The security arm of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, made the announcement Friday night, a day after IS blamed the Syrian insurgent group for the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who headed the extremist organization since November.

“We categorically deny this claim,” the spokesman of HTS, General Security Diaa al-Omar, said in a terse statement.

He said HTS would continue to fight “evil acts” by IS in rebel-held parts of Syria, adding that had his group been behind al-Qurayshi’s death “we would have given the good news to Muslims and announced it directly.”

Al-Qurayshi was the fourth IS leader to be killed since the group was founded by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat years later.

Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi was named the group’s new leader on Thursday.

The Islamic State group broke away from al-Qaida a decade ago and attracted supporters from around the world. Despite its defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, IS militants still carry out deadly attacks in both countries and elsewhere.

Since IS broke away from al-Qaida, both groups fought deadly battles over the past years in northern Syria.

In April, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish intelligence agents had killed al-Qurayshi in northern Syria — a statement that IS denied saying he was killed by HTS and was later handed over to Turkish authorities.

Hussain Ghawi, host of the famous Jamra show, tweeted about the honoring ceremony.

Ghawi said, “The Houthi militia honors a leader in al-Qaeda and gives him the ‘tribe’ shield, in appreciation of his role in mobilizing fighters from the organization and bringing them into the ranks of the Houthi militia”.

He added, “Arif Majali is the leader of the Arhab cell in Al-Qaeda”.

ISIS, Qaeda and Houthi relations

On March 30, the Yemeni mission to the United Nations delivered a government report prepared by the Yemeni intelligence services, to the President of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield. The report confirms the relationship and cooperation between the Iran-backed Houthi militia, ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

Yemeni government said, “this report, which is based on confirmed intelligence information and facts, sheds light on the close relationship between the Houthi militia and both al-Qaeda and ISIS, which is an extension of the relationship between Iran and terrorist organizations”.

Government also said that, “Houthis and the terrorist organizations have been cooperating in various fields, including security and intelligence, providing a safe haven for many members of the terrorist organizations, coordinating combat operations against the legitimate forces, permitting the terrorist organizations to build and fortify their strongholds, while avoiding confrontations with them”.

Apart from that, the Iran-backed militants also released 252 Qaeda and ISIS terrorists from the prisons of Sanaa and other areas.

The report states, “Despite the Houthi militia’s claim to fight terrorist elements (Al-Qaeda and ISIS), and through the sources and follow-up of the Political Security and National Security agencies, it was found that many leaders and terrorist elements are present in the areas controlled by the Houthi militia.”

Among these prominent leaders is, Sheikh Arif Majali of Al-Qaeda’s Arhab cell, who became a senior leader in the Houthi hierarchy. He actively participated in the mobilization process of Qaeda and ISIS terrorists into the Houthi controlled areas.

The report states that, no sooner the militias took control of the areas, they began “to complete the killing, looting, pillage, and bombing of homes, violating human rights, children’s rights and women’s rights, and causing a large wave of displacement of residents and people from those areas”.

The report, which consists of 26 pages, supported by tables and pictures, called on the international community to classify the Houthi militia as terrorists.

Qatar allegedly skirted U.S. sanctions on Hamas and PIJ by enlisting several of its charitable organizations in a scheme to funnel funds to the terror groups.

Qatar secretly provided funding for several terror attacks that killed Americans and Israelis, according to allegations leveled in an unprecedented new lawsuit filed in New York City on Wednesday that seeks compensation for the families of those killed.

Multiple Qatari financial institutions, largely controlled by the country’s ruling monarch, provided millions of dollars to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), two U.S.-designated terrorist organizations that waged multiple successful attacks on American citizens, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. As part of this alleged funding scheme, Qatari charities allegedly used the U.S. banking system to illegally funnel these groups the money necessary to orchestrate and conduct the attacks.

As Hamas’s most prolific funder, “Qatar coopted several institutions that it dominates and controls to funnel coveted U.S. dollars (the chosen currency of Middle East terrorist networks) to Hamas and PIJ under the false guise of charitable donations,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act and has been in the works for the last two years.

Revelations of Qatar’s alleged involvement in these terror plots is likely to fuel ongoing congressional investigations into Qatar’s support for terror factions and other anti-U.S. militia groups. Qatar’s involvement with these groups has also been a source of tension with its regional neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt—all of which cut ties with the regime in 2017 due to its support for terrorism.

The lawsuit was filed by American attorney Steven Perles, who has prosecuted several notable terrorism cases filed on behalf of the families and victims of these terror attacks. The current case includes among its plaintiffs the family of Taylor Force, an American military veteran killed by Hamas in 2016.

“In addition to holding those who have financed terrorism accountable, this case should serve as a strong deterrent to others who might consider similar activities,” Perles told the Free Beacon.

American victims of terrorism have won similar cases in the past, including the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks and those killed by Iran. Earlier this year, American victims of the 1983 attack on a U.S. embassy compound in Lebanon were awarded $1.5 billion in damages. Other cases, however, have dragged on for years with no end in sight. In many instances it has been difficult for the legal system to extract funds from malign regimes and their supporters.

Qatar allegedly skirted U.S. sanctions on Hamas and PIJ by enlisting several of its charitable organizations in a scheme to funnel funds to the terror groups. As with many other terror financing cases, it was critical this money be provided in U.S. dollars.

The lawsuit specifically targets Qatar Charity, which was founded in 1992 as Qatar Charitable Society. The organization serves as “a key funding source for international terrorists” and is believed to have been a major source of funding for deceased terror leader Osama bin Laden.

Qatar Charity allegedly worked with Masraf Al Rayan bank and Qatar National Bank to forward Hamas and PIJ millions of dollars, according to the lawsuit. Both banks “were essential to provide access to the U.S. financial system to obtain the U.S. dollars needed to sustain Hamas’s and PIJ’s terrorist activities,” the lawsuit states. The banks and charity group are largely controlled by members of Qatar’s royal family.

