Category Archives: Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Saudi Army of Islam to Invade Syria: a Wahhabi Blast from the Afghan Past?………

      

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“Saudi Arabia is preparing to spend millions of dollars to arm and train thousands of Syrian militiamen in a new opposition force dubbed ‘Army of Islam’ to fight the national military, The Guardian daily reported Thursday. Citing Syrian, Arab and western sources, the UK newspaper said the intensifying Saudi effort is focused on Jaysh al-Islam (the Army of Islam or JAI), created in late September by a union of 43 Syrian groups. According the article, the JAI will be trained with Pakistani help, and estimates of its likely strength range from 5,000 to more than 50,000. But diplomats and experts warned on Thursday that there are serious doubts about its prospects as well as fears of “blowback” by extremists returning from Syria…………”

The Saudis also demanded that all “other” countries, like Iran and Russia, stop meddling in Syrian affairs. The idea is for this new Wahhabi army to recreate the glory days of Afghanistan, starting with the 1980s. Financed by Saudi princes and Emirati potentates, armed by the Western powers, trained by Pakistan’s ruling military generals of the ISI. Does this remind you of anything, perhaps a Wahhabi blast from the past that created the Taliban and Al-Qaeda?

Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Syria

Syria’s Northwest Passage………

      

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“The face of the rebellion has changed since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began nearly 1,000 days ago. Black flags with white calligraphy are increasingly common — a sign of the growing influence of Islamist extremists. Since Assad’s regime lost control of the northern borders in the summer of 2012, they have been streaming into the country. Now, foreigners are fighting alongside Syrians. They include Chechens, Libyans, Tunisians, Belgians and Germans — all jihadists fighting a war for Islam against what they believe is an infidel regime. Some already fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, and bring their valuable combat experience with them. Still others have spent time behind bars for their jihadist past, and from there they have found their way to the Syrian front……………………”

Yes, they come in from the North, mainly through Turkey but some through northern Iraq and some through Jordan. They are gaining valuable experience, using Saudi money and Western training and arms. And when it is all over in Syria and Iraq and Lebanon and Turkey, they will head to their homes in other Arab lands and in Europe. The oil potentates may yet regret again their dabbling in this new Afghanistan Jihad.
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Terrorism

Al Qaeda: Technically No More Water-Boarding, Abu Shlomo al-Israeli………

      

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“United States interrogators who specialize in so-called high value targets will question a suspected al Qaeda operative aboard an American warship without reading him his rights, U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday. The suspect, Abu Anas al-Libi, was whisked off the streets of the Libyan capital of Tripoli over the weekend. He will be taken to the United States to stand trial in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the officials said. The interrogation will be conducted by a team including representatives of the CIA, the FBI and the military aboard the USS San Antonio, an amphibious helicopter carrier in the Mediterranean Sea…………..”

Having this guy floating over the Mediterranean means there will be no need for water-boarding (provided they still do it the Cheney way). Not technically, if you get my drift.

Al-Qaeda terrorists have a habit of giving each of their operatives and top officials a nom de guerre. al-Libi is from Libya, al-Masri is from Egypt, al-Golani is (allegedly, but I doubt it) from the Golan, al-‘Afflangi is from ‘Afflang on the Persian Gulf), Abu Shlomo al-Israeli is from Tel Aviv, etc.
Oddly, I have never seen anybody with a nom de guerre ending in a-Saudi or al-Qatari, which is unusual given that many are. Come to think of it, I never see any nom de guerre that ends with al-Irani or al-Shee’i either.
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, History

The Possibly True Story and History of Al-Qaeda…………

      

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the global terrorist network al-Qaeda. Here are some of the milestone moments in the militant organization’s 25-year history:


