Tag: al qaeda

Trading Iran for Al-Qaeda

In a reversal of the old proverb “Better the devil you know,” the U.S. and its partners in the Political West have embraced the devil they don’t. In Syria, they have traded Iran for al-Qaeda.

When Bashar al-Assad fell, many of his international partners suffered injuries. But none was hurt so badly as Iran. Unable to compete militarily with its far better armed enemies, Iran relied on a series of regional proxies. That front line of defense and deterrence has now been dismantled.

If Hezbollah was the heart of the proxy system, Syria was the logistical bridge between Iran and Lebanon upon which it depended. The effectiveness of Hezbollah was contingent upon the security of Syria. Syria was the bridge over which Iranian arms flowed to Lebanon. That bridge has now been broken.

Iran relied heavily on military bases and missile factories in Syria that have now all been lost. They have been lost both politically and physically. They have been lost politically because the new rulers of Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have sworn enmity to Iran. In his victory speech, HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani said that Assad had made Syria “a playground for Iranian ambitions.” No sooner had Damascus been captured than the Iranian embassy was stormed by Syrian rebels. Al-Jolani, has said, “We are open to friendship with everyone in the region – including Israel. We don’t have enemies other than the Assad regime, Hezbollah and Iran.”

They have been lost physically because, now with no air defenses at all, hundreds of air strikes have eliminated virtually all the military structures and weapons in Syria to ensure a toothless new regime. Israel has warned that “If the new regime in Syria allows Iran to re-establish itself, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah – we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price.”

Asaad was a was an ineffective and brutal dictator. In the end, he fell, in large part, because he lost the support of his military and his people. The Syrian Army was not willing to die to save Asaad. But Asaad has been traded for al-Qaeda.

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The Syrian Rebellion: Who Are the Big Losers?

After an inconceivably fast twelve day march through Syria by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in exile in Moscow, his government has fallen, the more than five decade’s long Ba’ath rule of Syria is over and a group descended from Al-Qaeda is in control of Syria.

The Assad regime only survived as long as it did because of Hezbollah ground support, Russian air support and significant Iranian assistance in the first round of the Syrian rebellion over a decade ago. This time, none of that was available.

Hezbollah had been critically wounded by airstrikes and assassinations in its war with Israel. To concentrate on its war with Israel, Hezbollah had withdrawn forces from Syria. And its ceasefire agreement with Israel prevented its presence in South Lebanon, hampering its ability to assist Syria. Iran had been weakened both locally by its exchange of attacks with Israel and regionally by the weakening of Hezbollah. Russia was focussed on its own war with Ukraine.

But it is not entirely clear that Iran and Russia lacked the ability to come to Syria’s aid more significantly. Despite the forces and material being committed to Ukraine, a recent report by Chatham House concludes that “Russia’s global power projection capabilities are undiminished.” General Christopher Cavoli, the commander of United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, similarly told a congressional audience of the House Armed Services Committee that “Much of the Russian military has not been affected negatively by this conflict… despite all of the efforts they’ve undertaken inside Ukraine.”

Russia promised to “continue to provide support to President Assad.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is “actively studying measures needed to stabilise the situation in the region,” and Syrian military sources said Russia had promised that more military aid would start arriving withing 72 hours.

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How Washington is positioning Syrian Al-Qaeda’s founder as its ‘asset’

March 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of the Western regime-change war on Syria. And after a decade of grueling conflict, Washington is still maneuvering to extend its longstanding relationship with the Salafi-jihadist militants fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

With the northwestern province of Idlib under the control of a self-proclaimed “Syrian Salvation Government” led by the rebranded version of Syria’s al-Qaeda franchise, and protected under the military aegis of NATO member state Turkey, powerful elements from Brussels to Washington have been working to legitimize its leader.

This June, PBS Frontline aired a special, “The Jihadist,” featuring a sit-down interview with Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, de facto president of the “Syrian Salvation Government” and founder of the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda originally called Jabhat al-Nusra, today re-branded as Hay-at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.

Having traded in his battlefield garb for a freshly pressed suit, Jolani was presented with the once unthinkable opportunity to market himself to a Western audience and pledge that his forces pose no threat to the US homeland because they were merely focused on waging war against Syria’s “loyalist” population.