Masraf Al Rayan bank is currently under investigation in the United Kingdom for helping Qatar Charity send money to Hamas and PIJ.

After funneling the charitable donations through banks located in New York, the money was allegedly transferred to Qatar Charity’s accounts at the Bank of Palestine and the Islamic Bank in Ramallah, where the funds were then distributed to affiliates of Hamas and PIJ.

Between March and September 2015, at least $28 million dollars was distributed by Qatar Charity to its affiliates in Palestinian-controlled territories, according to the lawsuit. Internal documents from Qatar Charity noted in the lawsuit further indicate that it transferred funds to Hamas and PIJ fronts from at least 2013.

It is alleged that these funds directly aided at least six terror attacks conducted by Hamas and PIJ operatives between 2014 and 2016. This includes multiple car-ramming attacks in Israel, in which terrorists drove vehicles into crowds of people, killing several American citizens. Others were kidnapped and stabbed by Hamas operatives in and around Israel.

The most prominent plaintiff is the family of Taylor Force, whose name is attached to legislation passed by Congress in 2017 that blocks American aid to the Palestinian Authority due to its policy of using this cash to pay convicted terrorists and their families. Nine other families also are included in the lawsuit.

Article first published on FreeBeacon.

“Blood Money” is a punchy and lucid overview of a dirty, hidden aspect of the geopolitical game.

A key weakness of the US’ Middle East stance is its dependence on the location and cooperation of unreliable allies. The region, riven by conflict for millennia, has further been destabilized for years now by one of these US allies – Qatar.

Recently, I circled back to “Blood Money”, Cernovich‘s fantastic short-form documentary on the influence operation being carried out by Qatar in the United States.

Jutting out from the coast of eastern Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf, Qatar is a small Middle Eastern nation with an outsized influence. The population is about 2.8 million, but notably, only a little more than 300,000 are actual Qataris. The rest are foreign residents.

From 2000 to 2019, the population has grown more than 387%. All of that growth is from foreigners brought in under the “kafala” migrant system. Qatar is largely a modern nation built on slave labor. The 88% of the population that are non-Qatari are treated differently.

This matters, because Qatar is awash in oil and natgas revenues. The massive underclass suffers. Not so for the native Qataris. With only 300,000 or so Qataris participating in the economy at a high earning level, Qatar has the highest adjusted GDP/capita in the world.

Qatar holds the third-largest known reserves of natural gas, and as of mid-2019, is jockeying with Australia for being the leading natgas exporter in the world. Qatar’s oil and natgas revenues comprise about 60% of its annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – $191B.

Given its minor military budget ($1.91B, or 1% of GDP), Qatar has obviously chosen a different force multiplier for maintaining its relevance. By comparison, China spends 1.9% of its GDP on its military budget. The US is at 3.2%. Qatar’s rival, Saudia Arabia, is at 8.8%.

As can be seen, Qatar does not spend its wealth on an equitable standard of living for all of its subjects. Nor does it secure its agenda through military might. What it does do very, very well is public relations and sponsorship of specific radical Islamic factions.

Qatar is home to the prominent pan-Arab media outlet, Al Jazeera. AJ is partially state-funded by the massive sovereign wealth of Qatar, and carries out aggressive reporting against Israel, KSA, and other Qatari rivals. It will never be critical of the ruling Al-Thanis.

As highlighted throughout “Blood Money” by David Reaboi (especially at 6:20 into the film), the major effort of Qatar’s media efforts is to promote and sustain a radically anti-Western agenda. This great piece by Mr Reaboi provides additional color.

Further, “Blood Money” highlights a second concurrent type of influence operation being carried out by Qatar in the US. Jack Posobiec‘s segment beginning at 2:45 shines a light on a practice little-known by the average American – lobbying specifically for a foreign nation.

Additionally, as J Michael Walker notes at 16:55, major “think tanks” such as @Brookings Institute often receive financial support, in exchange for their efforts to shape policy on specific issues. The dollars are staggering, with $24 million just to Brookings alone.

“Blood Money” is a punchy and lucid overview of a dirty, hidden aspect of the geopolitical game. Cernovich, his production team, David Reaboi, Jack Posobiec, and others perfectly perform the urgent and vital job of highlighting mechanisms of foreign influence operations.

Understand though, “Blood Money” is a jumping-off point. It leaves the viewer begging the question of “why”. Why would Qatar go to such great lengths and expense to influence US policy and public narrative? The answer is complex, but then, the world is rarely simple.

Critical to understanding what follows is for the reader to check their moral biases at the door. The world is often an ugly contest where bare-knuckle power is the only prize that matters. Everything is a weapon, especially where it concerns the cradle of civilization.

By and large, Qatar’s concern to the United States is not its energy production, but its position as an ally that hosts the largest US airbase in the region – Al Udeid Air Base. With more than 11,000 US personnel reportedly stationed there, AUAB is a vital asset.

As with the influence operations highlighted in “Blood Money”, Qatar’s efforts to cozy up to Washington via defense partnerships and materiel purchases is an attempt to keep US support as the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) maintains its embargo on Qatar.

The significance of AUAB cannot be overstated. It hosts the 379th Expeditionary Wing, which is comprised of more than 100 aircraft, including strategic bombers, cargo planes, refuelers, and surveillance/battle management platforms. AUAB also hosts F-22 Raptors.

UAB is a significant part of the US’ posture in the region. Combined with an estimated 15,000 US personnel in Kuwait and another 7,000 at NSA Bahrain, the 11,000 personnel at AUAB represent a large force. The US will overlook a lot to protect that asset.

Qatar relies on the US looking the other way. Aside from its aforementioned terrible treatment of foreign-born labor, Qatar is also one of the primary destabilizing influences in the region. Let’s return to “Blood Money” for a moment, and the brilliant David Reaboi.

