Terrorism in the Middle East: Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Taliban, HAMAS

The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (a.k.a. al-Jihad, Jihad Group, Vanguards of Conquest, Talaa' al-Fateh) is an Egyptian extremist group established in the late 1970s as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its goal is to replace the government with an Islamic State. Its attacks have focused on the assassination of high-ranking Egyptian government officials, including the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

 

The Islamic Jihad is now split into two factions: The Egyptian al-Jihad and the Vanguards of Conquest. The al-Jihad group actively supports the Osama Bin Laden network, Al Qaeda. The former leader of the al-Jihad, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is a lieutenant in Bin Laden's inner circle. In 1997 the leaders of both factions agreed to a ceasefire with the Egyptian government, but those who have joined with Bin Laden no longer agree to this truce and support Bin Laden's desire to attack US interests directly.

 

Another member of the al-Jihad, Muhammed Atef, may be Bin Laden's military commander. Atef has been indicted, along with seventeen other Al Qaeda members including al-Zawahiri and Bin Laden, for his alleged involvement in the August 7, 1998 coordinated truck bombings of the US Embassies of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. Those attacks killed a total of 224 people.

Al Qaeda (Arabic for "The Base") is a network of Muslim freedom fighters, established by Saudi exile Osama Bin Laden in 1989 in response to the Russian occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1989). The Bin Laden group is dedicated to opposing non-Islamic governments with force and violence. Al Qaeda also has ties to individual members and factions of several of the major Islamic militant organizations.

 

Al Qaeda soldiers travel from nation to nation, changing their identities and becoming part of the community in which they live, waiting for instruction. According to Robert M. Bryant, former deputy director of the FBI, what makes Al Qaeda different from other terrorist groups is that "so many of them are willing to die."

 

While Osama Bin Laden's personal fortune of $300 million is the primary source of funding for the network's activities, Al Qaeda maintains many moneymaking businesses, and has many wealthy supporters.

 

Al Qaeda cells have been identified or suspected in:

On July 27, 2004, it was discovered that Al Qaeda militants illegally obtained a large number of South African passports. Bearers of South African passports are able to travel to many African countries as well as Britain without visas.

 

Battles between the United States and the remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces continue.

The Taliban (Arabic for "Seekers of Truth") movement was begun in 1994 by students of Islam who took a radical approach to interpreting its tenets. In September 1996 the Taliban gained control of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. Only three Afghan provinces in the north managed to resist control by the Taliban militia. The goal of the Taliban was to develop a strict Islamic State.

 

Under the Taliban, Afghanis found themselves with a severe fundamentalist administration. Under the leadership of Mullah (Mohammed) Omar, the Taliban worked to eradicate crime, allowing public executions and amputations. The Taliban interpretation of Islamic law required women to be covered from head to toe when outside their home. Women could not go outside their home without a male family member and could not attend school or work outside the home; essentially this amounted to house arrest. Activities banned by the Taliban included watching television or movies, listening to non-religious music, dancing, photography, and kite flying.

 

The Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, is the husband of Osama Bin Laden's daughter. The Taliban provided safe haven for Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network in Afghanistan.

 

The US-led retaliation against the Taliban for harboring Al Qaeda led to their overthrow in late 2001. A new Afghani government is now in power, and the country's long healing process has begun.

The HAMAS (a.k.a. Islamic Resistance Movement), formed by Muslim Brotherhood activists during the beginning stages of the 1987 Palestinian uprising, is a Sunni Muslim Palestinian terrorist group that opposes Arab-Israeli peace. HAMAS targets include Jewish civilians. While terrorist activity by the HAMAS tapered off during the 1990s, it has escalated since the September 2000 Palestinian uprising. The HAMAS claimed responsibility for the June 1, 2001 suicide bombing of a nightclub in Tel Aviv that killed 21 people and for the August 9, 2001 bombing of a pizzeria in Jerusalem that killed 18 people. In the wake of the October 7, 2001 retaliation attack on Afghanistan by American and British troops, the HAMAS expressed support of Osama Bin Laden. The HAMAS have recently begun to use female suicide bombers and Qassam rockets to attack Israeli cities.

 

Funding for HAMAS activities comes from Iran, wealthy private benefactors in the Persian Gulf, and Palestinian expatriates. Western European and North American citizens often contribute unknowingly to this group's terrorist activities, believing their contributions go toward providing for Palestinian poor.