Saturday, August 19, 2017

ISIS--its backers, its flag


-The Pashtun (Afghan main tribe) tradition of using a black flag with a white shahada (Islamic creed) inscription as a military ensign, harking back to the 18th-century Hotak dynasty, was adopted by the Taliban, and thence by Al-Qaeda in the 1990s. ... the Islamic Courts Union. the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Daesh/ISIL/ISIS/IS) 
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7-6-15   The lettering says:  There's no God but Allah; Mohammed is his messenger.              The flag in its entirety is used by Al-Shabab in Somalia and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula amongst others, Winter added.  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-flag-what-do-the-words-mean-and-what-are-its-origins-10369601.html
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8-19-17    Retired Italian air force general Leonardo Tricarico, who is now the president of the Intelligence Culture and Strategic Analysis Foundation, told public broadcaster RAI that Europe will remain at risk as long as its leaders don't cooperate to fight fundamentalist terrorism together, Xinhua reported.
Italy, according to Tricarico, has so far been spared through a combination of anti-terrorism know-how accumulated during years of fighting domestic terrorism, and of capable leadership, Xinhua said.
"What is missing is international collaboration, which is still in a very precocious phase," the Italian general said.
Sicily decided on Saturday to introduce barriers preventing vehicular access to six pedestrianised areas of the island's capital Palermo, reflecting fears of truck attacks.
Additional barriers are to be placed on potentially vulnerable locations in Milan, a meeting of regional security officials decided....
Italy is regularly threatened by IS propagandists.  SITE, a private intelligence group which monitors extremist organisations, said Saturday it had picked up fresh online messages promising the country would be next to be targeted.     http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/italy-expels-moroccans-syrian-terror-fears-mount-2098870266
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7-12-17     Qatar has revealed documents which show Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) support al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists in Yemen, reports the Lebanese Al Mayadeen news network.
The diplomatic papers which leaked out of the Qatari Embassy in Washington were handed over to Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. They show Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Emirati heir to the throne Mohammed bin Zayed back some al-Qaeda and ISIS kingpins in Yemen.
According to the papers, the deputy US Treasury secretary for terrorism affairs has said that bin Salman and bin Zayed were in constant contact with Yemeni Ali Abkar al-Hassan Ali and Abdallah Faysal Sadiq al-Ahdal, whose names are on the US list of people linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group.
The documents bring to light details about the activities of the two top al-Qaeda leaders as well as Saudi intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali al-Humaidan’s direct financial support for Ali Abkar to purchase required equipment and deliver it to ISIS members.   http://ifpnews.com/exclusive/documents-show-saudi-uae-back-al-qaeda-isis/
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Saudi Arabia undermines whatever good work it does by continuing to spend billions of dollars spreading Wahhabism, its ultraconservative brand of Islam — which in turn inspires ISIS, Al Qaeda and other Sunni extremists — through a network of imams and mosques in countries like Kosovo, Indonesia and Pakistan.  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/opinion/saudi-arabia-qatar-isis-terrorism.html?mcubz=3
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Qatari authorities have prosecuted five people accused by the U.S. and the United Nations of financing terrorists -- and who were also named by Saudi Arabia and its allies as part of the bloc’s justification for isolating the tiny Gulf nation since last week.
The five men appear in U.S. Treasury sanctions lists and were tried in 2015 and 2016, according to two Western officials and a Qatari official, who have direct knowledge of the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to disclose the information publicly. The legal action wasn’t announced to avoid embarrassing the men’s families -- some of whom are among the most prominent in the country, the Qatari official said. said.https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-15/qatar-said-to-have-prosecuted-five-men-on-u-s-terrorism-list
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6-7-17      After we published this story, the Office of the Saudi Ambassador to the UK sent us this statement:
  Mohammed bin Nawaf, Al Saud Ambassador              Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, London W1J 5DZ
I am writing regarding your ‘FactCheck Q&A’.
We know about terrorism because we are its victims. We have faced more than 60 known attacks by Al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS), some two dozen of them in the last two years. The Kingdom was a prime target of Osama bin Laden in the 1990s, of Al-Qaeda in the early 2000s, and ISIS today – a group that calls for the takeover of the Kingdom.
It is not only incorrect, but offensive to the memory of those who have suffered at the hands of these criminals to suggest that the Kingdom would provide support to such terrorist groups.
The onus lies on us all to root out this evil. Neither the governments of the West nor the governments of the Middle East can do this alone. We need to intensify intelligence cooperation in order to thwart future attacks. Saudi Arabia knows the reality of terrorism: we have been fighting it for decades and have developed a consistent multi-faceted strategy which has been recognised and emulated globally.
