Al Qaeda has for years used Guantanamo Bay, which was established in January 2002, as the sole reason for carrying out terrorist attacks on the West. In 2002, militants associated with al Qaeda said they had killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl for the mistreatment of detainees in the prison.

Pearl’s kidnappers demanded the release of Pakistani detainees at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for his life. Days later, a video of Pearl’s beheading was sent to the U.S. consulate in Karachi.

But the Guantanamo Bay propaganda tool is slowly fading, especially with the increase in releases of detainees. In 2013, President Obama called on Congress to close Guantanamo Bay. Over the past year, 28 prisoners have been released from the prison, the BBC reported.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement that five Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred. Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd Al-Rahman Abdullah Au Shabati and Mohammed Ahmed Salam were sent to Oman; Akhmed Abdul Qadir was transferred to Estonia.

The release of the CIA Torture Report in December, which detailed the gruesome tactics U.S. officials used on detainees in Guantanamo Bay, did not reignite al Qaeda’s old recruitment strategy.

“With the torture report, almost everyone focused on the grisly means that were used,” Abrahms said. “But I don’t think that motivates people to become terrorists anymore because [those facts] are well known.”

There are still 122 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, but analysts have said al Qaeda is no longer focusing its efforts there. Its main recruitment tool is now denouncing the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. It is trying to present itself as the only viable option for young jihadists.

After staging the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., al Qaeda was arguably the strongest and most-feared Muslim terrorist organization in the world for more than a decade, recruiting militants en masse from madrasas, or Islamic schools. However, the group met its match in 2014 when ISIS seized large portions of Iraq and Syria and declared itself a caliphate. The Islamic State’s brutal video campaign has attracted tens of thousands of fighters from more than 80 countries as of this month — and it also has aroused the ire of al Qaeda, which is now marketing itself as the only viable option for jihadi hopefuls.

In recent months, al Qaeda in the Arabic Peninsula, or AQAP, a Yemen-based offshoot of the group, has released videos in which it denounces the brutal Islamic State strategy of beheading hostages and mass-executing opponents.

ISIS, on the other hand, has dominated in delivering the message that the West’s bombardment of Iraq and Syria is morally unjust. It uses propaganda videos to show coalition planes bombing their convoys in an attempt to draw sympathy from the younger generation of jihadists. That recruitment strategy has proved fruitful for the group, which has seen an uptick in foreign fighters traveling to Iraq and Syria over the past six months.

Clint Watts, a former U.S. counterterrorism official, wrote recently that both al Qaeda and ISIS are harnessing the emerging broad-based jihad that is turning into a social movement.

“Today’s jihadi threat, blended between al Qaeda and ISIS, networked by Facebook, and evolving based on conditions in hundreds of locations, produces attacks on three or more continents every day,” he wrote in a recently published report. “On the surface this seems to indicate a stronger, unprecedented emerging jihadi threat to the West. We analysts and followers of jihadi activity, though, often give terrorists too much credit. Many, if not most, Western jihadis are deeply troubled souls, at times more confused about their intentions and motivations.”

Watts goes on to write that counterterrorism experts still are trying to define this new era of jihad. With the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the emergence of ISIS, the terrorism landscape is vastly different from what it was following the 9/11 attacks.

“Monitoring the pace and type of attacks directed and networked by both al Qaeda and ISIS will illuminate how jihadis compete and cooperate in the coming years,” he wrote.

Source:  ibtimes

The U.S. will send about 400 troops to train the moderate Syrian opposition, defense officials confirmed Thursday night.

The training is expected to begin in early spring, and the trainers will work out of sites in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, said Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

Smith did not have information on which services would be providing the trainers, but she said the number of trainers could fluctuate based on course load, course requirements and other variables.

In addition to the 400 trainers, enablers will be needed to support them, Smith said.

Coalition partners also are expected to contribute forces to the training effort, according to Defense One, which first reported the number of U.S. trainers expected to deploy.

