'Hero' to jihadists ... Osama bin Laden in a tape released in 2001. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
A gunman caught on camera in Fallujah during a battle between Iraqi soldiers and al-Qaeda militants. Picture: APSource: AP
WHEN Osama bin Laden's forehead was blasted open by elite US soldiers nearly three years ago, many hoped it would also signal the death of al-Qaeda.
But his terror group is widely considered to be on the rise again.
The jihadist organisation has once again made itself known through bloodshed, just as al-Qaeda death squads made the world pay attention after they ploughed airliners into the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001.
Masked gunman captured two major Iraqi cities from authorities last week. A suicide bombing caused carnage in Beirut - killing at least 23. And the carnage continues in Syria, most of it unreported.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility of each of these attacks.
"There has been a resurgence in al-Qaeda related violence," said Clive Williams, a former Australian intelligence officer and a visiting national security professor at the Australian National University.
OK, so who are these people?
A man believed to be a militant shows off the V-sign for victory near Fallujah. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
The terror group affiliate is known as ISIS, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In the past it has been known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, or AQI.
Last week, brigades of ISIS gunmen seized two major Iraqi cities from authorities in a bloody battle: Ramadi, 110km west of Baghdad, and Fallujah, also known as "the city of mosques".
Fallujah has been in the headlines before. It's the same city that was home to one of the bloodiest battles after the US invaded Iraq in 2003.
As much as 60 per cent of the city - businesses, homes, mosques - were destroyed in air strikes and gun battles between insurgents and the so-called Coalition of the Willing.
ISIS is considered such a threat as it's not limited to the one country. It operates in Iraq and Syria, neighbouring countries, where it battles for both the Syrian opposition and against the Iraqi government.
Ironically, al-Qaeda in Iraq was formed in response to the American-led invasion of that country in 2003, according to a former CIA intelligence analyst.
"It was founded by foreign al-Qaeda operatives who entered Iraq in the wake of the US invasion to kill both Americans and Shi'a," Kenneth Pollack, former CIA intelligence analyst and expert on Middle East politics and military affairs, told the US Congress last year.
Hang on, why didn't al-Qaeda die with Bin Laden?
Famous scene ... the US National Security Council keep track of the progress of the mission to kill Bin Laden. Picture: The White House Source: Supplied
The core organisation which carried out the 9/11 attacks has largely been destroyed by intelligence agencies and military forces, according to Western security officials.
But it has never been a centralised group. World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, compare the group to cancer.
"The core al-Qaeda is on its heels ... decimated," Obama said at a press conference in September last year. The main 'tumour' was destroyed by the military forces that took out Bin Laden and at least 22 of the group's 30 leaders.
But, the president said, "al-Qaeda and other extremists have metastasised (like tumours) into regional groups that can pose significant dangers".
And that's what the world is seeing now, particularly in countries such as Iraq and Syria, as well as Libya and the region known as the Horn of Africa.
So what do ISIS believe in?
Protesters burn tires to block one of the main highways outside Fallujah, Iraq. Picture: AP Source: AP
Much the same as al-Qaeda's traditional goals. It wishes to establish, through violent means, a "caliphate" - an Islamic state led by a caliph, a successor to the Prophet Muhammad.
"They are there for a political reason: to lay the groundwork for a caliphate," Charles Lister, an analyst of the Syrian rebellion, told The New York Review of Books .
ISIS is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi extremist who has overseen relentless attacks in Iraq, causing civilian casualties and who ordered the group to expand into Syria.
It is unknown whether he follows the directives of al-Qaeda high command.
Why do these different groups all call themselves al-Qaeda?
You're not wrong if you think sometimes it sounds as if every group that goes around toting powerful assault weapons and shouting fundamentalist Islamic phrases claims to be "linked to al-Qaeda".
There's a clever reason for this, Prof Williams explains. Marketing. In a world of brands, al-Qaeda's the top name in terrorism.
"They're exploiting the name of al-Qaeda," Prof Williams said. "It's a respected brand, which is good for recruiting and financing and establishing links with similar groups."
Can they be stopped?
A US Navy MH-60R Seahawk fires a Hellfire missile. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
Many Iraqi tribes, communities and rebels turned their backs on AQI during the American occupation last decade, bringing a short peace to the region.
The US military has deployed dozens of Hellfire missiles and small, unarmed surveillance drone aircraft in recent weeks, but they won't be putting troops on the ground.
"We're not contemplating putting boots on the ground. This is their fight, but we're going to help them in their fight," Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Australia, too, has no plans to intervene. And it's difficult to say things are looking up.
Violence even struck the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Sunday.
Three car bombs and two roadside bombs exploded in several areas, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens.
0 comments:
Post a Comment