Caleb Weiss — Moroccan jihadist group merges with local Syrian faction

Harakat Sham al Islam, a jihadist group founded by and primarily comprised of Moroccans, has announced its merger with the local Syrian jihadist faction Harakat Fajr al Sham al Islamiyya. The two groups previously operated as part of the al Qaeda-linked alliance Jabhat Ansar al Din.

According to a statement released on Twitter on Dec. 10, the two groups have merged under the Jabhat Ansar al Din name with a “total integration” of forces headed by former Harakat Fajr al Sham al Islamiyya leader Dr. Abu Abdullah al Shami.

It goes on to read that “this blessed move comes at a desperate time in the Syrian Revolution and its blessed jihad to close the ranks, unite, and gather efforts.” This move reportedly came after “listening to the scholars and reformers on the need for unity” to protect the jihad in Syria. “Scholars and reformers” is a reference to the line peddled by al Qaeda officials for its efforts in Syria. The “need for unity” is one of the main reasons behind the Al Nusrah Front’s re-branding into Jabhat Fateh al Sham, along with many other smaller bands.

Ayman al Zawahiri, the overall leader of al Qaeda, and his deputies have long stressed the need for jihadist unity. Before Nusrah’s rebranding, Zawahiri’s deputy, Abu Khayr al Masri, released a message blessing the re-branding to unify the ranks and “preserve the jihad” in Syria. Abu Muhammad al Jolani, the leader of al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, spoke in a similar tune in an interview to Al Jazeera in Dec. 2015. [See FDD’s Long War Journal report, Analysis: Al Nusrah Front rebrands itself as Jabhat Fath Al Sham.]

Harakat Sham al Islam was founded in 2013 by Ibrahim bin Shakran, Ahmed Mizouz, and Mohammed Alami, three Moroccans who were captured in Afghanistan after the US invasion in 2001, detained at Guantanamo Bay, and then released to the custody of the Moroccan government in 2004 and later released. Bin Shakran was released despite an assessment by Joint Task Force Guantanamo that identified him as a “high-ranking member” of the theological commission of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization....

FDD's Long War Journal
Moroccan jihadist group merges with local Syrian faction

Caleb Weiss

Paul Robinson — The peaceful city

Countering incredible Western naiveté.

Western propaganda has convinced most people in the West that the "reblels" were liberals fighting against the "dictatorial" Assad and his "repressive" regime rather than Sunni Islamists trying to impose their strict version of Islamic custom and law, similar to the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia.

BTW, life in Damascus is reported to be similar to that described in the post about Aleppo prior to Western and Saudi/Qatari arming and funding of the "opposition."

Irrussianality
The peaceful city
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Robert Parry — The Need to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable

Background that is important in light of Donald Trump's stance on Iran, as well as that of Lt. General Flynn, Trump's choice for National Security Advisor and appointment of General Mattis as Secretary of Defense.

One of Official Washington’s favorite “group thinks” is to insist that Iran is the “chief sponsor of terrorism,” but the reality is that Saudi Arabia is much guiltier and U.S. officials know it, says Robert Parry.…

Parry shows that it is impossible for anyone in the deep state or the military not to know that Saudi Arabia is the chief state sponsor of terrorism and not Iran. Iran is opposed by Israel and the Wahhabi-Salafi Sunni states, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Is Donald Trump either misinformed, or carrying water for Israel?  But if that is so, why would he be backing off replacing Assad in Syria, which IsraelI officials have stated as the number one goal?

Are the generals are also misinformed (which is highly unlikely), backing Israel also, or just uttering a shibboleth as a secret handshake to be admitted to the game.

Consortium News
The Need to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable
Robert Parry

See also

Some of President-elect Trump’s national security appointees are part of Official Washington’s “we-hate-Iran” group think, raising concerns about another Mideast war, notes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

Trump and His Iran-Haters

Paul R. Pillar

Robert Parry — The Need to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable

One of Official Washington’s favorite “group thinks” is to insist that Iran is the “chief sponsor of terrorism,” but the reality is that Saudi Arabia is much guiltier and U.S. officials know it, says Robert Parry.

Consortium News
The Need to Hold Saudi Arabia Accountable
Robert Parry

Voltarie Network — Egypt supports the Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian armies

Egypt comes out as being all in. Another poke in the eye of the globalizers.

On November 23, 2016, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaking at the RTP Portuguese TV channel said: "There should be international support for the national armies of Libya, Iraq and Syria, to ensure the security of their countries." President el-Sissi thus broke a hitherto well-kept secret: Egypt dispatched weapons to the loyalist forces of these three countries despite the Saudi threats.

