SuspectinBenghaziattackkilledundermysteriouscircumstances

Suspect in Benghazi attack killed under mysterious circumstances

posted at 10:01 am on July 15, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

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Faraj al-Shibli did not lack for enemies, it would appear. The Libyan government held him for a time after the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, at least long enough for the FBI to interrogate him. Two days ago, another militia grabbed him in the former Cyrenaica capital of Marj, a town just off the Mediterranean, 96 kilometers from Benghazi. Yesterday, locals found his body:

Faraj al-Shibli, who was suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, has been found dead, a Libyan source and locals in the town of Marj said.

Al-Shibli, whose name is also spelled Chalabi, was last seen being detained by a local militia in Marj two days ago, a Libyan source said.

It is unclear what happened to al-Shibli since then, but his body was found Monday in the eastern Libyan town of Marj.

Locals in Marj also confirmed that al-Shibli’s body was found Monday.

Shibli didn’t lack for friends, either. CNN reports that investigators have discovered links between Shibli and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which operates out of Yemen. That’s a different organization than al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has operated in North Africa for years, and which became one of the biggest winners from the US-NATO war against Moammar Qaddafi. The removal of Qaddafi left a huge vacuum for the Islamist terror networks, which took advantage of the failed Libyan state to recruit, mobilize, and attack. The link to AQAP undercuts the narrative that the Benghazi attack was just a target of convenience for local networks, if Shibli was part of it.

But there’s more, according to the initial CNN report. Shibli also had friends in Pakistan and the al-Qaeda network there. That’s the so-called “core” al-Qaeda, the group behind the 9/11 attacks as well as attacks on the USS Cole, the Khobar Towers bombing, and the bombings of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. If those contacts have been established and if they existed prior to Benghazi, then that puts an even more interesting twist on the fact that the Benghazi consulate got sacked on the anniversary of the original 9/11 attacks.

All of this raises an even more intriguing question: why didn’t the US get Shibli from the Libyans? The Libyans had him securely enough that the FBI had the opportunity to interrogate him. In fact, the Libyans arrested him on his return from Pakistan, which should have raised lots of eyebrows. Did the Libyans refuse to extradite him? Did we ask? Or did we somehow find another way to “bring justice” to a Benghazi mastermind?

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Tags: al Qaeda, AQAP, AQIM, Benghazi, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Libya

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Source from: hotair

Video:“Extremelyserious”threatshutsUSembassyin

Video: “Extremely serious” threat shuts US embassy in Yemen indefinitely

posted at 2:31 pm on May 10, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Just weeks after an al-Qaeda convention in Yemen, the US has closed its embassy operations in the capital of Sanaa. Citing “extremely serious” threats and recent attacks on foreigners, the facility has closed its doors — indefinitely. The threat may be a reaction to the sustained drone campaign against AQAP targets following the release of the video of the massive meeting held by the terrorist network in Yemen:

The US embassy was closed to the public Thursday in Yemen after a spate of attacks against foreigners and fears that Al-Qaeda will seek revenge for a deadly offensive in the south.

“The embassy is closed today. And this will remain in effect until further notice,” an employee at the US mission in a heavily-guarded neighbourhood in northeast Sanaa, told AFP.

Police were deployed along all roads leading to the embassy and conducted a thorough inspection of vehicles in the vicinity in line with security measures put in place several months ago.

State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki said Wednesday that the embassy would be temporarily closed to the public “due to recent attacks against Western interests in Yemen”.

It’s also possible that the threat came in reaction to a shooting in Sanaa last month that involved two embassy officers. The shooting occurred during a foiled kidnapping attempt:

Two U.S. embassy officers in Yemen shot and killed two armed men in Sanaa last month.

“The Embassy officers are no longer in Yemen,” State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said in a written statement. “Per standard procedure for any such incident involving embassy officers overseas, this matter is under review.”

Harf added that the officers fired because the armed individuals were attempting to kidnap them.

Sources within the Yemeni government told CNN that the US is taking these threats more seriously than any other prior threat, even the warnings that preceded the 2012 mob attack on the compound:

Now, two Yemeni National Security officials tell CNN the plot against the Embassy is bigger than it was believed to have been.

“The U.S. government is taking this threat far more seriously than they’ve taken other credible threats against them,” explained one of the officials who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with the media.

Of great concern to Americans in Yemen is the increase in fighting in Sana’a. According to numerous officials, on Friday al Qaeda linked militants attacked two government installations – first the Political Security Headquarters, where they engaged in a firefight with Yemeni troops, and then outside the Presidential Palace, where huge clashes with the military continued. At least 4 Yemeni troops and at least 3 militants died as a result, with the death toll expected to rise. Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry officials worry the situation is deteriorating dangerously.

Earlier in the week, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, targeted foreign installations in the capital – killing one French citizen who worked with the European Union Mission there.

The officials added the U.S. is taking this as a graver threat than the one encountered in 2012, when protesters breached the Embassy’s heavily secured perimeter and stormed the building.

One threat that worries the US in particular is Ibrahim al-Asiri, the AQAP bombmaker responsible for the botched Underwear Bomber plot. No one is quite sure whether Asiri is alive or dead, and the uncertainty has American counter-terrorism officials concerned, to say the least. They’re worried that Asiri will innovate a device that will succeed in getting on a plane and detonating, given enough time and opportunity, but in this case they seem to be more worried about traditional explosive deployment against their facility.

