Libya rebels: Gaddafi could be right about al-Qaeda
Libya rebels: Gaddafi could be right about al-Qaeda
Two documents suggest northeast Libya, centre of rebellion, is an al-Qaeda hotspot
By Alexander Cockburn
Source: The First Post
On March 11, Sarkozy declared the Libyan National Transition Council the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people. Back in Benghazi, people screamed in relief and cheered Sarkozy’s name. Popularity at last for Sarko, whose approval ratings in France have been hovering around the 20 per cent mark.
So much for the circumstances in which intervention was conceived. It has nothing to do with oil; everything to do with ego and political self-protection. But to whom exactly are the interveners lending succour? There’s been great vagueness here, beyond enthusiastic references to the romantic revolutionaries of Benghazi, and much ridicule for Gaddafi’s identification of his opponents in easternLibya as al-Qaeda.
In fact, two documents strongly back Gaddafi on this issue.
The first is a secret cable to the State Department from the US embassy in Tripoli in 2008, part of the WikiLeaks trove, entitled “Extremism in Eastern Libya”, which revealed that this area is rife with anti-American, pro-jihad sentiment.
According to the 2008 cable, the most troubling aspect “… is the pride that many eastern Libyans, particularly those in and around Dernah, appear to take in the role their native sons have played in the insurgency in Iraq … [and the] ability of radical imams to propagate messages urging support for and participation in jihad.”
The second document, or rather set of documents, are the so-called Sinjar Records, captured al-Qaeda documents that fell into American hands in 2007. They were duly analysed by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point. Al-Qaeda is a bureaucratic outfit and the records contain precise details on personnel, including those who came to Iraq to fight American and coalition forces and, when necessary, commit suicide.
The West Point analysts’ statistical study of the al-Qaeda personnel records concludes that one country provided “far more” foreign fighters in per capita terms than any other: namely, Libya.
The records show that the “vast majority of Libyan fighters that included their home town in the Sinjar Records resided in the country’s northeast”. Benghazi provided many volunteers. So did Dernah, a town about 200 kms east of Benghazi, in which an Islamic emirate was declared when the rebellion against Gaddafi started.
New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid even spoke with Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi who promulgated the Islamic emirate. Al-Hasadi “praises Osama bin Laden’s ‘good points’,” Shadid reported, though he prudently denounced the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Other sources have said that this keen admirer of Osama would be most influential in the formation of any provisional government.
The West Point study of the Sinjar Records calculates that of the 440 foreign al-Qaeda recruits whose home towns are known, 21 came from Benghazi, thereby making it the fourth most common home town listed in the records. Fifty-three of the al-Qaeda recruits came from Darnah, the highest total of any of the home towns listed in the records. The second highest number, 51, came from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But Darnah (80,000) has less than two per cent the population of Riyadh. So Darnah contributed “far and away the largest per capita number of fighters”.
As former CIA operations officer Brian Fairchild writes, amid “the apparent absence of any plan for post-Gaddafi governance, an ignorance of Libya’s tribal nature and our poor record of dealing with tribes, American government documents conclusively establish that the epicentre of the revolt is rife with anti-American and pro-jihad sentiment, and with al-Qaeda’s explicit support for the revolt, it is appropriate to ask our policy makers how American military intervention in support of this revolt in any way serves vital US strategic interests”.
As I wrote here a few weeks ago, “It sure looks like Osama bin Laden is winning the Great War on Terror”. But I did not dream then that he would have a coalition of the US, Great Britain and France bleeding themselves dry to assist him in this enterprise.
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Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against 'the foreign invasion' in Afghanistan Photo: AFP
Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links
By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham
Source: Telegraph
25 Mar 2011
Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links
Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited “around 25” men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are “today are on the front lines in Adjabiya”.
Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters “are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists,” but added that the “members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader”.
His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad’s president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, “including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries”.
Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against “the foreign invasion” in Afghanistan, before being “captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan”. He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008.
US and British government sources said Mr al-Hasidi was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, which killed dozens of Libyan troops in guerrilla attacks around Derna and Benghazi in 1995 and 1996.
Even though the LIFG is not part of the al-Qaeda organisation, the United States military’s West Point academy has said the two share an “increasingly co-operative relationship”. In 2007, documents captured by allied forces from the town of Sinjar, showed LIFG emmbers made up the second-largest cohort of foreign fighters in Iraq, after Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this month, al-Qaeda issued a call for supporters to back the Libyan rebellion, which it said would lead to the imposition of “the stage of Islam” in the country.
