Latest news with #AlQaeda-linked
TimesLIVE
a day ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Mali says two more army posts attacked as jihadist violence escalates
Islamist militants hit two more military installations on Wednesday and Thursday, Mali's army said, the latest in a quick spate of attacks that the insurgents say have killed hundreds of soldiers and underscored their gains. Ground and air reinforcements were being mobilised on Thursday morning to respond to an attack on a security post in Mahou, located in eastern Mali near the border with Burkina Faso, an army statement said. The attack was claimed by Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group active in Mali and Burkina Faso. Information on a death toll was not immediately available. A military spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. On Wednesday afternoon "armed terrorists" struck a military camp in Tessit, near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, and Mali's military sent in aerial reinforcement, a separate statement said. There has been no claim of responsibility for that attack, though security analysts said it could have been perpetrated by fighters from the Islamic State branch active in the Sahel region.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
ICE arrests Russian national accused of being member of Al Qaeda
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Philadelphia have arrested a Russian national accused of being a member of Al Qaeda. The 39-year-old man detained on May 23 was born in Tajikistan and is a fugitive who is wanted overseas, ICE announced this week. "Arresting individuals linked to terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda reaffirms our unwavering commitment to safeguard the homeland," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia Field Office Director Brian McShane said in a statement. "Through close collaboration with our outstanding partners at the FBI, we have taken decisive action to make our communities safer and prevent potential threats to the American people," he added. Us Conducts Airstrike Against Al Qaeda-linked Militants In Somalia ICE said the man was first detained at the San Ysidro Pedestrian West point of entry in California in March 2023 and "charged as an inadmissible alien under the Immigration and Nationality Act because he didn't have an immigrant visa." Read On The Fox News App Largest Ever Ice Operation Results In Nearly 1,500 Illegal Immigrants Arrested In Blue State "He was served a notice to appear before an immigration judge and paroled into the United States," according to ICE. Then this month, officials in Tajikistan declared the man a fugitive. "It is alleged that he is or was a member of Al-Qaeda," ICE said. "After his arrest, this individual was detained in ICE custody, where he will remain pending removal from the U.S."Original article source: ICE arrests Russian national accused of being member of Al Qaeda
The National
18-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Qatar brings together Syrian and Iraqi leaders to repair relations
The President of Syria and Prime Minister of Iraq have held their first known meeting since rebels led by the formerly Al Qaeda-linked group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) took control in Damascus. The meeting in Doha took place on Tuesday, an Iraqi government official told The National. It involved Syria's President Ahmad Al Shara, Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim. The three-way talks were not publicised at the time of Mr Al Shara's visit to Qatar. According to Syrian state media, the meeting addressed the issue of joint border security, with both sides "agreeing to strengthen field and intelligence co-ordination between the relevant authorities to counter shared threats". On the economic front, they discussed mechanisms to revitalise trade relations, facilitate the movement of goods and people across border crossings, encourage mutual investment, and explore new avenues for co-operation in energy, transport and infrastructure. The Iraqi News Agency said the discussion focused on "rapid developments in the region, particularly the ongoing situation in Syria", and revealed that Mr Al Sudani said Iraq was "closely monitoring the developments in Syria", as he called for a "comprehensive political process" in the country. Mr Al Sudani made an appeal to 'protect Syria's diverse social, religious, and national fabric as well as safeguarding holy sites, houses of worship and places of prayer", the agency said. It said the Iraqi leader stressed the importance of Syria 'taking practical and serious steps to combat the terrorist organisation ISIS". A day later at the Sulaimani Forum in Iraq, Mr Al Sudani revealed he had invited Syria's President to attend the Arab Summit in Baghdad next month. 'Yes, a formal invitation has been delivered to him, and he is welcome to attend and participate in the Arab Summit,' Mr Al Sudani told The National's Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi during a discussion at the forum in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. The Syrian and Iraqi leaders have held one known phone call since the fall of the Assad regime in December. Iraq has long sought stability along its border with Syria, where ISIS remnants and drug trafficking networks continue to pose serious security challenges.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tulsi Gabbard lists 'recent examples of unauthorized leaks' from intelligence community, announces crackdown
