Jim's Military News: Tunisia

Showing posts with label Tunisia. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Ansar al-Sharia chief threatens Tunisia

5/14/2013 09:45:00 PM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

[AFP/Fethi Belaid] Abou Iyadh urged supporters to stand firm in a recent Facebook post.

The head of Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia on Sunday (May 12th) threatened to wage "war" against the government.

"To the tyrants who think they are Islamists... know that the stupid things you are doing are dragging you to war," AFP quoted the statement from Abou Iyadh (real name Seif Allah Ibn Hussein) as saying.

The Abou Iyadh statement was posted on Ansar al-Sharia's Facebook page after Tunisian authorities moved to crack down on salafist activity in the wake of skirmishes with al-Qaeda militants along the Algerian border.

Clashes broke out between security forces and salafists in some poor neighbourhoods near the capital after the authorities prevented the salafists from setting up preaching tents and from delivering sermons.

Sami Essid, one of the leaders of Ansar al-Sharia, condemned recent statements by Interior Minister Lotfi Bin Jeddou about banning preaching tents, charitable convoys and Qur'anic schools.

"He has declared war on Muslims in Tunisia," he said.

"The third annual congress of Ansar al-Sharia will be held in Kairouan again and opposite Uqba Ibn Nafi Mosque on Sunday (May 19th)," he confirmed.

"Abou Iyadh, a leader of Ansar al-Sharia who is wanted by the security forces, won't attend the third annual congress of the group," Essid added. "The only reason for that is that he loves Tunisia and doesn't want to confuse his supporters if he gets arrested by the security forces before them."

In his Sunday statement, Abou Iyadh said that Ansar al-Sharia's young people "would not hesitate to sacrifice for their religion in the land of Kairouan".

Ansar al-Sharia spokesperson Seifeddine Rais told Shems FM on Tuesday that the salafist group expects 30,000 to 40,000 people to attend its Kairouan congress.
(not the end)
Continue to read the full story at MAGHAREBIA site
By Yasmin Najjar and Jemal Arfaoui in Tunis for Magharebia – 14/05/2013

Tunisia: Al-Qaeda tied to Jebel Chaambi militants

5/09/2013 01:10:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

[AFP/Abderrazek Khlifi] Tunisian Special Forces stand guard in Kasserine as soldiers continue their hunt for a jihadist group hiding out in the border region with Algeria.

Tunisian security forces arrested 37 suspects connected to jihadist violence in Jebel Chaambi, the interior ministry revealed on Tuesday (May 7th).

Interior ministry spokesperson Mohamed Ali Aroui also said the remaining militants belonged to the Okba Ibn Nafaa brigade, which is linked to al-Qaeda. He made the announcement at a joint press conference with defence ministry spokesperson Mokhtar Ben Nasr.

The arrests included armed militants as well as elements that supplied logistic support, according to Aroui. Ten suspects were captured in Kef, while the rest were rounded up in Kasserine.

He stressed that the security forces and the army have full knowledge of the names and nationalities of the militants holed up in Kasserine and Kef.

He pointed out that the number of militants at large was between 10 and 15 terrorists in Kef and 20 in the Jebel Chaambi area of Kasserine, including 11 Algerians.

Aroui confirmed that the army and security forces were working very hard to eliminate these terrorist groups in co-ordination with Algeria and Libya.

"The armed elements holed up in Jebel Chaambi on the border with Algeria received logistic assistance of water, food and clothing from Tunisians sympathetic to them, which serves as evidence of the presence of an incubator for those insurgents who are believed to belong to al-Qaeda," defence ministry spokesperson Ben Nasr said.

Meanwhile a fourth land mine exploded on Monday morning in Jebel Chaambi, seriously wounding three army corporals. One of them, from the elite brigade of the fort of Bizerte in northern Tunisia, lost a leg. The second from the same brigade lost his eyes and sustained injuries to his face while the injuries of the third soldier were not determined.

"There is co-ordination with the Algerian authorities at both the field and intelligence levels to capture the terrorists who sought refuge in Jebel Chaambi," the defence ministry spokesman said.

He explained that "the mines that exploded were made of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and flammable materials that can easily explode when exposed to heat."

Journalist Nabil Zaghdoud commented that "nothing has changed" since the clashes with terrorists in Soliman several years ago.

"However, they were unable to this day to eliminate these terrorists and the reason is the absence of a political and sovereign decision to eliminate them and eradicate their roots with iron and fire," he added. Sadok Chourou, an Ennahda leader known as a hardliner, called for a dialogue between the government and the armed Islamists, a proposal that raised eyebrows.

Political analyst Anis Mansouri answered Chourou by saying that he was calling for "recognising the terrorists as a political party that the government sits with for dialogue".

"Their demands are the application of Sharia law, crucifixion of highwaymen, and to excommunicate as many as possible... In short, they would convert Tunisia into Afghanistan or Sudan," Mansouri added, stressing, "No dialogue and no democracy with the enemies of democracy and with those who call for violence, exercise it, justify it or defend it."

However, Ennahda chief Rachid Ghannouchi took a more moderate tone in remarks posted on the party's official Facebook page.

"We salute the heroes of the national army, the police and civil society in confronting terrorist acts and all young Islamists must know that fighting a Muslim is a heresy, debauchery and one of the greatest crimes."

Ghannouchi added, "Our police force is Muslim and so is our army and society; this so-called jihad has no place here."

