Syria under the rule of Assad is a state which affords patronage to terrorism, supports terrorist organizations and uses terrorism as a tool with which to further its strategic objectives. Syria is thus part of that small “club” of seven states sponsoring terrorism, which also
Recently three senior Hizballah leaders have made pronouncements concerning the future of terrorist operations in the case of a unilateral IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon. The three were: the head of the organization, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah; the head of the “Political Council,” Mohammed Ra’ed; and
One of the quandaries facing academic researchers, military and security professionals and politicians is the question of “defining terrorism.” The prevailing opinion is that there is no international agreement on the phenomenon of terrorism, nor can there ever be such agreement. Indeed, the number of
On April 21, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah Aal al-Shaykh, said that Islam forbids suicide terrorist attacks. This has raised a storm of criticism from supporters of the Palestinian intifada against Israel. However, the mufti may have been thinking
This morning, the text of the long-awaited Mitchell Commission Report, an account of the past seven months of Israeli–Palestinian violence written by a five-member committee headed by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, was made publicly available. Conceived as a “committee of fact finding” at
The recent State Department Report on International Terrorism (issued on 30 April), together with the Turkish “non paper,” showing Iran’s involvement in terrorist actions in Turkey, provided yet another proof that Iran qualifies for the dubious title of the world’s leading “terror-sponsoring state.”
With all the uproar over the calls to indict Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes, it is ironic that it is the Hamas weekly newspaper that recently called for the indictment of the “real culprits” in the Sabra and Shatila massacres.
In the wake of the terror attacks of “Black Tuesday,” investigators are seeking to follow the “money trail” back to the perpetrators, hoping to learn who ultimately gave the order. While American officials would like to see a clear trail leading back to the legendary
As the magnitude of the horrific events of September 11 sinks in and our nation implements its multifaceted military, diplomatic, and economic response, greater public attention is once again being paid to the Middle East—in the media, on college campuses, and elsewhere. Unfortunately, much of
The last wave of coordinated suicide attacks by Hamas did not come in revenge for the killing of Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud or the accidental death of five Palestinian children. These terrorist acts must be considered in the context of America’s war on terrorism,
Whether or not a terror attack will take place is a function of two factors: the motivation of a terrorist organization to perpetrate attacks, and its operational capability of doing so at a given time. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, Yasser
The capture of the “Karine A,” a vessel loaded with more than 50 tons of high quality arms and explosives has not only shed light on the strategic aims of the Palestinian Authority, but also on those of Iran. What is known about the arms
Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on February 6 that Iran continues to be “the foremost state sponsor of terrorism.” Citing its attempt to transfer offensive arms to the Palestinian Authority (PA) aboard the Karine-A smuggling ship, Tenet
Lebanon may well have come to the West Bank and Gaza. Over the past year and a half, Hamas has adopted traditional Hizballah guerilla tactics such as roadside bombings, short-range rocket and mortar launchings, using squads of terrorists from a variety of groups, and videotaping
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades first emerged on the scene shortly after the outbreak of what has come to be known as the al-Aqsa conflict, in late September 2000. In a very real sense, the Martyrs Brigades was a response to the need to suit actions
Responding to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades’ latest suicide bombing — which threatened to undermine the third straight peace mission of Middle East envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni — the State Department broke with tradition and announced the group’s pending designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO),
The military campaign against Afghanistan is only the initial foray in a long, hard— sometimes frustrating—struggle against terrorism. It would be a major mistake to target only Osama bin Ladin and his organization. Islamic radicals all over the world constitute a real and immediate danger
During the past 18 months, the Islamic Jihad has become the main initiator of suicide terrorism in Israel. The primary launching pad of the suicide bombers is the Palestinian autonomous city of Jenin—and in particular the poorer neighborhood known as the “refugee camp”. Of the
The modern terrorist differs from the common criminal in that he is motivated by a political agenda. The actions of the terrorist—murder, sabotage, blackmail—may be identical to those of the common criminal. However, for the terrorist, these are all means to achieve wider goals, whether
Reprinted with permission from PolicyWatch, #646 August 6, 2002, Analysis of Near East policy from the scholars and associates of The Washington Institute. The following is an edited version of Matthew Levitt’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on International Finance, Committee on Banking, Housing
The leader of the ANO, the infamous Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal (Sabri al-Banna), died violently last week in Baghdad. But his death is not as extraordinary as the subsequent press conference given by Iraqi intelligence chief Taher Jalil Haboush. This press conference was the first
Lecture delivered at ICT Conference in Solidarity with the United States of America: Terrorism post September 11, held at Herzliya on 11 September 2002.
Lecture delivered at ICT Conference in Solidarity with the United States of America: Terrorism post September 11, held at Herzliya on 11 September 2002.
