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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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from http://www.azzam.com
THE AZZAM BRIGADES
Arab Veterans of the Afghan War
Jane's Intelligence Review April 1, 1995 SECTION: MIDDLE EAST; Vol 7; No. 4; Pg 175
By James Bruce Contents
Introduction
Algeria
Egypt
Pakistan
Yemen
Other Middle East states
Bosnia
Asia
Conclusions
James Bruce is a journalist who has covered the Middle East for more than 20 years.
Across North Africa, into the Arabian Peninsula, and even beyond into Asia, there is a
new cutting edge to the Islamic revolution hundreds of battle hardened Muslim zealots
who were once trained, armed and funded by Western agencies as well as some of the
very Arab states which they now threaten. They are veterans of the long war fought by
the mojahedin of Afghanistan against the regime in Kabul from 1979 to 1991.These
'Afghans', not all of whom saw combat, now include some 5000 Saudis, 3000 Yemenis,
2000 Egyptians, 2800 Algerians, 400 Tunisians, 370 Iraqis, 200 Libyans, and scores of
Jordanians. They operate as far afield as China, Kashmir, the Philippines and
Tajikistan. Events in Bosnia indicates that Europe is not precluded; the hijacking in
December 1994 of the Air France Airbus A 300 at Algiers airport underlines the extent
to which the Islamists are prepared to go to internationalize their campaign.
It is likely that there would have been Islamic eruptions whether there had been Arab
veterans of the Afghan war or not. But what is undeniable is that these combat
experienced zealots have given the fundamentalists a powerful arm that they would not
otherwise have had.
Back to top
Algeria
The main thrust of the Islamic revolution is currently in Algeria. The bloody civil
war that erupted there in January 1992 when the army denied power to the Islamic
Salvation Front (FIS) is spearheaded by the 'Afghans'. There are an estimated 1000
1500 of them and they form the core of the hard line fundamentalists.The FIS has an
armed wing, the Movement Islamic Army (MIA). The MIA appears to be increasingly split,
with hardliners seeking to join forces with the radical Group Islamic Army (GIA) which
has been primarily responsible for the killing of scores of foreigners and Algerian
intellectuals in and around the capital. The MIA, on the other hand, largely confines
its attacks to military and government targets. The western and eastern regions of
Algeria are the domain of the MIA, while the GIA is strongest around Algiers. The GIA
is ted by the 'Afghans'. A key qualifications for any leader is that he must take part
in operations in the field; this has drastically lowered th!
e commander's life expectancy. One of the GIA's early leaders was Tayeb al Afghani,
nom de guerre of an Afghan veteran and a former smuggler. He became a symbol of the
'Afghans' and fundamentalism in Algeria until he was captured after an attack on a
police station at al Gummar in southeastern Algeria in November 1992. That triggered a
wider war, pitting the fundamentalists against the Algerian army. A subsequent leader
was Sid Ahmed Mourad, alias Jaafar el Afghani, who had also fought in Afghanistan.
However, he was killed by security forces in March 1994 after succeeding Abdelhak
Layada; the latter was arrested in Morocco in June 1993 and extradited to Algeria
where he remains in detention. Another commander was Sherif Gousmi, known as Abu
Abdallah Ahmed, yet again an Afghan veteran. He was killed by security forces in
September 1994, aged 26. Before taking over the GIA, he was believed to have been the
leader of the Kataeb al Mout death squads; these specialized in assassin!
ations, including those of government officials and several French citizens. Another
GIA leader is Ahmed Bounoua; he was expelled from France in August 1992 and is a
member of the movement's Overseas Executive Council.Kamar Kharban, a former Algerian
army officer who became a mojahedin commander in Afghanistan, is a key FIS leader and
regularly visits Germany where the FIS has an infrastructure and gun running network
in Aachen, Berlin,Hamburg and Munich. The chief FIS spokesman in Europe is Rabah
Kabir, who sought asylum there in 1992. Kabir and Usama Madani, one of the sons of
imprisoned FIS leader Abbas Madani, were arrested in Germany in June 1993 following an
attempt to assassinate Algerian leader Houari Boumedienne in August 1992 in Algiers.
They were released in September 1993 even though Algeria has issued international
arrest warrants for them. Although German authorities did not send Kabir and Madani
back to Algeria, it has been keeping them under surveillance since !
