Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-118-Caliphate-vs-Regular Armies-23

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Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-118-Caliphate-vs-Regular

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The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) released a number of videos on Wednesday Dec 16 calling for attacks against Saudi Arabia and criticizing Riyadh’s role in the 34-member anti-extremism Islamic military alliance that was announced on Tuesday. The coalition to combat extremist groups such as ISIS is led by Saudi Arabia and includes Muslim-majority countries from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. A joint operations

center in Riyadh will coordinate and support the coalition’s military missions. The videos are just part of ISIS’s ongoing campaign against Saudi Arabia. The group claims to already have cells operating in three provinces, or Wilayats , operating within Saudi Arabia—Wilayat Bahrain, Wilayat Hijaz and Wilayat Najd—and, as Goldman notes, there has been a notable increase in ISIS attacks and ISIS-related arrests since the fall of 2014.

Dec 20, The West is making a strategic mistake by focusing its anti-terrorist effort on Islamic State (IS. previously ISIS/ISIL) and overlooking other groups, an upcoming report claims. Sixty percent of fighters in the country can be classified as Islamists and have goals similar to IS. Those fighters belong to at least 15 other militant groups, which are mostly being ignored by the West, British media cited the Centre on Religion & Geopolitics, a think-tank run by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, as saying.Fewer than one quarter of the groups surveyed by the center had no ideological agenda, but many of them were willing to fight alongside the Islamists and accept their leadership

The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.–Winston Churchill

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in a post-war Syria. “The West risks making a strategic failure by focusing only on IS. Defeating it militarily will not end global jihadism. We cannot bomb an ideology, but our war is ideological,” said the report, due to be published Monday, as cited by the Guardian. The report warned that if IS is defeated, it may give impetus for terrorist attacks outside of Syria under a rallying cry that "the West destroyed the caliphate."

“This makes it very confusing for us. Who will be the one leading the fight against terrorism in the region?” “It's unbelievable and unacceptable that more than 60 nations comprising this coalition that have the most modern aircraft and weapons at their disposal have been conducting their campaign in Iraq for 14 months and IS still remains in the country,” Iraq's former PM Nouri al-Maliki, told RT's Arabic-language sister-channel Rusiya Al-Yaum in November.

The Nov, UNSCR resolution calls on UN members to “take all necessary measures, in compliance with international law” against Isis and called for the eradication of “safe havens” in Syria and Iraq. As well as Isis, it also includes Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. It does not invoke Article 7 of the UN Charter, which provides an international legal underpinning for outside military intervention.On 25 March, Hadi called on the UN Security Council to authorise “willing countries that wish to help Yemen to provide immediate support for the legitimate authority by all means and measures to protect Yemen and deter the Houthi aggression.” Saudi Arabia in Aug called for the unconditional implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution to end the conflict in neighboring Yemen and intensifying efforts to send humanitarian aid to the country.

RIYADH (Reuters Dec 18 ) - Some key members of the 34-nation anti-Islamic State coalition announced by Saudi Arabia have a fundamental question: just what is it? Indonesia did not know it was going to be a military alliance, which it does not want to join. A senior Pakistani lawmaker only learned the news from a Reuters reporter. "We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Tuesday.

Dec 19 “The Americans carry out airstrikes with 100% precision… How could have they mistaken by kilometers?” he wondered. Over 20 Iraqi soldiers have been killed and 30 injured in an airstrike carried out by the US military, Hakim al-Zamili, head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee, told Sputnik news agency. “The 55th brigade [of the Iraqi Army] was hit by the US aviation. More than 20 soldiers were killed and over 30 servicemen were wounded as a result of the airstrike,” Zamili told Sputnik.





Initially, Sputnik reported over 30 deaths in the incident. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said four Western coalition warplanes had been spotted over the Deir ez-Zor area in Syria on December 6, when a Syrian Army camp came under attack.An airstrike on a field camp of the 168th Brigade of the 7th Division of the Syrian Army left four servicemen dead and 12 injured. It also destroyed three APCs and four vehicles bearing 12.7mm heavy machine guns.