By Yasmin Najjar in Tunis for Magharebia – 08/05/2013

Tunisia Hunts al-Qaida-linked Militants Near Algeria

5/08/2013 12:36:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

TUNIS - The Tunisian army and police force were hunting more than 30 suspected al-Qaida linked militants close to the border with Algeria on Tuesday, and President Moncef Marzouki travelled to the area to oversee the operation in a signal of its importance.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said there were about a dozen militants in the city of El Kef and about 20 in the remote area of Mount Chambi in the west of the country where police and militants have clashed regularly in recent weeks.

"President Moncef Marzouki arrived in Mount Chambi to raise the morale of soldiers and check on the conduct of pursuit operations there,'' an official in the president's office said.

The Interior Ministry spokesman said security forces had apprehended someone who had been delivering food to some of the suspected militants, cutting them off from supplies.

Tunisia, long among the most secular countries in the Arab world, has become increasingly concerned about attacks the authorities blame on hardline Islamists.

Police say Salafists - Muslim extremists - were behind the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid in February, which triggered the biggest street protests in Tunisia since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

from VOA News

Did Tunisia’s Salafi Jihadists Just Announce Their Allegiance to al-Qaeda?

3/24/2013 02:20:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Aaron Y. Zelin - al-Wasat blog

On Friday, Magharebia came out with a report that has already garnered attention among those who follow jihadist militancy. The publication claims that Tunisia’s salafi jihadists have just announced their allegiance (bayat) to al-Qaeda:

Tunisian salafist jihadists announced their allegiance to al-Qaeda this week, accepting the group’s invitation to wage a holy war.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s call Sunday (March 17th) to fight Westerners, secularists, reformers and other so-called “enemies” was welcomed by Tunisian salafist jihadists, the movement’s leader Mohamed Anis Chaieb told Assabah.
This was the first time Tunisia’s salafist jihadist groups officially declared their allegiance to al-Qaeda. And the terror group’s call to arms could not have come at a more critical juncture for the still-fragile state.

This is an extraordinarily sloppily reported and misleading article that shouldn’t be taken at face value, although there is a relevant data point beneath the sensationalized presentation. The first, and most obvious, error is that Mohamed Anis Chaieb simply cannot be regarded as “the movement’s leader” in any way, shape, or form. The biggest salafi jihadist organization in Tunisia is Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia (AST), and Abu Iyad al-Tunisi is widely recognized as AST’s emir. Chaieb is an obscure enough figure that most analysts who follow Tunisia and the Maghreb closely have probably never heard of him. He is, in fact, affiliated with AST, as we will detail below. But it is not clear that the statement he made can be construed as speaking for AST as a whole.
continue...
Read the full article here: https://thewasat.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/did-tunisias-salafi-jihadists-just-announce-their-allegiance-to-al-qaeda/

Tunisian 'martyrs' celebrated by Ansar al Sharia

3/14/2013 11:21:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

A poster honoring eight Tunisians who died fighting in Syria.

By Thomas Joscelyn - March 13, 2013 - LWJ

In early February, a video of an interview with Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's leader Seifallah ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi) was released online after it had been banned by government officials. Hassine, who is wanted for instigating the Sept. 14, 2012 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis, was asked about the migration of young Tunisians to the jihadist battlefields in Syria and Mali. He responded by discouraging the practice, saying Tunisia's Salafi jihadists were needed at home and that the wars abroad have "emptied Tunisia of its young."

A review of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's official Facebook page and other online sources tells a different story. Hassine's organization frequently celebrates the "martyrdom" of Tunisians, especially those who fought in Syria.

In Facebook entries posted this week, the group showcased Tunisians killed in Syria. And Ansar al Sharia's logos accompanied the young Tunisians' images, thereby indicating the organization's official seal of approval.

One post announces the death of a Tunisian who fought in Deir al Zour, a city located on the Euphrates River that the Al Nusrah Front is currently seeking to capture. The Facebook posting says that he fought for the Hamza Bin Abdul Muttalib Brigade.

Continue... & Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/03/in_early_february_a.php#ixzz2NVZ5LbKI

From al Qaeda in Italy to Ansar al Sharia Tunisia

11/22/2012 09:55:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Abu Iyad preaches during a rally in Tunisia in front of a flag commonly used by al Qaeda in Iraq. On the right (Iyad's left), in orange, is Sami Ben Khemais Essid. On the left (Iyad's right, also in orange), according to L'Espresso, is Mehdi Kammoun.

By Thomas Joscelyn - November 21, 2012 - LWJ

Two convicted members of an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group in Italy are now senior members of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. The pair, Sami Ben Khemais Essid and Mehdi Kammoun, were arrested in 2001 and sentenced to several years in prison for their terrorist plotting as operatives in the Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG).

They were each subsequently deported to their native Tunisia, where they were imprisoned by President Ben Ali's regime. In the wake of the Arab Spring, Essid and Kammoun were freed.

The US government has previously identified Essid as the head of al Qaeda's operations in Italy. In early 2001, Essid plotted to attack the US Embassy in Rome, among other targets.

Essid's and Kammoun's role in Ansar al Sharia Tunisia was first reported by L'Espresso, a weekly Italian news magazine. L'Espresso identified the two in a video of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's leader, Seifallah ben Hassine, also known as Abu Iyad. They can be seen wearing orange vests, flanking Abu Iyad on both sides.

The Long War Journal has found the same video online. A side-by-side comparison of a screen shot from the video and a known photo of Essid is shown below. Essid has subsequently been interviewed by an Algerian newspaper, which confirmed that he is now a leader in Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. A similar photo of Kammoun was not immediately available for comparison purposes.

Ansar al Sharia Tunisia orchestrated the Sept. 14 assault on the US Embassy in Tunis. The attack did extensive damage to US interests, including a school. Several people were killed during a subsequent confrontation between the rioters and Tunisian security forces.