This shows again the appeal of the concept of the caliphate. It also yet again reveals the falsity of the mainstream analysis that the various manifestations of jihad around the world are actually separate and distinct nationalist insurgencies that have nothing to do with each other. “How a Libyan City Joined the Islamic State Group,” by Maggie Michael, Associated Press, November 9, 2014:
On a chilly night, bearded militants gathered at a stage strung with colorful lights in Darna, a Mediterranean coastal city long notorious as Libya’s center for jihadi radicals. With a roaring chant, they pledged their allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group.
With that meeting 10 days ago, the militants dragged Darna into becoming the first city outside of Iraq and Syria to join the “caliphate” announced by the extremist group. Already, the city has seen religious courts ordering killings in public, floggings of residents accused of violating Shariah law, as well as enforced segregation of male and female students. Opponents of the militants have gone into hiding or fled, terrorized by a string of slayings aimed at silencing them.
The takeover of the city, some 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the nearest territory controlled by the Islamic State group, offers a revealing look into how the radical group is able to exploit local conditions. A new Islamic State “emir” now leads the city, identified as Mohammed Abdullah, a little-known Yemeni militant sent from Syria known by his nom de guerre Abu al-Baraa el-Azdi, according to several local activists and a former militant from Darna.
A number of leading Islamic State militants came to the city from Iraq and Syria earlier this year and over a few months united most of Darna’s multiple but long-divided extremist factions behind them. They paved the way by killing any rivals, including militants, according to local activists, former city council members and a former militant interviewed by The Associated Press. They all spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for their lives.
Darna could be a model for the group to try to expand elsewhere. Notably, in Lebanon, army troops recently captured a number of militants believed to be planning to seize several villages in the north and proclaim them part of the “caliphate.” Around the region, a few militant groups have pledged allegiance to its leader, Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But none hold cohesive territory like those in Darna do.
The vow of allegiance in Darna gives the Islamic State group a foothold in Libya, an oil-rich North African nation whose central government control has collapsed in the chaos since the 2011 ouster and death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Extremists made Darna their stronghold in the 1980s and 1990s during an insurgency against Gadhafi, the city protected by the rugged terrain of the surrounding Green Mountain range in eastern Libya. Darna was the main source of Libyan jihadis and suicide bombers for the insurgency in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion. Entire brigades of Darna natives fight in Syria’s civil war.
This spring, a number of Libyan jihadis with the Islamic State group returned home to Darna. The returnees, known as the Battar Group, formed a new faction called the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam, which began rallying other local militants behind joining the Islamic State group. In September, al-Azdi arrived.
Many of Darna’s militants joined, though some didn’t. Part of Ansar al-Shariah, one of the country’s most powerful Islamic factions, joined while another part rejected it….
tpellow says
Supplementary.
“Libya’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared the internationally recognised parliament as unconstitutional, in a ruling likely to fuel further chaos in the north African oil producing nation.”
http://www.france24.com/en/20141106-libya-chaos-deepens-court-strikes-down-parliament/
tpellow says
A BBC report of Oct 16-
“Tim Whewell is one of the few foreign reporters who have made it to Tobruk, the last toehold of Libya’s elected authorities. Now Islamist-led militias have taken over much of the country. He reports for Assignment on why Libya’s on the verge of becoming a failed state, three years after an international campaign of airstrikes helped rebels overthrow Col Gaddafi.
“Now, the conflict in Libya is becoming in part a proxy war between competing powers in the Middle East – and militant jihadis are taking advantage of the chaos to spread their influence. In Benghazi, there are daily assassinations of officials, journalists and activists – and in Derna, an hour’s drive from Tobruk, one jihadi group says the town has become part of the ‘caliphate’ declared by Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. Peace talks between the elected parliament in Tobruk and the Islamist-dominated rival authorities in the capital Tripoli, have so far made little progress – and there are now fears that in the long run extremists in Libya could pose an even greater threat to the rest of the world than those in Syria and Iraq.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0288zcj
tpellow says
Supplementary.
“The West is silent as Libya falls into the abyss.
In 2011, there was jubilation at Gaddafi’s demise. Not any more: the aftermath of foreign intervention is calamitous and bloody.”
(Nov 2.)
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-west-is-silent-as-libya-falls-into-the-abyss-9833489.html
Beagle says
The media war on IS legitimacy is waged with “caliphate” scare quotes. Good luck with that. Maybe if they deploy more “conservatives” when discussing devout Sunni Muslim Salafists.
Quote:
“Women increasingly wear ultraconservative face veils.”
— —
That should do the trick! Nobody expects “ultra” added to “conservative”. Maggie Michael of AP buried the lede: I think it’s breaking news that face veils have achieved sentience and a political viewpoint.
That controversial map which showed the black shahada flag caliphate brigades controlling from NW Africa to Afghanistan is looking far less ridiculous, as is often claimed by the leftist scolds who’ve been downplaying the threat from IS for years. The “Islamophobes” by contrast have been noting the danger of a reconstituted caliphate for well over a decade.
Jay Boo says
How do we prevent a failed state in Libya?
1 We could flood the country with millions of dollars in financial aid with no accountability of where the money is spent.
2 We could apologize profusely for an obscure film.
3 We could have our president condemn anyone who would even consider insulting ‘ the prophet of Islam or burning a Koran.
Or we could use
Plan B
Beagle says
Nitpick: too late to “prevent” a failed state in Libya.
Definitely “Plan B” but not sure what that is now.
The question now is whether Libya can be reconstituted as anything but warring bands of jihadis wreaking havoc for decades like Somalia. Libya used to be one of the more functional states in Africa by objective standards like income and medical care. Now it’s ruled by hundreds of heavily-armed groups of competing jihadis.