Islamic Military Alliance: a bridge over troubled waterBy Rita Del Prete Dec 16, The birth of the 34-country Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) has been widely publicised by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The Saudi capital Riyadh will be the HQ for all coordination within the new structure.On Tuesday, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud made a rare media appearance to stress that the goal of the Alliance is to fight against “all forms of terrorism”.The hardcore of the IMA is made out of countries that presently fight the war in Yemen, known as the Arab Alliance. Most of the air and ground operations against the Shi’aa Houthi rebels are led by the Sunni KSA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Riyadh claims that the Houthis are supported by Iran. Notably, Shi’aa countries have been left outside the Alliance. Not just Iran, which is not surprising, but also Syria and Iraq which are the battle fields against Daesh.But while most Sunni countries agree that Shi’aa Iran represents a threat to them, everything becomes more complicated upon closer inspection, especially since the Middle East is playing host to several proxy wars. The interests of the individual countries that form the IMA may diverge locally. Then the question is: “whose enemy is my friend?” Or vice versa.Take for instance the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most widespread of Islamic organisations. It qualifies as a terrorist group in Egypt, but only recently in Saudi Arabia, in March 2014. After King Salman’s rise to power in January 2015 some of the Saudi intellectual and financial elite still support the Brotherhood.The authorities in Abu Dhabi are also very suspicious about the Muslim Brotherhood because they have some influence in the less economically developed UAE-member emirates. At the same time, the Emiratis show a great deal of political and financial support to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.Libya is another troubling example. Libya is officially on the list of the founding IMA members. But which Libya? The answer may vary from the UAE – which fully supports the internationally-recognised Tobrouk government – and Qatar – which has been openly accused of siding with the Islamic militias. The UAE and Qatar are at odds on that issue. In August 2014, Abu Dhabi’s Air Force even led airstrikes against Islamist rebels in Libya, the first-ever such strikes not to be authorised by the UN.The most controversial theatre of operation is obviously Syria, where multiple alliances face multiple enemies. The common enemy of the Gulf countries is Iran, its Shi’aa Hezbollah allies and the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Everybody in the Gulf agrees on that.Enter Russia. Moscow is a close ally of (IMA-member) Egypt. At the same time, Russia and another IMA-member, Turkey, are close to a nervous breakdown over Syria. But Moscow also has more than friendly relations with Tehran, the Shi’aa arch-rival of the Saudis. Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country is also part of the IMA, recently called during an interview with Euronews for closer cooperation with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Even more sophisticated than the Syrian conflict is the messy political and





military situation in Iraq. Only days ago, Turkey was accused by the mostly Shi’aa Baghdad government – another regional friend of Russia – of illegally deploying military forces in the north-east of the country. In the very latest move, Turkey has announced on Wednesday the opening of a military base in Qatar.Since the game of local thrones appears to be too complex, no clear enemy – except “fighting terrorism” – has been named by the Islamic Military Alliance. Yesterday in Paris the Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al Jubeir, made it clear that military action would be taken on an ad-hoc basis. The first military decision made by the new allies will be closely monitored and will tell a lot about who does what, when and against whom.By Rita Del Prete

This week there were no significant military changes on the ground in Syria and Iraq. The most prominent ISIS activity of the past week was a large-scale attack by suicide bombers, carried out with truck/car bombs or explosive belts in Iraq and Syria. ISIS carried out lethal terrorist attacks against an Alawite neighborhood in Homs, rival rebel organizations north of Aleppo, Kurdish forces in the area of Al-Hasakah, the Iraqi Army in the area of Ramadi, an Iraqi governmental institution in the vicinity of Samarra, Shiite and governmental targets in Baghdad, and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the Iraqi-Syrian border.

This terrorist offensive, which is unusual in scope and carried by dozens of suicide bombers may, in the ITIC’s assessment, indicate that ISIS is in distress in the various battle zones, especially in Iraq. This has already been expressed in statements made by US President Barack Obama, that ISIS has lost 40% of the territory that it had held in Iraq, and has not had a single ground victory since the summer.In the ITIC’s assessment, the US President’s statements refer to the liberation of the areas of Tikrit and Baiji (north of Baghdad) and the area of Sinjar (in northwest Iraq) by the Iraqi Army, Shiite militias that support it, and the Kurdish forces, with operational and air support from the US and the US-led coalition.

