Panoramica dei mezzi d'informazione islamici
#Egypt: Aftermath of bomb attack near attorney general’s #Cairo home — photo via @Piratejacksparo
Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat died from his injuries after a bomb attack earlier on Monday, Ahram Online reported citing medical sources.
Egyptian media reported earlier in the day an explosion in the Heliopolis region of Cairo, targeting the prosecutor’s motorcade.
Fourteen soldiers loyal to Libya’s Tobruk-based government were killed on Sunday in clashes with militants associated with the Mujahideen Shura Council in the eastern city of Darnah, according to a local security source.
The source told Anadolu Agency that the soldiers had been killed in clashes – which, he said, remained ongoing – “with gunmen from the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Ain Marra area near Darnah.”
The Mujahideen Shura Council, which is currently in de facto control of Darnah, was established last December to combat the Libyan army and the Daesh militant group.
Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since a bloody uprising ended the decades-long rule of Muammar Gaddafi in late 2011.
Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each with its own institutions and military capacities.
Vying for legislative authority are the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the General National Congress, which convenes in capital Tripoli.
The two assemblies support two rival governments, respectively headquartered in the two cities.
Despite frequent clashes, representatives of the warring parties continue to engage in UN-backed peace talks.
Friday saw three horrific terrorist attacks; two of the work of Islamic State and the third almost certainly finding some inspiration in the group’s gruesome achievements. We have heard the moving testimony of survivors and victims. Now, how to make sense of them?
All of the attacks raise new questions and push the grisly story of IS forwards a little further. Of the three, the implications of the Tunisian attack are perhaps the easiest to read – though not the easiest to counter. Attacking tourists is a relatively rare, but tried-and-tested method for jihadist groups, for reasons that are not hard to understand. They strike at the economies of “apostate” regimes; at the hearts, minds and – of course – the bodies of foreign “unbelievers”, and they galvanise the hard-line support base.
Historically, these attacks have tended to backfire by alienating the wider public of the countries targeted, in a way that has sometimes taken group-thinking radicals by surprise. But IS may well care much less about this than previous groups that have carried out similar assaults – the obvious precedent being the 1997 attack on tourists at a site near Luxor, Egypt. That group, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, hoped to trigger revolution and seize the state. IS hopes to knock it down and start from scratch
Tunisia is tragically vulnerable to such a project. Alone among the children of the Arab Spring, it is finding its feet as a democracy, struggling to demonstrate an economic dividend of freedom. Its open democratic system and sometimes noisy transition has created a limited but important space for hard-line salafist groups and jihadist volunteer fighters. IS also has an interest in seeing Tunisia’s experiment with democracy fail.
The attack by apparently lone radical Yassin Sali in Grenoble, following the attack on the Paris office of magazine Charlie Hebdo will underscore the idea that “home-grown” jihadism is a threat to France and other European countries.
The attack is also alarming in so far as it apparently represents a relatively rare example of an attack on “critical infrastructure” as well as human targets. Attacks of this kind have long featured in the lists of targets suggested by ideologues but are not well represented in the actual record of “self-starter” jihadist attacks. Overall, however, it does not at present seem to signify a dramatic escalation of threat, so much as its continuation.
The suicide bombing at the al-Imam al-Sadeq mosque in Kuwait has attracted less coverage. However, of the three attacks it is the most unprecedented and probably the most worrying. Up to now, the small Gulf monarchies have been remarkably free from attacks by jihadist groups – perhaps because wealthy individuals within them are widely thought to be a significant source of funding. If such an unspoken truce once existed, it apparently doesn’t any more.
The context of the attack on Kuwait seems not so much a reprisal of Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of the country as an assault from the opposite direction. Responsibility for the attack was claimed not just by IS, but by its Najd province – Najd being the traditional heartland and tribal support base of Saudi Arabia. As such, the attack looks like it aspires to reignite ancient grievances and rivalries.
At stake in what happens now in Tunisia is a big idea – that democracy and freedom can flourish in the Arab Middle East. But if we are concerned for the stability of the region in a more practical and immediate sense, then what happens now in Kuwait (which ranks among the more successfully democratic Arab countries) is every bit as important to keep our eyes on.
Terrified hotel guests in the town of Sousse, a popular resort for British holidaymakers, have described how a large explosion went off.
