Jun 3 2013

Syria peace talks likely to be postponed as Russia plans to ship more weapons

source: Haroon Siddique, Richard Norton-Taylor, Shiv Malik and Dan Roberts in Washington The Guardian

John Kerry

John Kerry, who said the delivery of Russian weapons to Syria was ‘not helpful’ while the peace conference was being organised. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Geneva negotiations conceived by US and Russia will not take place in early June as hoped, say diplomats

Peace talks in Geneva between Syria‘s warring parties are almost certain to be postponed after further diplomatic setbacks on Friday, as Russia announced its intention to ship more weaponry to the Assad regime.

Heavy fighting continued on the ground in Syria, where it emerged that a British man and American woman had been killed, apparently while fighting with the rebels in Idlib, in the north, earlier this week.

The US and Russia had together conceived the Geneva talks between the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition, raising hopes that the two superpowers, long at odds over the civil war raging in the country, could at last make some progress in curbing the violence.

But after the Syrian National Coalition leader George Sabra ruled out taking part while civilians were being killed and “in light of Hezbollah and Iran’s militia’s invasion of Syria”, diplomats admitted that the talks would not take place in early June as scheduled. They remain hopeful that they will go ahead, probably in July or August.

However, the US and Russia’s differences were once more brought into stark relief with the news that Russia’s MiG aircraft maker is finalizing an agreement to ship at least 10 fighter jets to Syria. MiG’s director general, Sergei Korotkov, said a Syrian delegation was in Moscow to discuss the details of a new contract for the delivery of MiG-29 M/M2 fighters.

The US has already criticized Russia for agreeing to deliver S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, a deal that has prompted alarm in neighbouring Israel.

“It is not helpful to have the S-300 transferred to the region while we are trying to organize this peace [conference] and create peace,” the US secretary of state, John Kerry, said at a joint news conference with Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, in Washington. (***but to arm the rebels its no problem, it does not harm the peace? what asses!)

“We ask them again not to upset the balance within the region with respect to Israel,” Kerry added. “The weaponry that is being provided … has a profoundly negative impact on the balance of interests and the stability of the region and it does put Israel at risk. It is not, in our judgment, responsible because of the size of the weapons, the nature of the weapons and what it does to the region in terms of Israel’s security, so we hope that they will refrain from that in the interests of making this peace conference work.” (****Poor Israel she can attack anyone but no one can attack her)

More than 80,000 people have been killed in the fighting in Syria, according to the UN. On Friday, Syrian TV reported that the British man, Ali Almanasfi, 22, from Acton, west London, was killed, alongside an American woman and another unidentified westerner, on Wednesday. Syrian TV posted a picture of Almanasfi’s passport and graphic pictures of his body were posted on the internet.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We understand that a British national has been killed in Syria. Their family have been informed and we are providing consular assistance.”

Scotland Yard confirmed that his family had filed a missing persons report on 4 February, and it is understood the report contains the family’s fears that he may have traveled abroad.

At the flat where Almanasfi’s mother and sister live, his family were visited by two police officers but refused to comment on reports of his death.

Almanasfi’s brother-in-law Kusai Noah said he was stunned about the news of his death. “He didn’t tell anyone that he’d gone … we didn’t know that he was going anywhere,” he said. “He disappeared. We made a missing report for the police. This was a couple of months back.”

Syrian TV identified the dead American woman as Nicole Mansfield, 33, from Michigan. “I’m just devastated,” her aunt, Monica Mansfield Speelman, told Reuters. “Evidently, she was fighting with opposition forces.” Speelman said the FBI had informed the family on Thursday afternoon.

Their deaths came amid growing concerns about the increasing prominence of jihadist groups within the rebel fighters. The most powerful, Jabhat al-Nusra, pledged allegiance to al-Qaida in April. The uprising against Bashar al-Assad began with peaceful protests in March 2011 but has since erupted into a bloody civil war. Assad maintained from the start that he was fighting against “terrorists”, including foreign jihadists.

Almanasfi was known to MI5 along with other British citizens who have gone to Syria to fight with different rebel groups, intelligence sources made clear on Friday.

British counter-terrorist officials, almost certainly including MI5 officers, are said to have tried to persuade him not to go. “We do try and stop people from going. We have to do it by persuasion as we can’t stop them from going to France or Turkey,” a Whitehall source said.

Most Britons going to fight in Syria travel via France or Turkey. Between 70 and 100 are believed to have gone so far but it is difficult to be precise as nothing may be known about them before they make for Syria.

British security and intelligence officials describe the number of British citizens or residents going to fight for rebel groups, including those supporting al-Qaida, as “worrying”.

The UK and France have faced criticism for forcing the EU to end an embargo on arms sales to Syrian rebels, with concerns raised that they will only prolong the conflict and inevitably fall into the hands of jihadists, despite the UK’s insistence that if weapons are sent they will only go to the “good” rebels. Hours after the UK and France’s actions at the EU meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, Russia announced delivery of the S-300 missiles to Syria. The deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, argued that the delivery of the S-300 system had been previously agreed with the Syrian government in Damascus and would be a “stabilizing factor” that could dissuade “some hotheads” from entering the conflict.