Dec 17 The international community has welcomed Saudi Arabia’s initiative to create a coalition against terrorism. However, its “military and ideological” role has been met with confusion even among members, some of whom didn’t know they were included. On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced the creation of an ‘Islamic military alliance’ with a mission to fight terrorism. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the coalition of 34 Muslim states would fight the scourge in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan.The coalition members are to share intelligence, train, equip and possibly even provide forces to fight against militants such as Islamic State and al Qaeda, said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. "Nothing is off the table," he stated regarding the possibility of deploying boots on the ground.Pakistan got to know of its participation via news A day after Riyadh announced the formation of the coalition, some of its members said that have been caught off guard and never agreed to take part in the alliance. Pakistan, one of the coalition members announced by Saudi Arabia, has denied its participation. Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry told journalists that he got to know of the coalition through news reports, adding that Pakistan was not consulted about it, Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday. He added that Islamabad was seeking details about the misunderstanding.Malaysia denies taking part Malaysia, another Muslim country which was put by Riyadh in the list of the 34 participants, also denied taking part in the military alliance. Malaysian Defense Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told journalists that Kuala





Lumpur will not join Riyadh, however it will continue to be part of the international fight against terrorism, the Rakyat Post reported.Indonesia skeptical about ‘military alliance’ Indonesia, a country with the world’s largest Muslim population, said that it was approached by Saudi Arabia concerning anti-terrorism cooperation, however it needs details before considering to join a ‘military alliance.’Armanatha Nasir, Foreign Ministry spokesman said it is “important for Indonesia to first have details before deciding to support” any military actions, he said. However, Indonesian Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said later, as quoted by Reuters: "We don't want to join a military alliance."US wants to know more The US, which is leading its own bombing campaign in Syria targeting IS militants, has welcomed the initiative. However, Washington seemed rather puzzled in terms of how the coalition’s operations would work."We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition," US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Tuesday.Russia expects details Russia said that it expects a more detailed account from Riyadh of its initiative. “We expect to receive more detailed information from the initiators of this process as well as we would want to know more about what was discussed in Paris yesterday,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying on Wednesday.Foreign ministers from the US, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey met in Paris on Monday to discuss the Syrian crisis ahead of the talks in New York on Friday that would include Russia.Russia has been conducting its own airstrikes targeting IS and other terrorist groups in Syria since September 30. The strikes were launched at the formal request of Damascus. The Russian-led operation also involves coordinating its efforts with regional governments, including those of Syria, Iran and Iraq, which is known as the RSII coalition.Iran, Iraq, Syria not invited by Saudi to the block Despite Riyadh’s initiative to possibly involve the alliance’s ground troops in the fight against IS, Iraq and Syria have not been invited to the bloc.Iraq said it was confused by the role of the alliance in the fight against terrorism in the region.“This makes it very confusing for us. Who will be the one leading the fight against terrorism in the region?” asked Nasser Nouri, spokesman for Iraq’s defense ministry, as quoted by the Wall Street journal on Tuesday. “Will it be the larger international coalition, and if so, what will be the point of having this new alliance.”

December 17, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6239, Egyptian Columnists: Egypt Needs To Fight ISIS In Libya – Unilaterally If NecessaryIn the past few days, two columnists for the Egyptian daily Al-Watan daily have called for Egypt to launch a preemptive offensive against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya, warning that ISIS's hold in Libya was likely to grow due to the military pressures on the organization in Syria and Iraq. They wrote that in light of the slow pace of the Libyan national unity talks, and European inaction, Egypt ought to take the initiative, and not wait until ISIS starts attacking on Egyptian soil.It should be noted that the Fatwa Monitoring Observatory – a newly established branch of the Dar Al-Ifta', Egypt's supreme fatwa-issuing body, which is tasked with countering religious extremism – has recently issued a report warning of the influx of foreign ISIS fighters to the city of Sirte in Libya. The report likewise warned of ISIS expansion in Libya