Beginning at 6:20, Reaboi outlines how Al Jazeera, the aforementioned state-funded media arm of Qatar, propagandized for the “Arab Spring”. The net effect – in fact, the likely goal – of Qatar’s efforts was to topple US-friendly regimes and install the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood (“MB”), founded in 1928 by Egyptian Imam Hassan al-Banna, is a powerful fundamentalist theocratic Sunni Islamic group. Due to its alleged ties to terrorist groups, several GCC nations have designated the MB as terrorists themselves.

In mid-2017, the issue came to a boil when Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates sanctioned Qatar for its alleged significant financial support of the MB in the Middle East and around the world. The embargo, still ongoing, has fractured the Middle East.

It also had two notable knock-on effects, besides putting the US in the middle of two critical (but problematic) allies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

First, it exposed Qatar’s quiet connections to Iran. Second, it brought Turkey and Qatar into open alignment.

Despite seemingly-major geopolitical and ideological differences, Qatar has quietly nurtured a connection to the cash-poor regime in Tehran. Due to separate sanctions and embargoes, as well as their position inside the Persian Gulf, Iran and Qatar need one another.

Further, they are irrevocably tethered by their shared access to the South Pars/North Field natgas field offshore of Qatar. This is the same natgas field that fuels Qatar’s world-leading per-capita GDP. Iran’s piece of the revenue is estimated at $5b+/yr.

Logistically, Qatar is in the driver’s seat. Their state-owned liquefied natgas shipping company, Nakilat, controls the world’s largest fleet of LNG-carrying ships at 65+ vessels. Additionally, Nakilat has budgeted $12B for 60+ more vessels to be built in South Korea.

Nakilat has enabled Qatar to survive and even thrive during the 2.5-year embargo imposed by the GCC. Iran, comparatively, has a large crude oil tanker fleet, but due to sanctions has had to resort to all manner of illicit smuggling to get Iranian oil to the world markets.

It is in the pragmatic interest of Qatar for Iran to remain somewhat stable. In the event of a shooting war in the region, air and naval power would be rapidly brought to bear. This means air missions out of AUAB, and a possible blockade of the crowded Strait of Hormuz.

A maritime blockade would prevent Qatari natgas from reaching global markets, and trigger buyer demand to shift to Malaysia, Nigeria, Australia, Indonesia, and the US. It would also further bleed Qatar’s foreign exchange reserves, currently only 50th in the world.

And beyond the practical logistics, energy, and financial issues, Qatar also sees merit in Iran’s vast network of political and paramilitary proxies around the world. Despite the Shia/Sunni divide, Iran and Qatar both view Saudi Arabia and Israel with malice.

This “enemy of my enemy is my friend” stance is denied vehemently by both Qatar and Iran. However, as Irina Tsukerman highlights in her very recent, exceptional article on Small Wars, there’s a dark bent to the Qatar/Iran relationship. Bookmark it.

When viewed through the all-encompassing theocratic lens of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar’s relationship with Iran makes great strategic sense. This same reasoning extends to Qatar’s tacit support of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and overt support of Hamas in Palestine/Israel.

As mentioned above, Qatar is also antagonistic to US-backed governments in the region, including support for the MB’s short-lived reign atop Egypt. And the prominent American think tank Brookings Institute argued for the MB.

Having established Qatar’s deep ties to Iran and the Brotherhood, we must also highlight another critical alliance for Qatar: Turkey. As I noted previously, Turkish president Erdogan aims to reestablish the global Islamic caliphate.

Here again, it is geopolitical realpolitik and ideological kinship that drives the Qatar/Turkey partnership. In fact, the relationship is so staunch that Qatar refuses to reduce its ties to Turkey in exchange for the lifting of the 2017 GCC embargo.

Turkey has played a significant partner role to Qatar: – Assistance in mitigating the impact of the 2017 embargo – Support for the MB’s activities in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere – Construction of a new Turkish military base in Qatar plus 5,000 troop commitment.

And as with the US’ own base in Incirlik, which Turkey has leveraged many times to manipulate the US, the new Turkish-Qatari base will likely play out similarly as a counterbalance to AUAB and US interests. Qatar has also committed to purchasing 100 Turkish-made tanks.

From an ideological standpoint, both Turkey and Qatar are indeed avid supporters for the MB. However, their common alignment against Saudi Arabia and Israel is the tie that binds. Qatar’s antipathy to both is well-established. However, Turkey is just as hostile.

As “exclusively” reported in the Middle East Eye – a London-based media outlet founded by former Al Jazeera bigwigs – the Saudis are accused of crafting a strategic plan to “take Turkey down”. Let’s dig into MEE and anti-Saudi news quickly.

The MEE allegedly has strong ties to various MB proxies, and has been blocked in KSA and United Arab Emirates for MEE’s very pro-Qatar/Turkey editorial bent. Notably, Jamal Kashoggi, the infamously-murdered Saudi national, wrote for the MEE before joining the WaPo’s staff.

The Kashoggi murder in late 2018 is an ordeal worth its own thread, and has been extensively covered in many places by better minds. The upshot is that it tilted Turkey firmly against KSA, and set the US at odds with KSA as well. Qatar and Turkey both benefitted from this.

Returning once again to the titular “Blood Money”, we see that Qatar runs an extremely advanced media and human-capital influence operation that spans the US, Europe, and MENA region. Not just Al Jazeera, but also MEE, numerous think-tanks, NGO’s, and major universities.

The deeply-intertwined Muslim Brotherhood/Turkey/Iran/Qatar nexus stands in stark opposition to the US-backed regional coalitions and alliances. And in perhaps nowhere else in the world do we see the convergence of hard, soft, and narrative power.

This is the age of durable disorder. Though this thread has focused extensively on Qatar and, to a lesser extent Iran and Turkey, we cannot forget that Russia and China are heavily involved in the region as well – almost completely against the US.