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Jun 3 2013

Israel is Fighting a Regional War in Syria

By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

Global Research,

La marcha hacia la guerra: Israel se prepara para la guerra contra el Líbano y Siria

The changing internal situation in Syria is putting a new set of plans into motion, which involve Israeli aggression against Syria.

Not only have the US and its allies been trying to militarily buttress the retreating anti-government militias, but now they aim to create a new phase in the conflict where states start asserting leverage against Syria in place of the weakening anti-government forces. In other words, external pressure is being applied to replace the declining internal pressure.

The entry of Israeli troops and the Mossad security service into Syria with repeated Israeli air strikes via illegal use of Lebanese airspace on the Syrian military research facility in the town of Jamraya clarifies Israel’s role in destabilizing Syria. Israel has also admitted that “intense intelligence activity” is being maintained in Syria by Israeli forces and that it is even thinking of occupying more Syrian territory as a new “buffer zone.” Fox News, which is openly biased in favor of Israel, has released a video of Israeli troops illegally crossing the Syrian border. Reports have also come out of Syria that an Israeli military vehicle was seized during fighting with anti-government forces in the town of Qusair, inside Syrian territory.

Free Syrian Army fighters prepare to raid a house in Daraa May 16, 2013. Picture taken May 16, 2013.(Reuters / Thaer Abdallah)

Free Syrian Army fighters prepare to raid a house in Daraa May 16, 2013. Picture taken May 16, 2013.(Reuters / Thaer Abdallah)

Epicentre of a Regional War?

The events involving Israel are part of the trend to expand and internationalize the Syrian conflict by creating violent spillovers. In the words of one British newspaper: “If anyone had doubts that Syria’s gruesome [conflict] is already spinning into a wider Middle East conflict, [Israeli attacks in] the past few days should have laid them to rest.” Turkey and Israel, like the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, are themselves undeniably involved in the fighting as aggressors against Syria. Turkey has conducted reconnaissance work for NATO in Syria, it hosts NATO Patriot missiles aimed at Syria (with the possibility of deployment against Iran and Russia), and openly aids the anti-government forces. Israel has been the more discreet of the two, but it has sent the Mossad into Syria and built facilities in the Golan Heights to aid the insurgency. Both countries have continuously threatened Syria and pushed for NATO intervention and no-fly zones. All the while, the US has been prodding Ankara and Tel Aviv to continue with the war footing and has even examined selling Turkey natural gas from the US to economically de-link the Turks from Syria’s allies Russia and Iran and the leverage they have over Turkey.

In reality, Syria is merely one front in a broader hegemonic struggle that spans from NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan and Iraq to Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The Lebanese Republic looks like the next target for destabilization in the broader struggle that Syria is a front in. There are fears that there may be a parliamentary and governmental vacuum in Beirut as a result of the spillover from Syria that could be capitalized to ignite another Lebanese internal conflict. Tensions between the pro-Syrian Hezbollah-led March 8 Alliance and the anti-Syrian Hariri-led March 14 Alliance have been building as a result of the conflict in Syria. Both sides in Lebanon are involved in the Syrian conflict.

Lebanon has been dragged into the conflict, because Syria is being used as an arena for striking and crippling Hezbollah and the March 8 Alliance with the aim of turning Lebanon into a colony controlled by Washington and its allies that will be run by the corrupt Hariri-led March 14 Alliance. Hezbollah has begun fighting on the Syrian side of the Lebanese-Syrian border whereas the March 14 Alliance began sending weapons and funding to the insurgents from the very start of the upheaval in 2011. After months of lying, the Hariri camp in Lebanon was exposed in November 2012 when evidence was provided that proved Hariri’s Future Party member Okab Sakr was behind weapons shipments destined for the Syrian insurgents in coordination with Turkish and Qatari intelligence officers.

In regards to Hezbollah, its members began fighting on the Syrian side of the border under their own initiative. Then the insurgents in Syria began launching attacks on Shiite Muslim villages on both sides of the Lebanese-Syrian border. The anti-government forces in Syria began doing everything they could to provoke Hezbollah into retaliating, including kidnapping Lebanese travellers and, in 2012, deliberately attacking Shiite Muslim shrines in Syria. After the mosque where Hujr ibn Adi Al-Kindi and his son were buried in Syria was desecrated by the insurgents, Hezbollah and Iraqi Shia Muslims were drawn further into the Syrian conflict to protect the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque.

Israeli soldiers stand guard as Syrian residents (unseen) approach the Syria-Israel border in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, near the southern Syrian village of Ar Rafide, on May 7, 2013.(AFP Photo / Menahem Kahana)

Not only have sacrosanct buildings revered by Shiite Muslims been targeted, Sunni Muslim leaders have been murdered and Christian churches have also been desecrated in Syria. Christian spiritual leaders have also been targeted. Iranian officials have pointed the finger at the US, Israel, and the Saudis for the desecration of these Syrian holy sites and the targeting of minorities.

