The Long War Journal (Site-Wide)

Ansar al Sharia Libya leader met with Osama bin Laden, followed his 'methodology'

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 10:22 AM PST

Harith al Nadhari recorded an audio eulogy for Mohammed al Zahawi, the leader of Ansar al Sharia Libya, shortly before his own death.

Shortly before his own death in a US airstrike on Jan. 31, Harith al Nadhari, a senior sharia official in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), recorded an audio eulogy for another slain jihadist, Mohammed al Zahawi. Ansar al Sharia Libya confirmed earlier in the month that Zahawi, the group's leader, had died of wounds he suffered while fighting in Benghazi. And Nadhari wanted to make it clear that al Qaeda considered Zahawi to be a "martyr."

Nadhari's audio recording, which was released via Twitter on Feb. 6, has been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Like other Ansar al Sharia leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, Zahawi had an al Qaeda pedigree. In Yemen, Ansar al Sharia is merely a front for AQAP.

"Sheikh al Zahawi, may Allah have mercy on him, began his march in [the] mid-nineties," Nadhari explained, according to SITE. "Allah guided him [to] meet the reviving Imam Osama bin Laden when Osama was in Sudan. Zahawi took from his determination and learned from his methodology, then he was captured quickly by the Saud government, the traitor to Allah and His Messenger."

Zahawi's meeting with bin Laden in the 1990s is a strong indication that he had long operated within al Qaeda's network. His dossier since then buttresses the point.

Nadhari did not explain why Zahawi was detained by the Saudi government, but the implication is that Zahawi was involved in jihadist activities inside the kingdom. Nadhari said that Zahawi was delivered to Muammar al Qaddafi's regime, which "harmed" him during his "years of imprisonment," but "did not weaken his strength nor lessen his determination nor destabilized his faith."

Nadhari also offered a call for jihadist unity in Libya, saying that the mission was not completed when Qaddafi fell. Some of Nadhari's audio message appears to implicitly address the infighting between the Islamic State's supporters in Libya and the jihadists in Ansar al Sharia and other groups who refuse to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

In his eulogy of Zahawi, the deceased AQAP official called on the "mujahideen in all your different groups, factions, and brigades" to come together to fight General Khalifa Haftar's forces and the West, which supposedly seeks to prohibit the implementation of sharia law in Libya. "Align the rank and unite the purpose," Nadhari said, adding that the jihadists should "overcome" their "passing disputes...despite the differences in affiliations and individual opinions."

AQAP is not the only official branch of al Qaeda to mourn Zahawi. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) issued its own eulogy for the deceased Ansar al Sharia Libya leader online.

Ansar al Sharia Libya part of al Qaeda's international network

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, a popular meme held that Ansar al Sharia was just a "local" jihadist group and was not part of al Qaeda's international network. Abundant evidence at the time indicated that this was false.

For instance, a report published in August 2012 by the Library of Congress and the Defense Department's Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO), "Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile," connected Ansar al Sharia to al Qaeda's clandestine network inside Libya. The report's authors pointed out that one prominent Ansar al Sharia leader in Derna, Sufian Ben Qumu, is an ex-Guantanamo detainee who served as an al Qaeda operative before his detention by US forces. Other facts demonstrated Ansar al Sharia's ties to al Qaeda as well.

Ironically enough, the participation of Ansar al Sharia fighters in the 9/11/12 Benghazi attack was itself an indication that the group was, at a minimum, colluding with various al Qaeda branches. At least three other al Qaeda groups took part in the raid on the US Mission and Annex that night. Jihadists from both AQAP and AQIM were involved in the assault, as were members of the so-called Muhammad Jamal Network (MJN). AQAP and AQIM are formal branches of al Qaeda, while the MJN was led by an Egyptian who was first trained by al Qaeda in the late 1980s and had long been a subordinate to Ayman al Zawahiri.

Ansar al Sharia's role in al Qaeda's global network was eventually recognized by the United Nations's Security Council, which added the group to its al Qaeda sanctions list in November 2014. The UN did not directly sanction Zahawi, but did identify him as Ansar al Sharia's leader in Benghazi. The UN also noted that Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi works closely with AQIM and Al Mourabitoun, an AQIM offshoot that remains loyal to Ayman al Zawahiri.

US military confirms it killed Islamic State, Shabaab leaders in airstrikes

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 08:25 AM PST

Islamic State fighters march in Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Image from an Islamic State video released in January 2015.

The US military confirmed that it killed the Islamic State's deputy emir for 'Khorasan province' in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan on Feb. 9, and the head of Shabaab's external operations and intelligence branch in a separate drone strike in southern Somalia on Jan. 31. The US continues to rely on airstrikes as the core of its effort to defeat jihadist groups worldwide.

