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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

U.S. Puts Saudi Leader of Abdullah Azzam Brigades on Terror List

2011-12-16

[An Nahar] The U.S. administration on Thursday placed Saleh al-Qarawi, a senior Saudi member of the Leb-based Abdullah Azzam Brigades, on its blacklist of global terrorists. The move freezes any assets held by Qarawi in the United States and bans Americans from doing business with him. The U.S. Department of State said it labeled Qarawi as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," describing him as "a big shot and operative for the Abdullah Azzam Brigades." "According to media reports, AAB grabbed credit for the July 28, 2010 maritime bombing of a Japanese oil tanker, the M. Star. AAB has also grabbed credit for firing several rockets into Israel from Leb since 2009," the State Department added. "Prior to his activity with AAB, al-Qarawi fought against U.S. forces in Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... Iraq. While there, he worked with now-deceased Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq," it noted. Qarawi is wanted for extradition by the Saudi government "for participating in turban activities abroad. He is also the subject of an Interpol Orange Notice issued on March 25, 2009, for activities related to terrorism," said the State Department. "The action taken against this individual demonstrates the United States' resolve in eliminating AAB's ability to execute violent attacks." The group has denied claiming responsibility for a recent rocket attack from southern Leb against Israel, instead blaming a group linked to Hizbullah, a U.S. monitoring group said. In a statement issued on jihadist forums, the Brigades said the November 29 attack should be seen as a warning to the West and Israel from embattled Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... , the SITE Intelligence Group said. "The Brigades declared that the attack ... is to be construed as a message from Assad to Israel and the West, that if his regime is made to fall, then the field will open to the youth of the Sunni people to attack the Jewish state," SITE said. The group gave examples of what it said was Syria's and Hizbullah's "cunning," claiming, for example, that Syrian intelligence was behind the March kidnapping of seven Estonian cyclists in Leb's Bekaa region. The seven were freed unharmed in July. The Brigades in their statement said it was clear that Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah were keen for political reasons to blame the group for any security incidents in Leb, including a July attack on U.N. troops. Abdullah Azzam, the late al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who went shovel-ready... 's mentor, was killed in a 1989 kaboom.

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Arabia

Gulf tanker blast was Al-Qaeda attack: US

2010-11-22

[Arab News] A Japanese oil tanker damaged in July near the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane was attacked by an Al-Qaeda-linked group that could carry out more such attacks in the area, according to the US Department of Transport. The crew of the M. Star reported an kaboom shortly after midnight on July 28 that injured one seaman but caused no oil spill or disruption to shipping in the strategic waterway. A bad turban group called Abdullah Azzam Brigades said that a jacket wallah belonging to it had attacked the tanker. The incident sparked theories ranging from a freak wave to a collision with a US nuclear submarine. "Government and industry sources can confirm that the claim by the Abdullah Azzam brigades ... is valid," the US Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration said in an advisory to mariners dated Nov. 19. "The group remains active and can conduct further attacks on vessels in areas in the Strait of Hormuz, southern Arabian Gulf, and western Gulf of Oman," the advisory said. Ships in these waters should "exercise increased vigilance and caution" particularly during the night and should keep a special eye on activities of smaller vessels, it said. Bordered by Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the busy strait, the gateway to the Gulf which handles 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil, is guarded by US and other warships. Analysts cast doubt on Abdullah Azzam Brigades' claim of responsibility, saying it had a history of taking responsibility for attacks also claimed by other organizations.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Radar data shows 2 small boats near damaged Japanese tanker before attack