  • Aug. 11, 1988: Founders Larry Wentworth and Mark Gold establish the organization and settle on a name
  • Nov. 14, 1990: Headquarters moved to Delaware for tax purposes 
  • Dec. 18, 1991: Al-Qaeda pulls off the first of its trademark prankings 
  • July 29, 1998: With Ayman al-Zawahiri excitedly ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell, al-Qaeda goes public at $18 a share 
  • Mar. 3, 2002: PeopleSoft rolled out across the terrorist network to help operatives keep better track of hours and vacation time 
  • Mar. 24, 2002: Al-Qaeda leaders secretly meet with Saddam Hussein in Dick Cheney’s imagination 
  • July 30, 2002: Thanked in the liner notes to Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising 
  • Oct. 15, 2005: Al-Qaeda’s audio/visual department spins off into an independent and highly successful media production company called Lucid Entertainment 
  • Sept. 28, 2008: Forced to call off plot to destroy U.S. financial system after Americans take care of it themselves……………”

Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Pakistan, Syria, Taliban

Taliban Join FSA in Syria: There is No Bombing Like Drone Bombing……

      

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“The Pakistani Taliban have set up camps and sent hundreds of men to Syria to fight alongside rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, militants said on Sunday, in a strategy aimed at cementing ties with al Qaeda’s central leadership. More than two years since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion, Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni fighters who have flocked to the Middle Eastern nation to join what they see as a holy war against Shi’ite oppressors. Operating alongside militant groups such as the al Nusra Front, described by the United States as a branch of al Qaeda, they mainly come from nearby countries such as Libya and Tunisia riven by similar conflict as a result of the Arab Spring……………….”

It was a natural step, given the variety of Arab, Chechen, Bosnian, and other cutthroats fighting the regime and each other in Syria. With Al-Qaeda and several of its franchises doing what they consider God’s murder in Syria, it was only a matter of time before the Taliban showed up.

Or maybe it is a trick by the Pakistani Taliban to drag Mr. Obama into the Syrian trap. It is no secret that the Taliban love Mr. Obama about as much as they would love any Shi’a ayatollah (which is slightly less than they approve of a bare-faced woman who can read). Given that the drones are attacking gatherings in Pakistan on a regular basis, it is natural for the Taliban to expect the drones to also enter the fray in Syria. On the other hand, that may fall in nicely with some neoconservatives who have been pushing for the US to bomb someone or something or somewhere in Syria. After all, drone bombing is still a from of bombing. It beats no bombing.
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Hezbollah, Syria

Hearts and Minds in Aleppo, Ku Klux Klan in Aleppo, Warm and Fuzzy Hezbollah…………

      

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“Rebels say their immediate aim is to cut off supplies from government troops, but it appears the blockade is also part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening support for the government and pressuring civilians in government-held areas to leave. If the western part of Aleppo, now home to two million Syrians, becomes empty of civilians, a ground assault by rebels would be easier to carry out and more morally defensible, rebels argue. Abu al-Haytham, a fighter whose unit is among those enforcing the siege, stressed that the Free Syrian Army’s aim was not to punish residents but to block government supplies and prompt civilians to seek refuge elsewhere, opening the way for a ground attack. “Our siege is not just about tomatoes and cucumbers. We want to storm security buildings, and the presence of civilians is obstructing our movement,” he said in a Skype interview. But for citizens trying to get by, it is more basic: it is about eating. Recently, a woman was trying to cross back into the government-controlled part of the city when she was stopped at a rebel checkpoint. Fighters refused to let her cross with the prize she had come for: bags of fruits, vegetables and medicine…………….”

