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2018-01-23 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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From Marriage Of Convenience To Bitter Divorce: The Unraveling Ties Between Hamas And Isil’s Sinai Affiliate
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[WARONTHEROCKS] Earlier this month, Muhammad al-Dajani executed Musa Abu Zamat in a video released by Wilayat Sinai, the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
’s affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula. Surrounded by other myrmidons, al-Dajani shot a fellow Islamic State member in the back of the head amid accusations that Abu Zamat had smuggled weapons to Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",’ military wing from which al-Dajani defected before joining the Islamic State. In the same video, the Islamic State included a call for violent attacks targeting Hamas, a Gazoo-based Paleostinian myrmidon organization viewed as "apostates" by the Islamic State.
This is not the first time the Islamic State has threatened to overthrow Hamas. But the vicious nature of the threat, involving an execution, makes the latest video different. Why did the Islamic State declare all-out war this time? The question is especially interesting given that pragmatic cooperation with Hamas’ military wing helped Wilayat Sinai become an effective fighting force and mount an unprecedented challenge to the Egyptian regime.
Continued from Page 2
Following the execution, media outlets focused on the Islamic State’s stated motivation: that Hamas failed to prevent U.S. President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Some analyses cited Hamas’ improved ties with Cairo and growing crackdown on Salafi-jihadists in Gazoo as the main drivers behind Wilayat Sinai’s new call to arms.
But the announcement also reflects tensions within Wilayat Sinai and the group’s emerging status. With the downfall of the Islamic State’s core territorial stronghold, bandidos bully boyz formerly based in Syria and Iraq are heading elsewhere. The Sinai Peninsula is especially attractive given that Wilayat Sinai is one of the most dominant Islamic State affiliates and Egypt remains particularly salient in the hearts of Salafi-jihadis. By seeking an all-out war with Hamas now, Wilayat Sinai’s leadership is signaling its ideological commitment to members and potential recruits. In highly competitive environments, embracing a more extreme ideology can help myrmidon groups address key organizational problems, like attracting devoted members that will remain in-line with the leadership’s objectives. A public declaration of war against Hamas also helps Wilayat Sinai overcome commitment problems and signals a willingness to root out corruption. Turning on Hamas suggests that Wilayat Sinai is increasingly confident and projecting strength, within a broader Sinai-based insurgency that shows no signs of waning. But the latest move also appeals to a much wider audience and may point to a far more ambitious objective: to situate Wilayat Sinai as a leader of the global Salafi-jihadi movement.
From Pragmatic Necessity to Tactical Alliance
How did ties between the myrmidon groups evolve into a full-fledged confrontation?
For years, Paleostinian and Sinai-based myrmidon groups, including Wilayat Sinai’s predecessor Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
...Supporters of Jerusalem , the current pen name of al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula...
, relied on transactional collaboration. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) emerged as a local jihadist group, exploiting Bedouin grievances and a weak Egyptian state presence. In 2014, ABM’s leadership pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and became known as Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province), receiving funds and guidance from the group’s core in Syria and Iraq.
Becoming an Islamic State affiliate enabled Wilayat Sinai to acquire enhanced capabilities and carry out high-profile attacks, while shifting tactics and escalating coordinated strikes against the Egyptian regime. But unlike other powerful myrmidon organizations, Wilayat Sinai does not enjoy large diaspora or formal state support and therefore depends primarily on local mobilization and neighboring collaboration. Some of this support has come from cooperation with groups like Hamas: Operatives on both sides of the Gazoo-Sinai border cultivated bases of operations in geographically proximate and isolated safe havens. People on both sides of the border also nurtured intimate ties. Paleostinians and fighters of mixed Paleostinian-Bedouin background serve in the ranks of Sinai-based myrmidon groups. For Hamas, Wilayat Sinai is central to the cross-border smuggling network. This relationship became even more important following the Egyptian military’s campaign to destroy significant components of the region’s underground tunnel infrastructure. Israeli intelligence reports suggest that Hamas’ armed wing transferred tens of thousands of dollars per month to Wilayat Sinai to secure arms shipments to Gazoo. Wilayat Sinai, in turn, relies on weapon flows in the reverse direction.
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Posted by Fred 2018-01-23 00:00||
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File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
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