While the majority of Syria’s Arab population and Sunni Muslim population support the Syrian government against the insurgents and their foreign backers, there is a real push to draw the Syria conflict along the sectarian lines of Arabs versus non-Arabs and Sunni Muslims versus Alawites and the Shiite Muslim community. Various minority groups have been systematically targeted. The Druze, Maronite Catholic Christians, Melkite Greek Catholic Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Orthodox Christians, Syriac Orthodox Christians, Alawites, and Twelver (Jaffari) Shiite Muslims all have all been targeted as religious minorities. Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, and Turkoman have been targeted as ethnic minorities.

Iraq knows all too well about the nightmare that Syria is facing. Many of the insurgents in Syria are from Iraq and linked to sectors of Al-Anbar’s Awakening Movement (or the Sons of Iraq Movement), which was tied to Al-Qaeda and began to collaborate and receive funding from the United States during the Anglo-American occupation. If these militants succeed in Syria, they will eventually return to Iraq and ignite an insurgency against the federal government in Baghdad too.

On the other hand, the conflict in Syria has been the catalyst for a strengthening Russian position in the Middle East and the forging of new ties between Hezbollah and Moscow. In October 2011, Hezbollah sent a delegation to Russia to discuss the fighting in Syria. It is clear now that Moscow is coordinating with the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” or Resistance Bloc that includes Syria, Hezbollah, Michel Aoun, and the Palestinians. After holding discussions about Syria in Tehran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov’s April 26 visit to Beirut, during the absence of a formal Lebanese government, embodies this strategic cooperation. Bogdanov’s trip to Lebanon is important, because it was a clear indicator that Russia has forged direct strategic ties with Hezbollah and recognizes the Resistance Bloc as an extension of its own security sphere.

Like Hezbollah, Iran is also a target of the conflict in Syria. This is one of the reasons that Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, made a rare visit to Tehran on April 29 (after meeting with Mikhail Bogdanov) to discuss a common front with the Iranians. The same group of countries targeting Syria and Hezbollah are also targeting Iran. It has been reported that “Israel is preparing to agree a defense co-operation deal with Turkey and three Arab states aimed at setting up an early warning system to detect Iranian ballistic missiles.” Uzi Mahnaimi has explained that this “proposal, referred to by the diplomats involved as ‘4+1’, may eventually lead to technicians from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan working alongside Israelis in joint command-and-control centres.”

The damage caused by an Israeli strike" according to SANA. Israel carried out a pre-dawn air strike near Damascus on May 5, targeting Iranian missiles destined for Lebanon's Hezbollah in the second such raid on Syria in three days, a senior Israeli source said.(AFP Photo / SANA)

The damage caused by an Israeli strike” according to SANA. Israel carried out a pre-dawn air strike near Damascus on May 5, targeting Iranian missiles destined for Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the second such raid on Syria in three days, a senior Israeli source said.(AFP Photo / SANA)

Just as Hezbollah has confirmed that it is involved in the fighting in Syria and promised that Syria’s “real friends”—meaning Iran, Russia, China, and the March 8 Alliance in Lebanon—will not let Syria fall into the hands of the US and its allies, Tehran has told Washington and its allies several times that Syria is the Iranian “redline.” Iranian military commanders have said that Syria is an extension of Iran’s own security parameters. What’s more, the Iranians have openly admitted that they are aiding their Syrian allies and willing to provide further training and assistance to Damascus, as well as intervene militarily to help Syria if the US and its allies attack.

Syria and the Project for the “New Middle East”

What happens in Syria will have major regional and global repercussions. Attempts to create a sectarian war are part of the logic of divide and conquer. This is part of the US and Israel “constructive chaos” strategy to fragment and re-sculpt the entire Middle East along the lines of the Yinon Plan and rehashed versions of it. Iran’s Foreign Minister Salehi has warned that if the conflict in Syria is not ended that it will result in the partition of Syria and the spreading of the conflict throughout the Middle East. The same warnings have been echoing from Russia, Syria, and other places. While the Chinese have kept mostly silent, they realize that the siege of Syria is part of the Pentagon’s roadmap against China. Days before Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to arrive in Beijing, CNN even reported that “China’s foreign ministry spokesman suggested Netanyahu may get a tough, unwelcome message from his Chinese hosts” due to the Israeli strikes on Jamraya.

The situation in Syria is akin to the situation that was created in Iraq during the Anglo-American occupation. It is a continuation of the same process of destabilization that wants to tear the pluralistic fabric of the ancient societies of the Middle East. It is this project that has driven the Christians out of Iraq and destroyed the mixed neighborhoods of Shiites and Sunnis and Arabs and Kurds.

Contemporary Iraq suffers from the virtual realization of both the Yinon Plan and the Biden Plan, which say Iraq should be divided into three sectors. The Kurdistan Regional Government, which is openly working against the sovereignty of Iraq and aligned with Turkey and Israel, is at loggerheads with the federal government in Baghdad and has de facto independence. The corrupt leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government have prevented the Iraqi military from manning certain Iraqi-Syrian border crossings in the north used by the insurgents in Syria and they have allowed the Israelis to use Iraqi Kurdistan as a base of operations against Syria and Iran.