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced a crackdown on leaks within the intelligence community. Gabbard — a former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump-supporting Republican — was sworn in to the DNI post last month. "Our nation's Intelligence Community must be focused on our national security mission. Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated," she declared on Friday in a thread on X Tulsi Gabbard's Warning To Senate On Syria Proves Prophetic As Al Qaeda-linked Regime Slaughters Minorities "Unfortunately, such leaks have become commonplace with no investigation or accountability. That ends now. We know of and are aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable," Gabbard added. She then listed several "recent examples" of intelligence community leaks: Read On The Fox News App "A leaker who has been sharing classified information with the Huffington Post" "A leaker within the IC sharing information on Israel / Iran with the Washington Post" "A leaker within the IC sharing information about the U.S. - Russia relationship with NBC" "A leaker sharing information on NCSC activities and actions with The Record" Gabbard Says Biden Admin Ignored 'Highly Inappropriate' Chats Happening At National Security Agencies She concluded the thread by warning that unauthorized disclosure of classified material is a breach of the law and will be handled accordingly. "I'm grateful that @DNIGabbard is working to end leaking and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community. Another promise made and promise kept," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a post. Tulsi Gabbard Sworn In At White House Hours After Senate Confirmation Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, tweeted, "Restore an intelligence community that fits within the Constitution, and stays focused on America's national security."Original article source: Tulsi Gabbard lists 'recent examples of unauthorized leaks' from intelligence community, announces crackdown
The National
21-02-2025
- Politics
- The National
From Damascus suburb to presidential palace: Ahmad Al Shara's past offers rare insight into his outlook
Mammoth concrete apartment buildings line the main motorway running west out of Damascus, relics of a Soviet-style economy that for decades underpinned the iron rule of the Al Assad family over Syria. Here in the suburb of Mazzeh was where Syria's new leader Ahmad Al Shara grew up. Less than three months ago, he led an offensive from the rebel stronghold of Idlib that deposed former president Bashar Al Assad, ending more than 50 years of dynastic rule. 'He was a quiet boy who worked along with his brothers at his father's grocery store. The Assad regime took it over,' says one neighbour, pointing to a shuttered shop near the 20-storey building where the family lived. Both are next to the well-known Al Akram Mosque, and to Parfait, one of the capital's top cake makers. Although many of the neighbourhood's inhabitants are quite traditional in their outlook, they do enjoy some western treats. Since his triumphant return to Damascus in early December, Mr Al Shara has become a key player in the Middle East. Exchanging his combat fatigues for a suit and tie, the bearded, soft-spoken former rebel has received leaders and top officials from the region and the West at the presidential palace where he has set up his base. The palace was built by slain Lebanese statesman Rafic Al Hariri as a gift to Hafez Al Assad, whose posters, statues and other instruments of his personality cult were all over Damascus when Mr Al Shara was growing up. Mr Al Shara has declared his goal to be building a new state but has offered little detail about how he intends to go about this. He has also been non-committal about whether Syria, with its numerous ethnic and religious groups, will remain a centrist Muslim country, or become more hardline, a concern raised by his leadership of a group that originated from Al Qaeda. However, his family history, recent speeches and interviews, as well as the accounts of the people who have known him, offer clues to the personality of the man. Mr Al Shara went from a 21-year-old fighting US forces in Iraq, to founding the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front group fighting the Assad regime, to leader of the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) rebel coalition that controlled Idlib for years before ultimately seizing power in Syria. Mr Al Shara has given numerous interviews since, especially to social media personalities and to podcasters, in a public-relations campaign aimed at a western audience and at Syria's younger generation. But behind the screen of choreographed appearances and the mostly young staff he has been hiring is a hard-working man who barely sleeps, according to people who have worked with him. Sometimes he cracks jokes to win visitors over, but he rarely appears interested in hearing detailed views from them. "If I shook her hand, my wife could have become jealous," he joked recently at a private meeting with Syrian expatriates, in reference to having declined to shake hands in January with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock because of perceived religious restrictions. Now in his early 40s, Mr Al Shara's life has been shaped by his parents and a Syrian preacher who inspired him to fight in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion. In his current role of directing Syria's political future, two ultra-loyalists – his foreign minister and intelligence chief – exert the most influence on Mr Al Shara, HTS members who fought directly under his command say. In the 1980s, Mr Al Shara's father, Hussein, returned from work in the public sector in Saudi Arabia and bought the Mazzeh apartment in instalments. The government had provided the land to an association of which he was a member, as was common in the country's socialised housing sector. The