ISIS planning to use Libya as ‘gateway’ to wage war across Europe: militant’s document
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/17/isis-planning-to-use-libya-as-gateway-to-wage-war-across-europe-document/
Ruth Sherlock and Colin Freeman, The Telegraph | February 17, 2015 | Last Updated: Feb 17 7:35 PM ET
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MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty ImagesLibyans
celebrate in Tripoli's landamark Martyrs square on Feb. 17, 2015 the
upcoming fourth anniversary of the Libyan revolution which toppled
strongman Moamer Kadhafi. Islamist militants have thrived in Libya since
Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in the NATO-backed 2011
uprising.
BEIRUT
and LONDON — Islamic State of Iraq & Al-Sham jihadists are planning
to take over Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across southern Europe,
according to letters written by supporters of the terrorist group.
They hope to flood the North African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on human-trafficking ships, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.
The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack shipping.
The document is written by a propagandist for ISIS, who uses the alias Abu Arhim al-Libim. He is believed to be an important online recruiter for the terror group in Libya, where security has collapsed after the revolution that unseated Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The group has already established Libyan-based cells, who on Sunday released a video showing a mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian guest workers. The video, which prompted Egypt to launch retaliatory bombing raids on ISIS positions in Libya, included footage of a khaki-clad militant pointing a bloodstained finger northward, declaring, “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission.”
The ISIS propagandist describes Libya as having “immense potential” for the group. He points out with relish it is awash with weapons from the country’s civil war, when large quantities of Gadhafi’s arsenals were appropriated by rebels. Some of those weapons came from Britain, which supplied the Gaddafi regime with machine guns, sniper rifles and ammunition during his final years in power, when he was seen as an ally against Islamist terrorism.
Libim also points out Libya is less than 490 kilometres from parts of the nearest European mainland.
“It has a long coast and looks upon the southern Crusader states, which can be reached with ease by even a rudimentary boat,” he writes
“The number of trips known as ’illegal immigration’ from this coast, which are huge in number … if this was even partially exploited and developed strategically, pandemonium could be wrought in the southern European states and it is even possible that there could be a closure of shipping lines and targeting of Crusader ships and tankers.”
His comments come amid growing concerns in the West about the collapse of security in Libya.
On Monday, John Sawers, former head of the British spy agency MI6, said Britain should put ground troops there to stop the country “being exploited by fanatics.”
Security officials also share ISIS’s view about the possibility of
using human-trafficking boats to smuggle fighters into Europe. Thanks to
its vast, porous desert borders with sub-Saharan Africa, Libya has long
been a key operating hub for trafficking boats headed for southern
Europe, but numbers have escalated since the collapse of the Gadhafi
regime.
Italy’s interior ministry estimates at least 200,000 refugees and immigrants are poised to make the crossing from Libya to Sicily or the tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost territory.
Last year more than 170,000 arrived in Italy by boat, including tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the civil war in their homeland.
Search and rescue efforts entered a dangerous new phase this week when an Italian coast guard vessel rescuing migrants 80 km off the Libyan coast was threatened by smugglers armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
While the gang were concerned only with retrieving their boat for another smuggling trip, the incident demonstrated the potential threat were ISIS to adopt similar smuggling tactics.
There are also fears an increased ISIS presence in Libya would encourage migrants there to flee north in far greater numbers.
Tuesday, Nasser Kamel, Egypt’s ambassador to London, warned Britain to brace itself for “boats full of terrorists” unless action was taken in Libya. He spoke after 2,164 migrants were rescued at sea in a 24-hour period over the weekend in what was described as an “exodus without precedent.”
“Those boat people who go for immigration purposes and try to cross the Mediterranean … in the next few weeks, if we do not act together, they will be boats full of terrorists also,” he said.
While The Daily Telegraph cannot independently verify Libim’s identity, analysts say the propagandist’s writing on Libya is widely read and influential.
“Twitter has shut down Libim’s accounts several times and each time he starts a new one he gets thousands of followers very quickly, which is typical of an influential ISIS affiliate,” said Charlie Winter, a researcher with the Quilliam Foundation.
He added the group’s support in Libya had much in common with its base of support in Iraq and Syria.
“The risks Europe faces from ISIS pre-eminence in Libya are substantial.”