Like they did in Iraq during the chaos, the US and its allies are using money and sectarianism. The insurgency in Syria is being financed by the US and members of its anti-Syrian coalition, such as the Saudis and Qataris. In addition, groups opposed to the Syrian government are being financially co-opted by the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood with the foreign funding it has been receiving to topple the Syrian government. One Damascene opposition figure has admitted that the Muslim Brotherhood “just asked us how much we needed, we told them, and they immediately sent that amount.” Moreover, foreign funds were not only used to pay what he needed, but the Muslim Brotherhood told activists and government opponents that “they should take one per cent of the funding for their personal salaries.”

Israeli infantry soldiers of the Golani brigade take part in exercises during their deployment in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights, near the border with Syria, on May 6, 2013.(AFP Photo / Menahem Kahana)

There should be no doubt that the insurgents in Syria and Israel are on the same side. The anti-government forces in Syria have even thanked Israel on several occasions and were jubilant about the Israeli attacks on Jamraya. As a result of the embarrassing attention they received for being aligned with Israel, the insurgents in Syria have changed gears and tried to save face by ridiculously claiming that Israel is secretly aligned with Bashar Al-Assad, Iran, and Hezbollah.

It says something of significance when Israeli officials say that they do not see an Al-Qaeda takeover of Syria as a threat to Tel Aviv. Amos Gilad, an Israeli military official, has stated very frankly Al-Qaeda is no concern for Israel and “although [its] elements are gaining a foothold in Syria amidst the chaos of the country’s civil war, the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis which preceded it [is] far more threatening” for Israel.

In reality, the governments of Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States are in league with the supposed terrorists that some of them say they oppose or are fighting. They have been using the groups that have been designated as branches of Al-Qaeda as foot soldiers on the ground in Syria and Libya. If successful, they will eventually try to use the same militants to ignite insurgencies in places like Russia’s North Caucasian Federal District.

While Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and the Palestinians are being targeted through the destabilization of Syria, the countries targeting Syria are also preparing the flames that they themselves will also burn in if America’s “New Middle East” comes into fruition through a baptism of fire and blood. Syrian instability and a possible partition of Syria could ignite a civil war in Turkey and even result in the partition of Turkey itself. Jordan too will be consumed by the flames that are burning Syria. If Syria collapses, the Iranians have delivered an unequivocal warning to King Abdullah II of Jordan about his future. Tehran’s message to Abdullah II, a despot who has foreigners arrested merely for talking negatively about him, but is invited to the White House to talk about democracy in Syria, is simple: “You must be aware that if the US decides to go to war with Syria, your kingdom will go in the process.” Nor will Saudi Arabia and Qatar be spared from the flames that the House of Saud and the rival House of Al-Thani are stoking for the Obama Administration and Israel in their Syrian gambit that could eventually ignite a major all-out war in the Middle East and beyond.

This article was originally published on RT Op-Edge.

May 26 2013

The group Belmokhtar threat of further attacks in Niger

Source: Ennahar

The group of Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar threatened new attacks in Niger after the suicide bombings Thursday in a statement posted Friday by Islamists.

Websites ”We will launch more operations” in Niger, says the group, also threatening France and all countries involved militarily in Mali.

The group, the signatories by blood, wrote in his statement that the two attacks on Thursday, which made some twenty people were his “first response to a statement by the President of Niger (Mahamadou Issoufou), inspired by his teachers to Paris, saying that the jihadists were crushed militarily “in the region.

He threatens to “move the war (in Niger) if this country does not withdraw its troops engaged mercenaries” in Mali. ”Let France knows she has made a media victory in his crusade,” the group, saying that withdrawal of the Malian cities was a “choice imposed by the law of war and the desire to preserve the blood of Muslims. “ ”France is trying to escape (the Mali) and to hire mercenaries in its place”, yet the group said in reference to the gradual replacement of French troops by African units.

“We warn all countries who intend to participate in this crusade, even in the name of peace, we will make them taste the taste of death,” the statement said.”The columns of jihadists and would-be martyrs stand ready and waiting for an order to pounce on their targets,” the statement said.

The spokesman for the group, quoted by Mauritanian Alakhbar online agency, said Mokhtar Belmokhtar had “supervised” the attacks on Thursday in Niger against the Nigerian army and the French Areva group. ”This is Belmokhtar who oversaw himself operating plan attacks” that “under the French elite forces ensuring the safety of nuclear installations firm (Areva) and a Nigerian military base,” said spokesman El Hassen Ould Khlil aka Jouleibib.

He says that “more than a dozen fighters participated in these attacks,” conducted jointly by him with the jihadist group Movement for the uniqueness and Jihad in West Africa (Mujao) who had previously claimed the attacks to the AFP.

Jouleibib said the operation had been called by the name of Abu Zeid, a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), killed in late February in the massive Ifoghas (northern Mali) by the French army which occurs from January 11 to Mali to armed African sides against jihadist groups.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former leader of AQIM, left the group in late 2012 to create his own movement, the signatories of the blood, the first major action was a massive and bloody hostage-taking in January on a site Gas In Amenas in southern Algeria.

