Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Terror Networks

Al Qaeda in India declaration. Dangerous or desperate?

2014-09-06

[CSMONITOR] Terrorism researcher JM Berger wrote in Foreign Policy on Tuesday about Al Qaeda's apparent growing difficulties in handling its affiliates. Just a couple of weeks ago, Abu Mariya al-Qahtani, one of the most prominent leaders of al-Nusra Front, posted an extraordinary open letter saying that the Syrian al Qaeda affiliate had repeatedly tried to contact Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... since the caliphate announcement but had received no response. In addition, the letter noted reproachfully, Zawahiri had made no public statement condemning the Islamic State's declaration. The letter has been underreported, in part because about every other week, a new spate of rumors crops up online that Qahtani is on the outs with al-Nusra's top leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani. While these rumors may or may not be true, Qahtani nevertheless remains one of Nusra's most prominent holy mans, seemingly always living on to be fired another day. Whether or not Qahtani has been cut out of the loop as far as private communications (and there is no particular reason to think he has been), Zawahiri's public silence so far has done little to offset the growing perception that the core al Qaeda has been weakened and put off balance by the Islamic State's dramatic military advances and its audacious religious demands. It's highly likely that Zawahiri is fully aware of his perceived weakness. This could have prompted the latest tape. Whether it will do him or his movement much good is another question. The idea of a centrally-controlled global network of salafi jihadists has always been a stretch, and even more so today. Yet 13 years after 9/11 much of the mainstream media and analysis in America seem to lack a firm grasp of what Al Qaeda is, who its affiliates are, and how jihadi groups grow. Consider CNN's treehouse of terror from the other day. A nice, linear presentation. The genealogy of jihad starts with Al Qaeda, and various iterations all lead back to that early root. Unfortunately, it's not true. It elides the chaos and egos and competing agendas of the welter of Sunni Arab groups that fight to impose their version of Islam. Have these various groups had links or affiliations with Al Qaeda in the past? Yes. But the vast majority of them have operated almost completely independently, based on their own local cultures and conditions.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Qaida Syria Chief Rejects any Results from Peace Talks

2013-12-20

[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria will not accept any results that come from peace talks next month to end the civil war, its chief said in an Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... television interview to be aired Thursday. "We will not recognize any results that come out of the Geneva 2 conference," Al-Jazeera's website quoted Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, the head of Al-Nusra Front, as saying. He was referring to a conference set to begin January 22 in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... , bringing together representatives of the Damascus government and the opposition, as well as countries taking opposite sides in the war. Geneva 2, a follow-up to a 2012 meeting, will aim to map out a political transition to end nearly three years of fighting that has killed more than 126,000 people and displaced millions. In an apparent reference to the opposition Syrian National Coalition, he said "those taking part in the conference do not represent the people who sacrificed. "Besides, who has authorized them to represent the people?" The man whose group Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... named as the official branch of the network in Syria dismissed opposition representatives slated to attend as those who "have no presence on the ground." Jawlani also said the battle against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... is almost over, claiming that the rebels "will achieve victory soon." In what is billed as Jawlani's first television interview, Al-Jazeera said the man asked that his face not be shown. Correspondent Tayseer Allouni, who conducted the interview, said the security checks he went through were stricter than those carried out before he met now-deceased Al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... in 2001. Al-Nusra, formed in January 2012, joined Al-Qaeda last December on a U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. It and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are the most powerful jihadist groups fighting against Assad.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Qaida Faction Urges Syria Jihadists to Unite

2013-11-22

[An Nahar] An al-Qaeda front group fighting in Iraq and Syria has called for jihadist groups to join forces under its banner, according to an audio message posted Thursday on the Internet. In remarks purportedly made by Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) front man said bully boy groups should close ranks against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... . "We call for all jihadist leaders and soldiers and people to accelerate in joining the project of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," Adnani said. The authenticity of the audio message and the identity of the speaker could not be independently verified. Adnani cautioned against judging ISIL on the basis of "what the media portrays or through what our enemies say, such as false charges and lies, but by what you see and feel by yourselves." His remarks come weeks after al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... ordered ISIL to shut down in Syria and instead anointed Al-Nusra Front, another group affiliated with al-Qaeda, to carry the network's banner in the Syrian conflict. Zawahiri's November 8 demand confirmed a written order issued in June that has so far gone unheeded. ISIL has instead defied Zawahiri's orders and continued to operate in Syria, where opposition activists have accused the group of escalating abuses against Syrian rebels and civilians. When the Islamic State of Iraq originally announced it had become ISIL in April 2013, the group's chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said Al-Nusra Front was its branch in Syria. But Al-Nusra commander Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani rejected that assertion and instead affirmed his allegiance to Zawahiri.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Al-Nusra Front Says Chief in Good Health after State TV Death Claim