So what does this mean for the US, and the Gulf region, moving forward? First, so long as Qatar is able to derive massive revenues from the explosive growth in the natural gas sector, it will continue to have ready access to funding streams for terrorism and influence ops.

Second, the US must diligently safeguard itself against hyper-advanced 4th generation warfare (4GW) narrative-building efforts by allies and enemies alike. Third, the US is exposed immensely by its vested, complicated interests in the region.

Without the need for AUAB due to operations in the entire Persian Gulf region (including Afghanistan), the US would not be tied at the hip to Qatar. Lastly, the US is a growing exporter of liquefied natural gas. This strategic resource is an overlooked geopolitical tool.

The largest buyers of natgas are all Asian nations, especially South Korea, Japan, and China. India’s demand is also growing. Undermining Qatari dominance in LNG must be a prime US focus. This means huge investment, including US-flagged LNG shipping vessels a la Nakilat.

There is no excuse for the US not to make these moves. It starves the beast of Qatari influence operations, boxes in Turkey in the Gulf, reduces US exposure in the region, and shores up relationships with key Asian allies. Or, we can simply watch as Qatar runs wild.

Credit again to: Cernovich, David Reaboi, Jack Posobiec, J Michael Waller Irina Tsukerman, Small Wars for their resolute commitment to independent journalism, US national interest, and shining a bright light into the darkest corners of our geopolitical world.

Featured Image credit: Egypt Today.

Huntsman is a pen name for the author of this article. He tweets under @man_integrated.

Islamists quietly infiltrating democratic institutions and normalizing their ideas are the real threat that must be recognized and addressed.

After the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) defeat in the Middle East, the MB quickly made use of the west’s political correctness and repositioned their foothold in European Union (EU) through one of their offshoots — The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE)—it was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989.

FIOE subsequently created the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a pan European Muslim Brotherhood organisation which provides guidance to Muslims in Europe.

The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) lead the Muslim Brotherhood plans of creating a “parallel social structure” in Europe, aided by “political elites and social justice advocate groups” making it impossible to criticise Islamist groups in fear of criticism
MB aims to organise Islamist followers politically across the Europe and slowly bring their own members into the political spheres of Europe.

The group has set its eyes on Sweden as the current political leaders are obsessed with political correctness, inclusion and diversity.

The European far right’s racist and extremely unpopular sentiment is playing into the hands of the MB as more and more people with good intentions will support the MB false message of “tolerance”, “diversity” and “inclusive society”.

The Swedish arm of the MB is the Islamic Association of Sweden (IFIS) state on their website state that they are members of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) which is listed as terrorist organization by the Arab Quartet.

When a debate started in 2014 on making it illegal for Swedish citizens to travel to other countries to participate in Jihad i.e. terrorism, the Muslim Human Rights Committee claimed that such a law would be racist.

Furthermore, they argued that people who fought in “Jihad” (ISIS fighters) abroad were not even a threat against Sweden.

In my opinion—Islamists quietly infiltrating democratic institutions and normalizing their ideas are the real threat that must be recognized and addressed.

Former IFIS chairman Abdirizak Waberi represented the second largest party, the Moderate Party, in parliament between 2010 and 2014—more like him will follow as they take over the parliament and then completely control the legislative branch of government.

Islam and Islamic teachings are not Islamist, while Islam is the faith of 1.4 billion people.

Islamism is not a form of the Muslim faith or an expression of Muslim piety, it is a political group that seeks power through political manipulation, infiltration and extremist agendas.

Khaled Homoud Alshareef holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He regularly tweets under @0khalodi0.

These jihadi leaders execute such anti-U.S. activities while dining with American officials in Qatar’s luxurious hotels in the name of peace talks.

A detailed and well-documented report was published by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) about the Qatar’s role in sheltering and financing 911 Jihadi commanders and Afghan Taliban fighters meanwhile hosting American military bases. The report highlights Qatar’s deceptive role in facilitating peace-talks while hosting dreaded terrorists.

Introduction

This report examines Qatar’s relationships with jihadi organizations. Right through the 1980s, Afghan mujahideen – backed by the U.S., Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Arab donors – fought against the Soviet troops from their hideouts in the mountainous terrains of Afghanistan. Since the 9/11 attacks on New York, the Pentagon, and other American targets, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Afghan Taliban, especially its Haqqani Network) has been fighting and killing American and NATO soldiers from its shelters in Afghanistan and in Pakistani cities such as Abbottabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, and Quetta. [While Quetta has served as the operational headquarters of the Afghan Taliban, it was in Abbottabad that U.S. special forces found and killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden]

While this situation has not changed, a new dimension has been added since 2013: As part of a highly ingenious plot, which the world is yet to realize, the Afghan Taliban leaders’ hideouts have moved to the safe haven of Doha, the capital of Qatar, from where the senior-most Taliban commanders plot, direct, and execute terror attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. These jihadi leaders execute such anti-U.S. activities while dining with American officials in Qatar’s luxurious hotels in the name of peace talks.

While American taxpayers bear the cost of the meals that U.S. officials have with the Taliban commanders in Qatar, it is disturbing to learn that three top commanders of the Haqqani Network – Anas Haqqani, Hafiz Rashid, and Haji Mali Khan – may soon settle in Doha, Qatar. Under a U.S. deal with the Taliban, the Afghan government reluctantly agreed to free the three terrorists in exchange for two Western professors of the American University of Afghanistan. [The two professors are U.S. national Kevin King and Timothy Weeks of Australia, whom the Haqqani Network abducted in Kabul in August 2016. It should be noted that King and Weeks were freed on November 19, 2019]. 

The attempt to move the Haqqani Network’s commanders to Doha is perfectly in tune with Qatar’s long-standing relationship with jihadi commanders, as this report will review.