British Islamists have also backed the rebellion, with the former head of the banned al-Muhajiroun proclaiming that the call for “Islam, the Shariah and jihad from Libya” had “shaken the enemies of Islam and the Muslims more than the tsunami that Allah sent against their friends, the Japanese”.
Beck: U.S. Unwittingly Aiding Al Qaeda in Libya? | Glenn Beck
With: Glenn Beck
This is a rush transcript from “Glenn Beck,” March 23, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Well, we have this interesting tidbit now from Time Magazine. The Obama administration knows that Al Qaeda is active in Libya. Quote, “Obama and his aids know that they are taking a big risk. It’s a huge gamble says the senior administration official.” Really? “The administration knows, for example, that Al Qaeda, which has active cells in Libya will try to exploit the power of vacuum that will come with a weak or ousted Qaddafi.” Hmm. This is exactly what we said would happen.
Time mentioned that we may actually be helping the terrorists with this air campaign. After all, if Al Qaeda is there, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that they are fighting against Qaddafi for power and control right now? A senior member of Al Qaeda said this about the uprising, quote, “The Libyan people have suffered at the hands of Qaddafi for more than 40 years. He’s used the Libyans as a testing ground for his violent, rambling, and disgusting thoughts.” He also stated, “He warned that retreating will mean decades of harsher oppression and greater injustices than what you have endured.” They are clearly not fans, those people of Al Qaeda of Qaddafi.
Could Qaddafi have been telling the truth? Yes, yes, he could. And no, Qaddafi is not a good guy even though there are those in this country who think he is and with Cass Sunstein and George Soros’ help tried to convince people that he was.
There are people that have warned this president not to mess with him. Hmm. Who was that that said that? There is no good solution to this situation at this point. First of all, we waited too long to take any kind of action. We waited until it became a huge mess. Then we waited for the U.N. approval. We didn’t even ask our own Congress which is unconstitutional.
I understand that with a no-fly zone you have to take out the anti- aircraft guns and the surface-to-air missiles and maybe the radar stations, but since when do we take out tanks and tents to enforce a no-fly zone?
There are people that might think that we’re making a big mistake here. But is it a big mistake, I mean, for the cynical people? Because the more cynical people might be wondering is this being done on purpose? Is there a reason to entangle us in a mess like this?
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/glenn-beck/transcript/beck-us-unwittingly-aiding-al-qaeda-libya#ixzz1HkY0N6xl
From The Times
September 30, 2008
Analysis: Sunni extremists suspected in Tripoli and Damascus blasts
James Hider in Jerusalem and Nicholas Blanford in Beirut
Sunni Islamist extremists are the main suspects behind the bomb attack in Lebanon this morning and a deadly explosion in Damascus over the weekend, which many saw as revenge for Syria’s long dalliance with jihadist elements.
While the explosion in Tripoli targeted Lebanese troops there for the second time in two months, the 200kg bomb that killed 17 people near a military installation and Shia shrine in Damascus was the worst such attack since the secular Syrian regime fought bloody battles with the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s.
Analysts believe that both attacks bear the hallmarks of terror groups linked to al-Qaeda intent on destabilising the region. Syria has offered shelter to such Mujahidin since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, providing them a base.
But Syria, whose stability has long been enforced by its oppressive police and secret services, has been showing signs of strain in the past year, with a number of mysterious assassinations raising questions about internal power struggles and external threats, as it attempts to play all sides off against each other in a volatile region.
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Six dead in Tripoli car bombing
17 dead in Damascus car bombing
It has hosted dangerous Sunni Islamist extremists despite being a secular Sunni country headed by Alawites, a Shia sub-sect considered heretics by al-Qaeda and its hardline Sunni allies.
Syria denounced the Tripoli blast as a “terrorist and criminal act,” and expressed “its solidarity with brotherly Lebanon in the face of parties who are undermining the country’s security and stability”. President al-Assad recently gave warning of violence from jihadist militants in northern Lebanon and called on the Lebanese army to rein them in. Since May, Sunni militants in northern Lebanon have clashed with the small Alawite community.
Syria recently deployed several thousand troops along Lebanon’s northern border, sparking fears in Beirut that Damascus was contemplating a military incursion. Syria said that it was nothing more than an anti-smuggling drive.