Liwaa al-Tawheed is an Islamist fundamentalist group, most likely another Salafi gang. That is what its name tells me: al-Tawheed, al-Farooq, al-Umma, al-Sunna, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, Abu Qatada, Abu Yazeed, Abu Lahab and a few other “al‘s” and “Abu‘s” that plague Syria these days. The meaning of the name is as clear to me as the Ku Klux Klan in the American Deep South (and elsewhere nowadays).
These guys, these Salafi cutthroats, make Hezbollah, so demonized in American media courtesy of the Israeli lobby, seem like absolutely sweet and warm and fuzzy. Compared to them, Hezbollah is an effete combination of cotton candy and pussy cat (and quiche-lover).
Then of course everybody on all Syrian sides is nervous: the battle for Aleppo is looming. It will probably come after the contest for Homs is settled, which seems to be soon.
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Europe, Hezbollah, Israel, Terrorism

New Doubts Cast on Bulgarian Accusations in Terror Bombing……..

         

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“But European ministers who demand hard evidence of Hezbollah involvement are not likely to find it in the Bulgarian report on the investigation, which has produced no more than an “assumption” or “hypothesis” of Hezbollah complicity. Major revelations about the investigation by the former head of the probe and by a top Bulgarian journalist have further damaged the credibility of the Bulgarian claim to have found links between the suspects and Hezbollah. The chief prosecutor in charge of the Bulgarian investigation revealed in an interview published in early January that the evidence available was too scarce to name any party as responsible, and that investigators had found a key piece of evidence that appeared to contradict it. An article in a Bulgarian weekly in mid-January confirmed that the investigation had turned up no information on a Hezbollah role, and further reported that one of the suspects had been linked by a friendly intelligence service to Al-Qaeda………….”

There is no need for a “friendly intelligence service” to link the Bulgaria terrorist operation to Al-Qaeda. I noted early on strong doubts about the early Western media and “anonymous officials” allegations, given the MO of the terrorists. Even as Mr. Netanyahu was pointing fingers toward others. I reproduce some comments and my previous posts on this:

“Netanyahu had been sifting through the news for a few days, looking for something new to pin on the Iranians, his usual accusation du jour. It had been a slow week: no terrorist activity, not even a major traffic pile-up disaster. His luck was about to turn. The right-wing Bulgarian authorities got it a bit wrong and blamed Hezbollah instead, but only because of the imminent European Union decision on its “terrorist list”. One day later the center and left-wing Bulgarian “opposition” struck.…….. Why do “they” insist on politicizing these investigations so openly and flagrantly, on aiming them toward certain conclusions? That only loses them credibility, even if their conclusions might be correct. That is just what happened to the corrupt and incompetent Lebanon STL Hariri investigation (remember first it was Syria, then Iran and Syria then Hezbollah then the Mexican Cartel then the Girl Scouts of Arabia). Her are links to some of my posts on this Bulgaria terror attack.……….“

On the other hand, it is possible
that Hezbollah went totally stupid and decided to do a traceable
terrorist bombing in the heart of eastern Europe. On the eve of the EU decision on listing it on a terrorist list. They have done a similarly stupid thing, in the summer of 2006. The Iranians once claimed that the Mossad did the Bulgarian operation, which is as stupid as claiming that Iranians killed their own nuclear scientists.

On the other hand, it could have been the irresistible urge to avenge the Israeli bombing of Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in February 2008. But the timing casts suspicion on the claim of the right-wing Bulgarian authorities. Nevertheless, many Arab leaders and especially royal potentates are holding their breath, praying toward Brussels, for the EU to do the Israeli bidding and “list” Hezbollah.

Bulgaria: Did Hezbollah Go Stupid at a ‘Convenient’ Time?

Case for an Israeli Attack? a Boy’s Wolf, Michael Oren, Deep Throat II, Salacious Pun

About Netanyahu, the Mullahs, and all them Plots

Terrorism: Hallmarks of the Bulgaria Suicide Bomber with a “Shaved Head

N Y Times and Anonymous Deep Throat Certain Iran was Behind Bulgaria Terror Attack

Terrorism: Bibi Natanyahu with Bulgarian Egg on His Face, For Now

Terrorism in Iran and Bulgaria, Netanyahu and Hitler and Danzig and Sudetenland


Cheers
mhg

[email protected]


Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Salafi, Syria, Tunisia

Salafis of Tunisia: All Roads Lead to Syria and Iraq and Mali and…………

         

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      

“The cradle of the Arab Spring is increasingly looking like the birthplace of jihadists. Long before Tunisia ousted its dictator and inspired the North African pro-democracy movement, the small, relatively prosperous country had the more dubious distinction of exporting Islamic militants. Experts say the flow of fighters is getting worse……….. Though no one knows for sure just how many Tunisian fighters have traveled abroad, evidence suggests it remains one of the top exporters of jihadists per capita. Tunisians have turned up on the battlefields of Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Mali. The 32-man militant strike team that seized a gas plant in Algeria and took dozens of foreign workers hostage was more than one-third Tunisian………………”


“The left accuses these groups of affiliation with the ruling moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, and say it has failed to root out the violence. The party denies any link or control to the groups. But it is the rise of Salafist-associated political violence that is causing the most concern in the region. Banned in Tunisia under the 23-year regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which ruthlessly cracked down on all forms of Islamism, Salafists in Tunisia have become increasingly vocal since the 2011 revolution………… Indeed, when an al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb cell was broken up in Tunisia last year, all its members were also found to be active in another Salafist grouping – Ansar al-Sharia…………Tunisian jihadists are said to have left for Syria..….……”

“Alquds Alarabi quotes Tunisian newssources that at least 50% of those Jihadis killed near Aleppo airport the other day were Tunisians………”

Odd that the most secular Arab state, actually what was the most secular Arab state, is now a major source of Salafi Jihadi terrorists. More than Saudi Arabia or other places closer to the heartland of Salafism in the Arabian Peninsula. Only a few years ago, France was the favorite destination for most young Tunisians fed up with things at home. It probably still is, only now many of them head east and south, to the killing fields of Arab and Muslim lands. To kill and massacre other Arabs and Muslims, based on warped doctrines and teachings of Wahhabi clerics.
For Salafi jihadis, almost all roads lead to Ba’athist Syria now, that is the prize these days. To Islamize the last remaining secular state in the Arab world, albeit a repressive police state. Preferably with the help of the hated heathens of NATO who also liberated Libya and Iraq before. These same Tunisian and other Arab Jihadis who flock to Syria to fight against the repressive regime would also flock to Bahrain to fight FOR the repressive tribal Al Khalifa dynasty. Some roads lead to the terrorist killing fields of Iraq, some to Libya, Mali, Algeria. Egypt does not need to import jihadis yet: it has plenty of the home-grown variety. They just need outside money, plenty of which they seem to be getting from “somewhere”.
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Cinema, Iraq, Saudi Arabia

Zero Dark Baghdad? Saudi Detainees in Iraqi Guantanamo………….

         

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter      


“Twenty Saudi detainees in Iraqi prisons were tortured after the Iraqi national team lost the Gulf Cup football tournament to the UAE in a match supervised by a Saudi referee, according to Thamer Balheed, head of the Saudi detainees in Iraq. Balheed told Al Arabiya TV that the Saudi prisoners were severely beaten and insulted by Iraqi prison guards who blamed the Saudi referee for their national team’s 1-2 defeat to the UAE. A sport commentator on an Iraqi television network lost his temper during the match, issuing live prayers against Saudi referee Khalil al-Ghamdi and accusing him of being unfair to Iraq. Iraq and Saudi Arabia have recently resumed security cooperation talks, including discussion on a prisoners exchange deal. This came after a Saudi man was released from an Iraqi jail and said he was tortured by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Balheed has previously stated that up to 60 Saudi detainees are being held in Iraqi prisons. He noted that they are being kept in different prisons and are all staying in deplorable conditions and exposed to various forms of torture…………….”


This would be a terrible story, if it were (completely) true. Yet it is hard to credit a story of Iraqis torturing Saudi prisoners because they lost a game to Emiratis. Especially if the source is the Saudi semi-official Alarabiya network. I am against both torture and the death penalty: they are both barbaric no matter who inflicts it and who is at the receiving end.

