Middle East Focus: A Salafi al-Qaeda Crescent: from the Gulf to Iraq and Syria and Lebanon (and Egypt?)……………

Arabia Deserta

A Salafi al-Qaeda Crescent: from the Gulf to Iraq and Syria and Lebanon (and Egypt?)……………

Rattlesnake Ridge

BFF

Uninvited Salafi visitors to Iraq from sisterly Arab states have been slaughtering civilians by the tens and hundreds for years now. All of these al-Qaeda terrorists come from Arab states. Recruits from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and places like Jordan and Libya flocked into Iraq to do “God’s” work by killing Shi’a civilians. They almost always attacked Iraqi civilians: they were brave enough to stay clear of armed American soldiers. At least some of them reportedly sneaked into Iraq through Syria, in the days when the Syrian Ba'athist regime had its own agenda in Iraq. But Iraq has long borders with other Arab neighbors to the soutwest, especially Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Now apparently al-Qaeda agents have started to operate in Syria as well, something that was bound to happen given that Salafi groups are part of the opposition to the Assad regime. The huge bombing this Friday in Damascus is the first in the Syrian capital since the bombing that killed Hezbollah official Imad Mughniya early in 2008. The Syrian media claim it was the work of al-Qaeda, which makes sense to me since nobody else in the region is in the business of suicide bombings. Some Arab regimes would do the dirty work and blame others, but not in suicide bombing cases: nobody in their right mind would die for an Arab despot, not even for Bashar al-Assad.
What is as ominous is a Lebanese report by the commander of the Army that Salafis have been smuggling arms and setting up shop in northern Lebanon.
Remember when King Abdul of Jordan warned of a “Shi’a Crescent” (no, the king was not wearing his Captain Kirk space suit at the time)? Now there may be a small but annoying “Terror Crescent” of Salafi Wahhabis extending from the Persian-American Gulf through western Iraq to Syria and northern Lebanon. It also skips Iran and extends eastward into Pakistan and Afghanistan. If they can also get a foothold in Egypt, then old man Mubarak may be entitled to crow: ”I told you so”.
(Egyptian media report that Salafis in Egypt have received a lot of Saudi and Gulf funds before the last elections. They came in a respectable second, a shocking result).
I left out Yemen and Somalia, both Arab states, but that is another crescent.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com