Chadian President Idriss Deby, whose army intervenes in Mali with the French army, had said in April that Belmokhtar had “exploded” shortly after the death of Abu Zeid. France had confirmed the death of Abu Zeid, but not Mokhtar Belmokhtar said “Blind”.

May 17 2013

Al Qaeda’s plan for Libya Highlighted in Congressional Report

By THOMAS JOSCELYN

An unclassified report published in August highlights al Qaeda’s strategy for building a fully operational network in Libya. The report (“Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile”) was prepared by the federal research division of the Library of Congress (LOC) under an agreement with the Defense Department’s Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.

Al Qaeda’s senior leadership (AQSL) in Pakistan has overseen the effort. AQSL “issued strategic guidance to followers in Libya and elsewhere to take advantage of the Libyan rebellion,” the report reads. AQSL ordered its followers to “gather weapons,” “establish training camps,” “build a network in secret,” “establish an Islamic state,” and “institute sharia” law in Libya.

Each part of this strategy is being implemented, and al Qaeda’s plan has advanced to the final stages. The three conceptual phases of an al Qaeda affiliate’s development are outlined in a chart prepared by the US military and shown here.

The chart shows that, according to the US military, al Qaeda’s operatives in Libya have already completed many of the tasks set forth by AQSL.

“AQSL in Pakistan dispatched trusted senior operatives as emissaries and leaders who could supervise building a network,” the report notes. They have been successful in establishing “a core network in Libya,” but they still act clandestinely and refrain from using the al Qaeda name.

The report finds that al Qaeda “will likely continue to mask its presence under the umbrella of the Libyan Salafist movement, with which it shares a radical ideology and a general intent to implement sharia in Libya and elsewhere.”

Senior terrorists and others involved in effort

Al Qaeda’s emir, Ayman al Zawahiri, has overseen the effort to establish a robust presence in Libya. Other senior al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan have also been involved. Abu Yahya al Liba and Atiyah Abd al Rahman, two top al Qaeda operatives who have been killed in drone strikes, helped guide the project prior to their demise. Some al Qaeda operatives have been tasked with taking over, or forming, katibas – or fighting battalions. Others oversee al Qaeda’s project and coordinate with senior leaders operating elsewhere.

The following al Qaeda operatives in Libya, as well as other suspected al Qaeda-affiliated individuals, are identified by name in the report:

Abu Anas al Libi is described as the “builder of al Qaeda’s network in Libya.” Other names listed for him include ‘Abd al Hamid al Ruqhay, Anas a Suba, and Nazih ‘Abd al Hamid al Rughi. Abu Anas was raised in Tripoli and moved to Afghanistan in the late 1980s, then followed al Qaeda to Sudan in the 1990s. He is “believed to have met Osama bin Laden.” In the late 1990s, Abu Anas “was granted asylum in Britain…but fled that country in 1999 to avoid arrest when he was convicted by an American court in relation to the 1998 terrorist attacks against US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam.” He is an “al Qaeda-trained intelligence specialist” and “well trained in operational security.”

Abu Anas is “most likely involved in al Qaeda strategic planning and coordination between AQSL and Libyan Islamist militias who adhere to al Qaeda’s ideology.” Abu Anas and his fellow al Qaeda operatives “have been conducting consultations with AQSL in Afghanistan and Pakistan about announcing the presence of a branch of the organization that will be led by returnees from Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan, and by leading figures from the former LIFG.” (The LIFG refers to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group formed in Libya in the 1990s.)

The report says that “intense communications” from AQSL in Pakistan are passed through Abu Anas in Libya.

Abd al Baset Azzouz was sent to Libya by Zawahiri and has been close to al Qaeda’s leader “since 1980 and first visited Afghanistan in the 1990s to join the mujahedin fight against the Soviet occupation.” Azzouz “has been operating at least one training center” and “sent some of his estimated 300 men to Brega to make contact with other militant Islamist groups farther west.”

Sufyan ben Qumu is a former Guantanamo detainee who has been tasked with training militia fighters. According to other published accounts, Qumu leads a brigade named Ansar al Sharia, but that is also the name of al Qaeda’s umbrella organization in Libya. Qumu was transferred from Guantanamo to Libya in 2007 and set free in 2010 as part of a general amnesty deal the Qaddafi government granted Islamists and jihadists.

Qumu has denied any links to al Qaeda in interviews with the press. However, the authors of “Al Qaeda in Libya” say the Ansar al Sharia battalion led by Qumu “has increasingly embodied al Qaeda’s presence in Libya, as indicated by its active social-media propaganda, extremist discourse, and hatred of the West, especially the United States.” Qumu has led a campaign of targeted assassinations, including against those opposed to al Qaeda.

Qumu is reportedly suspected of involvement in the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.

Hafiz al-’Aghuri (aka Hayaka Alla) is “a close ally of Wisam Ben Hamid,” and co-leader of Katiba Dir’ Libya. Sitting in front of an al Qaeda flag, al-’Aghuri recorded a video in which he rebutted the Libyan government’s claim that his battalion is insignificant, saying that “Dir’ Libya has secured the southeast border with Chad and Egypt without asking anything from the government.”