and its use as a base for attacks on neighboring countries.[1]The following are excerpts from the columns in Al-Watan:Muhammad Mukarram Ahmad: "ISIS, In An Advance Move, Has Already Turned Libya Into A Support Base From Which To Launch Its Terrorist Crimes"In his December 9, 2015 column, Muhammad Mukarram Ahmad wrote: "Despite the increasing pressures in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, in an advance move, has already turned Libya into a support base from which to launch its terrorist crimes against Egypt in particular, and against the security of the North African countries – Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco."[Libya has also become] a center for the planning of joint operations with Boko Haram in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Mali, and a strategic launching point that allows it to threaten the security of the Mediterranean and of southern Europe... [It is also] a bridge above the Mediterranean that allows its fighters to move between the previous battlefield in Iraq and Syria and its backyard Libya... In addition, ISIS now believes that Libya is the best alternative seat for the caliphate of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi if the military pressures on Raqqa in Syria were to intensify and it became necessary to transfer the Caliph to a new and more secure capital."ISIS in Libya has [both] high-level logistic capabilities and an infrastructure that is becoming stronger and broader, allowing it to carry out its Libyan plan now that it has achieved full control over Sirte... and now that ISIS has strengthened its presence in Derna, 70 miles from the Egyptian border. At present it is trying to take control of the strategic city of Ajdabiya, which is on the central Libyan coast and connects eastern and western Libya. It is close to the most important and richest Libyan oilfields, and likewise Ajdabiya is closest and allows best access to ports for exporting Libyan oil..."In addition to these logistic capabilities, ISIS controls dozens of camps, and has turned them into training centers for its fighters. It also controls, in the far west, the city of Sabrata, some 60 miles from the Tunisian border; it was from there that the attacks on Sousse [in Tunisia] were launched, in which it killed 48 tourists, 30 of them British. [Sabrata] was also the launching point for the attack on the Bardo Museum in the Tunisian capital, and the latest attack, against a bus carrying officers and soldiers of the Tunisian presidential guard, killing 12. But Sirte remains the biggest prize in ISIS's possession – unless, God forbid, it succeeds in conquering Ajdabiya... "The Europeans Have Not Lifted A Finger, Apart From Some Limited Aerial Bombardments... That Had Little Effect""Despite the recent U.N. report drawing the attention of the international community to the danger and to ISIS's plans to conquer Libya, as well as to the increasing possibility that its fighters and leaders will depart Iraq and Syria for Libya under the pressure of the military actions there... and [despite] the warning bells sounded by Egypt from time to time to draw the attention of the international community, and especially the European countries, to the danger of what is happening in Libya... the European countries are extremely cool vis-à-vis the Libyan crisis. This is even though it directly threatens the security of the Mediterranean and of Europe..."The Europeans have not lifted a finger, apart from some limited aerial bombardments carried out by French and American planes on select targets that had little effect on ISIS's military abilities. [They have done so little] because they claim that priority has to be given to the efforts of the U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon to forge a national unity government that would reunite Libya in confrontation with ISIS... What is most distressing is the incomprehensible spirit of hostility that the West and the Americans harbor for the efforts of General Haftar to reassemble the remnants of the Libyan army and to reequip them for a war against the terrorist groups, and [the West's] refusal to arm the Haftar-led