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Western values? Kiev NeoNazi regime joins Syria’s Al Qaeda terrorists

Reports that Ukrainian military special forces are crucially helping jihadist terrorists in Syria should be no surprise – except perhaps to consumers of Western media.

That the NeoNazi Kiev regime is now openly aligned with terrorist networks in Syria is fully consistent with nefarious Western imperialist objectives.

The seeming contradictions or surprises arise only if one believes: a) that the Kiev regime is a democratic government instead of a NeoNazi junta that glorifies collaborators of the Third Reich; b) that the militants in Syria are bona fide “rebels” fighting a “civil war” to liberate Syria from a dictatorship instead of being jihadist terrorist groups tasked by Western sponsors for regime change; and c) that Western values are all about democracy and respecting international law instead of prioritizing hegemonic interests no matter how criminal the means.

What’s happening in Ukraine and Syria is systematically linked, not random occurrences. That’s because the two conflicts have one root – Western imperialist intrigue.

It was reliably reported several weeks ago by Turkish and Russian media that the Kiev regime had brokered a deal with militants in Syria to supply drones. Up to 250 Ukrainian personnel were deployed in the northern Idlib region of Syria, which is an enclave for the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terror group and several other jihadist militias. All of these groups are offshoots of the Al Qaeda terror organization that the American and British military intelligence agencies created in Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union, then aiding its Afghan ally (1979-1989).

When HTS launched its offensive last week to capture Aleppo – Syria’s second-largest city – the dramatic victory was enabled in large part by the novel deployment of drones provided by the Ukrainian military. It is reported that the White Wolves commando unit has played a vital role in the lightning offensive by HTS. The White Wolves are reportedly under the control of the Ukrainian military intelligence (SBU), which, in turn, is working hand-in-hand with the CIA, MI6, and other NATO military intelligence services.

There is no haphazard coincidence here but rather a strategic campaign.

The NATO-instigated proxy war in Ukraine is going atrociously for the United States and its European partners. Russia is decisively winning that war, which flared up in February 2022 when Moscow launched its Special Military Operation to thwart years of low-intensity aggression sponsored by NATO using NeoNazi terror brigades. The NeoNazi Kiev regime was installed in 2014 in a CIA-backed coup d’état, which the West valorizes as a pro-democracy movement.

During the last three years of NATO’s hybrid war in Ukraine, militants have been transferred from Syria to fight against Russian forces. HTS and Islamic State supplied the militants – both of which are internationally designated terrorist organizations.

Officially, even the United States and NATO members proscribe HTS and IS as terrorist groups.

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Why is the United States Supporting Islamic Extremists Worse than Al Qaeda?

It is a simple question, but underscores the gross hypocrisy of the United States. Whether you accept or reject the 9-11 narrative that the attack was carried out by Al Qaeda (and, for the record, I do), that attack served as the raison d’etre for the ensuing Global War on Terror aka GWOT. “They hate us because of our freedom,” or so we were told.

While many in the West lump Al Qaeda, ISIS, Hezbollah and Hamas into the same category, the groups spawned by Al Qaeda represent (or represented) something distinct (and more dangerous in my opinion) than Hezbollah and Hamas. Hezbollah and Hamas are not pursuing a “global caliphate.” They simply want the land taken from them by the West and the Zionists. Hamas, in its revised Charter, makes it clear that its war is with the Zionists, not Jews or Judaism:

16. Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity.

17. Hamas rejects the persecution of any human being or the undermining of his or her rights on nationalist, religious or sectarian grounds. Hamas is of the view that the Jewish problem, anti-Semitism and the persecution of the Jews are phenomena fundamentally linked to European history and not to the history of the Arabs and the Muslims or to their heritage. The Zionist movement, which was able with the help of Western powers to occupy Palestine, is the most dangerous form of settlement occupation which has already disappeared from much of the world and must disappear from Palestine.