The Trilateral Relationship Between Qatar, Pakistan, And The Taliban

A November 13, 2019 report in Roznama Ummat, a pro-Taliban Urdu-language daily, noted that the three Haqqani Network commanders will “be taken to Qatar within a week.” [Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), November 13, 2019] 

The Haqqani Network, founded by late jihadi commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, and now run by his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, is a highly effective terror organization within the Afghan Taliban. On September 22, 2011, Adm. Mike Mullen, the then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Haqqani Network carried out a truck bombing at a NATO post and another attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul earlier that month. [The New York Times (U.S.), September 23, 2011]

Two of the three terrorists being freed are related to Sirajuddin Haqqani: Anas Haqqani is Sirajuddin’s brother, and Hafiz Rasheed is their maternal uncle. Of the third terrorist being freed, Roznama Ummat noted: “[Haji Mali Khan] has played an important role in the reorganization of the Haqqani Network and training of its commanders.” [Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), November 13, 2019]

Qatar and Pakistan are working in tandem to move the Taliban leaders to Doha. This suits Pakistan, which has been under scrutiny by the international community for supporting the Taliban. Further, not only do these commanders work freely from Qatar, but they also help Pakistan escape international scrutiny for its support to them. The Haqqani Network is a terror behemoth with up to 20,000 members. [MEMRI JTTM report, Pakistani Daily: ‘Haqqani Network: Another Behemoth In The Making’; It has 15,000 – 20,000 Active Sympathizers, February 14, 2011.]

In his 2011 testimony, Mullen clearly said that the Haqqani Network executed the terror attacks with the aid of the Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), stating: “The Haqqani Network acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency” and “with ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our [American] embassy.” [The New York Times (U.S.), September 23, 2011] 

America’s top military general added: “We also have credible evidence that they were behind the June 28th attack against the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations.” [The New York Times (U.S.), September 23, 2011]

In the years after 9/11, Qatar emerged as a preferred host for jihadi groups and their commanders. In 2016, a journalist reported: “In one western district [of Doha], near the campuses hosting branches of American universities, Taliban officials and their families can be found window-shopping in the cavernous malls.” [Nytimes.com (U.S.), July 16, 2017]

The report noted: “Officials from Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, work from a luxury villa near the British Embassy, and recently held a news conference in a ballroom at the pyramid-shape Sheraton hotel.” [Nytimes.com (U.S.), July 16, 2017]

Qatar’s critics say: “Doha, rather than the benign meeting ground described by Qataris, is a city where terrorism is bankrolled, not battled against.” [Nytimes.com (U.S.), July 16, 2017] 

Qatar is also host to the radical Egyptian cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who radicalizes Muslims by issuing statements such as: “We have the ‘children bomb,’ and these human bombs must continue until liberation [Nytimes.com (U.S.), July 16, 2017]

Qatari Emir’s Role In Protecting “The Principal Architect Of The 9/11 Attacks”

Qatar also has a long-standing relationship with not only the Taliban and Haqqani Network but also with Al-Qaeda commanders and Pakistani jihadis such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. According to Richard A. Clarke, who served as National Coordinator for Security and Counter-Terrorism under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Qatar was instrumental in foiling the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM) – the Pakistani terrorist described in The 9/11 Commission Report as “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks” on American cities. [The 9/11 Commission Report. For further discussion of Qatar’s role involving the Afghanistan-Pakistan jihadis, see MEMRI Daily Brief The US-Taliban Negotiations: A Deadly Qatari Trap, by Yigal Carmon, September 1, 2019]

The 9/11 Commission Report observed: “In 1992, KSM spent some time fighting alongside the mujahideen in Bosnia and supporting that effort with financial donations. After returning briefly to Pakistan, he moved his family to Qatar at the suggestion of the former minister of Islamic affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Abdallah bin Khalid bin Hamad Aal Thani. KSM took a position in Qatar as project engineer with the Qatari Ministry of Electricity and Water. Although he engaged in extensive international travel during his tenure at the ministry – much of it in furtherance of terrorist activity – KSM would hold his position there until early 1996, when he fled to Pakistan to avoid capture by U.S. authorities.” [The 9/11 Commission Report]

However, it was the Qatari government that enabled KSM to flee. According to The 9/11 Commission Report, after an indictment against KSM was obtained from a U.S. court in January 1996, “an official in the government of Qatar” warned KSM about it and he successfully “evaded capture (and stayed at large to play a central part in the 9/11 attacks).” [The 9/11 Commission Report] 

It was also from Qatar that KSM wired money to Mohammed Salameh, a co-conspirator of Ramzi Yousef, who had been involved in several other terror plots and was convicted in the U.S. for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. [The 9/11 Commission Report]

Clarke, who chaired the multi-agency Counter-Terrorism Security Group (CSG), noted that 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if KSM’s arrest was not foiled by Qatar. He wrote: “We could not trust the Qatar government sufficiently for us to do what otherwise would have been obvious: ask the local security service to arrest him and hand him over. The Qataris had a history of terrorist sympathies and one cabinet member in particular, a member of the royal family, seemed to have ties to groups like Al-Qaeda and appeared to have sponsored KSM.” [Nydailynews.com (U.S.), July 6, 2017]

However, a decision was taken to talk to the Qatari government to arrest KSM. “Within hours of the U.S. ambassador’s meeting with the Emir [of Qatar to seek the arrest], KSM had gone to ground. In tiny Doha, no one was able to find him. Later, the Qataris told us that they believe he had left the country. They never told us how,” Clarke noted. [Nydailynews.com (U.S.), July 6, 2017] 

In 1996, Hamad bin Khalifa Aal Thani was the emir of Qatar, succeeded later by his son Tamim bin Hamad Aal Thani.