The effort to train Syrian rebels is part of the overall campaign to defeat the Islamic State militants who seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, The Associated Press reported.

The U.S. is involved in a plan to train both moderate Syrian rebels and to train and assist Iraqi security forces in order to beat back the Islamic State militants’ rampage in both countries, according to The Associated Press.

U.S. troops have been deploying into Iraq to train security forces there, including from the 1st Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

Training in Iraq has begun in areas including Taji, north of Baghdad, and al-Asad Air Base, in western Iraq.
More than 2,100 U.S. troops are in Iraq; President Obama has authorized the deployment of up to 3,000 U.S. troops to that country.

Source:

The commander of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell has said that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is recruiting militants in Afghanistan.

As Islamic militants from Boko Haram step up attacks in Nigeria that have led to the slaughter of more civilians, there is increasing talk that international military action, possibly including a multinational force, may be needed to help crush the insurgency in Africa’s most populous country.

The debate has taken on new urgency since Jan. 3, when Boko Haram extremists swept into the northeastern town of Baga in Borno state, overran a military base and, according to witnesses, killed hundreds of civilians in the days that followed.

It was one of the most brazen assaults since militants kidnapped nearly 300 girls last year, setting off an international outcry.

Amnesty International has released satellite images showing widespread destruction — with about 3,700 structures damaged or destroyed — but the horrifying picture of the attack is incomplete because aid workers, journalists and others cannot reach the Boko Haram-controlled area.

Extremists, who encountered resistance from civilian militias in Baga, systematically slaughtered civilians in what analysts believe was retaliation for their defiance.

Boko Haram’s message, according to analyst Matthew Henman, was: “If you organize these militias against us, this is the response that you will receive.”

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running for re-election next month, visited Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, on Thursday in his first trip to the northeast since a state of emergency was imposed in May 2014.

His office said in a statement that he met with troops involved in fighting the extremists as part of his “surprise visit.”

He also visited hundreds of civilians who were staying in a camp in Maiduguri after fleeing Baga.

Nigeria’s neighbors are already being shaken by Boko Haram’s territorial expansion. Niger, Chad and Cameroon have seen flows of refugees into their countries. In the case of Cameroon, there even have been some cross-border attacks.

Boko Haram is believed to funnel fighters and equipment across borders; previously, a multinational garrison in Baga was tasked with thwarting frontier smuggling and, increasingly, the activities of Islamic insurgents.

“It’s a double win” for Boko Haram, which now has greater border mobility and has stripped its military opponents of an important outpost, said Henman, manager of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre in London.

He said the Nigerian extremists are likely aware of the gains in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State group, and may “see similar potential for themselves.”

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond discussed a special initiative to deal with Boko Haram, but he did not elaborate.

Speaking in Sofia, Bulgaria, Kerry said Boko Haram is “without question one of the most evil and threatening terrorist entities on the planet,” and that the killing in northeastern Nigeria is a “crime against humanity” and must be addressed.

The United States and other countries offered training and other assistance to the Nigerian military after Boko Haram seized 276 girls from a boarding school in April, but most of them remain missing.

The deployment of a multinational force to fight Boko Haram does not appear imminent and would take considerable political will, in addition to needing a green light from a Nigerian government that has appeared leery at times of perceived foreign meddling.

However, a United Nations official said Wednesday there will be a meeting Tuesday in Niger’s capital, Niamey, to explore the idea of a regional force to confront Nigeria’s militants.

Source:  timesunion

The UN-sponsored talks between Libyan rivals gathered in Geneva will not produce a solution for the crisis in the North African country, a senior Libyan official told Asharq Al-Awsat this week.

A member of the cabinet of Libyan PM Abdullah Al-Thani, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said: “It is a waste of time. Everyone knows that the crisis can only be resolved militarily and the Geneva dialogue will fail due to the strictness of the extremists who control the capital Tripoli.”

