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Abu Qusai

Abu Qusai

Aqsa Martyrs Brigades

Israel-Palestine

20040314

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Daraa: South Storm rebels hit army base by homemade surface-to-surface missile

2015-07-01

[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] The military front man of South Storm battle in Daraa province said a homemade missile has destroyed the military operations room of Syrian forces in the Old City of Daraa, the Syrian Media Commission reported on Monday. The front man (Dubbed: Abu Qusai) said fighters of the South Storm have stormed regime's operations room in al-Manshiya neighborhood in Daraa al-Balad by a homemade surface-to-surface missile that weighs 500 kg of explosives. The missile called 'The Storm' and it was used for the first time in Daraa battles, Abu Qusai said. Last Wednesday, rebels launched 'South Storm' battle to eliminate the presence of regime forces and its allied militias in Daraa, according to video statement. Rebels in Syrian south have inflicted significant defeats on Bashir al-Assad in the last three months, notably by capturing the Nasib border crossing with Jordan on April 1. Southern region, including Daraa, is of strategic importance due to its proximity to Damascus and neighboring states Israel and Jordan. It is also the last significant foothold of mainstream rebels, who have mostly been crushed elsewhere in Syria by government forces or jihadist groups, according to AP.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas arrests Gaza rocket squad after two Qassams hit Negev

2008-07-11

Hamas arrested three Palestinians who fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a militant faction said, in the first such detentions since the Islamist group and Israel agreed on a cease-fire last month. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant offshoot of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, said Hamas men pursued its members after the attack and "abducted them" in Jabalya refugee camp. "We demand their immediate release," said Abu Qusai, a brigades spokesman. The cease-fire deal calls on Hamas to prevent cross-border rocket fire and attacks from the Gaza Strip and for Israel to halt its raids and ease an economic blockade of the impoverished territory. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said "we stress that all parties should maintain the national agreement that was reached with a consensus." Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip a year ago after routing forces loyal to the secular Fatah group, had previously said it would not use force against other militants who violate the truce. Al Aqsa said it launched two Qassam rockets at the western Negev in retaliation for the Israel Defense Force's killing of an unarmed member of the group as he tried to cross a border fence into Israel earlier in the day. His death marked the first fatality along the Israel-Gaza border since the beginning of the Egypt-brokered truce on June 19. An IDF spokesman said soldiers shot the man after he ignored their calls to stop and only saw later that he had been unarmed. The family of the victim, an 18-year-old youth, said he was probably looking for scrap metal along the border when he was killed. The rockets struck open areas in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, causing no damage or injuries. "If a total cessation of fire from Gaza, as committed in the calm, is not implemented, the calm has no possibility to succeed," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas arrests Palestinian behind rocket attack on Israel

2008-06-30

Hamas security officials in Gaza on Sunday arrested the spokesman of a Palestinian militant group that claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel in violation of a truce, the man’s family said. Muhammad Abu Irmana, the spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Brigade, was visiting his relatives in the southern Gaza town of Rafah when he was detained, his brother Adham said. Irmana, also known as Abu Qusai, was arrested because the armed group, which is loosely linked to the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, said it was behind two rocket attacks on Israel on Thursday, Adham said.

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Terror Networks

Veil-wearing Muslim women are part of our fight - al-Qaeda chief

2007-01-01

AL-QAEDA'S deputy leader said yesterday that any Muslim woman who wears the veil in Western countries is a supporter in what he described as a fight between Islam and "Zionist Crusaders". Ayman al-Zawahri issued what amounted to an al-Qaeda New Year message to the world in an audio tape posted on the internet , calling on militant groups in Iraq to unite and urging Palestinians not to co-operate with the Palestinian Authority. The authenticity of the tape could not be verified, but it was posted on websites used by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups in Iraq and the voice of speaker sounded like Zawahri's. The statement - said to have been issued by al-Qaeda's "media arm" al-Sahab - praised Muslim women who insist on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures not to in some Western lands. He described anyone doing that as "a soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist- Crusader attack". Al-Zawahri also said Palestinians should stop co-operating with their democratically elected government. He declared: "O mujahideen brothers in Palestine ... the traitor secularists cannot be your brothers, do not give them legitimacy or take part in their assemblies, which are opposed to Islamic principles. "How can [Palestinian President] Mahmoud Abbas... or [his aide] Mohammed Dahlan be our brothers when they have grown fat on the Jews' bribes and the Americans' gifts." On Iraq, he added: "I send congratulations to the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, the mujahid sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and all the brave jihadi groups... invite them to unite." Baghdadi heads the so-called Islamic state announced by al-Qaeda and other Sunni militant groups in Iraq in October. Al-Zawahri has often criticised Hamas for taking part in elections, saying this would lead to the recognition of Israel. Palestinian officials rejected his most recent comments as "interference... a gift to the Zionist occupation...We call on Zawahri not to intervene in Palestinian internal affairs," said Abu Qusai, spokesman of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Mr Abbas's Fatah movement. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "We think differently from Zawahri. We adopt the moderate Islamic attitude." Fawzi, you crack me up! Sounds like Persian gold, goons, and hardware trumps Sunni fanatacism.