Cameron and Obama made Libya into a failed state. Gaddafi had given up international terrorism, turned over his WMD programs, and was helping the West keep an eye on the jihadis in Benghazi, back when jihadism in Libya was limited in scope.
The lesson Obama is teaching the world is to build nuclear weapons and never cooperate with the West if you want to maintain a regime. Gaddafi and Mubarak made the mistake of playing ball with the West.
Bezelel says
My wishful thinking about McCain evaporated when he spoke out on going after Gadahfi. I still think the ones crying the loudest about his oppression were the same ones joining IS. Plan B has to be better than what we’re seeing now.
mortimer says
It shows the backwardness, gullibility, lack of critical thought, viciousness, misogyny, xenophobia, obscurantism and sociopathy of Islam.
Davegreybeard says
“It shows the backwardness, gullibility, lack of critical thought, viciousness, misogyny, xenophobia, obscurantism and sociopathy of Islam.”
Yep.
It also shows that “Ole Time Religion” really works when coupled with terror and assassination.
mortimer says
60% of Muslims worldwide want a CALIPHATE and SHARIA… exactly what ISIS provides.
The majority of Muslims approve of ISIS on some level. They would not resist it taking over their country.
Peter Buckley says
Just confirms that the notion it’s just a “tiny minority” of muslims is, and always has been a myth. Great site with FACTS and FIGURES:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/09/04/myth-tiny-radical-minority
pennant8 says
Darna was the site of the battle in 1805 during the Barbary wars that inspired the line in the Marine Corps hymn “to the Shores of Tripoli.” Tripoli is actually farther to the west. The writer took some poetic license for rhyming purposes. Anyway, not much has changed in 209 years.
Jay Boo says
We must be patient with Muslims as they learn.
209 years is not so long
— The endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker learned over the centuries how to burrow into trees to survive the cold.
— The common sea gull learned to follow fishing boats to civilization and land fills.
— And with proper training, even the homing pigeon learned to fly to pigeon coops for bird seed during the Middle Ages if not sooner.
One day Muslims will learn how to act like decent human beings so they will no longer need to bow their heads in shame at the mere mention of Muhammad’s name.
mark says
Good luck waiting for that!
DBOML says
Another one bites the dust.
At some point soon one would think the penny will drop and western leaders will grasp the basic premise…’If they get the slightest chance they WILL take it’.
And by ‘it’ I mean ‘everything’.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
The organization and military forces of the New Caliphate needs to grow wings to continue its expansion. There are plenty of failed state vacuums to fill after a decade of Barack Hussein and like minded careerists in the Pentagon and State. It’s an open field.
But the New Caliphs need air transport to make it real. Given its nice cashflow, they should begin building a civilian air force along with a suite of fighter squadrons to protect its new civilian planes. If some nutball operation like the United States or Egypt shoots one of them down, expect the BBC, A2, NBC, CNN and other big TV channels to castigate the wanton destruction of civilian rights… like when the Jews on the Jerusalem zoning board approve a new condo complex in the West Bank, for example.
Every Bedouin and Berber has a right to take holidays by traveling across the Maghreb and Levant at will, to be able to take in the sights and maybe take some shots for posterity.
Darren says
More proof power comes from the barrel of a gun. Always has always will. I know let’s hold an interfaith dialog conference with these people. Though meant as a sarcasm, I’m sure the pentagon is way ahead of me, after all James Clapper of the NSA called the muslim brotherhood secular. Why do we have NSA data centers when they can’t even get that right? I know to spy on Americans, still you think they wouldn’t be so obvious about it being intel people.
Salah says
Breaking News:
Iraqi officials:ISIS leader wounded in an airstrike.
http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/iraqi-officials-say-is-leader-wounded-in-airstrike/ar-AA7k6HS
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
This is disquieting news. I’m sure the New Caliphate has a chain of command complete with a succession plan, but Caliph al-Baghdadi is the hottest entrepreneur on the planet, ahead of Zukerberg, Musk, Branson, Bezos and Putin, and probably richer than all of ’em except maybe Vlad, who reportedly has $95 billion.
The Caliph has well-earned reputation as a man of the people, frequently leaving HQ to go out and greet his mujahadin fighters. You might think of him as a Patton but with a beard that is topped off with a towel for a helmet.
Davegreybeard says
Sounds like Baghdad Bob to me.
I’ll wait for more reliable sources, before I celebrate.
pumbar says
It’s no wonder they managed to take over this place. CaMoron has had the Libyan army based in the UK and raping people.
Simplynotred says
There is no such thing as an Islamic State. Only a state of genocide that uses murder to control other human beings.
My Shari'a Moor says
@Simp
Oh yes, thou Simp, it exists, as it’s merely the TRUE body & expression of pious, devout ISLAM, ya woodless, pathetic, false-equivalencizing DUPE!
FADE!
My Shari'a Moor says
To: dda:
The whole World WORSHIPS you (still!)!
…Wot!?
So, Libyan crude will soon return to 117 USD per 55 imperial Gals./Barrel?!
AGAIN?!
NO (sarc/off)!
So, who’s a-watchin’ them-thar WATCHERS, after all?!
Matthew 7:16-20 – “As Jesus, the Son of God, said: “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
dda…Thank you!
MSM
My Shari'a Moor says
Ol’ late, unlamented Mo’-Mo’ Kha-Daffy ENVISIONED an alliance such as this back in the ’80s with his ‘union-with-Syria’ (SOME of us STILL remember!)!
Even the US TV-show ‘Saturday Night Live’ (with host/announcer Chevy Chase on its ‘Weekend Update’ segment!) made wry JOKES about this!
You CAN’T make up this SHET!
EVER!
pumbar says
Hats off to your username!!