Germans in Algeria were threatened. Kabir was named president of the Islamic
government in exile proclaimed in September 1993, with Kharban as his deputy. Kharban
was expelled from France on 17 August 1992, apparently after issuing death threats
against Algeria's ruling council. The FIS claimed in September 1994 that it had opened
an information office in Washington. The GIA has a propaganda infrastructure in Poland
where its newsletter, Jihad News, is published. At one time, it was edited by Abdallah
Anas, son in law of Abdallah Azzam, a Palestinian scholar and member of the Muslim
Brotherhood who, with Saudi help, was a seminal organizer for the recruitment of Arab
volunteers to fight in Afghanistan. Many were from the USA, a link which would be
influential in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. He was killed in a
mysterious car bomb in Peshawar in November 1989 and is widely revered among the
'Afghan International'. Other splinter groups are emerging in Algeria, !
most of them hard line, anti Western radicals. One such group is the Organization of
Free Islamic Youth, blamed for the murder of Islamic moderates who advocated dialogue
between the FIS and the government; another is the Movement of the Islamic State
Back to top
Egypt
Egypt, too, is locked in a war with Islamic fundamentalists who include several
hundred 'Afghan' guerrillas. The main group is led by Mohammed Shawky al Islambouli
brother of the fundamentalist army lieutenant, Khalid al Islambouli, who led the group
that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in October 1981 and Ayman Zawahiry.
Al Islambouli was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court in December 1992
for plotting to overthrow the Mubarak government and assassinate Egyptian leaders. He
has a base in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, and
Hekmayat's power base. Jamaat al Islamiya still has some 200 men there today. In 1990,
al Islambouli was host in Pakistan to Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman who is now on trial in
the USA for alleged involvement in the World Trade Center bombing and other attacks.
Both Abdel Rahman's sons fought in Afghanistan. Mahmoud Abouhalima, an Egyptian Afghan
veteran, allegedly planned the World Trade Center atta!
ck and trained others to carry it out. Another 'Afghan', Ahmad Ajaj, entered the USA
on a false Pakistani passport, carrying bomb making manuals and other mafor the
bombers. A third man, Sudanese Siddig Ibrahim Siddiq Ali, was with Abouhalima in
Afghanistan in 1988 90. An Egyptian scholar who knew them there said they were 'very
good commanders who fought in various provinces'. US authorities believe there may be
as many as 200 Arab 'Afghans' in the New York New Jersey area alone. They are all
viewed as potential terrorists in the aftermath of the bombing of the World Trade
Center.Another key fugitive is Ibrahim el Mekkawi, a prominent fundamentalist who fled
Egypt after Sadat's assassination. Authorities in Cairo claim he is directing the
Islamic campaign in Egypt from Pakistan. A former army colonel, he travels between
Peshawar and Afghanistan where he maintains training camps and other bases. One of his
lieutenants is Mahmoud el Sabbawy; he lost his right leg fighting the S!
oviets in Afghanistan. In a recent interview in Pakistan, el Mekkawi said that 'it
would be easy to overthrow the government' in Cairo. 'But what comes next is more
complicated' because the fundamentalists are aware that they still do not have enough
support among the Egyptian officer corps to control the country after a coup. One of
his men, a Palestinian known by his nom de guerre of Abu Boaz, said it may take
another decade for the fundamentalists to topple Arab governments. But he remains
optimistic, because 'the young generation in the Islamic world is coming out of its
stupor'. Authorities in Cairo claim that wealthy Gulf Arabs provide funding for
militant Islamic zealots spearheaded by the 'Afghans' in Egypt and other Arab states,
while Iran guides and directs their activities. Saudi Arabia and its allies deny they
are involved in any way. There is no evidence that Tehran is directly involved in
these campaigns, but they do coincide with the Islamic republic's policy of!
undermining secular Arab governments. The fundamentalist regime held a major
conference of Islamic groups in Iran in February 1993, allocated funds and discussed
strategic aims. The Iranians, who funded Shiite mojahedin factions in Afghanistan, are
also deeply involved in Islamic Sudan which the governments of Algeria, Egypt and
Tunisia accuse of training and aiding fundamentalists. Soon after the Tehran
conference, Algeria and Egypt were hit by waves of assassinations and kidnappings
reminiscent of the operations conducted by Tehran backed Shiites in Lebanon between
1983 and the end of the civil war there in 1990. Cairo security authorities claim
there is a link between the Gulf financiers and Iran's intelligence services. Among
the financiers is Osama bin Laden and his brother Khaled, whose family made a vast
fortune in Saudi Arabia in the construction industry over the last two decades. He is
a key figure behind the 'Afghan International'. Bin Laden founded the Islamic Sal!
