Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called on March 9 for the creation of a unified Arab force to battle the spread of Islamic extremist groups.

“There is an urgent need for the creation of a multi-purpose common Arab military force… able to intervene rapidly to fight terrorism and the activities of terrorist groups,” Arabi told a meeting of league foreign ministers in Cairo.

He also stressed the importance of “cooperation in areas related to security protection and the exchange of information between Arab countries.”

Arab League deputy chief Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters last week that the bloc’s leaders are expected to focus on the creation of such a common force when they meet for its annual summit on March 28-29 in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He had said such a force was important as a “symbolic” show of deterrence at times of “conflict or disasters”.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has also called for such a force, saying it is needed to confront security threats in a region where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds swathes of Syria and Iraq and has gained a foothold in Egypt’s neighbour Libya.

He has suggested that a number of Arab League members, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, are considering supporting the idea.

Several Arab nations have joined the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against ISIL in Syria.

Egypt has meanwhile launched its own strikes against ISIL targets in Libya, where the jihadists last month murdered 21 mainly Egyptian Coptic Christians.

The Cairo-based Arab League has condemned ISIL for “the destruction of religious and cultural monuments” in Iraq.

In a statement issued late on Monday, the League also called “on the international community to avoid dealing in stolen and smuggled artefacts” from Iraq.

ISIL is believed to have destroyed the stunning Roman period ancient fortress city of Hatra and the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in recent days.

Source:  hurriyetdailynews

The head of Canada’s spy agency warned that the Islamic State (IS) is spreading to Libya, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Speaking to the members of Senate Defence Committee, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) chief Michael Coulombe said although focus has now turned to IS, we must not forget longer-running groups such as the al Qaeda. 

“ISIS started in Iraq and Syria, but what we’re seeing now, and you’ve seen it in media, it’s spreading in Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan,” Coulombe said adding that ”Boko Haram just pledged allegiance to ISIS; so there’s also this phenomenon of ISIS spreading.”

Canada’s top security officials appeared before the Senate defence committee, Monday, over the government’s plans to extend the reach of CSIS overseas.

Coulombe and Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney presided over the meeting while other top security officials, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien and former CSIS assistant director of intelligence Ray Boisvert were also present.

Short term, the pledge of allegiance by Nigeria’s Boko Haram to the Islamic State group may be no more than a propaganda gesture, experts say – but that could change.

The pledge, made in an audio recording released on Saturday by Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, had been in the pipeline for some time.

Just last week, the Nigerian jihadists released a video appearing to show the decapitation of two men. The method of the killings, but also the professional production value of the footage, eerily mirrored the work of the so-called Islamic State, often known as IS or Isis.

That, analysts worry, could presage tighter links.

“It’s something that has been developing over the course of at least nine months,” said Peter Pham, director of the Africa programme at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

“Both groups need this right now. They need a propaganda coup to raise morale and attention because they are both suffering setbacks in their military campaigns.”

After a whirlwind seizure of territory across Iraq and Syria last year, IS expansion in its core territories has been stalled by local forces backed by the United States and Iran.

“For Isis, it’s an opportunity to present themselves as ever-expanding, to enhance their aura of inevitability. It’s a propaganda victory. And for that, all you need is a small camera and an Internet connection,” said Pham.

Continual territorial growth is a key part of the IS narrative, under its slogan “remaining and expanding”.
“In Syria and Iraq there has been little to no ‘expansion’ in recent months, so the main benefit for IS is propaganda, if Boko Haram’s prior eccentricities can be restrained,” said Aymenn al-Tamimi, of the Middle East Forum research group.

Meanwhile, “on Boko Haram’s side, the main benefit would be to secure financial support and an influx of manpower.”

IS, which declared itself a Muslim caliphate last June, currently has 25 provinces, known as “wilayats”, spread across Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Boko Haram has not yet announced if it wishes to become a wilayat under IS — a decision which could be seen as an awkward climb-down for its leaders.

“Boko Haram has already announced the creation of a caliphate on their territory, and there can be only one,” said Morten Boas, a professor at the University of Oslo.

The group similarly pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda several years ago, but little concrete followed in terms of what was happening on the ground.

According to Boas, “Boko Haram is using this to try to seem more powerful than they really are.”