army, despite the fact that it is the only institution in the country capable of the ground operations [needed] to lay siege to ISIS positions and liquidate them."So far, it is unclear whether the efforts of U.N. envoy Bernardino [Leon] will succeed, and whether there will arise in Libya a strong national unity government in which all the sparring sides agree to join forces in a war on ISIS. What is clear – as clear as the sun rising in the East – is ISIS's continuation of its efforts to transform Libya into a terror base that threatens first and foremost Egyptian security, but also the North African countries and the security of the Mediterranean and of Europe. "I Don't Think Egypt Will Continue To Stand For The Others' Dawdling Until Its Security Is Threatened... Egypt's Only Option Is Adopting A New Strategy""I don't think that Egypt will continue to stand for the others' dawdling until its security is threatened from the east and from the west, with ISIS laying siege to it in a pincer [action from two strongholds]: Sinai, where [Egypt's] Operation Martyr's Right continues to hunt down the remnants of Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis [i.e. the Sinai Province of the Islamic State]... and Libya, should it become, God forbid, a principal base for ISIS's crimes against Egypt, just as [ISIS crimes] are committed [from it] against Tunisia and Algeria. [This scenario is likely] especially if ISIS succeeds in conquering Ajdabiya and takes control of Libya's oil resources..."Egypt's only option is adopting a new strategy that does not involve waiting behind its defensive lines until ISIS's aggression begins. Rather, it must... through strategic planning, uproot the ISIS danger in its cradle – whether unilaterally, through a joint Arab effort with Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, or through an Arab-Western alliance in which the southern European countries – Italy, France, Spain, and Greece – would take part. Whatever the proposed options, the plain truth that cannot be concealed or disputed is that Egypt must not be besieged by ISIS in a pincer [action from Sinai in the east and Libya in the west."[2] 'Adil Nu'man: "Preemptive Attack... At Their Home Bases Of Derna And Sirte Is The Best Means Of Defense"'Adil Nu'man wrote in his December 10, 2015 column: "... Reports confirm that ISIS has taken control of the Libyan city Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, west of Benghazi, the capital of the Libyan Provisional Government."Earlier, it took control of the Libyan coastal city of Derna, likewise on the Mediterranean. Derna, which is close to the Egyptian border, is the gateway of danger to Egypt, and [offers] open arms and open coasts to all the ISIS operatives fleeing Iraq and Syria. Reports confirm that the pressure of the Russian bear, and the Russian and French aerial bombardments and damaging raids on ISIS in Syria, have led to ISIS operatives' mass exodus to Sirte and Derna..."The organization is trying to establish a 'Western Desert' province in Egypt, as a strong, central support location that would connect ISIS operatives in the east and in the west... The terrorist organization is trying to have two provinces inside Egypt, Bayt Al-Maqdis in Sinai and the ISIS operatives in the western region, in order to cement the pillars of its so-called Caliphate... It is making efforts to enter western Egypt on the road through the area of the oases – because it is paved, it is far from the Great Sand Sea, and, they claim, it is safe [to travel]."Beware lest you wait until they have arranged their ranks, equipped their armies with war materiel, or united [their factions]. Preemptive attack against them at their home bases of Derna and Sirte is the best means of defense. That is the first thing."As for the second, beware lest you wait for them at [our] country's borders: There are traitors in our ranks and among us who would sell the homeland for the delusion of their





so-called Caliphate, and would join them and fight in their ranks..."Third: Beware not to attribute importance to world [opinion] in this matter. Not long ago, America went out to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq in defense of its national security, and today France is going out to wage war on ISIS in Syria and Libya. [Likewise], it is our obligation to fight the ISIS operatives in Libya to defend our lives and our security."Fourth: There must be no leniency with those who break ranks, or who abet, encourage, support, or pave the way for terrorism..."Oh leaders [of Egypt], do not take this matter lightly; oh people [of Egypt], pay heed to the danger advancing from the west, [which is] worse and more violent than the one advancing from the east. The only solution [open] before us is to end it in its cradle, before the danger grows out of control..."[3] Endnotes: [1] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), December 13, 2015.[2] Elwatannews.com (Egypt), December 9, 2015.[3] Elwatannews.com (Egypt), December 10, 2015.

Dec 17 Turkish ambassador to Qatar Ahmet Demirok said Wednesday that his country will set up a military base on Qatari territory "to fight the shared enemies of the two countries." The Turkish military activity in Qatar will include the placement of 3,000 Turkish troops and the establishment of air and naval units as well as "special warfare units."DEBKAfile's military and political sources point out that:1. Both Turkey and Qatar have supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Syrian opposition and the rebels who deserted from the Syrian army, and have opposed the rising influence of Iran in the region and the Russian intervention in the conflict in Syria.2. Even though Ankara approved the base in 2014, the steps for establishment of the base are only underway now because they been approved by Saudi King Salman.3. The base plan is additional proof of the tightening of diplomatic relations between the two sides as well as the growing Saudi involvement in the effort for establishment of an "Islamic military coalition" that includes both Qatar and Turkey.