vation Foundation in Saudi Arabia through which he financed initially the Afghan
mojahedin, later extending that to radical Islamic groups around the Arab world. The
Saudis denied that bin Laden and others were involved. Nonetheless, in April 1994, the
Saudis revoked bin Laden's nationality an extremely rare occurrence and his family,
originally from the south Yemen province of Hadhramaut and one of the richest in Saudi
Arabia, publicly disowned him. Bin Laden is now based in Sudan, under the protection
of the Islamic government there and its spiritual leader, Hassan al Tourabi. He has
recently opened an office in London and, despite the Saudi government's actions, still
has access to large amounts of money held in foreign banks.
Back to top
Pakistan
In recent months, Pakistan has been hunting down Arab 'Afghans' at the request of
Cairo and Algiers. It signed an extradition agreement with Egypt in March 1994 to
return wanted 'Afghans', among the 1200 believed still in Pakistan. Islamabad's
efforts have stemmed largely from its desire to avoid being branded by the US State
Department as a country that sponsors terrorism, which automatically disqualifies it
from US economic aid. It has sought to close organizations supposedly helping refugees
but which are suspected fronts for Islamic radicals. Senior Pakistani officials argue
that the long trail of arms and ideologically motivated Islamic activists cannot be
eliminated easily. It is indeed a daunting task, and there has been considerable
opposition inside Pakistan itself, including high ranking military officers such as
Lieutenant General Javed Nasir, who headed the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence
Agency (ISI) during the Afghan war and co ordinated with Western agenci!
es, the Saudis and others the establishment of mojahedin forces as a bulwark against
Soviet expansionism. The Pakistanis, anxious to be seen as not supporting terrorism as
the extremist tide spread, scored a major coup in February 1995 by arresting Ramzi
Ashmed Yousef, an Iraqi born 'Afghan' and alleged mastermind of the World Trade Center
bombing. They handed him over to the US authorities who flew him back to New York to
stand trial. Western intelligence authorities believe that Yousef was also involved in
an attempt to blow up the Israeli embassy in Bangkok with a car bomb in March 1994 and
a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II in the Philippines in January. There are
suspicions that the primary target in the Philippines may have been to plant a bomb
aboard a US airliner. In May 1994, Pakistani authorities began deporting wanted
Egyptians. The first was 26 year old Ali Eid, suspected of belonging to an outlawed
Islamic group, the Vanguards of Conquest, a revival of the Ji!
had movement that was responsible for Sadat's assassination. The government claimed
Eid left Egypt in 1990 for military training in Peshawar. The Egyptians have hanged
scores of convicted militants, including members of the Vanguard, who were blamed for
the attempted assassinations of Interior Minister Hassan el Alfy in August 1993 and
Prime Minister Atef Sedki in November 1993. Hassan el Alfy claimed that the extremists
who ambushed Sedki's limousine in Cairo with a remote controlled bomb were 'highly
trained in Afghanistan in the use of explosive materials'. During the Afghan war, the
Egyptian Jamaat al Islamiya detachment was particularly respected for its military
skills and reckless courage. With a strength of around 300 men at its peak, this
contingent, which included Abdel Rahman's two sons, fought mainly in Nangarhar
province in eastern Pakistan, controlled largely by Hezb i Islami. Here, large numbers
of the foreign volunteers were deployed. Several hundred are still !
believed to be in eastern Afghanistan under the protection of Hekmayat, the
fundamentalist guerrilla leader who is now the country's prime minister. The 'Afghans'
expelled from Pakistan under pressure from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and the USA are
often fugitives in their homelands. So many go to Iran, from where they are able to
get to Sudan or northern Iraq. Here, Kurdish Islamic groups accommodate them until
they are filtered out to other countries in the Arab world.