“It’s something they have been very good at — make people afraid of them. They have captured places because the ordinary Nigerian soldiers were afraid and ran away. It’s the best weapon available for a movement like them.”

But in the longer term, the pledge of allegiance could turn into something more solid, reinforcing both groups — particularly if Boko Haram can build ties with other IS affiliates in places like Libya.

Although Boko Haram has used weapons-trafficking networks that link it to militants in Libya and other parts of North Africa, there have been few direct ties up to now.

That contrasts with jihadists across North Africa and the Middle East, who often travel between war zones, building close personal ties and fighting alongside each other in different conflicts.

“There are not these pre-existing connections with Boko Haram,” said Pham.

But the pledge of allegiance “could prepare the ground for some sort of collaboration between Boko Haram and IS in Libya,” said Boas.

“And that could be really dangerous.”

Source:  timeslive.co.za

Warplanes from Libya’s internationally recognised government attacked the last functioning airport in Tripoli, the capital controlled by a rival administration, on Monday, officials said.

Extending a series of tit-for-tat strikes, the attack coincided with the swearing-in of Khalifa Haftar, one of the most divisive figures in post-revolutionary Libya, as army commander for the recognised government.

Rival governments and parliaments are battling for control of the large North African country and its oil resources four years after rebels ousted veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and the elected parliament have been confined to a rump state in the east since an armed faction seized Tripoli in the west over the summer, reinstating the previous assembly and setting up a rival administration.

“Warplanes conducted air strikes this morning on Mitiga airport but there was no damage,” airport spokesman Abdulsalam Buamoud said. “Flights were suspended for only an hour … but now the airport is working normally.”

Mohamed al-Hejazi, spokesman for forces loyal to Thinni, said they had attacked the airport “because it’s outside state legitimacy … Weapons and foreign fighters bound for western Libya pass through the airport”.

Both sides are allied to rival factions which have been fighting over territory and oil facilities while Islamist militants have exploited the chaos.

To add firepower to small army forces loyal to Thinni, the eastern government and parliament have formed an alliance with Haftar, who began a self-declared war against Islamist militants in Benghazi, Libya’s second biggest city, last year.

Haftar gained support from some Libyans tired of their country’s disorder, but also drew criticism over air strikes and attacks on civilian airports and sea ports.

Haftar was sworn in on Monday in Tobruk, seat of the House of Representatives, said Tarek Saqer al-Joroushi, deputy head of parliament’s defence committee. Hejazi also confirmed this.

The Tripoli-based rival government has denounced Haftar as “war criminal” whose appointment as army commander will complicate mediation efforts by the United Nations.

The United Nations has been trying to persuade both sides to form a national government and said on Saturday that progress had been made at talks in Morocco.

Delegates will return this week for more negotiations after consultations at home, U.N. officials added. But both factions face internal divisions over the negotiations.

Source:  libyanewstoday

A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a police base in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, killing a civilian and wounding 24 policemen, security and health officials said.

The early morning attack took place in the North Sinai provincial capital of El Arish, the officials said.

Militants have stepped up attacks in the peninsula since the removal of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

“The bomber drove a water tanker filled with explosives into the rear gate of the base,” a security official said.

“As the vehicle approached, police fired on it, detonating the explosives inside.”

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Monday called for the creation of a unified Arab military force to battle the spread of Islamic terrorists groups.

“There is an urgent need for the creation of a multi-purpose common Arab military force…able to intervene rapidly to fight terrorism and the activities of terrorist groups,” Arabi told a meeting of league foreign ministers in Cairo, reports AFP.

He also stressed the importance of “cooperation in areas related to security protection and the exchange of information between Arab countries.”

Talk of creating a “unified Arab force” was raised last week ahead of a March 28-29 meeting in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, with the League saying it would discuss the initiative by Egyptian President Fattah Abdel al-Sisi to created a unified military presence.

The League’s Deputy chief Ahmed Ben Helli said the force “should be ready and present so that they could symbolically show that the Arab countries have a deterrent force and a peacekeeping force that could step in at times of conflicts.”

He added that such a unit would be tasked with “confronting threats that undermine the stability of the countries of the region, particularly the rise of terrorism.”