You will never read a declaration like that from Al Qaeda or its more extreme, lethal descendants — such as, ISIS and Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham. ISIS was born as a consequence of the US invasion of Iraq is 2003. Its first leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, set the tone for ISIS by attacking and killing Shi’a Muslims in Iraq. Here is a portion of a letter allegedly written by Zarqawi that shows you what he thought of the Shi’a:

3 [sic]. The Shi`a

[They are] the insurmountable obstacle, the lurking snake, the crafty and malicious scorpion, the spying enemy, and the penetrating venom. We here are entering a battle on two levels. One, evident and open, is with an attacking enemy and patent infidelity. [Another is] a difficult, fierce battle with a crafty enemy who wears the garb of a friend, manifests agreement, and calls for comradeship, but harbors ill will and twists up peaks and crests (?). Theirs is the legacy of the Batini bands that traversed the history of Islam and left scars on its face that time cannot erase. The unhurried observer and inquiring onlooker will realize that Shi`ism is the looming danger and the true challenge. “They are the enemy. Beware of them. Fight them. By God, they lie.” History’s message is validated by the testimony of the current situation, which informs most clearly that Shi`ism is a religion that has nothing in common with Islam except in the way that Jews have something in common with Christians under the banner of the People of the Book. From patent polytheism, worshipping at graves, and circumambulating shrines, to calling the Companions [of the Prophet] infidels and insulting the mothers of the believers and the elite of this [Islamic] nation, [they] arrive at distorting the Qur’an as a product of logic to defame those who know it well, in addition to speaking of the infallibility of the [Islamic] nation, the centrality of believing in them, affirming that revelation came down to them, and other forms of infidelity and manifestations of atheism with which their authorized books and original sources — which they continue to print, distribute, and publish — overflow. The dreamers who think that a Shi`i can forget [his] historical legacy and [his] old black hatred of the Nawasib [those who hate the Prophet’s lineage], as they fancifully call them, are like someone who calls on the Christians to renounce the idea of the crucifixion of the Messiah. Would a sensible person do this? These are a people who added to their infidelity and augmented their atheism with political cunning and a feverish effort to seize upon the crisis of governance and the balance of power in the state, whose features they are trying to draw and whose new lines they are trying to establish through their political banners and organizations in cooperation with their hidden allies the Americans.

This screed produced a response from Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, that is lengthy, but worth a read to appreciate the mindset of the Al Qaeda militants. While Zawahiri is generally supportive of Zarqawi’s view of the Shi’a as apostates from Islam, he, with the full support of Bin Laden, chides Zarqawi for his attacks on Shi’a worshipers and their mosques:

A) I repeat that I see the picture from afar, and I repeat that you see what we do not see. No doubt you have the right to defend yourself, the mujahedeen, and Muslims in general and in particular against any aggression or threat of aggression.

(B) I assert here that any rational person understands with ease that the Shia cooperated with the Americans in the invasion of Afghanistan, Rafsanjani himself confessed to it, and they cooperated with them in the overthrow of Saddam and the occupation of Iraq in exchange for the Shia’s assumption of power and their turning a blind eye to the American military presence in Iraq. This is clear to everybody who has two eyes. . . .

(D) The collision between any state based on the model of prophecy with the Shia is a matter that will happen sooner or later. This is the judgment of history, and these are the fruits to be expected from the rejectionist Shia sect and their opinion of the Sunnis. These are clear, well-known matters to anyone with a knowledge of history, the ideologies, and the politics of states.

(E) We must repeat what we mentioned previously, that the majority of Muslims don’t comprehend this and possibly could not even imagine it. For that reason, many of your Muslim admirers amongst the common folk are wondering about your attacks on the Shia. The sharpness of this questioning increases when the attacks are on one of their mosques, and it increases more when the attacks are on the mausoleum of Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib, may God honor him. My opinion is that this matter won’t be acceptable to the Muslim populace however much you have tried to explain it, and aversion to this will continue.

Indeed, questions will circulate among mujahedeen circles and their opinion makers about the correctness of this conflict with the Shia at this time. Is it something that is unavoidable? Or, is it something can be put off until the force of the mujahed movement in Iraq gets stronger? And if some of the operations were necessary for self-defense, were all of the operations necessary? Or, were there some operations that weren’t called for? And is the opening of another front now in addition to the front against the Americans and the government a wise decision? Or, does this conflict with the Shia lift the burden from the Americans by diverting the mujahedeen to the Shia, while the Americans continue to control matters from afar? And if the attacks on Shia leaders were necessary to put a stop to their plans, then why were there attacks on ordinary Shia?