Syria’s state-run al-Thawra newspaper suggested that the perpetrators of the Damascus bomb attack had come from another country. “Syrian security is solid but the region is throbbing with terrorists,” it said. “We need to protect our frontiers to prevent infiltration by terrorists, explosions and acts of sabotage.”
Andrew Tabler, the editor of Syria Today magazine, said: “If Syria is cracking down on jihadis along the Iraq border and along the Lebanon border, then it would not be surprising if the jihadis strike back.”
In the past year, Syria has been shaken by a spate of assassinations and security breaches. In February, Imad Mughniyah, the military commander of Lebanon’s militant Shia Hezbollah, was killed by a car bomb in Damascus. His death was a severe embarrassment to the regime and allegedly prompted a purge of the Syrian security apparatus.
In May, Syria and Israel announced they were holding indirect peace talks brokered by Turkey, but less than a week later, Damascus signed a fresh military co-operation agreement with Iran, Israel’s arch enemy.
In August, a top Syrian general with links to Hezbollah was assassinated, while an aide, the Damascus-based Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, was shot dead in a street in Homs. This month, a Hezbollah official in Damascus was reportedly killed in a car crash in Syria. Hezbollah said he had died while “on duty”.
There have been rumours of a possible split within the regime between those supporting peace talks with Israel and rapprochement with the West, and those who prefer to maintain the strong ties with Iran.
Iran and Hezbollah have much at stake in the future direction of Syria, which is the strategic linchpin connecting Tehran to its Hezbollah allies.
“Syria is at a crossroads,” said Elie Aoun, an anti-Syrian MP in Lebanon. “Syrian-Israeli talks are serious and achieving progress and we could soon hear that the negotiations have developed into the stage of direct talks … Syria would have to choose between its pan-Arab belonging and the relationship with Iran.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4847869.ece
Assad adviser warns of sectarian strife in Syria
Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:40pm GMT Print | Single Page [-] Text [+]
(Adds details, background)
AMMAN, March 26 (Reuters) – Syria is the target of a “project to sow sectarian strife”, an adviser to President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday.
“It is obvious Syria is the target of a project to sow sectarian strife to compromise Syria and the unique co-existence model that distinguishes it,” Bouthaina Shaaban was quoted as saying by SANA, the state’s official news agency.
Majority Sunni Muslim Syria is ruled by the Assad family of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. The Alawites are facing the biggest challenge to their rule after protests spread beyond the southern city of Deraa.
The protests have mostly stuck to nationalist slogans.
Protesters in Deraa on Saturday were chanting slogans calling for the overthrow of the regime, the same chant heard in uprisings in other Arab countries.
Analysts have said much now depended on whether the Sunni elite continues to back the Alawite-led military-security apparatus or whether they switch their support to the protests. (Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman; editing by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut)
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE72P0F220110326
Syria: 20 things you need to know
A brief guide to key facts everyone should know about Syria
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Brian Whitaker
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 17.22 GMT
Article history
Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. Photograph: Khaled Al-Hariri/Reuters
1. Greater Syria: Syria was the name once applied to most of the territory on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea and in the seventh century it became the seat of the Umayyad caliphate. The smaller modern state of Syria – adjoining Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon – began as a French mandate when the Ottoman empire was broken up after the first world war. It became independent in 1946. Its capital, Damascus, is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities.
2. Order of the Ba’ath: The Ba’ath party, which has dominated Syrian politics since seizing power in 1963, was founded in 1947 as a pan-Arab nationalist and socialist “renaissance” movement. Its slogan is “unity, freedom, socialism”. Under President Hafez al-Assad (1971–2000), the Ba’athists consolidated central government and brought a measure of stability to the country – though at a high cost in terms of repression.
A tattoo of President Bashar al-Assad. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters
3. President Bashar: Bashar al-Assad was in London, pursuing a career in ophthalmology when his elder brother, Basil – heir apparent to the presidency – died in a car crash in 1994. Bashar was recalled to be groomed for power. When his father died in 2000, Bashar was made head of the army and leader of the Ba’ath party. But at 34, he was too young to become president under the Syrian constitution. The age qualification was hastily revised and he was “elected” president in a referendum. His wife, Asma Akhras, was born in Britain to Syrian parents. She formerly worked as an investment banker at JP Morgan.
