These bombs had been smuggled into the country at Hezbollah's behest by a group of drug smugglers. Later, the bomb's composition also proved an exact match to bombs discovered by Thailand's security services in January 2012, at a warehouse owned by a Hezbollah operative in Bangkok.
On Aug. 8, 2012, Israeli authorities announced that Hezbollah had used networks of drug dealers to smuggle explosives into Israeli territory from Lebanon. According to the Shin Bet, the network managed to smuggle into Israel 20 kilograms of C4 explosive in June, a month before the Burgas attack. Authorities believed the explosives were intended to be used for attacks in Israel.
"[T]he attempted attack here and the recent attack in Bulgaria are all carried out by the same organization," a Shin Bet official said at the time.
Months prior to the Hezbollah smuggling operation and the Burgas attack, authorities in Thailand discovered a large quantity of bomb-making materials in a three-storey commercial building. Authorities were led to the complex by Atris Hussein, a Swedish-Lebanese dual national, who is suspected of being tied to Hezbollah.
Hussein, who was born in southern Lebanon and married a Swedish woman, has denied having a connection to the Iranian-backed terror group.
Thai authorities have previously alleged that Hussein said the explosive materials were not intended for use in Thailand, but were going to be shipped "concealed inside table fan boxes and shipped to other countries," theBangkok Post reported.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims credit for prison break
Posted: 23 Jul 2013 09:15 AM PDT
Al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has released a statement claiming credit for the complex suicide assaults on prisons in Abu Ghraib and Taji that resulted in the escape of more than 500 terrorists, including several top-level commanders who had been sentenced to death. Twenty-six Iraqi policemen and 10 al Qaeda fighters were killed during the attacks, which began late on July 21 and included suicide car bombs, mortar attacks, and the deployment of blocking teams along the roads to halt Iraqi reinforcements. Although the prisoners escaped from Abu Ghraib, the assault on Taji was repelled.
The ISIL claimed credit for the attack in a statement that was released today by the al-I'tissam Media Foundation, an official ISIL media outlet. The statement was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
The ISIL named the operation the "Invasion of Crushing the Tyrants," according to SITE. "The mujahideen brigades took off [to attack the prisons] after months of preparation and planning," ISIL's statement read. Today Iraq's Interior Ministry alleged that that ISIL had inside help. A government statement said that "[t]here has been a conspiracy between some of the guards of both prisons and the terrorist gangs that attacked the prisons," Al Jazeera reported.
"The ISIL claimed that 120 Iraqi guards and SWAT forces were killed and dozens were injured, and noted that the operation came exactly one year after the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the 'Destroying the Gates' campaign to free Muslim prisoners in the country," SITE stated. [Note: The campaign is also called "Destroying the Walls"; see LWJ reports, Al Qaeda in Iraq claims nationwide attacks that killed more than 100 Iraqis, and Al Qaeda in Iraq claims credit for Tikrit jailbreak.]
The attacks on Abu Ghraib and Taji are major wins for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has, with minimal losses, increased its manpower by more than 500 fighters. And some senior, experienced leaders are now back in the mix to provide an infusion to the group.
From a propaganda standpoint, the assault serves to showcase al Qaeda's strengths in Iraq: the ability to successfully launch simultaneous complex operations against heavily fortified targets. But perhaps more importantly, al Qaeda is telling its fighters and leaders in jail that, through its Destroying the Walls campaign, they will not be forgotten.
American passport found at al Qaeda base in northern Syria
Posted: 22 Jul 2013 09:07 PM PDT
A passport said to belong to an American citizen was found among a number of identification documents belonging to foreign fighters who have been waging jihad with al Qaeda inside Syria. The documents were discovered at a base abandoned by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al Qaeda affiliate that operates in Syria.
The American passport belongs to Amiir Farouk Ibrahim, who was born in Pennsylvania on Oct. 30, 1980. Ibrahim's passport was issued on March 6, 2012.
Ibrahim also possesses an Egyptian passport, which was issued on Sept. 23, 2012 under the name Amir Farouk Zaki Ibrahim. His Egyptian passport also states that he was born on Oct. 30, 1980 in the United States.
Ibrahim's passport was among 15 other pieces of identification recovered by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that reports on the Syrian civil war, at "one of the bases of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham [Syria or the Levant] in the city of Ras al-Ein." SOHR reported on its Facebook page that the documents "belong to several non-Syrian men from Western and Arab countries."