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Iraq

Al-Qaeda urges Iraq insurgents to unite

2006-12-31

AL-QAEDA'S deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urged Palestinian Islamists not to co-operate with the Palestinian Authority, according to an audiotape posted on the internet today. "O mujahideen brothers in Palestine ... the traitor secularists cannot be your brothers, do not give them legitimacy or take part in their assemblies which are opposed to Islamic principles," said the speaker on the tape, who sounded like Zawahri. "How can (Palestinian President) Mahmoud Abbas ... or (his aide) Mohammed Dahlan be our brothers when they have grown fat on the Jews' bribes and the Americans' gifts," the speaker said. "I send congratulations to the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, the mujahid sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and all the brave jihadi groups ... invite them to unite," the speaker said. The authenticity of the tape could not be verified, but it was posted on websites used by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups in Iraq. It was issued by al-Qaeda's media arm al-Sahab. Baghdadi heads the so-called Islamic state announced by al-Qaeda and several other Sunni militant groups in Iraq in October. A number of insurgent groups have not joined it. Zawahri has often criticised the Islamist Hamas movement for taking part in elections, saying it would eventually lead to the recognition of Israel. Palestinian officials rejected his latest comments as interference. "Zawahri's comments are a gift to the Zionist occupation ... We call on Zawahri not to intervene in Palestinian internal affairs," said Abu Qusai, spokesman of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Abbas's Fatah movement. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "We think differently from the way Zawahri does. We adopt the moderate Islamic attitude. We respect the official regime and we believe in dialogue as the only way to settle differences." The speaker also hailed any Muslim woman insisting on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures in some Western countries as a "soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist-Crusader attack". In a video issued earlier this in December, Zawahri vowed that al-Qaeda would continue to target the US and other Western countries as long as Muslims were under attack.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Gaza militants say fired chemical-tipped warhead

2006-06-29

Death Wish:2006. Starring The al-Aqsa Brigades... GAZA (Reuters) - A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday. "that does it. Bounce the rubble" The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket. "Uncle Assad gave them to us"...followed by ass-puckering in Damascus "The al-Aqsa Brigades have fired one rocket with a chemical warhead" at southern Israel, Abu Qusai, a spokesman for the group, said in Gaza. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had not detected that any such rocket was fired, nor was there any report of such a weapon hitting Israel. I say take them at their word. Kill them

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Jihad Militant Killed In Israeli Raid

2006-02-07

Tel Aviv, 6 Feb. (AKI) - Israeli soldiers killed an Islamic Jihad commander in a raid on the West Bank town of Nablus on Tuesday morning. Two Israeli soldiers were injured in the skirmish, Israel Radio reported. About ten army jeeps entered the city before dawn and surrounded a house where militant commander, Ahmed Radad, was hiding, the report said. "Be bery, bery quiet. We're hunting jihadis. heh heh heh heh heh..." "Enough with the jokes, Abner. Just park the damn jeep." According to an Israeli Defence Force spokesman when the troops called on residents to leave the building, "Come out or we'll shoot!" a Palestinian began shooting toward troops from inside. "You'll never take us alive, infidel!" The troops returned fire, the spokesman said. "Hokay..KAPOW!" Islamic Jihad confirmed to the Associated Press that Radad, a senior official in the radical Islamist movement, was killed in the shootout. "He's dead, Jim" The attack follows an incident on Monday night when the Israeli military fired a missile at a car killing two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the Israelis the attack was launched at a group of militants preparing a Qassam rocket attack against Israel. A Palestinian security source cited by Tel Aviv daily Haartez, identified the dead in Monday's strike as Rami Hanun and Hassan Asfour, local commanders of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing close to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Al-Aqsa vowed revenge. "Our answer is open war on all Zionists, soldiers and civilians," Haartez quoted a spokesman for the group Abu Qusai as saying. Paramedics and witnesses said the missile destroyed the car and incinerated the two men inside. Three bystanders were wounded in the blast, they said. The targeted vehicle was a yellow minibus traveling on a farm road. Riding the Short Bus to oblivion, nice touch