Wisam Ben Hamid ”is a young rebel leader who allegedly fought in Iraq.” Two brigades, Katiba al-A’hrar Libya and Katiba Dir’ Libya, are reportedly under his control and both of them are “involved in postrevolutionary militia fighting in the Qaddafi stronghold Sirt and in Kufra in southeast Libya.” Ben Hamid “has been cited as one of the possible leaders of al Qaeda in Libya even though it is unlikely, given his prominence in the media, which contradicts AQSL’s usual penchant for secrecy.”

Abu Jandal al Libi is described as an al Qaeda “adherent” and “Libyan rebel.” Not much is known about Abu Jandal, but he sought guidance from al Qaeda’s legal forum. An al Qaeda theorist known as Abou Mouslim al Djazairi responded to Abu Jandal’s query, issuing a fatwa that he and his allies should secretly “form an organization bringing together sincere and loyal people” and should split from the Transitional National Council, which has “embroiled itself as well as all Libya in the swamp of servitude to the Crusaders.”

Ahmad Abu al Rashid (real name Nauri Husayn) fought in Yemen but has returned to Libya, via Somalia and Sudan. He is described as one of a group of “jihadist Salafists upholding al Qaeda ideology in Libya.” Jihadists “such as Abu al Rashid indeed control militias composed of hundreds of people,” the report reads. Abu al Rashid is among the “returnees from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as elements of the former LIFG” who are “preparing to announce their presence after the conclusion of consultations with AQSL.”

Ansar al Sharia and the militias

The leaders listed above likely constitute a small fraction of al Qaeda’s overall presence in Libya. Citing media reports, the authors of “Al Qaeda in Libya” note that “a few hundred al Qaeda members must currently be operating in Libya.” The report continues by observing that “most of them are likely connected with three katibas – Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah, al-A’hrar Libya in Sirt, and Dir’ Libya in Kufra.”

These three katibas are just the most conspicuous, however, because of “their radical rhetoric and allegiance to the black flag, which symbolizes the commitment to al Qaeda-type militant jihad.”

In addition, the name Ansar al Sharia is used by multiple groups inside Libya. It is not just the name of individual battalions, but also may be al Qaeda’s new overall brand in Libya. Ansar al Sharia is being used by al Qaeda in Yemen, Tunisia and elsewhere to rebrand itself as an organization that represents true Islamic law. For example, the emir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasir al Wuhayshi, is also the emir of Ansar al Sharia Yemen.

The various Ansar al Sharia branches have their own social media sites, including in some cases Facebook pages. Their digital presences, while containing some differences, are also eerily similar. Much of the content and branding is the same, and they all praise senior al Qaeda leaders.

The three battalions identified in the report as most likely affiliated with al Qaeda are just the “tip of the iceberg.” In June 2012, Ansar al Sharia “staged a large-scale rally and military show of force involving dozens of military vehicles, with Islamists wearing the Afghan mujahidin’s traditional outfit.” The rally included “a parade in which some 30 battalions” from various Libyan towns participated “in the first meeting in support of sharia in Benghazi.”

In all, 15 militias attended the Ansar al Sharia rally. It is not clear how many are firmly within al Qaeda’s orbit, allied with the group, or otherwise positioned. Even if some of these militias are not staunchly allied with al Qaeda currently, they may cooperate or be co-opted by the group in the future.

“Al Qaeda in Libya” contains graphic evidence that al Qaeda-affiliated battalions have already acquired heavy armaments, including mobile rocket launchers and self-propelled antiaircraft guns. As al Qaeda’s clandestine network continues to acquire arms, the group will have more firepower with which it can target any dissenters, as well as the shaky Libyan government. (***** these were given by the West and NATO so why are they complaining now???? It was America, England, France and Qatar who was supplying the rebels even the Al Qaeda brats which belong to CIA, MI6 and Mossad everything underlined in red is with America’s blessing so why fight terror when they produce terror? Qaddafi was an ANGEL infront of these TERRORISTS, TYRANTS WHO THINK THAT THEY BRING DEMOCRACY BUT THEY DON’T.)

(****America is doing)Al Qaeda is doing its best to destabilize the new post-Qaddafi government, seeing an opening to inculcate its radical ideology and organization during a time of uncertain transition. Al Qaeda is also exploiting tribal and ethnic conflicts, using them to “build alliances and support, especially in the south, where Arab tribes are fighting the Tubu (Tebu) African minority that straddles the Libya-Chad border.” One of the al Qaeda-connected battalions, Dir’ Libya, is fighting alongside the Arab tribes against the Tubu.

Connections to other al Qaeda franchises

Al Qaeda’s growing presence in Libya is not self-contained, but instead part of an international network. Al Qaeda operatives in Libya work with their counterparts in al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a known al Qaeda affiliate, and other parties throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

Al Qaeda’s “clandestine network in Libya will probably continue to provide critical support to AQIM,” the report reads, “especially with regard to arms procurement and safe passage of militants, which are essential to sustain AQIM’s war in northern Mali.”