Qatar’s Long-Standing Relationship With The Afghan Taliban

In the years after 9/11 terror attacks, several Taliban commanders moved to Qatar, which was seen by them as a hospitable refuge for jihadis. Taliban leaders like Mullah Abdul Salam Zaif, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner and the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan in pre-9/11 years, moved to Doha, whereas some Taliban members arrived as Afghan laborers and businessmen to work in Qatar. [Bbc.com (UK), June 22, 2013] 

Mullah Abdul Aziz, a former first secretary of the Taliban government’s pre-9/11 embassy in the UAE, moved to Doha, ostensibly as a businessman. [Thedailybeast.com (U.S.), April 24, 2017] 

 Tayyab Agha, a former official of the Taliban leadership office in Kabul, emerged in Qatar as the Taliban’s lead negotiator, though he resigned in 2015, over internal differences, as the head of the Taliban’s Doha-based Political Office. [Arabnews.com (Saudi Arabia), August 4, 2015]

Qatar’s hospitality of jihadi commanders was a result of its state policy pursued by the Aal Thani royal family. Around 2010, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Aal Thani, the emir of Qatar till 2013 and father of the current emir, Tamim bin Hamad Aa Thani, was being billed as “the Arab Henry Kissinger.” [Bbc.com (UK), June 22, 2013] 

The United States shut its eyes to Qatar’s support for the terror organizations operating in and outside the Middle East, especially in Bosnia.[It appears the Qatari royal family did know of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11 attacks, since his days in the Bosnian jihad] 

According to one report, even before 9/11, Qatar “did have cordial relations with the [Taliban] militants” during 1996-2001 when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from Kabul. [Bbc.com (UK), June 22, 2013]

Qatar’s deep influence among the Taliban was also evident in the release of Canadian citizen Colin Rutherford. For five years to 2016, Rutherford was held captive by the Afghan Taliban. When the militants freed him in 2016, Qatar’s envoy to Ottawa Fahad Mohamed Kafoud noted that “instructions” to help free Rutherford came from Qatar’s emir, adding: “We received direct instruction from our government and from His Highness the Emir to facilitate and to do our best.” [Nationalpost.com (Canada), January 11, 2016] 

According to the Qatari government’s website, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a personal telephone call to Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Aal Thani “in which he expressed deep gratitude and thanks to HH the Emir for the efforts made by the State of Qatar.” [Mofa.gov.qa (Qatar), January 12, 2016]

Arrival In Qatar Of The Five Taliban Commanders From Guantanamo Bay

In 2014, the United States Treasury Department’s Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said: “Distressingly, Iran is not the only state that provides financial support for terrorist organizations… Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas, a group that continues to undermine regional stability. Press reports indicate that the Qatari government is also supporting extremist groups operating in Syria.” [Cnsnews.com (U.S.), June 10, 2014] 

However, driven by a strong desire for talks with the Taliban, the Obama White House overlooked the Qatari government’s support for terrorist organizations.

In March 2009, then U.S. President Barack Obama – motivated by “the success of the U.S. strategy of bringing some Sunni fighters in Iraq to the negotiating table” – said that “there may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and the Pakistani region.” [Aljazeera.com (Qatar), March 9, 2009] 

In fact, by then he had decided to talk to the Taliban. Speaking on International Women’s Day in 2009, then Afghan President Hamid Karzai noted: “Yesterday [March 7], Mr. Obama accepted and approved the path of peace and talks with those Afghan Taliban who he called moderates.” [Aljazeera.com (Qatar), March 9, 2009]

In and around 2010, the Taliban leaders had begun arriving “secretly” in Qatar as part of efforts to engage with American officials. [Bbc.com (UK), June 22, 2013] 

In 2013, a report noted that “more than 20 relatively high-ranking Taliban members” lived in Qatar. [Bbc.com (UK), June 22, 2013] 

It was estimated in 2018 that “about three dozen Taliban leaders” lived in Doha with their families. [Nytimes.com (U.S.), October 31, 2018]

While President Obama initiated the process of talks with the Taliban in 2009, another incident happened in Afghanistan that year. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of the U.S. Army walked away from his unit in Afghanistan and was held by the Taliban for several years. The initial series of contacts between the U.S. and the Afghan Taliban involved the freedom of Sgt. Bergdahl in exchange for five top Taliban leaders being freed from the Guantanamo Bay detention center in 2014. Following their release these five leaders went to Qatar. According to a report, “Qatar played a role in brokering” Sgt. Bergdahl’s release. [Nationalpost.com (Canada), January 11, 2016]

The five Taliban prisoners who joined the Taliban’s Political Office in Doha are: Mohammed Fazl, the former Taliban army chief; Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former governor of Herat province; Abdul Haq Wasiq, the Taliban’s deputy intelligence minister; Mullah Norullah Nori, a close confidant of the late Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar; and Mohammad Nabi Omari, a Taliban communications officer. [Militarytimes.com (U.S.), October 30, 2018]

In 2010, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, a top Taliban leader, was arrested in a joint U.S.-Pakistani intelligence operation and was released in 2018. Following his release he went to Doha where he replaced Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai as the head of the Political Office in early 2019. [MEMRI JTTM report Afghan Taliban Appoint Mullah Baradar As Head Of Political Office In Qatar, January 31, 2019] 

Mullah Baradar Akhund – who has led delegations to Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan in 2019 – also holds the post of the Islamic Emirate’s Deputy Emir for Political Affairs. Mullah Baradar Akhund, a key terrorist commander until 2018, now acts from his base in Qatar as the head of the state of Afghanistan, rejecting the existence of the elected Afghan government.

Qatar’s Violation Of Afghanistan’s Conditions For Hosting Taliban Leaders

In 2013, as the United States was pressing for a dialogue with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan, then Afghan President Hamid Karzai reluctantly agreed with the U.S. to allow for the Islamic Emirate’s Political Office to be established in Doha. However, Karzai laid down some conditions: “[The Political Office] would maintain a low profile and work only as a venue for peace talks… [And it would not] be used for other activities, such as the expansion of Taliban ties with the rest of the world, recruitment or fundraising.” [Bbc.com (UK), June 22, 2013] 

All of these conditions have been repeatedly violated by the Taliban on the watch of the Qatari leadership.