AQAP may also be targeting the embassy at this point because the Yemeni military just started a ground offensive three weeks ago against AQAP strongholds. The US and Saudi Arabia aren’t providing much support on the ground in this effort, which has Yemen frustrated. They warn that fuel shortages in particular may force the military to suspend the campaign, and one unnamed official called the situation “dire.” Perhaps that’s one way that the US can go on offense while wisely playing defense in Sanaa.

Tags: al Qaeda, AQAP, counterterrorism, Sanaa, Yemen

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Source from: hotair

DroneattackskilldozensofAQoperativesin

Drone attacks kill dozens of AQ operatives in Yemen following confab

posted at 10:01 am on April 21, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Last week, CNN reported that an al-Qaeda conference took place in Yemen, headed by the number-two man in the global structure, and that the US appeared to have missed it. If so, we may be making up for lost time. A series of drone attacks in Yemen has killed dozens of terrorists from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the most dangerous of the constituent networks in the AQ umbrella:

An operation targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is under way in Abyan and Shabwa, Yemen, a high-level Yemeni government official who is being briefed on the strikes told CNN on Monday.

The official said that the scale of the strikes against AQAP is “massive and unprecedented” and that at least 30 militants have been killed. The operation involved Yemeni commandos who are now “going after high-level AQAP targets,” the official said.

A day earlier, suspected drone strikes targeted al Qaeda fighters in Yemen for the second time in two days, killing “at least a dozen,” the government official said.

CNN’s Mohammed Jamjoom reports that the Yemenis are a little skeptical of these operations, and that the embarrassment of missing the convention last week may be driving the claims now:

But other Yemeni officials, who asked to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak to the media, said there was growing frustration within the government about the lack of clarity and expressed concern that some of the information being reported by the military may be propaganda.

“I’m worried this is an attempt to convince Yemenis that the U.S. and Yemen have turned a corner and are in the process of destroying AQAP,” one of those other officials said. “At this hour, the numbers of militants being reported as being killed keeps changing, and we still aren’t sure if any civilians have been killed or wounded in these strikes.”

“Yemenis are smart enough to doubt initial reports of this type,” he added. “If this does turn out to be exaggeration, it will make the people here trust their government even less than they do and fuel growing anger over the drone program.”

It’s also possible, as I noted last week, that the US (and Yemen) had in mind a longer operation from the beginning. They may have wanted to see where all of these operatives went after the meeting in order to identify harder-to-find cells that would later metastasize on their own if left undisturbed. In that case, it makes sense that the operation would take place now — especially after AQAP began bragging about the meeting on social networks.  Or it could very well be that the drone strikes are just a semi-impotent reaction to the bragging.

It may be a while before we can tell which was which. The meeting gave US and Yemen a chance to take out AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who also serves as Ayman al-Zawahiri’s #2 in the global network. If the drone strikes leave him undisturbed after this very public demonstration, it’s not going to be seen as a success no matter what strategy prompted it.

Tags: al Qaeda, AQAP, counterterrorism, drones, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, Yemen

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Source from: hotair

Video:Didwemisstheal-Qaedaconvention?

Video: Did we miss the al-Qaeda convention?

posted at 8:41 am on April 16, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Did the US recently miss a golden opportunity to take out a large number of al-Qaeda leaders, including the top lieutenant of Ayman al-Zawahiri and chief of the network’s most virulent subsidiary in Yemen? AQAP recently held a large meeting somewhere in south Yemen despite US drone warfare targeting the network in that region, and published the video on jihadi websites to emphasize their success. In the tape, AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi pledged to the terrorist leaders gathered there that he wants to attack the US soon:

A new video shows what looks like the largest and most dangerous gathering of al Qaeda in years. And the CIA and the Pentagon either didn’t know about it or couldn’t get a drone there in time to strike.

U.S. officials won’t comment on that, but every frame of the video is now being analyzed by the United States.

In the middle of the clip, the man known as al Qaeda’s crown prince, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, appears brazenly out in the open, greeting followers in Yemen. Al-Wuhayshi, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda globally and the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has said he wants to attack the United States. But in the video, he looks unconcerned that he could be hit by an American drone.

The video started appearing on jihadist websites recently, drawing the attention of U.S. officials and global terrorism experts. U.S. officials say they believe it’s authentic.

“This is quite an extraordinary video,” Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst, said.

Did the US know about this ahead of time? If they did, they must have either had difficulty arranging the logistics of an attack — or perhaps had other assets in place for other reasons. It can’t be that we didn’t understand the value of the target, though. The Wall Street Journal recalls that Wuhayshi was one of the reasons the US closed a slew of embassies last summer:

Concerns last summer about a plot, discovered in part through intercepts of communications between Mr. Wuhayshi and al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, prompted the U.S. to temporarily close its embassy in Yemen and 18 other countries.

U.S. officials have been particularly concerned about the threat posed by the Yemen-based affiliate’s creative bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, who built the device used in the botched 2009 effort to bring down a Detroit-bound airliner among other plots.

It could be that the effort to transition the drone program from CIA to Defense forced a lost opportunity, although that’s still speculative:

Last year, President Barack Obama announced tighter standards on U.S. drone programs and directed the CIA to transfer its drone strike program into military hands, though the pace of that transition has been slow. The military’s drone program in Yemen has been on hold since the wedding convoy strike.

However the opportunity passed us by, it may be a lost chance we end up regretting.

Tags: al Qaeda, AQAP, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, War on Terror, Yemen

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Source from: hotair