The confirmation of the deaths of Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, who was appointed the deputy governor of the Islamic State's Khorasan province in January, and Yusuf Dheeq, the chief of Shabaab's Amniyat, or intelligence service, was disclosed in a briefing yesterday by Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby.

Khadim's leadership role in Islamic State was short-lived

Kirby stated that on Feb. 9, "US forces in Afghanistan conducted a precision strike in Helmand province, resulting in the death of eight individuals, to include Abdul Rauf Khadim, a former Taliban commander."

Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security immediately confirmed Khadim's death on Feb. 9. The Islamic State has not released a martyrdom statement for Khadim.

Khadim was captured by US forces in December 2001, held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay up until he was transferred to Afghan custody in December 2007, and subsequently freed by the Afghan government in 2009. After his release, he was quickly appointed to a senior position within the Taliban. In 2010, he served as the Taliban's shadow governor for Uruzgan province and is also reported to have been a member of the Taliban's Quetta Shura Council.

Khadim, who was one of Mullah Omar's top deputies and military commanders, is said to have severed ties with the Taliban last year after losing an internal power struggle. He is said to have joined the Islamic State earlier this year. On Jan. 26, the spokesman for the Islamic State said Khadim swore allegiance to emir Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, and was appointed the deputy governor of the Khorasan province. The Khorasan is a geographical region that covers Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of neighboring countries.

The Pentagon spokesman described the Islamic State's presence in Afghanistan as "nascent at best" and "aspirational."

"In fact, I would say more aspirational than anything else at this point," Kirby continued. "This guy Khadim, we assess that he decided to swear allegiance to ISIL [Islamic State] probably no more than a couple weeks ago. And he didn't have a whole lot of depth to any network resources or manpower when he did it."

Khadim was perhaps one of the most active Islamic State commanders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is said to have had scores of fighters under his command and was operating in Kajaki district in northern Helmand province, where he was killed.

Second leader of the Amniyat killed in less than 2 months

Dheeq, the Shabaab leader, "and an associate" were killed in an operation that utilized "unmanned aerial aircraft and Hellfire missiles," Kirby confirmed. The Pentagon first noted on Feb. 3 that Dheeq was targeted several days earlier, but was unable to confirm his death. Somali officials reported that Dheeq was killed within 24 hours of the strike. [See LWJ report, US drone strike targets Shabaab's external operations chief

The Amniyat is a key organization within Shabaab. It is instrumental in executing suicide attacks inside Somalia as well as in Kenya and other African nations, conducting assassinations, providing logistics and support for operations, and integrating the group's local and regional commands. A top Amniyat official known as "Hassan" is said to have received direct instructions from al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri on training operatives in Africa. [See LWJ report, UN warned of Shabaab ally's 'new and more complex operations' in Kenya, and Threat Matrix report, Zawahiri's man in Shabaab's 'secret service'.]

The Amniyat is also responsible for protecting Shabaab's emir, and in the past has carried out executions for the group's leader.

The US has targeted and killed several top leaders of the Amniyat in the recent past. The US killed Tahlil Abdishakur, the previous leader of the Amniyat, in an airstrike in Somalia on Dec. 29, 2014.

US continues to rely on tactic of decapitation vs counterinsurgency

The deaths of Khadim and Dheeq, as well as Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari, a senior al Qaeda sharia official in Yemen on Jan. 31, highlights the US government's abandonment of counterinsurgency to fight the spread of jihadist movements throughout the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. President Barack Obama ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq at the end of 2011, and will pull US forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016.

Instead of fighting the jihadist groups on the ground, the US has relied on airstrikes, and in many cases, unmanned aerial vehicles that are more commonly called drones to target senior and mid-level leaders of the jihadist groups. This tactic has been used against al Qaeda, the Taliban and allied groups in Pakistan since 2007, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen since 2009, and Somalia since 2006.

While the airstrikes have killed some top al Qaeda, Taliban, and allied leaders, they have not stopped the spread of jihadist groups across Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Nor have they denied these groups territory, which is crucial for the group to train fighters, maintain local insurgencies, and plot attacks against the West. Despite years of airstrikes against al Qaeda and its allies, the groups still control territory in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia, and they are waging active insurgencies in Nigeria, Mali, Egypt, the Caucasus, and elsewhere.

Pentagon spokesman portrays Guantanamo recidivism as a good thing

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 09:15 AM PST

Yesterday, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby cast a positive light on jihadists from the Taliban and al Qaeda who have been released from Guantanamo and have returned to wage jihad. The topic came up in the discussion of an airstrike that killed Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, a senior Taliban commander who was detained at Guantanamo from 2001 to 2007, released to Afghan custody and freed in 2009, and returned to the Taliban shortly afterward to assume the role of a senior military commander up until his defection to the Islamic State earlier this year. Below is the exchange, from the Pentagon's transcript:

Q: Why was he released?