The Political Office opened on June 8, 2013, in Doha. The first condition that it would maintain “a low profile” was violated on the first day. It came as a shock to Afghans and the Afghan government that “an opening ceremony” was organized for this purpose while the Taliban were “yet to renounce” their “known ties to Al-Qaeda.” [Huffpost.com (U.S.), September 22, 2013] 

A former Afghan official noted that organizing such a ceremony for the jihadi terror group was “contrary to the careful policy agreements and diplomatic exchanges which had been worked in details between President Karzai, the United States and other relevant parties, including efforts by the Qatari government,” yet the main parties, being the U.S. and the host Qatar, allowed for it. [Huffpost.com (U.S.), September 22, 2013]

Subsequently, the Political Office did become the venue for peace talks. However, another of the three conditions set by President Karzai was violated routinely as the Taliban began using it for diplomatic outreach with other nations for holding bilateral talks, thereby undermining the role of the Afghan government in international relations. On the watch of the U.S. and Qatar, the elected Afghan government was undermined regularly and repeatedly.

From the Doha-based Political Office, the Taliban commanders began acting as the sole government of Afghanistan on the international stage. Since 2013, the Taliban have sent delegations to Japan, Iran, Norway, Russia, China, Germany, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and formally to Pakistan. [MEMRI JTTM report Photos: Taliban Delegation Led By Mullah Baradar Akhund Meets With Uzbek Officials In Tashkent, Visits Tomb Of Ninth Century Islamic Jurist Imam Bukhari, August 14, 2019] 

Their objective was to achieve international legitimacy as the sole representative of the state of Afghanistan.

At least one of the five Guantanamo Bay detainees freed by the U.S. had “contact with members of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Haqqani Network during the past year [in 2015] while in Qatar,” whereas “the U.N. acknowledges their sanctions have been circumvented” by the Taliban leaders based in the Doha office. [Voanews.com (U.S.), June 1, 2015] 

These are not the only violations by the Doha-based Taliban leaders of the conditions set by President Karzai.

In November 2019, it emerged that the Taliban run religious schools in Qatar: Abdullah bin Abbas Dar-ul-Huffaz and Abdullah bin Masood Dar-ul-Huffaz. Evidently, a terrorist group, given an office to hold talks with the U.S., is being allowed by the Qatari government and the U.S. to spread its tentacles. On October 31, 2019, the Taliban also organized a graduation ceremony for the students which was attended, according to a Taliban website and a video report, by 20 people, including the Taliban and other Afghans based in Qatar. [Alemaraenglish.com (Afghanistan), November 4, 2019; AlemarahVideo.org (Afghanistan), October 31, 2019]

In recent years, questions have been raised about Qatar’s role in facilitating and legitimizing the activities of the Afghan Taliban. In 2018, Mutlaq bin Majed Al-Qahtani – Qatar’s special envoy for counterterrorism and conflict resolution – was asked specifically about this and, while arguing that it was the U.S. that wanted Qatar to host the Taliban’s Political Office, noted: There was “no military solution” to the Afghan situation. [Nytimes.com (U.S.), October 31, 2018]

It is unfortunate that a terrorist organization, which was operating more like a guerrilla force from its hideouts in the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan, has moved to the safe haven of Doha. In September 2013, a former Afghan official warned that in addition to deriving legitimacy through the Political Office, the Taliban “hope to kill their way back to power in Afghanistan and help create the same state which gave rise to a safe home to Al-Qaeda.” [Huffpost.com (U.S.), September 22, 2013] 

This prescient remark appears more real than ever as the world moves into the year 2020.

Tufail Ahmad is a British journalist and political commentator of Indian origin. He has been the Director of the South Asia Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in Washington, D.C. His research is focused on jihadist movements in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh as well as the counter-terrorism policies of the countries. (Source: Wikipedia)

The action underscored how Islamic State terrorists continued to operate from Turkish territory well into 2018.

A latest NewYork Post report authored by Jonathan Schanzer – former terrorist finance analyst at the US Treasury and Aykan Erdemir – former Turkish parliamentarian, came up with shocking revelations that Turkey under President Tayyib Erdogan has become a safe-haven for Terrorism and Terror-financing.

The report stated that, “Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become a permissive jurisdiction for rogue regimes and their illicit bankers. Between 2012 and 2015, Tehran relied on Turkish banks and a dual Iranian-Turkish gold trader to circumvent US sanctions at the height of Washington’s efforts to thwart the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. It was the biggest sanctions-evasions scheme in recent history.”

Further it stated, “Turkey has also proved a forgiving host to terrorists. In April, Treasury sanctioned six individuals and a Turkish money exchange for their role in bankrolling Islamic State. The action underscored how Islamic State terrorists continued to operate from Turkish territory well into 2018.”

Earlier in September, another detailed report was compiled by Senior Analyst on Terrorism John Rossomando that exposes Council on American Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) relations with IHH a Turkish NGO that supplied weapons and logistics to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

It’s clear that Turkey under President Erdogan has become a safest haven for blood-thirsty terrorists and terror-financers.

Anti-terrorism raids by the Turkish National Police in early 2014 uncovered IHH’s supplying arms to ISIS and al-Qaida…Both IHH and CAIR have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas. In recent years, CAIR leaders have aggressively supported Erdogan.

An detailed report that exposes Council on American Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) relations with IHH a Turkish NGO that supplied weapons and logistics to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, was compiled by Senior Analyst on Terrorism John Rossomando that was published on Investigative Project on September 5.

Below is the complete report (without any change)

The lead author of the Council on American Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) 2019 Islamophobia report has repeatedly endorsed a terror-tied Turkish charity.