2013-10-27

[An Nahar] Syria's jihadist al-Nusra Front said in a statement on Saturday that its leader was in good health, after state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? had reported his death. "What was claimed by one channel alone, regarding what it claimed was the killing of the emir of al-Nusra Front, was a lie," said the group. On Friday night, Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? said Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani had been killed in coastal Latakia province, but state news agency SANA quickly withdrew an alert saying the same thing.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Kurds Rout Syria Jihadists on Iraq Border

2013-10-27

[An Nahar] Fierce festivities raged Saturday after Syrian Kurds seized from jihadists a crossing on the Iraqi border, a key supply route for weapons and fighters in the 31-month war, activists said. Fighters from both sides were killed in the border festivities, which came a day after Syria's regime and its opponents traded blame for a car kaboom on a mosque that left dozens dead. The Kurds "took control of the Al-Yaarubia border crossing with Iraq at dawn after festivities with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the Al-Nusra Front and other rebels," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing activists. The Kurds have been struggling to carve out an autonomous northeastern region similar to one in northern Iraq, further complicating the Syrian war. Rebels battling to oust Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... have increasingly turned their guns on each other in the past few months, with jihadists fighting the mainstream Free Syrian Army in the north, where the snuffies control vast swathes of territory. The seizure of the border post would be another blow for the Islamists. State television said late Friday that Al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani had been killed, but the Al-Qaeda-linked group said he was in good health. The conflict flared when Assad's opponents took up arms in response to his regime's brutal crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests that erupted in March 2011. More than 115,000 people are estimated to have been killed, millions uprooted from their homes and tens of thousands trapped by the relentless fighting. Saturday's violence comes a day after a boom-mobile outside a mosque in Suq Wadi Barada, a town near Damascus, killed at least 40 people and maimed dozens more, according to the Observatory. State news agency SANA said "the car went kaboom! while the snuffies were packing it with explosives," using the regime term for rebels. The opposition National Coalition blamed the regime for the "massacre" caused by what it said were two boom-mobiles placed outside the Osama Bin Zeid mosque. Elsewhere an army ambush killed about 24 rebels on the outskirts of Damascus, said the Observatory. SANA put the toll at 40. The army has closed in on Eastern Ghouta, a ring of rebel-held suburbs it has besieged for months and which was targeted in an August chemical attack that killed hundreds of people and almost led to punitive U.S. strikes. UN and U.S. officials have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about Eastern Ghouta and other besieged Damascus suburbs, following reports of severe food shortages and rising malnutrition there. Mushrooming humanitarian crisis On Friday, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos urged the Security Council to put "sustained pressure" on Syria to allow access to some 2.5 million trapped civilians. The Observatory described a similarly dire situation in the central city of Homs, where it said some 3,000 civilians were trapped in an area sealed off by regime forces for more than a year. "Three thousands civilians, among them 500 aged over 70, are living exclusively off the little food that had been stored in the besieged districts of Homs," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. Further north, in the Sfeirah district near Aleppo, some 130,000 Syrians have fled non-stop heavy bombing in a "massive exodus" this month, said Doctors Without Borders. A U.N.-commissioned report said more than half of Syria's population is living in poverty and warned that the economic devastation could last for years. UN agencies said they were racing to vaccinate children against a host of diseases amid fears of a polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... outbreak, which would be the country's first since 1999. The mushrooming humanitarian crisis, and the initial success in implementing a U.S.-Russian accord to dismantle Syria's chemical arsenal, have spurred renewed efforts to convene peace talks. But despite pressure from its Western and Arab backers, the fractured Syrian opposition has yet to decide whether to attend the so-called Geneva 2 conference proposed for next month.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria State TV Reports Death of al-Nusra Front Chief al-Jawlani