For months the Indonesian government has denied allegations that al-Qaida militants were setting up shop in the country. When Singapore’s investigation into a plot to bomb Western interests pointed to the involvement of Indonesian operatives, Indonesia refused even to entertain the possibility. Now, in the
Last week, intensified Islamist violence prompted Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to launch his military’s largest counteroffensive against radical Islamic elements in five years. The target of this ongoing operation is the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a breakaway faction of the Armed Islamic
On December 4, 2002, Bruce Hoffman, Daniel Benjamin, and Matthew Levitt addressed The Washington Institute’s Special Policy Forum. Hoffman is vice president of external relations at RAND and author of Inside Terrorism (Columbia University Press, 1998). Benjamin is a senior fellow at the Center for
Parallel to the Palestinian armed struggle against Israel is a power struggle between Hamas and Fatah. Years of tensions have culminated in Gaza street clashes between the two organizations in recent weeks. An Egyptian-sponsored summit designed to achieve rapprochement between the two groups sputtered in
Since September 2001, the world has awakened to a new danger; terrorism after the September attacks is a totally different phenomenon from that which existed before the attacks in the United States. This is not merely due to the scale of the atrocities, but also
The aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and the subsequent American war against terrorism have focused attention on the financing of terrorist movements and operations. The lines of political influence follow those of economic assistance. Reprinted from the MIDDLE EAST
The Head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Ramallah, Ibrahim Abu Hijleh, who was arrested by Israel at the end of December 2002, has confessed to ordering DFLP squads to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets.
On the 28th February 2003, the internet site Arabforum.net published an appeal to Muslims to betray their countries for the sake of Jihad. This site is popular among followers of Osama bin Ladin and his al-Qaida network, and is particularly designed to appeal to young
One of the goals of this campaign for the U.S. was to prove its determination to fight terrorist organizations and the states which sponsor them. Now, after the battles are over, the question is how the campaign in Iraq will affect international terrorism?
The horrible series of explosions in train stations in Madrid in 11 March 2004, which killed so far about 200 people, and injured over 1400, has shocked the whole world. Beside the results and the repeated evidence of the evil and dark side of terrorism,
On 10 March a declaration appeared on an Islamic Arab internet forum—Sawt al-Haq[1], affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood—announcing the establishment of the Hamas movement in Kuwait. According to the declaration, the Kuwaiti branch of Hamas was formed specifically in order to fight the American forces
At first glance Hizballah, Iran and Syria seem to be a triangle coalition without any link to the fourth player, Iraq. Yet, in fact, much of their strategy during 2002 has been shaped by an “objective” alliance, to use a term dear to the Marxists-Leninists—an
As the campaign against Iraq gets underway, security and military experts around the world are busy attempting to second guess Saddam Hussein and discover his strategy, in particular, what measures he intends to use against the U.S. and its allies.
As the war in Iraq intensifies, reports of ‘peace demonstrations’ as well as more explicitly anti-US and Islamist extremist protests accumulate across South Asia. These have been given great prominence in the media and have fed Western apprehensions that the Iraqi campaign will give rise
The recent explosion of an Iraqi car bomb north of Najaf apparently signals the next stage of the campaign in Iraq – the stage of the use of suicide attacks.
In the wake of the second checkpoint bombing, it seems almost certain that more innocent Iraqi civilians will die as the result of Coalition soldiers’ legitimate fear of suicide attacks.
The most critical test facing the nascent Palestinian government is the immediate task of weeding out the logistical support networks that facilitate attacks under the cover of charitable or humanitarian activities. Reprinted with permission from PeaceWatch, #418 May 5, 2003, The Washington Institute’s Special Reports
Analysis of Near East policy from the scholars and associates of The Washington Institute. Nervous about recent Middle East developments and major threats looming in the future, Hizballah is taking defensive steps inside Lebanon and stepping up its rhetoric against the United States Reprinted with
After the elimination of most of its bases in Afghanistan, al-Qaida has activated other camps in other countries. According to Western intelligence sources, some of these bases are in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and in the region of Chechnya. Nor have recent arrests—such
On 22 March, an Australian cameraman on assignment for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. was killed in a suicide car bombing in northern Iraq. Officials of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said they believed the Ansar al-Islam group, linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network,
In the context of the Palestinian Authority’s acceptance of the road map, it is important to understand the strategic goals of the moderate Palestinian leadership.
Recently, a well-known Saudi cleric issued a religious edict (Fatwa) granting legal legitimacy to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the US and Britain and against their citizens. Sheik Nasser bin Hamd al-Fahad is recognized as one of the senior Muslim clerics in
At the beginning of July 2003, a new Bin Ladin audiotape roughly 30 minutes long was disseminated via the web sites identified al-Qaida supporters. It is unclear when the tape was recorded, nor whether the speaker is in fact Osama bin Ladin. However, the tape
A radicial Islamic group, the Shahid Abu Hafas al-Masri Brigades, recently claimed responsibility for the July 20th plane crash in Kenya that killed twelve American tourists and the plane’s two South African pilots. Their statement was published on the on the FAROQ web site which
The Sharon Government is about to make a strategic mistake. If the prisoner-exchange deal now being worked out comes to fruition, Hizballah will be strengthened politically, psychologically and, in the final analysis, strategically, too. From Ma’ariv (Internet Version) in Hebrew 29 Sep 03
