Τετάρτη 24 Ιουλίου 2013
Τρίτη 23 Ιουλίου 2013
Burgas bomb reportedly tied to Nazareth and Thailand terror plots
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.
King David-Era Palace Found in Israel, Archaeologists Say
King David-Era Palace Found in Israel, Archaeologists Say
By Megan Gannon, News Editor | July 19, 2013 04:36pm ET
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 This aerial picture shows David's palace and the Byzantine farmhouse that was build on top of it.Credit: Sky View, courtesy of the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority
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The findings at Khirbet Qeiyafa — a fortified hilltop city about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem — indicate that David, who defeated Goliath in the Bible, ruled a kingdom with a great political organization, the excavators say.
"This is unequivocal evidence of a kingdom's existence, which knew to establish administrative centers at strategic points," read a statement from archaeologists Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
The IAA announced the finds as a seven-year long excavation at the site is wrapping up. The government agency and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority have halted the planned construction of a nearby neighborhood, hoping to make the site a national park. [In Photos: Archaeology Around the World]
Garfinkel has previously said Khirbet Qeiyafa could be the site of Shaaraim, a biblical city associated with King David in the Bible. Shaaraim means "two gates" and two gates have been found in the fortress ruins. Others researchers, meanwhile, have claimed this site might be Neta'im, another town mentioned in the book 1 Chronicles in the Old Testatment.
Prior radiocarbon analysis on burnt olive pits at the site indicated that it existed between 1020 B.C. and 980 B.C., before being violently destroyed, likely in a battle against the Philistines. Much of the palace was further wrecked 1,400 years later when a Byzantine farmhouse was built on the site.
The archaeologists found a 100-foot-long (30-meter-long) wall that would have enclosed the palace, and inside the complex they discovered fragments of ceramic and alabaster vessels, some of them imported from Egypt. The researchers say the building was strategically located to overlook the city and the Valley of Elah.
"From here one has an excellent vantage looking out into the distance, from as far as the Mediterranean Sea in the west, to the Hebron Mountains and Jerusalem in the east," the archaeologists said. "This is an ideal location from which to send messages by means of fire signals."
The excavators also found a pillared building measuring about 50 feet by 20 feet (15 m by 6 m) that was likely used as an administrative storeroom.
"It was in this building the kingdom stored taxes it received in the form of agricultural produce collected from the residents of the different villages in the Judean Shephelah," or Judean foothills, the archaeologists said. "Hundreds of large store jars were found at the site whose handles were stamped with an official seal as was customary in the Kingdom of Judah for centuries."
Δευτέρα 22 Ιουλίου 2013
Al Qaeda assaults Iraqi jails, frees hundreds of prisoners
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.
Κυριακή 21 Ιουλίου 2013
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.
Σάββατο 20 Ιουλίου 2013
Παρασκευή 19 Ιουλίου 2013
Πέμπτη 18 Ιουλίου 2013
Τετάρτη 17 Ιουλίου 2013
free Syrian Army commander says al Qaeda is 'welcome'
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Posted: 14 Jul 2013 12:10 PM PDT
While discussing the recent dustup between al Qaeda's Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and the Free Syrian Army, a senior FSA commander said he has no problems with the al Qaeda group just as long as it doesn't impose sharia, or Islamic law. From Al Jazeera:
Leaders of the Western- and Arab-backed FSA told Al Jazeera that they did not consider the ISIL an enemy, but that they would defend themselves.
As noted here at Threat Matrix just yesterday, there is little chance that the Free Syrian Army would pursue its grievance with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant over the latter's murder of an FSA commander in Latakia. The 24-hour FSA deadline to turn over the ISIL commander who executed the FSA leader in Latakia has come and gone. Meanwhile, the Free Syrian Army, which is demanding that the US and the West pony up weapons, continues to "welcome" the ISIL.
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Posted: 13 Jul 2013 11:33 PM PDT
The US killed two "militants" in an area of Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan that is known to host al Qaeda and a variety of Pakistani and regional terror groups.
The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at the two militants as they were riding on a motorcycle in the village of Musaki in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan,Pakistani intelligence officials told Dawn.
The target of the strike has not been identified, and no senior leaders or operatives of al Qaeda, the Taliban, or other terror groups based in the area are reported to have been killed.
Today's strike is just the second in Pakistan this month. The previous strike, which took place in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan on July 2, killed Abu Saif al Jaziri, an al Qaeda military commander; Maulana Akhtar Zadran, a Haqqani Network officer; and 15 other people.
The Mir Ali area is in the sphere of influence of Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an al Qaeda leader who serves as a key link to the Taliban and supports al Qaeda's external operations network. He is rumored to have been killed in a US drone strike last year, but the report was never confirmed.
Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar and the Haqqani Network also operate in the Mir Ali area. Moreover, Mir Ali is a known hub for al Qaeda's military and external operations councils. Al Qaeda and allied terror groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and a number of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups host or share camps in the area.
Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network or Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The Haqqanis and Bahadar and are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
Today's strike is just the third since President Barack Obama's speech at the end of May outlining a reduced US counterterrorism role in the world. Obama said that the drones, which are currently operated by the CIA, will eventually be turned over to the military, and that the pace of the strikes will be reduced. Obama claimed that al Qaeda has been sufficiently weakened, despite the fact that the terrorist organization has expanded its operations in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt, and in North and West Africa.
The US has launched 17 drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The number of strikes in Pakistan has decreased since a peak in 2010, when 117 such attacks were recorded. In 2011, 64 strikes were launched in Pakistan, and in 2012 there were 46 strikes.
The US has targeted al Qaeda's top leaders and its external operations network, as well as the assortment of Taliban and Pakistani jihadist groups operating in the region. The strikes have been confined mostly to North and South Waziristan. Of the 342 strikes recorded since 2004, 325, or 95%, have taken place in the two tribal agencies.
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