Israeli tanks operate near the Syrian border in the Golan Heights. Photograph: Reuters
4. The occupied Golan: The Golan Heights, a mountainous and strategically import area bordering the Sea of Galilee, was captured by Israel during the 1967 war. Part of it was handed back after the 1973 war, but the return of the remaining territory has been one of the Syrian regime’s principal goals ever since. There is a spot on the ceasefire line known as Shouting Valley where Syrians use megaphones to hail their relatives on the other side.
5. The Hama massacre: In 1982 Syrian forces launched a brutal assault on the city of Hama to quell an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing thousands. Memories of the event, which is rarely mentioned publicly in Syria, continue to cast a long shadow over political opposition to the regime.
6. Elegant lines: Syria has some of the world’s most beautiful railway stations.
Pro-Syrian supporters of Hezbollah rally in Lebanon. Photograph: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images
7. Syria and Lebanon: Lebanon was separated from Syria under the French mandate, since it was largely a Christian enclave, and became officially independent in 1943. From Damascus, Lebanon still tends to be viewed as part of Syria’s traditional sphere of influence. Syria used its military to stabilise Lebanon after the 1975-91 civil war but also meddled extensively in Lebanese politics.
Protests and diplomatic pressure after the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 forced Syria (which was widely blamed for the attack) to withdraw its troops. However, Syrian influence continues, with Lebanese politics divided into the pro-Syrian “March 8” camp and the “March 14” camp backed by Saudi Arabia and the US.
8. Hooray for the president: During public speeches in Syria, it is customary to applaud each time the name of President Assad is mentioned.
Alawite women. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
9. Religion and the Alawites: The Alawites are a secretive religious sect usually regarded as an offshoot of Shia Islam. In Syria they are a tiny minority but, through the president’s family and others in senior positions, they are dominant within the regime. About 74% of Syria’s inhabitants are Sunni Muslims; Shia Muslims (including the Alawites and Ismailis) account for 13%, various Christian groups 10%, and Druze 3%. Jewish communities have existed in Syria for centuries but today their number is extremely small – probably no more than a few dozen people.
10. Crony capitalism: Despite its socialist origins, the Syrian regime is plagued by corruption and crony capitalism – especially involving relatives of the president. A particular target of protesters is Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s cousin, who was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2008 on the grounds that he “improperly benefits from and aids the public corruption of Syrian regime officials”.
11. Kurdish aspirations: Syria has a marginalised Kurdish minority who are thought to number about 1.75 million – roughly 10% of the total population – and the regime has made persistent efforts over the years to Arabise them. Many of the Kurds, meanwhile, aspire to have their own independent state including other Kurds from Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Kurdish discontent flares up from time to time, though the regime generally denies that Syria has problems relating to ethnicity.
The Vision of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus. Photograph: Corbis
12. Road to Damascus: It was on the road to Damascus, according to the Bible, that St Paul was dazzled by a heavenly light and converted to Christianity. He later escaped arrest in the city by being lowered from a window in a basket.
13. Cold steel: Swords made from Damascus steel have been much prized over the centuries. According to written sources, blades were prepared by heating and then cooling them rapidly – sometimes by plunging them into the urine of red-headed boys or into the body of a muscular slave.
14. Shia pilgrims: Syria is a popular destination for Shia pilgrims from Iran. In Damascus, many visit the shrine of Sayidda Zeinab (granddaughter of the prophet Muhammad and daughter of Ali, the fourth caliph). Historical and religious ties are part of the background to Syria’s current relationship with Iran, though both countries see themselves as stalwart opponents of American and Israeli influence in the region.
A Hezbollah rally in Beirut. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
15. Syria and Hezbollah: Syria (along with Iran) supports the armed Lebanese Shia movement, Hezbollah. Besides providing a means to wield influence in Lebanon, this gives Syria an important bargaining chip in any future negotiations with Israel.
16. Political suicide: The disgraced former prime minister Mahmoud Zuabi allegedly shot himself in 2000 when police arrived to arrest him on corruption charges. Five years later, the interior minister Ghazi Kanaan also apparently shot himself in mysterious circumstances.
17. Silken threads: Damascus was once a major centre for weaving and trading in textiles. Damask – using an ancient technique for weaving patterns into cloth – derives its name from the city.
Krak des Chevaliers. Photograph: Sylvester Adams/Getty
18. Crusader territory: Parts of Syria were conquered by the Crusaders. The 11th century Crusader fortress Krak des Chevaliers – still remarkably well preserved – is now a major tourist attraction.