Back to top
Yemen
Many go to Yemen where the fundamentalist al Islah, or Islamic Reform Party, provides
shelter. The party, deeply rooted in the powerful Hashed tribal confederation in
northern Yemen and headed by the firebrand Sheikh Abdul Mejid Az Zindani, encourages
them to settle in Yemen where there has been an upsurge in Islamic action in recent
months. Much of it has been directed at the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP) which is now
largely discredited because of the secessionist efforts of its former leaders during
the civil war in mid 1994. Many 'Afghans' fought on the side of the Islamic backed
San'a government during that conflict against what they considered the Godless
Marxists of the YSP. Yemen was a key source of manpower for the 'Afghans'. From 1984
until the end of the decade, Az Zindani sent between 5000 and 7000 Arabs, including
Yemenis, to Afghanistan and Pakistan via Saudi Arabia for military training and
religious teaching under his guidance. When the Yemenis returned home afte!
r the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, they made no secret of their new sense of
mission to eradicate from the former South Yemen all remnants of the one Marxist
regime. The San'a government has started to crack down on local 'Afghans' even though
they supported President Ali Saleh during the recent civil war. The hard line
'Afghans' recently attacked shrines of the mystical Sufi sect which Yemen's Zaidi
Muslims consider heretics. A group of members of the Yemen Islamic Jihad organization,
including several 'Afghans', were imprisoned in Aden in early 1994 for bombing two
hotels there in December 1992. The group has been funded in the past by bin Laden.
Until Pakistan started getting tough with the foreign 'Afghans', Az Zindani frequently
visited Peshawar. So did Rashid el Gannouchi, exiled leader of Tunisia's outlawed
Nahda fundamentalist party. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Tunisia for
plotting to overthrow and assassinate President Zine al Abedine ben Ali. Base!
d in London, he travels on a Sudanese diplomatic passport and frequently visits Iran
and Saudi Arabia.
Back to top
Other Middle Eastern States
Another important 'Afghan' is Mohammed Nazzal, a computer expert who studied in
Pakistan and is now a leader of Hamas, the Palestinian fundamentalist faction. Nazzal
is based in Amman. Here, the 'Afghans' are largely clandestine and have links with
Hamas and Islamic Jihad Palestine. They formed the Jaish Mohammed, or Mohammed's Army,
in 1991 and planned to launch a campaign of terrorist bombings and assassinations
aimed at toppling the Hashemite throne, including kidnapping one of King Hussain's
younger sons, Prince Abdullah. Several were imprisoned after a series of bombings, and
11 were sentenced to death on 21 December 1994. Three others were convicted in
absentia, including bin Laden's son in law, Mohammed Khalifa. Sudan, a cradle of
fundamentalism, now has an Islamic alliance with Iran and, according to Western and
Arab intelligence sources, harbours large numbers of Muslim extremists from all around
the Middle East, including hundreds of 'Afghans' who have not yet been a!
ble to return to their home countries. In Eritrea, probably the only country in the
Horn of Africa not embroiled in conflict, President Isayas Afewerki alleged in early
1994 that armed Islamic militants based in Sudan were seeking to destabilize his
fledgling state. After 20 were reportedly killed in a border gun battle, he claimed
that many were Arab 'Afghans' from Algeria, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia.
(Alhamdulillah, the Jihad in Eritrea has been going on for numerous years now, but has
been subject to an international news blockage, Azzam Publications)
Back to top
Bosnia
Arab 'Afghans' are in Bosnia helping fellow Muslims fight the Christian Serbs. Between
200 and 300 of these veterans, including non Arab Muslims, are based in Zenica where
they are widely feared. The number of non Bosnian Muslims in the military is estimated
at between 500 and 1000 from a dozen countries in the Middle East. From all accounts,
they have fought with some distinction. Some 300 'Afghans', organized into a unit
known as 'the Guerrillas', operate with the Bosnian 3rd Corps in Zenica. Algerian FIS
leader Kamar Kharban, a veteran of the Afghan war, has visited Bosnia several times
over the last two years. The 'Afghans' and other Muslim volunteers have also been a
source of friction with the Bosnians who are largely secular Muslims. The outsiders'
religious zeal and arrogant commitment to their holy war has angered their hosts.