Voltarie Network
Egypt supports the Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian armies

Mike Whitney — Obama Stepped Back From Brink, Will Hillary?

The American people need to understand what’s going on in Syria. Unfortunately, the major media only publish Washington-friendly propaganda which makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction. The best way to cut through the lies and misinformation, is by using a simple analogy that will help readers to see that Syria is not in the throes of a confusing, sectarian civil war, but the victim of another regime change operation launched by Washington to topple the government of Bashar al Assad.

With that in mind, try to imagine if striking garment workers in New York City decided to arm themselves and take over parts of lower Manhattan. And, let’s say, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided that he could increase his geopolitical influence by recruiting Islamic extremists and sending them to New York to join the striking workers. Let’s say, Trudeau’s plan succeeds and the rebel militias are able to seize a broad swathe of US territory including most of the east coast stretching all the way to the mid-west. Then– over the course of the next five years– these same jihadist forces proceed to destroy most of the civilian infrastructure across the country, force millions of people from their homes and businesses, and demand that President Obama step down from office so they can replace him with an Islamic regime that would enforce strict Sharia law.

How would you advise Obama in a situation like this? Would you tell him to negotiate with the people who invaded and destroyed his country or would you tell him to do whatever he thought was necessary to defeat the enemy and restore security?….

Counterpunch
Obama Stepped Back From Brink, Will Hillary?
Mike Whitney

RT — Direct aggression by US against Damascus to cause 'tectonic shift' in Middle East - Moscow

“If the US launches a direct aggression against Damascus and the Syrian Army, it would cause a terrible, tectonic shift not only in the country, but in the entire region,” Maria Zakharova said during a talk show, which is to be aired fully later on Saturday and has been cited by RIA.

With no government in Damascus, there will be a power vacuum in Syria, which “so-called moderates, who are, in reality, not moderate at all but just terrorists of all flavors, would fill; and there will be no dealing with them,” the diplomat predicted. 

“And later it would be aggravated the way it happened in Iraq. We know that [Saddam Hussein’s] Iraqi Army became the basis of the Islamic State. Everything that both the [US-led] coalition and Russia are fighting now stems from it,” Zakharova said.

RT
Direct aggression by US against Damascus to cause 'tectonic shift' in Middle East - Moscow

Defend Democracy — After Iraq, British parliamentarians discover Libya – how Cameron and Sarkozy destroyed it

Astounding incompetence based on bad intelligence, faulty analysis, and wishful thinking.

The disturbing thing is that the report is OK with provoking regime change in a sovereign country. The report criticizes the means instead. Imperialism and colonialism are alive and well as "the white man's burden."

Defend Democracy
After Iraq, British parliamentarians discover Libya – how Cameron and Sarkozy destroyed it

Sputnik International — Warning Bell: Attack on Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan Signals Alarming Changes

An attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday morning is an alarming signal. The negative scenarios for further developments in Central Asia, which have long been the cause of concern both for Russia and China, are now gradually materializing, military expert Vasily Kashin told Sputnik.…

The negative scenarios for the further developments in Central Asia, which have long been the cause of concern both for Russia and China, are now gradually materializing, he added. The elderly generation of authoritative leaders is gradually quitting, economic and demographic problems are mounting and the popularity of radical religious movements is growing….

Any wonder why Russia and now China are invested in opposing jihadis in Syria, some backed by the US as proxies against not only Assad but them also.

Sputnik International
Warning Bell: Attack on Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan Signals Alarming Changes

Gordon M. Hahn — Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood Strategy, the ‘War’ Against Jihadism, and Russia’s Syria Intervention, Part 3: Obama’s America and Erdogan’s Turkey

Backgrounder on Erdogan's Turkey. Flirting with the devil.

Obama’s Muslim Brotherhood Strategy, the ‘War’ Against Jihadism, and Russia’s Syria Intervention, Part 3: Obama’s America and Erdogan’s Turkey
Gordon M. Hahn

V. Brandi — Humanitarian fervor arises from the fact that the jihadists besieging Aleppo are getting beat

Well, the words used by our regime journalists shamelessly say the exact opposite of reality. According to them (and according to the stuff they are fed) it would be the national army that "advances towards Aleppo" to "reconquer" it, as if the city was in the hands of insurgents and foreign mercenaries, and not instead besieged for over three years by the jihadists. And the Aleppo residents are fleeing to Turkey, "terrified by Russian bombing."
Actually within the city limits the fighting isn't going on anymore. The jihadist groups and mercenaries who had infiltrated the city are surrounded and have only the prospect of surrender or reaching an agreement with the government like to the one reached by jihadists who were surrounded in an isolated district of Homs and were escorted to the Turkish border with the buses provided by the government.…

Well, the words used by our regime journalists shamelessly say the exact opposite of reality. According to them (and according to the stuff they are fed) it would be the national army that "advances towards Aleppo" to "reconquer" it, as if the city was in the hands of insurgents and foreign mercenaries, and not instead besieged for over three years by the jihadists. And the Aleppo residents are fleeing to Turkey, "terrified by Russian bombing."