Won’t this lead to reinforcing false ideas in their minds, even as it is incumbent on us to preach the call of Islam to them and explain and communicate to guide them to the truth? And can the mujahedeen kill all of the Shia in Iraq? Has any Islamic state in history ever tried that? And why kill ordinary Shia considering that they are forgiven because of their ignorance? And what loss will befall us if we did not attack the Shia? And do the brothers forget that we have more than one hundred prisoners – many of whom are from the leadership who are wanted in their countries – in the custody of the Iranians? And even if we attack the Shia out of necessity, then why do you announce this matter and make it public, which compels the Iranians to take counter measures? And do the brothers forget that both we and the Iranians need to refrain from harming each other at this time in which the Americans are targeting us?

My point in sharing these communications between the leaders of Al Qaeda and the leader of ISIS is to give you some appreciation of the depth of their theological conviction that they possessed a unique truth and were empowered by Allah to impose what they believed to be “correct” practices and to punish, by death, those who refused to obey.

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Israel-Backed Al Qaeda Terrorists Storm Aleppo

The Syrian Army is pressing ahead with its operations to confront and expel foreign-backed terrorists from the country’s north and northwestern provinces. Reports on the ground say that the Syrian military backed by the Russian Air Force struck the terror groups in villages of Hazarin and Al-Raqeya in the southern countryside of the province of Idlib. Airstrikes also targeted positions of Al-Nusra Front Terror Group around Khan Sheikhoun south of Idlib and Morek in the northern countryside of Hama. The Syrian military says it has reinforced its defense lines with various means of fire, personnel and equipment in areas where clashes are underway with the terrorists. The army also says it’s managed to secure a number of areas including Ma’ardis. According to the Syrian media, nearly terrorists have been killed in three days of fighting. Clashes between the army and the terrorists erupted after attack theory groups, including al-Nusra Front, launched a surprise attack on northern and northwestern parts of Syria on Wednesday.

And reactions and condemnations continue pouring in over the resurgence of foreign-backed terrorism in Syria. The Arab League has issued a statement stressing the need to respect the sovereignty and preserve the territorial integrity of Syria. League Secretary General Ahmed Abu Ghait expressed concerns over the continuous developments that Syria is witnessing and their impacts on civilians. In a phone call, the UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the country stands with Syria and supports it in combating terrorism and unifying its territory. The Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudanian and Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein expressed their country’s support, saying that Syria’s security and stability are linked to Iraq’s national security. In a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yivan Gil expressed country solidarity with the Syrian people and government, calling on the international community to condemn terrorist attacks in Syria.

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REPORT: Tim Walz Administration Awarded $2 Million to Charity Linked to Al-Qaeda in Minnesota

Did anyone in the Harris campaign even vet Minnesota Governor Tim Walz?

It seems like every other day we are learning some new damning fact about Kamala’s running mate, whether it’s about his military service or his ties to communist China.

Now in an another potentially explosive development, it is coming to light that his administration in Minnesota awarded $2 million to a charity with ties to the terror group al-Qaeda.

The Washington Examiner reported:

Walz administration awarded $2 million to Muslim group fundraising for al Qaeda-linked charity

Under Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the state of Minnesota awarded over $2 million to an Islamic group that fundraises for a charity linked to an al Qaeda affiliate, according to funding records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

The Islamic Association of North America, the recipient of the state grants from 2019 to 2024, is fundraising after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year for Rahma Worldwide, a Michigan-based charity that says it is shipping humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to flyers. In a since-deleted Facebook post in October 2023, Rahma Worldwide President Shadi Zaza revealed his charity was collaborating on an aid initiative with the Islamic Heritage Revival Society of Kuwait, a terrorist group sanctioned by the U.S. government for funding al Qaeda.

News of the Walz administration’s grants to the IANA comes as the Democratic vice presidential candidate faces backlash after a series of Washington Examiner reports revealed his ties to Muslim cleric Asad Zaman. As Minnesota’s governor, Walz has repeatedly hosted Zaman, who shared a pro-Adolf Hitler movie on social media and defended the Oct. 7 attack. Moreover, according to unearthed footage, Walz referred to Zaman as a “master teacher” at a 2018 event held by the Zaman-led Muslim American Society of Minnesota, which partners with the IANA.

Where does it end with this guy?