The report’s authors warn that Libya “may already have become the favorite destination for would-be jihadists in Syria.” Recruits from north Africa and Europe “are increasingly crossing Libya’s borders on their way to Syria, probably with the blessing of the current Libyan government.” Libya has long been tied to the jihadist network in Syria, as many of the al Qaeda fighters who transited through Syria to fight the US-led coalition in Iraq came from eastern Libya.

Although al Qaeda did not bring the Arab Spring, the terrorist group is seeking to capitalize on it. Al Qaeda “has tried to exploit the ‘Arab Awakening’ in North Africa for its own purposes during the past year,” the report reads.

A clandestine network in Libya is just part of AQSL’s plan.

source: longwarjournal.org

May 14 2013

Germany requests from its nationals in Libya to depart immediately

The Gaddafi International News Agency – Germany.

German foreign nationals are called for in Libya to depart rapidly and immediately without any delay.

This comes after a huge explosion rocked the city of Benghazi, a car bomb yesterday in front of Galaa Hospital, which has inflicted dozens of dead and wounded.

The several Western embassies have left Libya since the unrest weeks because of security and instability gripping the country more than two years ago. Among these embassies. U.S. embassy and the French, British, Australian and others.

May 14 2013

Pentagon: The Deployment of U.S. Troops in Sicily to Intervene in Libya

The Gaddafi International News Agency – Washington.

Spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, George Little, today, that the United States sent military forces to Sicily to intervene if it is exposed its diplomatic mission in Libya threat, and months after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

The ministry spokesman said, “We are ready to intervene if the situation deteriorates, or if requested to do so.”

And exposed the U.S. Department of Defense for sharp criticism in recent months because of its inability to send an intervention force in a timely manner to respond to an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, killing four people, including Ambassador in September.
The spokesman added that these elements of the military who will likely ensure the safety of diplomatic premises or evacuation of American diplomats, stationed at the base Sitjonala of NATO in Sicily, did not provide further clarification.
Washington ordered, last Wednesday, to leave a section of the workers at the embassy in Tripoli, in response to the deteriorating security situation following the blockade imposed on the two ministries armed groups.

Britain took similar action after a car bomb attack on April 23 at the French embassy in Tripoli, which resulted in the injury of the French.

May 2 2013

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will appear in court in Libya

The second son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi , Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, will appear before a criminal court for the infringement committed by the Australian lawyer, Melinda Taylor, said Libyan Justice Minister Salah Mirghani.Taylor was accused of exchanging documents with Saif during the visit of a delegation of the International Criminal Court. Mirghani stressed that the audience is not linked with war crimes against the Libyan people, Libya TV reporting chain. past January Saif was brought before the same court on charges of “acting against state security and try to coordinate a leakage with the delegation of the International Criminal Court. “

Worth mentioning that Seif al-Islam was arrested by French intelligence in November 2011, while trying to get out through the desert to the state neighbouring Niger.–

Apr 30 2013

Syrian rebels traffic in human organs through Turkey

AFP Bulent Kilic

Turkey serves not only as a bridge to the smuggling of weapons into the ranks of the Syrian rebels, but also for human organ trafficking in the opposite direction.

Citizens of the United States, France and Turkey, along with rebel Free Syrian Army are involved in human organ trafficking from Syria, according to the Lebanese channel Al Mayadin. Previously Fars agency had warned that this business thrives on area of the city of Aleppo , in the north of the country, much of which is under the control of the opposition. It is reported that the organs are removed not only of bodies, but also of people injured. Later the bodies are sent to Turkey . trading there also live people kidnapped and bodies, that terrorists were smuggled out of the country. According to some reports, a body worth $ 150, and by a live person rebels receive ten times more money. A few Syrian rebels allegedly took them for treatment, but later their bodies without organs appeared in remote locations.

source:actualidad.rt.com

Apr 26 2013

News From Libya

French diplomat, former deputy in the French parliament says through his Twitter that the bombing of the embassy was between the government planning French battalion in the city of Misurata in order to enter the official security forces to the city of Tripoli, and to able Misurata the implementation of the strategy in Libya, he said.

French embassy has been evacuated a week before the date of the bombing incident. Confirms as reported by sources from the Green channel headquarters.

As further evidence of pre-planning has reported Al Arabiya Client that the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will reach the Libyan coast this 25/4/2013 on board, 600 armored vehicles and 40 aircraft and 4,000 troops of the Special Forces. Which reminds us of the same carrier move towards average depth ago Approximately 17 hours of the issuance of the so-called Security Council resolution 1970 and 1973, which would impose ban Joey was carried out by French troops to the fullest PDC Libya various types of weapons in order to Protection of civilians.

As reported by CNN: quoting the Ministry of Defence that we have no choice is presence Armed on the ground to enforce security and we can not leave Libya to become a hotbed of armed gangs and criminal (Yesterday, they were revolutionaries seeking freedom), will meet today with our friends and allies today for the Salvation of Libya from this predicament.
We had hoped that consistent efforts in Libya without a help and we gave the opportunity for this, but every day prove
Experience and expertise that these bands not only understands the language of force and with it, Rescue Libya and to stabilize the state and stand on its own was leaving and recognize Matters of legitimate authority.