Actually within the city limits the fighting isn't going on anymore. The jihadist groups and mercenaries who had infiltrated the city are surrounded and have only the prospect of surrender or reaching an agreement with the government like to the one reached by jihadists who were surrounded in an isolated district of Homs and were escorted to the Turkish border with the buses provided by the government.

Fort Russ
Humanitarian fervor arises from the fact that the jihadists besieging Aleppo are getting beat
V. Brandi, in CIVG
Translated from Italian by Tom Winter

Brahma Chellaney — Saudi Arabia’s Phony War on Terror

Containing the scourge of Islamist terror will be impossible without containing the ideology that drives it: Wahhabism, a messianic, jihad-extolling form of Sunni fundamentalism whose international expansion has been bankrolled by oil-rich sheikhdoms, especially Saudi Arabia. That is why the newly announced Saudi-led anti-terror coalition, the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism, should be viewed with profound skepticism.…

While this is well known, it's interesting that it is appearing at Project Syndicate, which is an organ of the System. Formerly, it was a persona non grata like Noam Chomsky saying this and getting no exposure.

Project Syndicate
Saudi Arabia’s Phony War on Terror
Brahma Chellaney | Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin

NATO's covert alliance with ISIS and other jihadis

This alliance with the West and the influx of enormous oil revenues since the 1970s have allowed Saudi Arabia to export its brand of Sunni Islam, named Wahhabism after its founder Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, encouraging the homogenization of Islamic practices around the world after the model of the Wahhabiya. Known for its rejection of pre-Islamic history, visitation of tombs, the mixing of men and women, its zeal to purify Islam from allegedly deviant practices (such as Sufism and Shiism) and its disdain for other religions, the Wahhabiya was a puritan movement that gave religious legitimacy to the conquests of the Al Saud.…

The key ideological difference between ISIS and the early Saudi-Wahhabi movement is that the Islamic State wants to establish a caliphate, and regards monarchy as an un-Islamic form of government. Frightened by this challenge, which the Gulf states helped to create, Saudi Arabia has reaffirmed its alliance with the conservative Wahhabi religious forces in the country.

But in ISIS, Saudi Arabia now has a foe that is so close to its own religious interpretation of Islam, that Saudi Arabia can not be seen to be fighting ISIS very strongly because it would undermine its authority at home. And so the West’s support for Middle East dictatorships continues to fuel the flames that have given rise to Al Qaeda and ISIS, despite a growing awareness that these alliances are a double-edged sword.

Nothing about actual support for ISIS and other jihadi groups coming from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other fundamentalist Sunni states and admission of this by key US officials, however.

Red Pill Times
When the US supports Saudi Arabia, it is also supporting ISIS

Toby Matthiesen | senior research fellow in the international relations of the Middle East at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Originally appeared at The New York Times

NEO
What Stinks in Saudi Ain’t the Camel Dung

F. William Engdahl

Not just KSA.

Czech President Milos Zeman has allegedly slammed the idea of Turkey joining the EU, stressing that Ankara appears to act as if it was an ally of Daesh (the Islamic state) militant group rather than that of western powers.

Czech President strongly opposes Turkey entering the EU, because its a Daesh ally

Alexrpt

The leader of the group "Jabhat al-Nusra", the Emir, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, in an interview aired by Arab TV channel Orient News, has revealed Turkey's plans to create so-called "security zone" in Northern Syria. The leader of the militants, whose face was hidden from cameras, directly accused Erdogan's regime of creating a buffer zone " which will not weaken, but will strengthen ISIS". This was reported by "Russian spring".

"Turkey will allow ISIS to further expand its influence in the areas around the border", - said the leader of the militants.

Ankara, according to Abu Muhammed, "tends to have preference to attack Kurdish forces, and chooses to not fight with ISIS in Northern Syria".

Jabhat al-Nusra is reputedely an Al Qaeda affiliate.