2010-08-19

The plot thickens... TOKYO — Japanese authorities have found radar data showing two small unidentified boats near the Japanese tanker M. Star that was damaged in a suspected attack in the Strait of Hormuz on July 28, transport ministry sources said Tuesday. The data retrieved from the tankers voyage data recorder showed two small boats changing directions many times and making other suspicious moves, raising the possibility that they may have been involved in the purported attack. The Japan Transport Safety Board, a body under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the state-run National Maritime Research Institute are currently analyzing the images left in the M. Stars data recorder, the sources said. The National Police Agencys National Research Institute of Police Science is also checking substances collected from the damaged part of the tanker to see if they were components of an explosive. The radar data showed the small boats sailing parallel to the tanker, passing it and then turning around. They also showed that at some point, one of the boats disappeared from the radar, a move believed to indicate that it had moved to its blind spot around the tanker, according to the sources. After the ship was damaged, a manager of the UAEs Fujairah port said something collided with the tanker. In early August, a militant group linked to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for an attack on the Japanese tanker. Later, the UAEs state-run news agency WAM, citing a UAE coast guard source, reported that local explosives experts ‘‘found a dent on the starboard side above the waterline and remains of homemade explosives on the hull. Probably the tanker had encountered a terrorist attack from a boat loaded with explosives, the source was quoted as saying in the report.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Obscure al-Qaida-linked group claims it attacked Japanese tanker in Persian Gulf last week

2010-08-05

An obscure al-Qaida-linked group said Wednesday one of its suicide bombers attacked a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf last week — a claim that, if true, would be the first time the terror network has attacked the Japanese. There have been conflicting reports about what happened to the M. Star supertanker, which was damaged July 28 in the Strait of Hormuz — a transit point for about 40 percent of tanker-shipped oil worldwide. An investigation into the cause of the damage is ongoing. The Brigades of Abdullah Azzam posted a statement on the Internet claiming responsibility for attacking the vessel. The statement's authenticity could not be independently verified but it appeared on websites that usually carry militant groups' messages. The ship's owner, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, said it was aware of the militant posting and was investigating the claim. A crew member was injured and the tanker sustained a square-shaped dent on the rear side of the hull during an incident that occurred as the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel entered the strait shortly after midnight. At the time, the ship, loaded with 270,000 tons of oil, was heading from the petroleum port of Das Island in the United Arab Emirates to the Japanese port of Chiba outside Tokyo. The militant statement identified the purported bomber as Ayyub al-Tishan and carried his picture, showing him dressed in a white Arab robe and head-cover and pointing to a photograph of a tanker on a laptop. It said the bomber was a "martyr" — meaning he had died in the attack. It also said it had delayed the announcement until several group members who were involved in the operation "returned safely to base." The statement claimed the attack meant to "weaken the international blasphemous system that plundered the wealth of the Muslims" and mocked officials who had said the tanker may have been damaged from an earthquake, describing those remarks as an effort by authorities to conceal the nature of the attack because of the effect it could have on oil prices and world economy. Originally, Mitsui said the tanker damage was caused by "an attack from external sources" while the vessel was passing through the strategically vital waterway between Iran and an enclave of Oman surrounded by the United Arab Emirates.

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Arabia

Pics: What nearly punched a hole in this Japanese oil tanker?

2010-07-31

For reference, this pic here is a clickable link to a higher-res shot of the damage to the USS Cole. Pics of the damage to that Japanese oil tanker can be found at the link. Looks like an explosion of some sort to me. It certainly wasn't a sub. Remember that the side of the cole was angled, not vertical. Seems to me the more vertical hull of the tanker vs. the angled hull on the USS Cole may explain the differences in the damage. If the hull were angled away from the bomb, it seems to me that there would have been very little damage, but towards the bomb is going to reflect/focus the blast energy in a way consistent with the picture. To me, it seems that part of the blast energy directed against the vertical wall of the tanker was reflected off the water, which would the cause maximum blast force to be several meters above the waterline, and a more-or-less spherical blast front. Can anyone out there who actually knows something about explosives confirm or refute this idea? The M. Star, a Japanese oil tanker, suffered ... something in the early-morning hours Wednesday as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Crew members heard a blast and saw a flash, windows were blasted out, ceiling panels in a dining room were shaken loose, and one crew member suffered minor injuries. And most significant, an enormous dent appeared on the tanker's starboard side, extending from the waterline more than halfway up the hull. 1) Crew saw a flash 2) Straits of Hormuz 3) Crew heard blast 4) Straits of Hormuz 5) Spherical compression wave damage above the waterline 6) Straits of Hormuz 7) The USS Cole's damage was mostly above the waterline, too 8) Straits of Hormuz The only evidence I see against the idea that some jihadi did it is that none of the crew heard "Allahu Snackbar!" before the blast. Pics and rest of article at link.

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