REAR ADM. KIRBY: Joe, I don't have the records on this guy from -- from Guantanamo Bay.

Yes, he was a detainee. He was released in 2007. He was released to Kabul.

The other thing that we've said -- and this is another great example, because we had a long, you know, discussion not too long ago about the -- the recidivism and particularly the issue of this -- this one individual who reengaged there in Qatar, and we said that they return to the battlefield and to the fight at their own peril. Mr. Kadim is proof of that.

Kirby's statement that Khadim's death should be viewed as a positive is cold comfort to the hundreds of Afghans, Americans, and Coalition personnel who were killed while Khadim commanded forces in southern Afghanistan. The jihadist was able to operate for more than six years as a top level Taliban commander and has the blood of thousands on his hands.

Khadim and Mullah Zakir, another Guantanamo alum (who is still alive; he "resigned due to ill health," according to the Taliban) were responsible for implementing the Taliban's counter-surge strategy. While the the jihadist group failed to halt Coalition and Afghan forces' gains in the south from 2009 to 2011 (gains which are now melting away), at least 875 Coalition members were killed during the fighting in Kandahar (273 killed) and Helmand (602 killed) during that time period, according to iCasualties (note, data on Coalition members killed by province after 2011 is not available on the iCasualties website). The number of Afghan security personnel and civilians killed in Kandahar and Helmand by the Taliban during that timeframe is not available, but is likely in the thousands.

Despite this, Kirby doubles down and says Guantanamo should be closed, which means even more jihadists will be freed.

Q: After seeing such example, like former Guantanamo detainee who was released and went back to the -- to work with the Taliban, is the Pentagon still convinced that Guantanamo should be closed?

REAR ADM. KIRBY: Yes. The Pentagon's position is that the detainee facility should be closed. Secretary Hagel has made that clear on any number of occasions. There's no change to that.

Iyad Ag Ghaly reportedly in the Kidal region of Mali

Posted: 11 Feb 2015 04:18 AM PST

Iyad Ag Ghaly situated before the flag of al Qaeda.

Iyad Ag Ghaly, the leader of the Malian jihadist group Ansar Dine, is reportedly in the Kidal region of Mali, according to Der Spiegel. Paul Hyacinthe Mben, a journalist for the German magazine, reportedly traveled to the Kidal region of Mali and met with the jihadist leader. "Two years after the military intervention of the French, Ag Ghaly walks freely in Kidal and feels safe," Mben reports. While it is likely that Ag Ghaly is indeed in northern Mali, the events told in the Der Spiegel report cannot be independently verified.

Mben says that Ag Ghaly met him at a tent camp "65km from the town of Kidal." Mben goes on to say that the jihadist leader showed him a Sharia school run by the group for young boys. "Two days later," Malian media has reported, "the leader of Ansar Dine presents the reporter one of his lieutenants, Rhissa ag Bounounou." Ag Bounounou is reportedly one of Ag Ghaly's men tasked with smuggling weapons from the chaos in Libya into northern Mali.

Mben purportedly then visited one of the group's weapon caches, where he saw "rifles, grenades, explosives, mines, and rocket launchers." Ag Bounounou then allegedly taunted the French-led counterterrorism mission by saying, "Europeans can send as many drones they want. They will not find us."

Ansar Dine was formed in 2011 and throughout 2012 the group worked with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and Tuareg separatist groups to take over Mali's north. Ansar Dine acts as the local wing of AQIM. A confidential letter written by AQIM's emir Abdelmalek Droukdel was found stating that the group's fighters in Mali should hide their activities under the banner of Ansar Dine. By doing so, AQIM was considered less likely draw unwanted attention from the international community and thus avoid a military intervention.

However, after the various jihadist groups implemented their strict form of Sharia, France launched an intervention in Mali to help regain control of the north in January 2013. In February of 2013, Ag Ghaly was designated a terrorist by the US State Department. In their designation, State noted that Ag Ghaly "cooperates closely with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb." [For more on Ag Ghaly's designation, see LWJ report Emir of Ansar Dine added to US, UN's terrorist lists]

Ag Ghaly went off the radar shortly thereafter, only to periodically resurface. Despite the French intervention, which has now become a region-wide counterterrorism mission, jihadists in northern Mali continue to pose a serious threat.

Islamic State al-Khans'aa Brigade publishes manifesto for women

Posted: 10 Feb 2015 01:43 PM PST

The al-Khans'aa Brigade, the group of women within the Islamic State's 'caliphate' known for enforcing dress codes and strict rules of law in the group's stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, released a manifesto on January 23.   

The document, which is broken into three parts and was recently translated by the Quilliam Foundation, is a piece of propaganda claiming to describe life under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's 'caliphate,' while also trying to recruit female supporters. The first part of the report describes how Islamic women should lead their lives while the second portion is a case study of Islamic women currently living under the caliphate. The third section compares Saudi Arabia, or what the author(s) refers to as "the hypocritical state," to the Islamic State.