To make sure that the French embassy bombing is a new episode in Series to justify military intervention under the pretext of imposing security is quite similar to the killing of Ambassador American and witnesses who proved that a number of the Marines are one of the oldest on the storm Embassy and killed him. The speed at which gave investigators and special forces, but the statement about View the latest bombing as been planning a precondition.

Source: news channels

*****

British Prime Minister in the United States

The Libyan authorities have asked us for some clarifications with regard to armed groups. The outlaw, we have a growing feeling, that poorly democracy It was exploited in Libya, and we now have a feeling that a number of members of the Interim Conference headed by these armed groups.

And sent a request for clarification from the authorities in Libya, you really have these groups belong To Libyan police and the Libyan army and adopted by the institution legitimacy in Libya, If the answer is yes Libyan authorities adopt meaning chaos and infringe. These are the citizen its arbitrary and wings groups, and we will have to move once To help the civilians and enable them to live a dignified life, but if answered They do not follow the state institutions.

Here, we have to help the authorities and the uprooting of those Armed groups and to get rid of them, but we will not allow a free society and purses On Human Rights that the terrorist groups the Libyan citizen Under the flag of the state and visual and hearing of its institutions and its agencies, comes one of its members And tell us We Positions defense or interior this is unacceptable and will not continue and we will not allow that Happen!!!

All options will be open ahead of us before the next meeting For friendly countries to Libya at the beginning but the thing is certain we will move Already to help the people who suffered a lot from the oppression of a despotic regime and now repeated With the scene of the outlaw militias and infringe on citizens and claims Belonging to state institutions.

*****

Dean of the Libyan intelligence

Stay tuned for the collapse of the state and the resettlement of Western intelligence and the UAE, Libya ::

Simply can not deny the permit and the desire of the Minister of Interior Ashour Hoael the journalist after the explosion of the French embassy in Tripoli in Advertising government’s desire to build a buffer zone and a safe containing the government and the National Congress similar to the Green Zone in Baghdad.

His argument is insecurity and inability to provide and thus Up Us Hoael to the stage, which he said to Zidane before it reaches us to it, namely, to invite the world to intervene and protect Libya because from that deficit. And uttered openly that we could not protect security protects us.

They theatrical break into the Ministry of Justice and kidnapped alleged adviser to the prime minister did not know any details and the employee returned to work.!!

A series of failures highlighted a channel capital and play show F USTA for political theater through.
It is through the channel of the capital emphasizes news and reports on corruption Male French version cameras and thus attempt to obliterate any evidence that might hit any security institution is what holds Zidane in his hand.

And so we are in front of the command is a logical and a determination to distract public opinion and a desperate attempt to grab a copy of a neighbor who used a camera at his home. Capital channel continues to play a security role and owned by external security officer formerly F USTA.

At the same time, Zidane continues to marginalize the Libyan intelligence service after ignoring all warnings and apostasy of the possibility of double securing all diplomatic missions and if Zidane did not understand the assassination of former U.S. ambassador in Benghazi .. Zidane, Hoael and master intend to make the situation is fragile in front of international missions and Western countries.

The issue of fly Zidane quick to Algeria hours after the explosion is a violation and polluting the real sovereignty of Libya and the stain will be in the march on Zidane confirmation on what above the Zidane is intended to exceed the Libyan intelligence and military intelligence governs arrested scheme center operations in Algeria and theater operations in the south of Libya and Tripoli .

Now is the next call security companies from France, America and other United Arab Emirates and Russian scandal that Mahmoud Jibril, head of the Executive Office had previously instrument instruments allow the violation of the sovereignty of Libya licensing of security companies.

The tragedy is turning Brigade Qaqaa headed by Osman Mliqth brother Abdul Majeed Mliqth Chairman of the Executive Office of the Alliance of national forces. Transformation of this brigade stormed the Interior Ministry in days past, according to the media on behalf of customary channel Free Libya and also, according to witnesses and a spokesman for the interior, which was stated by intrusion only to those close to him. . The brigade “tribal” will turn into a security company after the failure of the founders incorporated as individuals Libyan army.

Stay tuned for the next few days, Khosit and faces of those who defend and glorify people with ruin and days enough to disclose traitors and Madnsen to the blood of the martyrs of Libya.
Let people know that there will be any intelligence role for him not now or in the future all countries of the world are grown men have the device and the outline of the government will lead the country into violence and fighting

Apr 20 2013

One dead as Libya prison convoy ambushed

By AFP

Gunmen ambushed a Libyan police convoy transporting detainees to a jail in a Tripoli suburb on Thursday, killing one prisoner, Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani told AFP.

Several other prisoners were seriously wounded and one kidnapped in the attack on the convoy on its way to a prison in Taji, east of the capital, Marghani said.

The minister said it was a “criminal act which aims to undermine security and delay the establishment of the rule of law.”

Faced with rising instability, Libya’s authorities have promised to deal firmly with the militias that are a legacy of the armed uprising that overthrew veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi in October 2011.

Tensions have been rising between the government and the militias for several months after the launch of a campaign aimed at dislodging them from the capital.

One armed group controlling a prison in Tripoli stormed the justice ministry late last month after it was ordered to hand over the jail.

source: nation.co.ke