"Ansar al-Sharia: A New Salafi Jihadist Movement"
“In the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Libya, radical Islamists looking for a new leader united with Ansar al-Sharia, an ultraconservative Salafist movement. Inflicting their brand of terrorism, they are bent on instituting strict Islamic law into the governing process.”
An armed Libyan man makes the victory sign in front of Ansar al-Sharia HQ in Benghazi (Diplomatic Courier)If the world feared Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, wait until we see the outfall of the Arab Spring, which unleashed suppressed Salafist and Wabbabist imams in North Africa. Today their followers are attempting to take control of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, in their quest to create a caliphate under Sharia, the brutal Islamic law.
In the early 1700′s Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab launched his fundamentalist movement, aimed at restoring Islam’s basic tenets. The imam formed a religious and political alliance with Al-Saud, the Bedouin ruler who controlled a large portion of the territory. Wahhabism morphed into an orthodox version of Islam going back to the Middle Ages. Wahhabists supported Al-Saud’s expansion ambitions, helping him defeat competing tribes, non-adherents and those considered infidels. Al-Wahhab gave armed jihad a prominence in his teachings. Killing of infidels had become a justifiable act of the Wahhabi doctrine. Osama bin Laden was indoctrinated by Wahhabist preachers in Saudi madrassas.
As the world knows Osama bin Laden declared a jihad against the United States in 1991. The roots of al-Qaeda linked terrorists can be traced back to Saudi Arabia. Wahhabist imams funded by Saudi Arabia have indoctrinated terrorists around the world. As is well documented, Al-Qaeda has been involved in many terrorist attacks in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen has become the epicenter for al-Qaeda, which has been focusing recently in its backyard, with attacks in Syria.
Salafism (Predecessors) took hold in Egypt in the mid-1800′s observing the tenets of early generations of Muslims. Wahhabist teachings were introduced in Egypt in the early 1950’s by Saudi imams. In the early 1960′s, in a struggle with secular Arab factions, King Faisal allowed the migration of the Muslim Brotherhood to Saudi Arabia, and with them came the Salafist movement. This eventually led to an integration with Wahhabis who rejected modern influences, and Salafis who followed the original tenets of Islam. Many religious conservatives adopted this orthodox belief, which has spread to parts of Africa, including Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Somalia. In the Arabian Peninsula Wahhabists have a significant presence in Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Iran.
It is the goal of Wahhabists and Salafists to take us back to the Twelfth Century when Sultan Saladin controlled most of North Africa and the Middle East, under Sharia rule. Wahhabists indoctrination allows for no tolerance of anyone considered an infidel. It was radical followers who were responsible for the beheading of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, Nick Berg in Iraq, and Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia. Of the terrorists involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks against the U.S. fifteen of the nineteen terrorists came from Saudi Arabia.
In 1989 after the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan, and U.S. support waned, infighting between the mujahedeen warlords began, forcing Afghans to flee to refugee camps in Pakistan. There Islamic students distrustful of the U.S. banded together, as the Students of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. They withdrew from society and ultimately evolved into the fundamentalist Taliban (students), the radical Sunni Islamist political movement. They came to the forefront with the help of Saudi money that had established an extensive network of radical madrassas. Pakistan assisted in developing militia training schools where student recruiting took place. In Afghanistan, the Taliban defeated the corrupt warlords and ruled much of the country as an “alternative government” enforcing strict Sharia. Under their regime, modern-day radical Islam was born. Many radical-teaching madrassas have sprung up and taken hold around the world, pulling away students from the study of Islamic theology, and the humanitarian lessons on ethics, morals, virtues and justice, and cordoning them within a growing society of extremism and violence.
In a 2007 Citizen Warrior article, author Mark Silverberg stated that for American Muslim moderates, the harsh reality of having their religion hijacked by Wahhabi radicals is something they have yet to confront. Silverberg noted former CIA Director James Woolsey telling Congress, “Wahhabi extremism today is the soil in which al-Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are growing”; referring to the Council on Foreign Relations Report, “Saudi Arabia is the largest source of financing for al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda ideology is essentially Wahhabism, and most, if not all members of al-Qaeda are ideologically Wahhabist.”
The “Arab Spring” which started with uprisings by dissidents in the North African countries, has spread to the Arabian Peninsula. Today Syria and Yemen are under siege, with al-Qaeda taking advantage of the destabilization with their own style of terrorist activity. In a May 23, 2012 Reuters article it was noted the Gulf Arab countries are alarmed by the political crisis in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state of Yemen “which has given al-Qaeda the opportunity to develop a base from which to launch attacks around the world”. In April 2012, Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), with followers of ultraconservative Salafist tenets of Islam, established a branch in Yemen.
In the aftermath of the collapse of Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, disenchanted Islamists wanted to participate in the governing process, by instituting Sharia the strict Islamic law–their own interpretation of democracy. Among the militia groups involved in the revolution in Libya, Ansar al-Sharia surfaced as a leader to fill the void. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) affiliated with Ansar al-Sharia, were responsible for the recent attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, in which four American diplomats were killed. Both of these Salafist groups have been responsible for destroying irreplaceable Sufi shrines; as the Wahhabist indoctrinated Taliban did in destroying the Sixth Century Buddha statues in 1991.
Ansar Dine in northern Mali has become affiliated with AQIM from Algeria, which has tentacles reaching across the vast Sahel. Mali, once a fledgling democracy, was destabilized in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Libya. Over half the country is now under the control of Islamists armed with caches of weapons from Libya. Other radical Islamists are also embedded in northern Mali, including Boko Haram from Nigeria, al-Shabaab from Somalia, and Afghan and Pakistani insurgents. The UN and U.S. have not supported military action against the Islamists, which could cause their control to spread to other parts of the country. A number of the terrorist groups in Mali are also active in Libya.
In a June 7, 2012 Reuters article, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger noted, “That Afghan and Pakistani jihadis were training recruits for Islamist groups in northern Mali, the latest sign it is slipping into terrorist hands”, The News24 article of September 26, 2012, “Fighters ready for battle in north Mali” noted that Islamists have infiltrated Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Niger, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast. In an interview with Islamists they noted, they are no longer divided into separate movements, “We are all mujahedeen”, and ready to battle any ECOWAS troops brought into Mali. Reports indicate they are well equipped and receive financial support from Qatar.
Ansar al-Sharia, the new Salafi terrorist organization is gaining momentum in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. They are focused on domination under Sharia, the brutal Islamic law. On October 4, 2012, affiliates in Yemen were designated by the State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), in addition to al-Qaeda which previously was designated as a FTO on January 19, 2010. New offspring terrorist organizations will continue to sprout up, in the global jihad against Western interests. Killing Osama bin Laden in May 2011 will not change the Islamists quest to create a caliphate. We need to be more vigilant in protecting our interests in the region; to uncover plots against the United States. In countries like Mali, where radical Islamists are taking control, we need to be more proactive in support for quick action. As the United States continues to support democratic regime change, we can expect more rebranded jihadist movements to surface, in the Global War on Terror.