Fort Russ
Leader of the Nusrats: "Erdogan is strengthening ISIS"
Tvzvezda

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

Wayne Madsen — CIA-Islamic Jihadist Alliance Against Russia is 63 Years’ Old

Backgrounder. The US deep state has been at this for a long time.

Strategic Culture Foundation
CIA-Islamic Jihadist Alliance Against Russia is 63 Years’ Old

Wayne Madsen

Toby C. Jones and and Hasan Hafidh — 'Elephant in the Room': Terrorism and the U.S.-Gulf States Alliance

“When it comes to existing discourse on efforts to counter radicalization and the subsequent extremism that arises, it appears that Western policymakers and media outlets want to address everything but the actual long-term causes. The elephant in the room being Gulf states (namely Saudi Arabia and Qatar) whose state institutions have acted as an ideological incubator for extremist sentiment to flourish both domestically and abroad.…

“If you look at the relationship extremist movements have with these countries, you find they will employ various discrete or indirect methods of both financing and arming. A prime example being Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria — Jabhat Al-Nusra. GCC states along with NATO member Turkey have effectively armed them through the guise of arming a so-called moderate coalition ‘Jaysh al-Fatah,’ which itself is already comprised of hardline Sunni Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham.

“Qatar in particular, are known to finance such groups by way of paying ransoms; acting as a mediator in hostage situations. The most recent example being in Arsal, Lebanon, where Qatar mediated on a prisoner exchange deal for the release of Lebanese soldiers held captive by the group. Using this method enables them to deflect any charges of culpability for financing what are effectively al-Qaeda insurgents.

“In modern times, much of the extremism we witness today can be traced back to the U.S. and Saudi backing in the 1980s when they built up the Afghan Mujahideen to battle the Soviets; who we come to know today as the Taliban. It just goes to show how such policies of arming the ‘moderate Islamist’ has come back around to bite the U.S., having to invest in conflicts just to get rid of a problem they themselves aided and abetted in creating. We see a similar process taking place in Syria today.

“As part of this process, the Saudis would go on to utilize their petrodollars in order to finance and build fanatical religious schools. In the Punjab region alone, (which today witnesses extremism on a regular basis) has seen Salafi madrassas (or religious seminaries) increase threefold over the last few decades. This links back to a more recent case with the San Bernadino shooting, as U.S. officials found links between the infamous Lal Masjid in Islamabad and the woman [Tashfeen Malik] who took part in the ISIS-inspired massacre. This mosque is notorious for its links to past extremism and its leader (Maulana Abdul Aziz) who has gained a reputation in Pakistan for his hateful rhetoric.

"In the past, he has expressed support for ISIS, named a library after Osama Bin Laden and refused to condemn a massacre of schoolchildren in Rawalpindi (much to the dismay even of many of his own followers)….

Institute for Public Accuracy

'Elephant in the Room': Terrorism and the U.S.-Gulf States Alliance
Toby C. Jones, associate professor of history at Rutgers University, and Hasan Hafidh, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Leeds in comparative politics of the Middle East focusing on civil society networks and sectarianism in Gulf States

F. William Engdahl on allegations of Turkish, Israeli and Western complicity in Syria and Iraq

ISIS militants were trained by US, Israeli and now it emerges, by Turkish special forces at secret bases in Konya Province inside the Turkish border to Syria, over the past three years. Erdoğan’s involvement in ISIS goes much deeper. At a time when Washington, Saudi Arabia and even Qatar appear to have cut off their support for ISIS, they remaining amazingly durable. The reason appears to be the scale of the backing from Erdoğan and his fellow neo-Ottoman Sunni Islam Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu.…

The prime source of money feeding ISIS these days is sale of Iraqi oil from the Mosul region oilfields where they maintain a stronghold. The son of Erdoğan [Bilal] it seems is the man who makes the export sales of ISIS-controlled oil possible.…

In addition to son Bilal’s illegal and lucrative oil trading for ISIS, Sümeyye Erdoğan, the daughter of the Turkish President apparently runs a secret hospital camp inside Turkey just over the Syrian border where Turkish army trucks daily being in scores of wounded ISIS Jihadists to be patched up and sent back to wage the bloody Jihad in Syria, according to the testimony of a nurse who was recruited to work there until it was discovered she was a member of the Alawite branch of Islam, the same as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who Erdoğan seems hell-bent on toppling.…

According to French geopolitical analyst, Thierry Meyssan, Recep Erdoğan “organised the pillage of Syria, dismantled all the factories in Aleppo, the economic capital, and stole the machine-tools. Similarly, he organised the theft of archeological treasures and set up an international market in Antioch…with the help of General Benoît Puga, Chief of Staff for the Elysée [Syria is a former colony of France], he organised a false-flag operation intended to provoke the launching of a war by the Atlantic Alliance – the chemical bombing of la Ghoutta in Damascus, in August 2013. “….