We have blacklisted Daesh and other extremist groups as terrorist organisations. We have passed laws and warned our citizens that they will be prosecuted if they attempt to join, or to take part in any of the violent conflicts raging around the world. We have set up undercover counter-terrorism operations, which are working to protect our citizens and our allies from these horrendous organizations. Stringent laws, which have been scrutinised by international authorities, have been brought in to stop funding of any kind to suspected terrorism organisations from private individuals or societies.
You make no mention of the establishment of money-laundering units in the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), which, amongst other tasks, requires all financial institutions within the Kingdom’s jurisdiction to implement measures to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
You do not mention that Saudi charities are prohibited from transferring money abroad and cannot operate abroad except through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre or the Saudi Red Crescent, which is a semi-government entity. Furthermore, any financial contribution made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to any overseas institution is fully compliant with the local laws, rules and regulations.
You fail to mention that in Saudi Arabia the collection of cash contributions in mosques and public places is prohibited and that Saudi authorities have closed down unlicensed money-exchange or money-transfer centres and placed sanctions on entities that assist in terror financing.
Anyone donating to terrorist groups or funding terrorist activities is breaking the law and will be prosecuted. There are no exceptions.
Saudi Arabia wants to financially bankrupt terrorists, that is why we have implemented such measures.
No mention is made of an official statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on the report of the terrorist attack concluded that it “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded [al Qaeda].”
In addition a declassified CIA and FBI report, highlights that, “There is no evidence that either the Saudi Government or members of the Saudi royal family knowingly provided support for the attacks of 11 September 2001 or that they had foreknowledge of terrorist operations in the Kingdom or elsewhere.”
Most recently, in February, Mike Pompeo, the new CIA director, visited Saudi Arabia and gave Crown Prince Mohammed the George Tenet Award in recognition of his counterterrorism work.
We do not and will not condone the actions or ideology of violent extremism and we will not rest until these deviants and their organizations are destroyed.
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-qa-is-saudi-arabia-funding-isis
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not plan on increasing the country’s commitment to the fight against the Islamic State ...Germany only contributed approximately 150 troops to the anti-ISIS mission to train, advise, and assist forces according to an August 2016 Congressional Research Service report.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/12/merkel-germany-wont-step-up-fight-against-isis-even-if-nato-does/    (Sleeper cells in Germany then, Angela, until the signal is given.  -r)
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3-21-17     Riyadh has mobilized multiple government institutions against the ISIS threat and is a strong partner in counter-ISIS financing.  Still, many Gulf governments have tactical alliances and other relationships with ultraconservative groups inside (and sometimes outside) their countries that complicate broader counterterrorism campaigns. Accordingly, tactical gains against ISIS could be ephemeral -- the larger war against jihadism will certainly drag on without more aggressive Gulf efforts in this area. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/gulf-support-to-the-counter-isis-campaign
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10-14-16    Iraqi and Kurdish leaders claimed privately that Isis was blackmailing the Gulf states by threatening violence on their territory unless they paid up.  The Iraqi and Kurdish officials never produced proof of this, but it seemed unlikely that men as tough and ruthless as the Isis leaders would have satisfied themselves with taxing truck traffic and shopkeepers in the extensive but poor lands they ruled and not extracted far larger sums from fabulously wealthy private and state donors in the oil producers of the Gulf.  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/hillary-clinton-wikileaks-email-isis-saudi-arabia-qatar-us-allies-funding-barack-obama-knew-all-a7362071.html
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7-12-16  A British parliamentary report released on Tuesday has concluded there is “historical evidence” the Islamic State (IS) group received funding from within Arab Gulf states.  In evidence submitted to the foreign affairs select committee, the Ministry of Defence said: “[There] is historical evidence of financial donations to Daesh [IS] from within Gulf states. Furthermore, it is understood that family donations are being made to Daesh, through the unregulated Alternative Value Transfer Systems (AVTS).”
AVTS include ways of globally transferring money that includes little information about the individuals involved in the transaction – examples include the open source online currency Bitcoin....
The committee asked Ellwood for his opinion on reports speculating that donations may have been sent to IS by individuals close to royal families in the Gulf.
Ellwood said: “It is very opaque, it has to be said.  When somebody who is close to the top of a royal family is a very rich individual donor and chooses to do so, that is very likely to happen.”
On the same issue of the royal families being somehow involved – either directly or indirectly – in the funding of IS, Chugg told the committee:  “It is difficult with some of these countries to know exactly what is government funding and what is not when you are dealing with royal families, wealthy princes and those kind of things....
The Gulf states and Turkey have repeatedly denied allegations of funding IS and defended their actions by pointing to their role in the international coalition which is attempting to defeat the group.    
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/received-secret-funding-gulf-states-british-parliament-report-concludes-1412204400
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