19. The Argentinian connection: About 1.3m Argentinians are of Syrian or Lebanese origin, many of them having settled there during the 19th century. The parents of former Argentinian president Carlos Menem came from the Syrian village of Yabrud.
TE Lawrence. Photograph: Corbis
20. Assault in Deraa: Deraa, the centre of the 2011 uprising, is where TE Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) was captured during the first world war while reconnoitring in disguise and, according to his account, was severely beaten and sexually abused by the Turkish governor. The incident affected Lawrence deeply and is said to have awakened his masochistic tendencies which later resulted in him paying military colleagues to beat him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/syria-20-things-need-to-know
All these reports are being peddled by the right-wing media, notably, Rupert Murdoch funded organizations. Please dont deligitimize the struggles of the Libyan people, just because “pockets” of individuals “may” have been associated with Al-Qaeeda.
Since when is Glenn Beck a reliable source? That guy is seriously deranged! Please evaluate your sources before you share them!
Why is it so hard to believe that people would try to overthrow a dictator?
@Tight Dhoti,
You have a valid point. While Sarah may explain better, I think this post serves to highlight an alternative perspective on the uprising in Libya. Personally, I don’t distrust people’s ability to overthrow a dictator in Libya or elsewhere, however, it is important to beware of the Islamofascists who may join and try to hijack the bandwagon (e.g. Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt currently forging Mullah Military Alliance with Egypt Army).
Israel, long critical of Assad, may prefer he stay after all
s
By Janine Zacharia, Wednesday, March 30, 7:00 AM
TEL AVIV — Israel has long complained about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s alliance with Iran, his support for the Shiite militia Hezbollah and his sheltering of leaders from Palestinian militant groups, such as Hamas, in Damascus.
Israel, long critical of Assad, may prefer he stay after all
Graphic: Israeli military maps Hezbollah bunkers
But with Assad facing the most serious threat to his rule since he took power nearly 11 years ago, Israelis have been forced to confront the notion that they may well be better off with him than without him.
Assad, like his father before him, has ensured that the Israeli-Syrian border has remained Israel’s quietest front for decades, enabling that country’s northern residents to flourish in an atmosphere of relative peace even as the two nations remain technically in a state of war.
The possibility that the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood or radical groups could rise to power in place of Syria’s secular, stable leadership has prompted fear among some Israelis. Watching the Muslim Brotherhood gain a foothold in Egypt’s political system after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak has only fed an Israeli squeamishness about the prospect of regime change in Damascus.
As one member of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet put it, “We know Assad. We knew his father. Of course, we’d love to have a democratic Syria as our neighbor. But do I think that’s going to happen? No.”
For now, there is little that Israel can do other than sit and monitor the demonstrations in Syria, which have drawn thousands to the streets over the past 10 days and led to clashes with security services, leaving at least 60 people dead. On Tuesday, the Syrian cabinet resigned in an effort to prop up Assad, who is expected to lift a repressive emergency law and ease other restrictions.
“We’ve had a dictator, but it’s been very quiet,” a senior Israeli military commander said.“On the other hand, it’s absolutely clear to us that the Syrians play a negative role” in the region.
Syria, whose leadership is Alawite, a minority that constitutes an offshoot of Shiite Islam, has long supported Iran and its Shiite ally in south Lebanon, Hezbollah. Although Israel sees Iran as Hezbollah’s chief patron, officials regard Syrian support as no less crucial.
Israeli military officials say the majority of weapons that Hezbollah has stashed in south Lebanon since a 2006 conflict with Israel were made or supplied by Syria, including short-range Scud missiles as well as 302mm rockets, which, when fired from southern Lebanon, could reach Tel Aviv.
Syrian officials have denied supplying weapons to Hezbollah. In April, after Israel first accused Syria of supplying the Scuds to Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, the head of the group, refused to comment.
During a visit to Moscow this month, Israeli media reported, Netanyahu pleaded with Russia not to sell Syria anti-ship missiles for fear that they could be transferred to Hezbollah. But his request was rebuffed.
Israeli military officials said in interviews that most of Hezbollah’s weapons are covertly transferred by truck from arms depots near Damascus to storage facilities in southern Lebanon.
Israeli intelligence asserts that Hezbollah has built hundreds of bunkers and filled them with Syrian-made weapons, all since 2006, the last time Israel attacked the Shiite militia.