David Cameron, the British prime minister, has condemned the “barbaric” executions of the Egyptian Christians, who were kidnapped by ISIS while working in Sirte.
He added Tuesday he did not regret British efforts to oust Gadhafi, despite the threat from terrorists, insisting it was the “right thing to do.”
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, called for an international coalition to defeat ISIS in Libya, saying, “We will not allow them to cut the heads of our children.”
The Daily Telegraph
They hope to flood the North African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on human-trafficking ships, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.
The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack shipping.
The document is written by a propagandist for ISIS, who uses the alias Abu Arhim al-Libim. He is believed to be an important online recruiter for the terror group in Libya, where security has collapsed after the revolution that unseated Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
The group has already established Libyan-based cells, who on Sunday released a video showing a mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian guest workers. The video, which prompted Egypt to launch retaliatory bombing raids on ISIS positions in Libya, included footage of a khaki-clad militant pointing a bloodstained finger northward, declaring, “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission.”
The ISIS propagandist describes Libya as having “immense potential” for the group. He points out with relish it is awash with weapons from the country’s civil war, when large quantities of Gadhafi’s arsenals were appropriated by rebels. Some of those weapons came from Britain, which supplied the Gaddafi regime with machine guns, sniper rifles and ammunition during his final years in power, when he was seen as an ally against Islamist terrorism.
Libim also points out Libya is less than 490 kilometres from parts of the nearest European mainland.
“It has a long coast and looks upon the southern Crusader states, which can be reached with ease by even a rudimentary boat,” he writes
“The number of trips known as ’illegal immigration’ from this coast, which are huge in number … if this was even partially exploited and developed strategically, pandemonium could be wrought in the southern European states and it is even possible that there could be a closure of shipping lines and targeting of Crusader ships and tankers.”
His comments come amid growing concerns in the West about the collapse of security in Libya.
On Monday, John Sawers, former head of the British spy agency MI6, said Britain should put ground troops there to stop the country “being exploited by fanatics.”
Al-Hayat Media Centre/AFP/Getty ImagesAn
image grab taken from a video released on Feb. 15, 2015 purportedly
shows black-clad ISIS fighters leading handcuffed hostages, said to be
Egyptian Coptic Christians, wearing orange jumpsuits before their
alleged decapitation on a seashore in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
Italy’s interior ministry estimates at least 200,000 refugees and immigrants are poised to make the crossing from Libya to Sicily or the tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost territory.
Last year more than 170,000 arrived in Italy by boat, including tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing the civil war in their homeland.
Search and rescue efforts entered a dangerous new phase this week when an Italian coast guard vessel rescuing migrants 80 km off the Libyan coast was threatened by smugglers armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
While the gang were concerned only with retrieving their boat for another smuggling trip, the incident demonstrated the potential threat were ISIS to adopt similar smuggling tactics.
There are also fears an increased ISIS presence in Libya would encourage migrants there to flee north in far greater numbers.
Tuesday, Nasser Kamel, Egypt’s ambassador to London, warned Britain to brace itself for “boats full of terrorists” unless action was taken in Libya. He spoke after 2,164 migrants were rescued at sea in a 24-hour period over the weekend in what was described as an “exodus without precedent.”
“Those boat people who go for immigration purposes and try to cross the Mediterranean … in the next few weeks, if we do not act together, they will be boats full of terrorists also,” he said.
While The Daily Telegraph cannot independently verify Libim’s identity, analysts say the propagandist’s writing on Libya is widely read and influential.
“Twitter has shut down Libim’s accounts several times and each time he starts a new one he gets thousands of followers very quickly, which is typical of an influential ISIS affiliate,” said Charlie Winter, a researcher with the Quilliam Foundation.
He added the group’s support in Libya had much in common with its base of support in Iraq and Syria.
“The risks Europe faces from ISIS pre-eminence in Libya are substantial.”
David Cameron, the British prime minister, has condemned the “barbaric” executions of the Egyptian Christians, who were kidnapped by ISIS while working in Sirte.
He added Tuesday he did not regret British efforts to oust Gadhafi, despite the threat from terrorists, insisting it was the “right thing to do.”
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, called for an international coalition to defeat ISIS in Libya, saying, “We will not allow them to cut the heads of our children.”
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