I doubt that any of these Saudis entered Iraq to visit the shrines in Karbala. The Iraqis suspect that most of them snuck (okay, sneaked) in illegally to bomb and murder Iraqi civilians. As they and their other Al-Qaeda colleagues from various Arab states have been doing in Iraq for 12 years. I also suspect that the headlining is partly aimed at creating more hostility toward Iraqi Arabs inside the Arabian Peninsula. However, I can be wrong: torture has been common in Iraq for decades, its art perfected by the Baath Party. So have executions, and the new regime in Baghdad is an avid executioner: as avid as Iran and Saudi Arabia and Texas. It is hard to give up old habits.

Of course, the Saudis automatically quickly behead any foreigner they suspect of plotting terrorism on their soil. I can give a long list of that. I can also give a long list of those beheaded on charges of witchcraft and sorcery and magic and fortune-telling and interpreting dreams (both dry and wet), among other things. And the regime, and the system, are have been at it longer.

On the other hand I saw the film Thirty Dark Zero yesterday. It is about the CIA allegedly torturing its way throughout several little Guantanomos around the world. Torturing its way toward Osama Bin Laden and his merry little band of terrorists (and a bunch of their poor innocent children) in AbbottAndCostelloAbad, Pakistan. 
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]

Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, GCC, UAE

2. UAE and Saudis Tie Dissidents to Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda and Al Capone and……….

        

 Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter                                   


“The United Arab Emirates has reported a plot to destabilize the Gulf Cooperation Council state. Officials said the UAE captured a cell linked to Al Qaida in December. They said the cell consisted of nationals from Saudi Arabia
assigned to conduct a destabilization campaign in the region…………In a statement on Dec. 26, Wam said the plot called for attacks in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Wam said the alleged members of what was termed a “deviant group” acquired material for the attacks. This marked the first time that Abu Dhabi reported an Al Qaida plot. Officials said the plot appeared to represent a regional effort by Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Officials said Abu Dhabi and Riyad cooperated in the counter-insurgency investigation………….”

Tying their regional enemies to Al-Qaeda is an old trick by potentates along the Gulf. The Saudis started it by trying to tie the Iranian mullahs (all good Shia’ heretics to the Al Saud) to Al-Qaeda (all good Wahhabi cutthroats: domestically to discredit Al-Qaeda in the eyes of the Wahhabi faithful for cooperating with the Shi’a mullahs, and internationally to further discredit the Iranians in the West. The Saudis probably got the idea from Dick Cheney who tied Saddam Hussein to Al-Qaeda in 2002. But unlike the Cheney fabrication, the Saudi one did not work.
Now the UAE potentates are using that old trick, trying to hook up their Muslim Brotherhood enemies with the Salafi terrorists. In other words, tying the current Egyptian regime to Al-Qaeda. Actually tying their own dissidents to Al-Qaeda, thus discrediting them in American eyes. Just as they, and other Gulf GCC potentates and their media, are also tying the Iranians to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (see my previous post).
Actually everywhere Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood are on opposite sides, especially in Yemen. Ironically, the one place were Al-Qaeda terrorists and the Muslim Brotherhood see eye to eye and cooperate is in Syria. But that Syrian cooperation is encouraged by the GCC potentates and by the GCC Salafists and by the GCC Muslim Brotherhood groups. Once Bashar Al-Assad is out of the way, WTF he will be, then the two sides may decide to settle scores and fight over what is left of Syria, at the cost of thousands more Syrians dead and wounded and many more made into refugees.
Remember Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s? The Mujahideen and Taliban destroyed more of Afghanistan in the 1990s than the Soviet War had done in the 1980s. Hard to believe that any force can destroy an Arab country more than Baathist rule, but it can happen.
Cheers
mhg

[email protected]