A map of alleged Hezbollah installations provided to The Washington Post this week by Israeli military officials identifies more than 550 underground bunkers, 300 surveillance sites and 100 other facilities.
In releasing the map, the Israeli military appeared to be trying to preempt international criticism of any future offensive against the alleged sites, many of which are located in residential villages alongside hospitals, schools and even civilian homes.
Military commanders say they want to avoid the kind of international rebuke Israel received after it launched an operation in late 2008 to try to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israeli towns. About 1,300 Palestinians were killed in that offensive.
“Our interest is to show the world that the Hezbollah organization has turned these villages into fighting zones,” the senior Israeli commander said.
Israeli military officials and analysts said Assad’s departure could lead to a break in Syria’s support for Hezbollah.
“A different regime is not naturally an ally of Hezbollah and the Iranians,” said Ehud Ya’ari, a commentator on Arab affairs for Israel’s Channel 2 television station.
“People would very much like to see Assad gone and his whole regime replaced,” Ya’ari said in an interview. “That doesn’t mean they don’t have concerns about what’s coming next.”
zachariaj@washpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-long-critical-of-assad-may-prefer-he-stay-after-all/2011/03/29/AFIq5JxB_story.html
Collateral damage? or intentional targeting of Islamist rebels?
نیٹو کی ’ایک اور غلطی‘، تیرہ ہلاک
باغی کہتے ہیں کہ جب ان کے یونٹس مغرب میں اگلے مورچوں کی طرف پیش قدمی کرتے واضح طور پر دیکھے جا سکتے تھے تو نیٹو نے ان پر کیوں حملہ کیا
مشرقی لیبیا میں باغیوں نے کہا ہے کہ نیٹو نے غلطی سے ان کے ساتھیوں پر فضائی حملہ کر دیا جس سے باغیوں کے بہت سے جنگجو ہلاک ہو گئے ہیں۔
نیٹو کے حملے میں زخمیوں کا علاج کرنے والے ایک ڈاکٹر کا کہنا ہے کہ ہلاک شدگان کی تعداد تیرہ ہے۔
پتہ چلا ہے کہ اجدابیا اور بریقہ کے شہروں کے درمیان اگلے مورچوں کے قریب کھڑے ٹینکوں، بکتر بند گاڑیوں اور راکٹ لانچرز پر کم از کم چار میزائل داغے گئے۔
بی بی سی کے نامہ نگار کا کہنا ہے کہ ’نیٹو کی اس خوفناک غلطی‘ پر باغیوں میں کافی غم و غصہ پایا جاتا ہے۔
حالیہ دنوں میں یہ اس بین الاقوامی فوج کی طرف سے غلطی کا تیسرا واقعہ ہے جس کو لیبیا کے عام شہریوں کی حفاظت اور سرکاری فوج سے بچانے کے لیے تعینات کیا گیا ہے۔
بی سی سی کے نامہ نگار کے مطابق نیٹو کے فضائی حملے کے بعد اجدابیا کے نواح میں باغیوں میں افراتفری کے مناظر دیکھے گئے۔
باغیوں کے ایک کمانڈر نے بی بی سی کو بتایا کہ انھوں نے دیکھا کہ باغیوں پر کم از کم چار میزائل گرے۔انھوں نے کہا کہ ہلاک و زخمی ہونے والوں کی تعداد بہت زیادہ ہے۔
خبروں کے مطابق ان افواہوں کے بعد کہ کرنل قدافی کی فوج اجدابیا میں نئے حملے کی تیاری کر رہی ہے، اجدابیا شہر سے ہزاروں کی تعداد میں لوگ بھاگ رہے ہیں۔
باغیوں پر نیٹو کے حملے کے بعد کئی ایمبولینسیں اجدابیا کے ہسپتالوں کی جانب جاتے دیکھی گئیں۔
باغی کہہ رہے ہیں کہ جب ان کے یونٹس مغرب میں اگلے مورچوں کی طرف پیش قدمی کرتے واضح طور پر دیکھے جا سکتے تھے تو نیٹو نے ان پر کیوں حملہ کیا۔
گزشتہ جمعہ کو اجدابیا اور بریقہ کے درمیان باغیوں کے ایک قافلے پر اتحادی افواج کے ایک جہاز کے حملے میں تیرہ افراد مارے گئے تھے۔ مرنے والوں میں تین میڈیکل کے طلبا تھے۔
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/world/2011/04/110407_nato_attack_rza.shtml
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