2013-10-26

[An Nahar] Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? said Friday night that the leader of the jihadist al-Nusra Front had been killed, but state news agency Sana quickly withdrew an alert saying the same thing. "The terrorist Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, chief of the al-Nusra Front affiliated to al-Qaeda, has been killed in the campaign in (the northwestern province of) Latakia," the television said, without providing details. No confirmation was immediately available from other sources. The al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group affiliated with al-Qaeda, is one of the more powerful rebel groups battling to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... If confirmed, Jawlani's killing would be a major coup for the regime, which brands all of the rebels fighting against it "terrorists," including mainstream groups backed by the West and Arab states. In May the United States designated Jawlani a global terrorist, saying he had been tasked by al-Qaeda with installing Islamic sharia law across Syria and had ordered multiple suicide kabooms. Al-Nusra was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. late last year. Ynet has more.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Qaida in Iraq Rejects Zawahiri Ruling on Nusra

2013-06-16

[An Nahar] Al-Qaida's leader in Iraq has defied orders from the group's global chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to break up his claimed union with a jihadist group in Syria, according to an audio message released Saturday. The purported remarks by Islamic State of Iraq head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the message posted on jihadist forums indicate tensions between ISI and al-Qaida's central command. In April, Baghdadi announced that ISI had merged with Syria's Al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani acknowledged a relationship between the two groups, but he denied there had been a merger and publicly pledged his allegiance to Zawahiri. Yet in Saturday's message, the man identified as Baghdadi said "the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant remains, as long as there is blood in our veins and our eyes are blinking. "It remains, and we will not compromise; we will not give up... until we die." Earlier this month, Zawahiri ruled that the ISI and Al-Nusra should operate as separate entities, according to a letter posted on Al-Jazeera's website. Baghdadi had "made a mistake" by announcing a merger "without consulting us," he said. The merger plan has been "damaging to all jihadists", Zawahiri said, adding that "Al-Nusra Front is an independent branch of al-Qaida". But the message on Saturday said: "Regarding the message which was attributed to Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri ... (I) was put in a situation, to choose between God's command and an order against God." "I chose the order of my God, over the order against it in the message."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

U.N. Adds Syrian Jihadist Al-Nusra to Sanctions List

2013-06-01

[An Nahar] The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council on Friday added the Syrian myrmidon group Al-Nusra Front to its global sanctions list because of its links to al-Qaeda. The group, a feared force battling Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... , is now subject to an international asset freeze and arms embargo, according to an announcement made by the Security Council's al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee. La Belle France and Britannia jointly sought Al-Nusra's designation after blocking a demand by the Syrian government. Al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani last month pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , confirming suspicions of ties between the rebel group and the myrmidon group founded by the late the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... Experts have said Al-Nusra gets aid from al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate and the Security Council announcement specifically mentions links to al-Qaeda in Iraq. The U.S. government designated Al-Nusra a terrorist organization last year and added al-Jawlani to its terrorist blacklist this month. Western nations are acting against Al-Nusra in a bid to shore up moderate opponents of Assad. The 26-month old Syrian conflict has left more than 94,000 dead, according to Syrian activists. La Belle France and Britannia welcomed the Security Council move. The designation "underlines the clear distinction that has to be made between the democratic opposition, which has our full support and which we want to strengthen, and the terrorist element that we condemn without ambiguity," said French foreign ministry front man Philippe Lalliot in Gay Paree.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian militants al-Nusra Front to be added to UN sanctions list

2013-05-10

The UN Security Council will add the Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian militants al-Nusra Front to its sanctions blacklist next week, diplomats said May 10. Following a move by France and Britain, the Islamist group, which has become one of the most feared fighting forces in Syria's two-year-old conflict, will be subject to a global asset freeze from Tuesday, the diplomats told AFP. A pledge of allegiance by Al-Nusra's chief Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has caused divisions among the rebel groups battling President Bashar al-Assad. The Assad government asked last month for the UN Security Council to blacklist Al-Nusra, but this was blocked by Britain and France, which do not recognize the Damascus government. Britain and France made a separate application to the council's Al-Qaeda sanctions committee, which should become valid on May 7.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Al-Nusra Chief Wounded near Damascus

2013-05-09

[An Nahar] The leader of the powerful jihadist rebel force, Al-Nusra Front, was maimed by army bombing near the Syrian capital on Wednesday, a watchdog said. Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani was maimed with other members of his group in southern Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing Death Eaters in the area. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman was only immediately able to say that Jawlani had been hit in the foot. Al-Nusra, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Syria and has been termed a "terrorist organization" by Washington, is among the most prominent organizations involved in the country's conflict. It has gained notoriety for suicide kabooms but also won admiration from other forces of Evil for its reputation as a formidable fighting force leading attacks on battle fronts across Syria. Last month, Jawlani pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... .