The nationalities of the individuals identified by the documents are as follows: one dual citizen, of the US and Egypt (Ibrahim); one individual from each of Qatar, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates; two each from Iraq, Turkey, and Tunisia; and two from Saudi Arabia (of the three passports from Saudi Arabia, two appear to identify the same person). Another document appears to identify a man born in Egypt.
SOHR stated that "[t]he documents were found after the ISIS retreated from the town after intense clashes last week with the YPG," a Kurdish militia tied to the PKK, a Marxist Kurdish terror group based in Syria. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is referred to by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL, has been battling the YPG for control of a border crossing point and several towns in northern Syria.
"We do not know the fate of the owners of these documents, whether they are dead or alive and still active in Syria," the SOHR concluded.
Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups often collect travel documents and identification cards of recruits after they join the fight in new countries.
If Ibrahim's identity as an American citizen is confirmed, he would be the second American known to wage jihad in Syria in the ranks of al Qaeda. Eric Harroun, a former US soldier, is in US custody and is charged with fighting alongside the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria.
Popular Resistance Committees calls on Hamas to stop arrests of 'mujahideen'
Posted: 22 Jul 2013 09:01 PM PDT
In a statement released to jihadist forums today, the Popular Resistance Committees' al Nasser Salah al Deen Brigades called on Hamas to stop its arrests of "mujahideen" in the Gaza Strip. Arresting the "mujahideen" does not serve the resistance against Israel, the statement said.According to the statement, on July 20 members of Hamas' al Qassam Brigades attacked a member of the al Nasser Salah al Deen Brigades, breaking a number of his bones. Although the member of the al Nasser Salah al Deen Brigades had identified himself and was not firing rockets toward Israel, he was still attacked, the statement said.
Since May, Hamas has increased its efforts to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. This has led to a number of complaints by Salafi jihadists who have accused Hamas of giving up the resistance.
The statement, which noted that Hamas and the PRC have previously coordinated operations, warned that continued attacks would not be accepted and that the PRC is prepared to defend its members.
Today's statement from the al Nasser Salah al Deen Brigades comes approximately two weeks after the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center (ITMC), a jihadist media unit tied to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), released a statement charging that torture by Hamas forces had caused Sheikh Hussein al Jo'ayteni, a Salafi cleric, to sustain a broken pelvis and other injuries.
Al Jo'ayteni was reportedly arrested by Hamas forces near Gaza City on June 11. On June 15, the ITMC released a statement that accused Hamas of torturing al Jo'ayteni. According to the ITMC, Hamas is torturing al Jo'ayteni "day and night" in order to obtain information from him regarding Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip.
In recent months, Hamas and Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip, in particular the MSC, have been at odds with one another. While members of the MSC have been predominately targeted, members of the al Nasser Salah al Deen Brigades have also been arrested.
For example, in late April, Hamas forces reportedly arrested two members of the Brigades in Khan Yunis. Similarly, in March, Hamas members purportedly raided the home of a "mujahid" in the Brigades.
Hamas operations against Salafi jihadists in Gaza have caused ire among jihadists elsewhere in the Middle East. On May 20, a video featuring Abu Talha al Libi, the sharia official of the Muhajireen Brigade in the Levant, was released by the ITMC. In the video, titled "Fear Allah, O Hamas," al Libi slammed Hamas' campaign against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. According to al Libi, Hamas' current actions are "not the way" of Hamas founders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz al Rantisi, both of whom were killed by Israel in 2004.
A month later, the ITMC released a video of purported Salafi jihadists in Syria slamming Hamas' actions against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip. Salafi jihadists "are prevented [by Hamas] from [carrying out] jihad," an unidentified speaker charged.
'Libya's Long, Slow Recovery'
Posted: 22 Jul 2013 03:56 PM PDT
An image taken from a gallery at The Atlantic documenting various aspects of post-revolution Libya:
A man tidies new graves of British and Italian soldiers who fought in World War II, in Benghazi Military Cemetery, on May 4, 2013. The graves, located at the cemetery built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), were replaced after they were vandalized by members of an Islamist group on February 24, 2012. (Reuters/Esam Al-Fetori)
The full photo gallery can be found here.