 The author(s) of the document states that it has not been officially adopted by the caliphate's leadership, but that its intentions are to "clarify the role of Muslim women and the life which is desired for them," "to clarify the realities of life and the hallowed existence of women in the Islamic State, in Iraq and in al-Sham, and to refute the rumours that detractors advance against it, using evidence supported and experienced by women living there," and "to expose the falsity of the tawheed in the Arabian Peninsula."  

The beginning of the release features a general manifesto on Muslim life followed by one directly addressing Muslim women. The author(s) first addresses the concept of materialism and capitalism and how both have detracted from the ability to lead a faithful life. The manifesto specifically references UNESCO and the World Health Organization as groups who have corrupted Muslims with their "worldly sciences."  

The section addressing Muslim women states that women are not fulfilling their fundamental role in society, which, according to the author(s), is in the home, raising the next generation of children. According to the report, women must be educated to fulfill this obligation.   

Education for women, as outlined in the manifesto, should take place between the ages of seven and fifteen. From seven to nine, girls should study fiqh (or Islamic jurisprudence), Arabic, and the natural sciences. From ten to twelve, girls should study more fiqh as it relates to women, specifically marriage and divorce. At this time, girls will also learn basic household skills, which include knitting and cooking. From thirteen to fifteen, "there will be more of a focus on Shariah, as well as more manual skills and less of the science." During this period the girls should also study Islamic history.

  According to the document, western influence has corrupted Muslims, claiming that "the model preferred by infidels in the West failed the minute that women were 'liberated' from their cell in the house." Women are to live a sedentary lifestyle in the home while men are meant for "movement and flux," the report says.

These strict rules for women have three exceptions, according to the manifesto. Women may leave the house and enter the community to wage jihad, to study religion, or if they are a doctor or teacher. But "to have a job is a task reserved only for men."  

The report likens equality between men and women to an inconvenience for women. In discussing circumstances where women must work outside the home, the manifesto states: "women gain nothing from the idea of their equality with men apart from thorns."   Girls are eligible for marriage at the age of nine and "most pure girls will be married by sixteen or seventeen, while they are still young and active."  

The second section of the document, the case study, attempts to paint a happy picture of life under the Islamic State's rule in Raqqa, Syria and Mosul, Iraq. This section includes pictures and captions, showing different aspects of life in the two cities.  

The author(s) explains that "despite the raging war and the continued coalition against the Islamic state, the bombing planes in the skies flying back and forth, despite all this destruction, we find continued, patient and steadfast construction, thanks be to God." The Brigade refers to the coalition forces as "soldiers of the Antichrist." 

According to the section of the case study detailing life in Mosul, women's return to wearing the hijab across the caliphate has brought a new sense of decency. The author(s) purportedly claims that when the Islamic State took over the swaths of land it now controls, "the people regained their rights, none more so than women."

  As the case study describes various aspects of life within the caliphate, it maintains that many of the problems Mosul's citizens faced before the Islamic State's leadership assumed power are no longer an issue. These problems include poverty, access to medicine, electricity, and the state of public services.  

As for conditions in Raqqa, known as the Islamic State's stronghold, the case study describes a place where those who have migrated to Syria from around the world live harmoniously together under Shariah law.

  The manifesto concludes by comparing the Islamic State to Saudi Arabia, which it refers to as "the hypocritical state." In this section, the Brigade points out issues (poverty, injustice, and westernization) women living in Saudi Arabia face, and further claims that such issues do not exist under the caliphate.   

Despite the Brigade's attempt to describe normal life under Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's rule, it fails to mention the gross human rights abuses at the hands of the Islamic State. Recently, a United Nations watchdog reported to several news outlets that Iraqi children are being sold as sex slaves, while others are being crucified and buried alive. And in November, the United Nations released a report detailing the Islamic State's many atrocities.

In December, the Islamic State published its own pamphlet detailing how to treat female slaves. Among its many disturbing rules, the document states that captors can have sex with female slaves who have not yet reached puberty "if she is fit for intercourse" and that beating slaves is also permissible.  

After seizing Mount Sinjar in August, the Islamic State captured between 1,500 and 4,000 Yazidi women and girls. Women who have managed to escape from the jihadist group have testified about awful conditions in captivity, including sexual slavery and forced marriages to the group's fighters.
 
Activists working inside Raqqa describe the al-Khans'aa Brigade as a direct threat to their efforts to expose the brutality of the caliphate and its leadership. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal claims that members of the all-female brigade are on the hunt for activists like those working for the group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. Because the women wear black niqabs, activists and residents alike cannot differentiate between who may or may not be an informant.