“Everyone started running towards the hotel,” a British tourist told Sky News.
“As we got into the hotel, we heard quite a large explosion.
“People running around the hotel, nobody has really been told what to do.
“We heard people saying there were guns on the beach.”
He said no one was believed to be injured.
The incident comes just hours after a terror attack in Grenoble, France.
It is not believed the two attacks are linked.
The potential chaos highlighted by a 2011 Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Contingency Planning Memorandum, “Post-Qaddafi Instability in Libya,” has come to fruition. Libya today is in the midst of a civil war—one as confusing as it is ferocious. Atrocities against civilians are mounting. The collapse of the Libyan state and the country’s division is possible. This could threaten Libya’s remaining oil and gas production and spark new waves of migration to Europe and neighboring countries in North Africa.
Libya’s transitional road map fell apart in 2012, as the elected parliament and several subsequent governments failed to demobilize, disarm, and reintegrate revolutionary brigades that had fought against the Qaddafi regime. As a result, the brigades aligned with political factions and began to fight each other, killing thousands of Libyans, internally displacing about 400,000 people, and creating a refugee population of one to two million abroad.
The conflict pits the Dawn coalition, which controls Tripoli and much of western Libya, against the Dignity coalition, which controls parts of Cyrenaica in the east, in particular Beida and Tobruk, as well as parts of Benghazi. But the geographical division is not neat: combatants from Zintan in the west are an important component of the Dignity coalition while Dawn claims the loyalty of some fighters in the east.
Each coalition has its own self-declared parliament and government, as well as nominal military chiefs. Although the press often associates Dawn with Islamists and Dignity with non-Islamists, both groups have Islamist and non-Islamist support, and the Finance Ministry in Tripoli continues to pay combatants in both coalitions. Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provide substantial aid to Dignity, including occasional air strikes on its behalf. Most other countries regard the Dignity-affiliated Beida/Tobruk government as legitimate but want to see a negotiated political settlement. A United Nations (UN) proposal for a national unity government would reinstall the Dignity-affiliated parliament in Tripoli along with a mostly Dawn-affiliate consultative body, but it is still unclear whether either Dawn or Dignity will accept the proposal.
In addition to the Dawn and Dignity coalitions, a growing presence of jihadists (especially in Derna and Sirte) greatly complicates the situation. Extremists associated with Ansar al-Sharia and the self-declared Islamic State regard both Dignity and Dawn as enemies.
Libya is particularly important for the United States’ European Union (EU) allies, both as a gas and oil supplier and as a source of illegal migrants (Libyan and non-Libyan), who are crossing the Mediterranean in unprecedented numbers. As for others in the region, Egypt and Tunisia are hosting large numbers of Libyans, straining their already struggling economies and limited social services. Tuareg fighters returning from Libya have contributed to the ongoing secessionist strife in northern Mali.
An escalation of the fighting in Libya will likely result in further radicalization, risking partition and even complete state collapse, with consequences across North Africa and Europe. Were it not for the even greater chaos in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, where the Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked forces are more prominent, the United States would be more concerned about the potential for Libya to provide safe haven to international terrorists. Also at risk is Libya’s remaining oil production of several hundred thousand barrels per day, as well as its gas supply to Europe, which will be important next winter if Russia cuts off supply to Ukraine, through which most of Europe’s Russian supplies of gas flows. UN efforts at a political settlement will be fruitless without strong backing from its members, including support for the peacekeeping forces required to protect a national unity government and restore law and order in major population centers. In the absence of a political settlement, possible scenarios include a win for Dignity, backed by Egypt and the UAE, or fragmentation of the country. A Dignity win would create serious risks of retributive violence, including attacks against civilians. Fragmentation could also further escalate violence, since substantial oil and gas resources would be at stake. While a settlement is being negotiated, local stabilization efforts could relieve parts of Libya from violence, but on the national level it could take time and a great deal of effort.
As European interests in Libya overshadow those of the United States, the EU should take the lead in helping the country out of its current predicament. Arab countries—including Egypt and the UAE, as well as the more neutral Algeria and Morocco—should also make substantial contributions. Washington’s role should be one of encouraging and facilitating UN, EU, and Arab efforts, rather than undertaking a major new initiative.