The talks, which began on Wednesday, are supposed to bring together representatives from the Islamist-led government based in Tripoli and representatives of Thani’s internationally recognized cabinet based in Tobruk.

In August an alliance of Islamist militias, dubbed Libyan Dawn, seized control of Tripoli and announced its rejection of Thani’s elected government. The Islamist insurgents reinstated the outgoing General National Congress (GNC) as the official parliament and established their own government.

The minister’s remarks contrasted with the optimism expressed earlier by the UN Envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, who said that the talks are aimed at reaching a political settlement that would lead to the formation of a national unity government supported by the majority of the Libyans.

In a press conference before beginning of the talks, Leon called on Libya’s rival factions to observe a ceasefire during the negotiations, and said that more factions were welcome to join the negotiations.

However, the Tripoli government said on Wednesday that any representatives of areas under its control attending the Geneva talks did not speak on its behalf.

“All heads of municipalities and members of municipal councils taking part in the talks only represent themselves,” it said in a statement.

The statement went on: “The GNC, as the [country’s] supreme power, [solely] possesses mandate to represent the Libyan people in political affairs.”

The statement confirms earlier reports by Asharq Al-Awsat that the Libya Dawn’s members were split over the UN-backed talks.

Source:  aawsat.net

Cinque jihadisti che hanno combattuto in Siria sono ritornati da poco in Italia, dove tecnicamente sono “super attenzionati”.

Ma sono centinaia le persone sotto osservazione in questo momento nel nostro Paese. Si posseggono precisi identikit di 13 estremisti partiti dall’Italia per andare a combattere in Siria.

Altri 10 jihadisti maghrebini e balcanici di estrazione italiana hanno combattuto o combattono con le formazioni estremiste nello scacchiere siro-iracheno.

Risulta che 4 di essi siano morti laggiù, come il genovese Giuliano Ibrahim Delnevo, ucciso nel giugno del 2013.

Un pugno di altri italiani (una donna fra loro) si sono approcciati agli islamisti col proposito di entrare nei loro reparti militari.

Altri 25 foreign fighters (quasi tutti nordafricani) hanno avuto o hanno a che fare in qualche maniera con l’Italia. (WikiLao)

The Telegraph said that Saudi Arabia began building a fence along its border with Iraq, as part of its efforts to isolate itself from the chaos that spread widely in the neighboring countries 
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Saudi Arabia is planning to build a 600-mile buffer wall to separate itself from Iraq, and to protect itself from invading IS forces, it was revealed today.

According to The Telegraph, the “Great Wall” will include a wall and a ditch to protect the Wahabi state from ISIS militants who control “much of the area on the Iraqi side” of the border and whose eyes are set on “the ultimate capture of Saudi Arabia, home to the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina, as a key goal.”

Last week, two Saudi guards and General Oudah al-Belawi, commander of border operations in Saudi Arabia’s northern zone,  were killed when ISIS suicide bombers attacked the Suweif border post, some 40 kilometers away the Saudi city of Arar and 80 km from Al Nukhayb, in Iraq.

The proposal had been discussed since 2006, at the height of the Iraqi civil war, but work began in September last year after Isil’s charge through much of the west and north of the country gave it a substantial land border with the Kingdom to the south.

The border zone now includes five layers of fencing with watch towers, night-vision cameras and radar cameras.

Riyadh also sent an extra 30,000 troops to the area.

It is not the only fence with which Saudi Arabia has chosen to surround itself. Despite the difficulty of access to westerners, the country is relatively open to fellow Muslim nations, particularly during the Haj season when pilgrims from across the world come to Mecca and Medina, according to the newspaper.

It has also created a physical barrier along parts of the even longer, 1,000-mile border with Yemen to the south.

The attack last week is the sort of incident the Saudis hope to avoid.

Source:  shafaaq

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Daesh, has established training camps in western Farah province of Afghanistan.