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Israel-Palestine

Hezbollah trying to get Intifada back on track

2005-02-10

Hizbollah guerrillas are trying to recruit Palestinian militants for attacks on Israelis in order to sabotage Middle East peace efforts, senior Palestinian officials said on Wednesday. The accusations, a day after Israel and the Palestinians announced a cease-fire, echoed charges from the Jewish state. The officials declined to be identified. Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, said in a statement no such contacts had taken place, and a senior Palestinian security adviser said he had received assurances that Hizbollah would abide by the truce. A top Palestinian official said security services were investigating Hizbollah funding for militants in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Another said links were spotted via intercepted communications. "We know that Hizbollah has been trying to recruit suicide bombers in the name of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to wage attacks that would sabotage the truce," an official said about an armed group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. Another official said intercepted e-mail communications and bank transactions suggested Hizbollah had raised its cash offers to militants, but it was unclear if this reflected a heightened desire to see violence flare up or a dearth of recruits. "Now they are willing to pay $100,000 for a whole operation (suicide bombing) whereas in the past they paid $20,000, then raised it to $50,000," the second official told Reuters. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a cease-fire at a summit in Egypt on Tuesday to end four years of bloodshed and prepare the ground for peacemaking. Militants have said they are not bound by the truce, but will maintain a recent calm at the request of Abbas. Israel has long accused Hizbollah, whose attacks helped end its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000, of bankrolling a Palestinian revolt that erupted later that year. Hizbollah has acknowledged some support for Palestinian militant groups. Palestinian officials blamed a recent attack in the West Bank city of Nablus on the guerrilla group. Officials accused Hizbollah of sending money to the West Bank and Gaza via relatives among the 400,000-strong Palestinian refugee community in Lebanon. Many refugees who fled the 1948 war of Israel's creation fear that Abbas will abandon demands for a "right to return" to lands inside Israel, though he has said he would not. Senior Palestinian security adviser Jibril al-Rajoub said Lebanese officials had told him during talks in Beirut that Hizbollah would not sabotage efforts at calm. "Hizbollah will respect the decision of the leadership of the Palestinian people of their commitment to the cease-fire." Representatives of al-Aqsa Brigades, a disparate coalition of gunmen, denied getting help from the Shi'ite guerrillas. "We respect Hizbollah but Palestinian resistance is capable of leading its struggle alone and is able to support itself by itself," said Abu Qusai, Gaza spokesman for the faction. A Lebanese-born Palestinian with Danish citizenship awaits trial in Tel Aviv, accused of spying and trying to recruit Israeli Arabs for Hizbollah missions. He denies the charges.

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Israel-Palestine

PA condemns attacks as populace celebrates

2004-03-14

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei condemned Sunday's suicide attacks in Ashdod, saying such actions provide Israel with an excuse to continue its "aggression" against the Palestinians and build the security fence. The denunciation came as scores of Palestinians took to the streets in the Jenin and Jabalya refugee camps to "celebrate" the attacks. Drivers honked car horns as gunmen fired into the air to express their joy. Others distributed sweets to passersby, hailing the suicide bombers and calling on all Palestinian groups to step up their "resistance operations against the Israeli enemy." "This is a natural response to the massacres perpetrated against our people," said Abu Qusai, one of the leaders of Fatah's armed wing, the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. "We tell the Zionist enemy that it must expect more heroic operations like the one in Ashdod." The Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility with Hamas for the Ashdod attacks. PA officials said the Fatah group's growing involvement in suicide attacks is a source of major concern for the PA leadership. "People are asking themselves, if we can't control our own men, how can we be expected to rein in Hamas and other groups," said one official. "Before we talk about enforcing law and order in the streets, we must first take drastic measures to put an end to the state of anarchy and rebellion in Fatah." Zakariya Zubaidi, commander of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Jenin area, said last week in response to the killing of four Fatah gunmen by the IDF that his group has decided to resume suicide attacks inside Israel. The group has refrained in the past few months from launching such attacks inside the Green Line, arguing that its fight is directed against the occupation and IDF soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In Ramallah, a statement issued by Qurei's office said: "The higher national interests of the Palestinian people require an immediate cessation of such actions. The Palestinian government condemns the targeting of civilians on both sides and the continuation of the series of military escalation." Qurei reiterated his call for a mutual cease-fire with Israel to break the cycle of violence and implement the road map plan for peace in the Middle East. PA Chairman Yasser Arafat issued a similar statement, noting that the purpose of the attack was to thwart the planned summit between Qurei and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

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