Meyssan claims that the Syria strategy of Erdoğan was initially secretly developed in coordination with former French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé and Erdoğan’s then Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, in 2011, after Juppe won a hesitant Erdoğan to the idea of supporting the attack on traditional Turkish ally Syria in return for a promise of French support for Turkish membership in the EU.…

Gen. John R. Allen, an opponent of Obama’s Iran peace strategy, now US diplomatic envoy coordinating the coalition against the Islamic State, exceeded his authorized role after meeting with Erdoğan and “promised to create a « no-fly zone » ninety miles wide, over Syrian territory, along the whole border with Turkey, supposedly intended to help Syrian refugees fleeing from their government, but in reality to apply the « Juppé-Wright plan ». The Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, revealed US support for the project on the TV channel A Haber by launching a bombing raid against the PKK.” Meyssan adds.…

NEO
Erdogan’s Dirty Dangerous ISIS Games
F. William Engdahl

It seems that an Israeli military man with the rank of colonel was “caught with IS pants down.” By that I mean he was captured amid a gaggle of so-called IS–or Islamic State or ISIS or DAESH depending on your preference–terrorists, by soldiers of the Iraqi army. Under interrogation by the Iraqi intelligence he apparently said a lot regarding the role of Netanyahu’s IDF in supporting IS.

In late October an Iranian news agency, quoting a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, reported the capture of an Israeli army colonel, named Yusi Oulen Shahak, reportedly related to the ISIS Golani Battalion operating in Iraq in the Salahuddin front. In a statement to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency a Commander of the Iraqi Army stated, “The security and popular forces have held captive an Israeli colonel.” He added that the IDF colonel “had participated in the Takfiri ISIL group’s terrorist operations.” He said the colonel was arrested together with a number of ISIL or IS terrorists, giving the details: “The Israeli colonel’s name is Yusi Oulen Shahak and is ranked colonel in Golani Brigade… with the security and military code of Re34356578765az231434.”

Israeli Colonel Caught with IS Pants Down

John Ross — What is the relation of US foreign policy and 'jihadism'?

When the factual results of a policy, that is the great strengthening of jihadists, differ so entirely and repeatedly from the stated U.S. aim, to fight jihadists, it is necessary to examine this pattern carefully to see what is really going on. As the wise saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words. What therefore is the reality as opposed to the myth of the US "war on terror?"

US pictured in China as aider and abetter of terrorism for policy reasons.

China.org.cn
What is the relation of US foreign policy and 'jihadism'?
John Ross

Chine Labbé And Crispian Balmer — Vowing to destroy terrorism, France seeks global coalition against Islamic State

French President Francois Hollande called on the United States and Russia on Monday to join a global coalition to destroy Islamic State following the attacks across Paris, and announced a wave of measures to combat terrorism in France.

"France is at war," Hollande told a joint session of parliament at the Palace of Versailles, promising to increase funds for national security and strengthen anti-terrorism laws in response to the suicide bombings and shootings that killed 129.

"We're not engaged in a war of civilizations, because these assassins do not represent any. We are in a war against jihadist terrorism which is threatening the whole world," he told a packed, somber chamber.

Parliamentarians gave Hollande a standing ovation before spontaneously singing the "Marseillaise" national anthem in a show of political unity after the worst atrocity France has seen since World War Two.…

Reuters
Vowing to destroy terrorism, France seeks global coalition against Islamic State
Chine Labbé And Crispian Balmer

As'ad AbuKhalil — Some observations about the carnage in Paris

View from the perspective of an Arab leftist.

The Angry Arab New Service
Some observations about the carnage in Paris
As'ad AbuKhalil | Professor of Political Science, California State University, Stanislaus

ht lastgreek in the comments

Gordon M. Hahn — Petersburg, Paris, and the Lessons of Black November

Gordon M. Hahn tells America to wake up to the real world.

Russian and Eurasian Politics
Petersburg, Paris, and the Lessons of Black November
Gordon M. Hahn | Analyst and Advisory Board Member of the Geostrategic Forecasting Corporation. He is also Analyst/Consultant, Russia Other Points of View and Senior Researcher, Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS), Akribis Group, San Jose, California