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Islamist Rebels Reject Qaida Allegiance Vow

2013-04-14

[An Nahar] A major coalition of Salafist tough guys fighting the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... has denounced al-Nusra Front's pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda, urging gunnies to unite behind moderate Islam. "When we in Syria launched our jihad (holy war) against the sectarian regime, we did not do so for the sake of allegiance to a man here or another there," said the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front (SILF) in a statement late on Thursday. It also rejected "imposing anything on (Syria's) fighters and the people that they were not willing" to accept, said the statement posted on Facebook. The SILF comprises some 20 rebel groups, and is represented in the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army's command council. It includes Liwa al-Tawhid, Suqour al-Sham, Liwa al-Islam and the Farouk brigade, which are among the opposition's most prominent beturbanned goon forces. The statement followed a raging debate among rebels and activists over a surprise announcement by al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani of allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... "We have no need for imported ideologies or a new understanding of Islam," said the SILF, in an unequivocal attack on al-Qaeda extremism. "We should not be chasing power or positions," it added, criticizing al-Nusra for "putting the cart before the horse" by prematurely adopting a call for an Islamic state in Syria. It also lashed out against a reported merger of al-Nusra with al-Qaeda's Islamic State in Iraq, announced by the latter's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group was "surprised and dismayed" at Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... i's statement, said the SILF, saying it learned of it "through the media". "It does no service to our people or to our (Islamic) nation to pledge allegiance to those who know nothing about our reality, while most of our cities are occupied (by Assad's forces) and criminality continues to rage," it said. The SILF also said the recent announcements only serve to "sow conflict and dissension among fighters' ranks at a difficult time", and that gunnies should "unite... under the flag of moderate Islam."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Rebels Distance Themselves from Qaida Iraq Ally

2013-04-10

[Naharnet] The mainstream Syrian rebel command distanced itself from the jihadist al-Nusra Front on Tuesday after al-Qaeda in neighboring Iraq confirmed that it spawned and supervised the group. The Free Syrian Army insisted that alliances it has struck with al-Nusra fighters on the ground were only tactical, local and time-limited, as al-Qaeda openly admitted the Iraq links of one of the spearheads of the armed uprising against the Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... regime. "We don't support the ideology of al-Nusra," FSA front man Louay Meqdad told Agence La Belle France Presse. "There has never been and there will never be a decision at the command level to coordinate with al-Nusra. The situation on the ground is what has imposed this." Washington already blacklisted al-Nusra as a terrorist organization earlier this year citing its close links to Al-Qaeda gunnies who led the insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq before their withdrawal last year. But the head of al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, confirmed on Tuesday that al-Nusra was its creation and that its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani was "one of our soldiers". "It is time to declare to the Levant and to the world that the al-Nusra Front is simply a branch of the Islamic State of Iraq," Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... i said in an audio message posted on jihadist forums. He said the groups would merge under the banner of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Some Syrian rebel commanders have acknowledged discomfort at al-Nusra's jihadist ideology, its resort to suicide kabooms against civilians and its use of foreign recruits. But the group has also won respect as a disciplined and effective fighting force in the battle to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's regime, winning key territory from his troops. "Al-Nusra exists, it is financed and it is armed. That's why certain brigades of the FSA cooperate with them on certain operations on the ground," the mainstream rebel front man said. "It's a tactical and time-limited cooperation... Al-Nusra is not attached to the FSA," Meqdad added. Al-Nusra has said it is seeking an Islamic state in Syria after Assad's overthrow, but Meqdad insisted: "No one has the right to impose on Syrians what shape their state will take. "Syrians will go to the polls to choose their leaders," he said. "Our goal is clear -- to bring down the regime and establish a democratic state."

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More