As Islamists increasingly fill the ranks of Syrian rebels, President Bashar al-Assad is waging an energized campaign to persuade the United States that it is on the wrong side of the war
“If the Syrian regime falls, al Qaeda wins.” That’s what Bashar al-Assad wants US officials to believe: By playing off US fears of Islamic terrorism, he’s hoping America will shift its support from the Syrian rebels to the incumbent regime, or at least withhold providing any more material support for the rebels. Because at least one rebel faction is allied with al Qaeda, it’s not an altogether crazy strategy. The regime is reportedly relying on Khaled Mahjoub, a Syrian-American businessman, to relay this message to US officials. “We are partners in fighting terrorism,” said Wael Nader al-Halqi, Syria’s prime minister.
The suspect, 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a student visa in January for the specific purpose of launching a terror attack here, authorities said. He allegedly told an undercover agent last month that he hoped the attack would disrupt the presidential election, saying “You know what, this election might even stop,” according to the criminal complaint against him.
Authorities say Nafis bought what he thought were explosives from who he thought was “an al-Qaida facilitator.” It was actually an FBI agent, and Nafis was arrested by the bureau after parking a truck full of the “explosives” next to the New York City Federal Reserve building and attempting to detonate it with a cell phone. A statement praising “our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden” and claiming responsibility for attack was found on a thumb drive on his body. source
Crown Prince Nayef, the hard-line interior minister who spearheaded Saudi Arabia’s fierce crackdown crushing al-Qaida’s branch in the country after the 9/11 attacks in the United States and then rose to become next in line to the throne, has died. He was in his late 70s.
Nayef’s death unexpectedly reopens the question of succession in this crucial U.S. ally and oil powerhouse for the second time in less than a year. The 88-year-old King Abdullah has now outlived two designated successors, despite ailments of his own. Now a new crown prince must be chosen from among his brothers and half-brothers, all the sons of Saudi Arabia’s founder, Abdul-Aziz.
The figure believed most likely to be tapped as the new heir is Prince Salman, the current defense minister who previously served for decades in the powerful post of governor of Riyadh, the capital. The crown prince will be chosen by the Allegiance Council, an assembly of Abdul-Aziz’s sons and some of his grandchildren.
Big news of the morning.
(Source: joshsternberg)
The brother of al Qaeda’s second-in-command, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike, said Washington’s use of the remote-controlled weapons is inhumane and makes a nonsense of its claims to champion human rights.
U.S. officials said on Tuesday that Libyan-born al Qaeda operative Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, in what was described as a major blow to the militant group.
The attack is likely to fuel an increasingly fierce debate about the legality and morality of the drones, which have become one of the chief U.S. weapons against al Qaeda but which opponents say stretch the definition of the legitimate use of lethal force.
READ MORE: Drones ‘inhumane,’ dead al Qaeda man’s family says
Yes, this is very much definitely fodder in a long-standing debate.
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, working closely with the CIA, used an informant to pose as a would-be suicide bomber. His job was to convince the Al Qaeda franchise in Yemen to give him a new kind of non-metallic bomb that the militants were designing to easily pass through airport security.
But the double agent instead arranged to deliver the explosive device to U.S. and other intelligence authorities waiting in another country, officials said Tuesday. The agent is now safely outside Yemen and is being debriefed.
To be clear, though: The guy helped intercept an underwear bomb, which is a fairly positive development.
My life is in your hands, Mr. President. If you accept the demands, I live; if you don’t accept the demands, then I die.American al-Qaeda hostage Warren Weinstein • Speaking in a video directed towards President Obama, in which the terror group demands a halt to airstrikes in multiple countries and al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoner releases. ”It’s important you accept the demands and act quickly and don’t delay,” Weinstein claims. “There’ll be no benefit in delaying, it will just make things more difficult for me.” It seems likely that Weinstein didn’t write these words.
“We have received news of a twin-engine helicopter that crashed in the Directorate of Sayed Abad.
The helicopter was raided by the occupation forces in the eleventh hour of yesterday. I was surprised by the stiff resistance of the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate.
Says the Mujahideen: Parts of the helicopter are scattered across the scene where the enemy twin-engine helicopter dropped.
The dead on board were 38 soldiers.
Eight helicopters arrived to the region to recover the helicopter and transport the dead back to their base.
At the end of the fighting, the enemy aircraft killed eight of the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate.”
Wow, good find Matt.
The newly appointed leader of Al Qaeda should be familiar to most - he has been seen by most analysts as the #2 in the global terrorist organization for many years. Here are a few things you may not know about al-Zawahiri. [more]
In case you needed a primer on the guy who’s replacing Osama bin Laden.
ProducerMatthew.com has obtained a copy of an audio recording made Osama bin Laden weeks before his death and released by an al-Qaeda affiliate Wednesday evening. The following is an excerpt of the tape; the full recording will be made available shortly.
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