purchase cemented the family's upper-middle-class status. Hussein Al Shara also opened a small real estate brokerage besides the grocery, although business was light. He had studied economics and his thesis consisted of a proposed plan for a state-run petrochemical industry in Syria. Mr Al Shara's mother was a geography teacher. When he was based in Idlib, he used to visit her and his father regularly. "He is very close to her," said another neighbour. His parents fled Damascus to Idlib and eventually settled in the town of Atma, on the border with Turkey, after Mr Al Shara formed Al Nusra Front in 2012. The group later disavowed Al Qaeda and morphed into HTS – a coalition of militant groups dominated by former members of Al Nusra Front. Hussein Al Shara, now around 80, has written several books and appears to have been an admirer of former Egyptian president Gemal Abdel Nasser and the nationalistic ideology of the secular Baath party, although the two sides were rivals for Arab ideological domination. The Baath party monopolised power in Iraq and Syria for decades but has been brushed aside by the US-led invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the 11-day offensive led by Mr Al Shara that toppled Mr Al Assad. Mr Al Shara's father also did not approve of the Assad dynasty, but was discreet. He took part in what became known as the Damascus Spring, comprising mainly public debates about pluralism that were held shortly after Bashar Al Assad inherited the presidency from his father in 2000. The movement was initiated mainly by Syrian industrialist Riad Seif, who had openly criticised corruption under Hafez Al Assad. The Damascus Spring was aimed at transforming Syria into an open society, before the regime swiftly crushed the movement and imprisoned Mr Seif and nine other main figures in the enterprise. Hussein Al Shara had never openly challenged the regime and was not jailed. The younger Mr Al Shara inherited such 'flexibility" and is "willing to change his mind under pressure, unlike other ideologues", said one of the architects of the Damascus Spring, who recently met Mr Al Shara. However, the new president does not share his father's socialist ideology, having scrapped a state's import monopoly and curbed other agencies in a drive to attract private investment. He also has little in common with the capital's businessmen who curried favour with the former regime and are keen to profit under the new order, the source said. A possible distrust of the urban gentry could also be attributed to the influence of his father, who was born in the Zawieh region of the now Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In one of Hussein Al Shara's books, about the failed Great Syrian Revolt against French rule from 1925 to 1927, he describes the participation of several Al Shara clan members. He emphasised the Bedouin origins of the family, which could help explain his son's drive to improve ties with Saudi Arabia. The 2020 book, The Forgotten Syrian Zawieh Revolution, which relies on open-source material and the author's own recollections, concludes with the observation that the rural core of the revolt against the French was sidelined in the political structures that followed. In contrast, Mr Al Shara has been staffing the new administration with rural Sunnis who comprised the armed nucleus of the 2011 revolt against the Assad regime, which was dominated by members of the president's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Among them is Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani from the north-western Hasakah governorate, who previously handled HTS media, and Anas Al Khattab, head of General Intelligence, who is from Jayroud in the countryside of Damascus. Mr Al Shara's bodyguard, Mohammad Yahia, is from the Qalamoun mountain region. The three men have remained by his side in a long religious-revolutionary struggle that not only eliminated the regime, but also other rebel groups and even non-violent figures seen as potential obstacles to HTS's ascendancy. A Syrian businessman, who was part of a group that recently met Mr Al Shibani and then Mr Al Shara, said the President began by apologising for possibly repeating what had already been relayed to them by his Foreign Minister. "It is obvious that Al Shibani is not just a protege. They are very close," the businessman said. Operationally, Mr Al Shara relies on his intelligence chief. Mr Al Khattab was one of five key figures who helped Mr Al Shara set up and expand Al Nusra Front in 2012, after he returned from US jails in Iraq. The other four have been killed, disappeared or left the organisation. In the early 2000s. Mr Al Shara became one of thousands of students who were recruited by preachers in Syria to fight in Iraq, with the tacit approval of the authorities in Damascus who were wary of the US presence across the border. His early adoption of religious ideology was influenced by a Syrian preacher known as Abu Al Qaqa, an Afghan war veteran who operated in the murky world of regime-sanctioned proselytisation, according to an HTS member who lives in Idlib. Abu Al Qaqa was assassinated in Aleppo in 2007, as the regime started succumbing to US military and diplomatic pressure to stop sending extremist fighters to Iraq. He advocated an originalist interpretation of Islam, saying the religion must be construed exactly as it was at the time of the Prophet Mohammed. Any divergence, in his view, would undermine Islam's purity, and the Prophet's "clear" legacy. But he urged his followers to adopt an incremental, pragmatic approach, rather than immediately going after lofty visions and all-encompassing victories that might not be realised. His apparent disciple also appears to favour the long-term approach.