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The Biden Effect: Al Qaeda Is Back

Almost three years after Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a report to Congress from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) warns that al Qaeda has reestablished itself in the country.

The analysis from SIGAR states that al Qaeda maintains “a safe haven in Afghanistan,” including for “around a dozen senior al Qaeda leaders.”

The report further warns that there are now “up to eight new al Qaeda training camps, one stockpile weapons base, and five madrassas this quarter with help from al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.”

In August 2021, Biden vowed to “reorganize” US assets to prevent a “re-emergence of terrorists” in Afghanistan.

In stark contrast, he actually left a power vacuum in Afghanistan aa well as untold amounts of weapons and tactical military equipment. 

That is the exact scenario that led directly to the rise of Osama Bin Laden, 9/11 and the catastrophic two decade long ‘war on terror’.

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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: Infamous Terrorist And US Intelligence Asset

Ranked second only to Osama bin Laden, the US’s most notorious declared enemy during the so-called War on Terror was Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

But a closer examination of Zarqawi’s life and his impact on events in Iraq shows that he was likely a product and tool of US intelligence.

Neoconservative strategists within the administration of George W. Bush utilized Zarqawi as a pawn to justify the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the American public.

Moreover, he was instrumental in fomenting internal discord within Iraqi resistance groups opposing the US occupation, ultimately instigating a sectarian civil war between Iraq’s Sunni and Shia communities.

Israel’s plan unfolds in Iraq

This deliberate strategy of tension in Iraq advanced Tel Aviv’s goal of perpetuating the country’s vulnerabilities, dividing populations along sectarian lines, and weakening its army’s ability to challenge Israel in the region.

It has long been known that the CIA created Al-Qaeda as part of its covert war on the Soviet Red Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s and supported Al-Qaeda elements in various wars, including in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Chechnya in the 1990s.

Additionally, evidence points to CIA support for Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups during the clandestine war in Syria launched in 2011 amid the so-called Arab Spring.

Despite this history, western journalists, analysts, and historians still take at face value that Zarqawi and AQI were sworn enemies of the US.

Without understanding Zarqawi’s role as a US intelligence asset, it is impossible to understand the destructive role the US (and Israel) played in the bloodshed inflicted on Iraq, not only during the initial 2003 invasion but in launching the subsequent sectarian strife as well.

It is also essential to understand the importance of current Iraqi efforts to expel US forces and rid the country of US influence moving forward.

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Al Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri Is Dead…for at Least the 4th Time

Notorious Al Qaeda terror group leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was reported to have died in a drone strike over the weekend in Kabul, Afghanistan. President Biden announced the news from the balcony of the White House. But you’ll forgive some people if they fall into the “trust but verify camp” on al-Zawahiri-is-dead news.

You see, the world was also told that al-Zawahiri died before. Task and Purpose inserted natural skepticism about Monday’s news in a story headlined, “Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda deputy is totally dead for real this time.” The military website acknowledged that “after mistakenly being declared dead several times in the past, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death has been officially announced – presumably for the final time – by President Joe Biden on Monday.”

Zawahiri was also thought to be dead in 2020. Democrat think tank The Brookings Institution said, “al-Zawahri may be dead or at least appears to be ‘completely off the grid,’ according to journalist and veteran jihadi-watcher Hassan Hassan. These reports come at the same time as the killing of another very senior al-Qaida leader, Abu Muhammad al-Masri, in Tehran, reportedly by Israeli agents at the behest of the United States.”

It wasn’t until the following year that the world learned that reports of his demise were premature. Zawahiri appeared in a video to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,977 Americans in three airplane attacks.

In 2008, Zawahiri was reported dead by Pakistani intelligence — making the story immediately suspect to western sources. Longwar Journal’s Bill Roggio reported at the time that “rumors of Zawahiri’s death or wounding began four days after what appears to be a US Predator unmanned aerial vehicle strike on a madrassa in the village of Zeralita in the Azam Warsak region of South Waziristan.” Roggio recounted that “six people, including three Arabs, were reported killed in the attack. The madrassa was said to be a safe house and meeting place for senior al Qaeda commanders.” CBS later reported that Zawahiri was gravely wounded in the attack. Yet, Zawahiri miraculously rose from the dead or hospital bed.

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