Dec 17, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced Wednesday that his country will send 450 soldiers to Iraq to defend the Mosul dam on the Tigris river. The dam was built by an Italian and German consortium in the 1980s and is the only source of energy for over a million people in Mosul. Iraq's second-largest city. Damage to the dam would flood the city and even affect Baghdad. Islamic State captured the dam complex, which has an area of over 5 kilometers, from Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in August 2014 and held it for a month until the complex was recaptured by a force of Iraqi army and Kurdish troops with the assistance of the US. The 450 Italian troops will join the 750 who are already serving in Iraq in the framework of the coalition against ISIS.

Dec 17, TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) commander said using intercontinental ballistic missiles to hit ISIL targets would be irrational.It would be irrational for Russia to use intercontinental ballistic missiles against the ISIL militant group, SMF Commander Col. Gen. Sergei Karakaev said Wednesday, Sputnik reported. "I see no need to use SMF missiles against ISIL targets," Karakaev added during a press conference, answering a reporter’s question.The general said that Russia had other means of destroying ISIL positions. "Rational





planning means that each target is engaged by the most effective weapon system at hand," he explained. Karakaev added that the decision to use ICBMs with any type of warhead could only be taken by Russia’s commander-in-chief. SMF is a branch of the Russian Armed Forces which is the backbone of the country’s Strategic Nuclear Forces, designed for nuclear deterrence. It has a range of ICBMs at its disposal, including Topols.

Finance ministers from the 15 nations on the UN Security Council are expected to adopt a resolution aimed at starving the so-called Islamic State of funds.Dec 17 The draft resolution is based on one that was first passed in 1999 to target the rival jihadist group, al-Qaeda. It urges countries to "move vigorously and decisively to cut the flow of funds" to IS, such as by preventing its smuggling of oil and antiquities. The militant group is widely believed to be the world's wealthiest. A recent study estimated that it its monthly revenue was $80m (£53m).'Comprehensive strategy' Thursday's summit of finance ministers of the UN Security Council in New York will be the first in the international body's 70-year history. The US and Russian-drafted resolution they are expected to be approve unanimously will rename the committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaedaas "the Isil (Daesh) and al-Qaeda sanctions committee", using acronyms based on the group's previous name in English and Arabic.

Turkey deploying 30 percent of army in Syrian border clampdownBy Adrian Lancashire | With BORA BAYRAKTAR, Dec 17Turkey is tightening security at its border with Syria.A fresco on a barracks building at the Köprübatı checkpoint, which overlooks radical Islamic State movement (ISIL) territory, is emblazoned with the watchwords: “This border is our honour, protected with our hearts and strength.”The First Border Battalion is responsible for fending off infiltrators, smugglers and ‘terrorists’ along a 6 km stretch. So far this year, they report having captured more than 900 ISIL members, carrying passports from 54 countries, although most of these are Chinese, Russian and Palestinian.Köprübatı is one of 139 posts along the Syrian border.Lieutenant Colonel Ahmet Arik told Euronews: “If there is any kind of illegal movement in our area, we intervene. Border troops never permit any unauthorised crossing of our borders, adhering to international agreements and our national code.”The Turkish Army says it has 30 percent of its land forces deployed for border control.A more than 80 km-long wall is under construction, to separate Turkey’s Kilis and Gaziantep provinces from the area of Aleppo in Syria.Colonel Arik said: “To strengthen our border, three-meter high modular wall sections have been erected, and construction is continuing. In this way, we hope to increase effective control of refugee flows and to stop any illegal breach of our borders.”The EU has pledged €3bn and promised Ankara political concessions in exchange for stepping up border patrols. That includes the task of controlling the influx of refugees crossing from Syria.According to Professor Mesut Hakkı Caşın at Özyeğin University in Istanbul: “The wall under construction will reduce the flow of refugees but can’t stop it. Europe put great pressure on Turkey concerning border security, with allegations that foreign fighters were crossing Turkish territory. Turkey is now sending such fighters back to England, France and Germany.”The US has long called for Turkey to assert control over its border with Syria. Ankara is