However, many of the volunteers represent wealthy Islamic organizations or countries
whose support the beleaguered Bosnians count on. 'Afghans'!
are believed to have been behind the murder of British aid worker Paul Goodall on 27
January 1994 near Zenica. Three Muslim volunteers, all Arabs carrying fake Pakistani
passports, were later shot dead by Bosnian military police at a roadblock near
Sarajevo. Three others were arrested by police for questioning in the murder. The Al
Kifah, or 'Struggle', Refugee Center in New York, which used to recruit and raise
funds for mojahedin going to Afghanistan, last year announced it was switching its
operations to Bosnia. It was established in the mid 1980s by Egyptian Mustafa Rahman
as a joint venture with Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, spiritual leader of Jamaat al
Islamiya. Afghans have also been identified fighting alongside their Muslim brothers
in the breakaway republic of Chechnia against the Russians. The Chechen capital,
Groznyy, became a key transit point for Arab veterans of the Afghan war after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. The Russians could well now become targets for t!
he 'Afghans'.
Back to top
Asia
Some Arab 'Afghans' have even been reported in the Muslim provinces of western China.
One of Sheikh Abdel Rahman's sons has been reported to be leading Arab 'Afghans' with
Islamic guerrillas in Tajikistan fighting their old enemies, the Russians, who are
propping up the former communist regime there. Other Arab veterans are in the
Philippines with the extremist Muslim Abu Sayyaf faction named after an Afghan
mojahedin hero waging a war of terror on the Manila government in the struggle for
Muslim self rule in the Mindanao region. The Abu Sayyaf faction is a hard line
splinter group of the main Muslim movement, the Moro National Liberation Front, and
launched its own campaign when Moro began peace negotiations with Manila in 1992. The
Abu Sayyaf group was responsible for a string of bombings, assassinations and
kidnappings of priests, businessmen and doctors between September 1992 and June 1994,
including the massacre of 15 Christians in the southern Philippines. The group brok!
e new ground, like their Algerian comrades' hijacking in December 1994, by bombing
Philippines Airlines Boeing 747 on a flight from Manila to Tokyo the same month. A
Japanese passenger was killed and six other people wounded, but the aircraft landed
safely at Okinawa with a 60 cm hole in the cabin floor. It is likely that Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, was in contact with
the Abu Sayyaf group when he was in Manila during the Pope's visit in January before
his fateful journey to Pakistan. Indian security authorities say they have killed or
captured a score of Arab and other foreign veterans of the Afghan war fighting with
Muslim guerrillas in disputed Kashmir where Pakistan, their old patron, is active in
fomenting rebellion among the Muslims. They are also providing them with weapons,
including large amounts of arms originally provided by the Americans and their allies
for the mojahedin in Afghanistan. The Indians say they have le!
arned the names of 50 Arab guerrillas from the captured men.
Back to top
Conclusions
The wave of Islamic extremism sweeping the Middle East is increasingly deep rooted. It
is fuelled by not only the attempts to suppress it by the governments concerned but
also the growing belief among the Muslim populations of the region that long ignored
political and economic reforms can only be squeezed out of the regimes in power, not
obtained by negotiation. The fundamentalist creed also believes that the secular Arab
governments must first be overthrown before the greater enemy, the West, can be
tackled. As the situation in Algeria disintegrates, all the signs point to a prolonged
war of attrition in which the country could be split, if the government does not
collapse first. It is considered inconceivable that the Islamic guerrillas can be
crushed, while they are not militarily strong enough to defeat the army. If the
turmoil spreads from Algeria and Egypt to Tunisia and Morocco, and there are already
signs of Islamic fervour in these states, it could eventually produce!
a hostile Islamic bloc on the southern shore of the Mediterranean that would have
serious implications for western and southern Europe. The Air France hijacking by the
Algerian GIA in December and the gunmen's reported plan to turn the commandeered
Airbus into a flying bomb to explode over Paris, added a menacing new dimension for
Europe to the Algerian conflict. An Islamic victory in North Africa would also have
potentially critical consequences for Israel which increasingly perceives militant
Islam to be its main adversary. Beyond Israel too lie the Arab monarchies of Jordanand
the Gulf, as well as Syria. So far, Damascus has had little trouble from its
fundamentalists who were brutally crushed by President Assad's socialist regime in the
early 1980s. It is interesting, to say the least, that Assad, scourge of the Sunni
Muslim Brotherhood, is now allowing mosques to be built all over Damascus. The Arab
Israeli peace process vehemently opposed by Iran and its surrogates in t!
he Arab world will undoubtedly spawn fresh expectations, and that, in the absence of
conflict, standards of living will improve and democratic reforms emerge. When those
reforms do not appear, Islamic fundamentalism, which has now eclipsed the discredited
and obsolete notion of secular pan Arab nationalism, will be where Arab Muslims will
turn.
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