Libya’s internationally recognized government said on Thursday it will send a delegation to discuss with European Union authorities proposals for controlling migrant smuggling, saying its territorial sovereignty was a “red line” in any operation.
With two rival governments and their armed factions battling for control, the North African state is in chaos and has no real naval force to tackle an increasing flow of illegal migrants smuggled from its coast to Europe.
EU ministers on Monday approved a naval operation to try to halt the stream of migrants, though it will be limited for the moment to intelligence gathering because it has no authorisation from the United Nations.
Securing consent from Libya, where both rival factions are wary of international missions in their waters, has been a major concern for European powers who plan to use submarines, aircraft, ships and drones in their operation.
“A ministerial committee will visit the EU to inform them of the solutions proposed by the government. The government has its own alternatives,” government spokesman Hatem Oraibi said. “Libyan sovereignty and territorial waters and airspace are a red line.”
The air force commander of the recognised government earlier warned European countries that any vessels entering Libyan waters without permission would be targeted by air strikes.
The internationally recognised government has operated out of the east since last summer when a force called Libya Dawn took over the capital Tripoli, declared its own government and reinstated the old parliament in a challenge to the elected House of Representatives.
The self-declared National Salvation government has also expressed “deep concern” over EU migrant plans.
The United Nations is trying to broker a ceasefire and power-sharing deal between the two factions as Western governments worry Libya is becoming a safe haven for militants as well as for smugglers ferrying illegal migrants into Europe.
Egyptian army today foiled an attack on a military checkpoint by militants linked with the Islamic State terror group, killing two attackers and wounding five others in North Sinai.
The forces clashed with the militants who tried to attack the checkpoint in al-Gora village in Sheikh Zowayed, sources said, adding 15 militants were arrested during the clashes.
The militants belong to the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdes, which changed its name to Sinai Province after it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, they said.
Egypt’s North Sinai has been the stage for many militant attacks since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the longtime president Hosni Mubarak.
The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.
Over 600 security personnel have been reported killed since then.
Jet fighters, thought to have taken off from Misrata hit Islamic State (IS) positions in Harawa and west of Sirte.
Harawa, on the coastal road, 70 kilometres east of Sirte, was taken over by IS forces nearly three weeks ago after prolonged negotiations with local elders. They agreed to surrender the town to the Islamists after appeals to Misrata to protect them had failed.
There are believed to be casualties in Harawa and at Sirte but no figures have been announced. IS never does so.
Despite the attacks on IS forces – there was one two days ago against Nufaliya on the IS eastern front line – they are seen as better organised and more professional than was the case in Derna.
IS boasted that it had graduated a batch of new recruits in Nufaliya.
Algeria’s minister of religious affairs says only 63 of the country’s citizens have joined the extremist Islamic State group, in stark contrast to its neighbors.
In remarks carried in the media Wednesday, Mohammed Aissa said the figures came from Interpol and noted that less than 1 percent of IS members were Algerian.
Neighboring Tunisia and Morocco are among the biggest source of recruits for the group, with an estimated 3,000 and 1,500 coming from each country, respectively.
Experts have attributed the low numbers to vigilant internal security, homegrown extremist groups and a general fatigue with fighting following the civil war in the 1990s.
In the past several months, Algerian forces also announced several victories against a local group allied to IS which killed a French hiker.
Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ramtane Lamamra affirmed Tuesday, in Beirut, that the final document to emerge from the consultations on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) must reflect the aspirations and willingness of the Arab countries to be stakeholders in the establishment of the international order.
“We hope that the final document that will emerge from these consultations (on ENP) can reflect our aspirations for this partnership and willingness of the Arab countries and those of the southern shore to be stakeholders in the establishment of tomorrow’s international order,” said Lamamra in a statement to APS upon his arrival in the Lebanese capital.
He underlined that his visit to Lebanon includes a multilateral component which consists in taking part in the conference of consultations on ENP, underway in Beirut, and a bilateral component aimed at encouraging the development of the Algerian-Lebanese cooperation.
The State Minister explained that the Conference on the consultations on ENP is “the second sequence of the meeting held last April, in Barcelona (Spain), in which the Southern Mediterranean Arab countries expressed their viewpoints and expectations on this policy.”
In this regard, he underlined the need to develop a common approach to take into consideration the expectations and concerns of the Arab countries.