more willing to do so now that it is seeking NATO support in its row with Russia.Prof. Caşın said: “Together with the US, Turkey will increase its grip on the border. American F15s and electronic warfare tools have been deployed. Germany has also sent Tornado jets to reinforce the Turkish border.”Just a few kilometers away from the Köprübatı Border Post lies Jarabulus, a Syrian town under ISIL control. Turkish authorities have declared this a “special security” zone.Our correspondent Bora Bayraktar summed up: “Turkish military forces are trying to strike a balance between preventing ISIL from infiltrating and controlling and managing refugees, given the humanitarian considerations. Security precautions are gaining increasing importance.” By Adrian Lancashire | With BORA BAYRAKTAR

Regards Cees***

CONFUSION CLOUDS SAUDI ARABIA'S FIGHT AGAINST ISIS That confused approach to the project may undermine its goal, not only of creating an effective group to fight militancy, but of assuaging Western fears that Muslim countries are indifferent to the threat posed by Islamic State.In recent weeks, media and politicians in Western countries have complained about what they see as Saudi Arabia's failure to match their own focus on destroying Islamic State militarily or to combat its militant Islamist ideology.They have painted Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi school of Islam as the ideological wellspring of jihadism and said its decision to wage war in Yemen instead of deploying more force against jihadists shows it does not see that threat as a priority.Riyadh has always disputed such accusations, pointing to its jailing of Islamic State supporters, its use of top clergy to decry jihadist groups, its participation in air raids in Syria and its work with the U.S. to counter militant funding channels."The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been subject to criticism in Europe, and France in particular, with regard to extremism and Daesh, and I think it is based on not knowing the facts," foreign minister Jubeir said on Tuesday, using the Arabic name for Islamic State.Diplomats in Riyadh said the Saudi focus on Yemen instead of Syria arose partly because it regarded its neighbour's civil war as a more immediate threat to its own security and partly because it disagreed with the strategy against Islamic State.SECTARIANISM In Saudi Arabia, the coalition proposal was quickly endorsed by the Council of Senior Scholars, the grouping of top clerics in the conservative Islamic kingdom, which issued a statement urging all other Muslim states to join the grouping.Jubeir said the anti-terrorism group would not only include a military, security and intelligence track, but an ideological one as well. Whether more statements by the Wahhabi clergy denouncing militancy will allay Western criticism, though, is doubtful.Western media often overstate the degree to which Wahhabi teachings resemble the far more extreme positions of Islamic State, and fail to note the war of words and accusations of apostasy between Saudi clergy and jihadist preachers.But Saudi officials in turn rarely acknowledge the links between militant thought and their own faith's propagation of intolerance towards others.Modern jihadist groups follow an extreme interpretation of Islam's Salafi branch, of which Wahhabism was the original strain, and whose clerics regard Shi'ism as heresy, laud the concept of jihad, urge hatred of infidels and back harsh penalties for religious offences.One driving force of support for Islamic State has been a rise in sectarian anger, much of it driven by the proxy wars emerging from a political struggle between Sunni Saudi Arabia





and Shi'ite Iran.In that context, the absence from Riyadh's coalition of Iran and its allies Iraq and Syria seemed to suggest that it may hope eventually to use its Muslim coalition against terrorism as a Sunni bloc that could isolate Tehran's Arab Shi'ite proxies.Riyadh describes the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi Shi'ite militias, which have been accused of killing Sunni civilians but are all enemies of Islamic State on the battlefield, as terrorist groups."Actually, I think this is partly about Shi'ite terrorism, because nobody is putting any effort into fighting that," said Mustafa Alani, a security expert with close ties to Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry.Whether such a goal would be shared by most of Riyadh's new partners in its much vaunted coalition, a group that includes countries which have amicable ties with Iran, appears unlikely.




Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-118-Caliphate-vs-Regular Armies-23

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