CAIR research director Abbas Barzegar, the lead author of “Hijacked By Hate: American Philanthropy and the Islamophobia Network,” has supported the Turkish-based IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation for years even though IHH has provided financial, logistical and political support for jihadists.

The report stated that, CAIR research director Abbas Barzegar, the lead author of “Hijacked By Hate: American Philanthropy and the Islamophobia Network,” has supported the Turkish-based IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation for years even though IHH has provided financial, logistical and political support for jihadists.

The report cites Barzegar’s op-ed column in Washington post, where he accused IHH of working at the “front lines of the Syrian conflict,” helping tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

HH worked the “front lines of the Syrian conflict,” helping tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to Turkey, Lebanon an Jordan, Barzegar wrote in a 2015 Washington Post op-ed with a Georgia State University colleague.

The op-ed argued that Muslim non-governmental organizations are “the glue, preventing struggling communities from spiraling out of control.” As such, IHH “should be leveraged for more than just routine aid work … Indeed, with the right communications infrastructure training, they could quickly become ideological gatekeepers as well. Online images of violence, suffering and catastrophe are key elements in the process of radicalization, which drive many volunteer fighters to participate in violent extremism,” Barzegar wrote. “Radical groups such as the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and al-Nusra Front systematically use tormenting images of human misery in their online messaging and recruitment efforts.”

Barzegar either didn’t know about or ignored IHH’s role in enabling the same jihadist ideology. Its involvement in a scheme to recruit and equip jihadists in Syria was well reported by 2014.

Barzegar did not respond to a request for comment.

Major news outlets, including Al-Jazeera, reported in January 2014 that Turkish authorities accused IHH of evacuating wounded jihadists from the battlefield. Sensitive government documents obtained by Turkish journalists have corroborated those reports.

IHH also reportedly transported fresh recruits and weapons to the battlefield – under the guise of providing aid – for al-Qaida linked jihadists. At least 23 people were arrested on suspicion they had ties to Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate at the time. Testimony later disclosed that IHH worked closely with Turkey’s intelligence agency to carry out this scheme.

“I think Muslims or non-Muslims alike must be gravely concerned about the IHH and their endorsers and supporters,” said Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt, who obtained some of the sensitive Turkish government documents linking IHH with al-Qaida jihadists in Syria. “The IHH serves as a conveyor belt for radical views that get promoted by armed jihadist groups. Anybody who tries to sell IHH as a mainstream Muslim organization must be ignorant at best, or a malicious person to mislead at worst.”

IHH has close links with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which views modern Turkey as a continuation of the Ottoman Empire.

Court documents implicated IHH in al-Qaida’s 1999 Millennium Bomb plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport.

“The IHH is an NGO, but it was kind of a type of cover-up in order to obtain forged documents to obtain different forms of infiltration for Mujahadeen in combat … And finally, one of the responsibilities that they had was also to be implicated in weapons trafficking,” French counter-terrorism magistrate Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere testified in the case of would-be Millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam.

IHH co-sponsored a 2006 memorial service in Istanbul for Shamil Basayev, the Chechen terrorist responsible for the 2004 Beslan school attack in Russia that killed 330 people, including 186 children. A State Department cable noted Basayev had al-Qaida links.

Turkish investigators raided IHH offices in December 1997 and found that IHH purchased automatic weapons from jihadist groups. Investigators determined that IHH members planned to fight in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Chechnya – the jihadist hotspots at the time.

IHH and Erdogan share the same ideology and work together to achieve the same goals, said former Turkish National Police Counterterrorism official Ahmet Yayla.

Documents uncovered by Bozkurt show that IHH supported jihadists in Syria just as it had years earlier in Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. IHH began shipping supplies to terrorists in Syria starting in 2012, and Bozkurt found a close link between IHH President Bülent Yildirim and Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s national intelligence organization, the MIT.

Turkish authorities recorded Yildirim in May 2013 telling Turkish journalist Adem Özköse, an al-Nusra supporter, that Syrian jihadists should be helped in purchasing weapons.

Anti-terrorism raids by the Turkish National Police in early 2014 uncovered IHH’s supplying arms to ISIS and al-Qaida.

IHH-registered ships smuggled arms to and from Libya, a document found by Bozkurt showed.

Both IHH and CAIR have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Hamas. In recent years, CAIR leaders have aggressively supported Erdogan. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad met with Erdogan last year when he visited New York and also spoke in support of the Turkish president’s increasingly authoritarian regime following the July 2016 coup attempt.

“Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, I am here today in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., first to express prayers for the soldiers and civilians who paid the ultimate price to defeat the coup in Turkey,” Awad said.

When confronted with evidence linking it to the Brotherhood and Hamas support, CAIR is quick to smear critics with “Islamophobia” accusations. Yet exhibits introduced during the 2008 Holy Land Foundation’s Hamas-support trial “do create at least a prima facie case as to CAIR’s involvement in a conspiracy to support Hamas,” U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ruled a decade ago. The FBI cut off liaison work with CAIR following the trial due to concerns over the possible links between CAIR executives and Hamas.

Prosecutors also listed CAIR as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case.

Now it has a research director who sees IHH as an answer to radicalization despite its long record of supporting jihadis. He is slated to appear tomorrow at a CAIR “community empowerment” program in Raleigh, N.C.

Barzegar’s report claims that Islamophobic attitudes “allege Islam and Muslims are inherently or uniquely violent, misogynistic, inferior, intolerant, primitive, static, authoritarian, homophobic, manipulative, self-righteous, devious, or that Islam is the antithesis of civilization.”

But IHH’s actions often reinforce intolerant, authoritarian and homophobic attitudes.

At a 2013 rally, Yildirim spoke alongside Hamas Minister of Prisoner Affairs Attalah Abu Sabah, who said that IHH’s “divine attitude shows that Israel will be exterminated.” Yildirim agreed with the sentiment, saying that a 2010 flotilla aimed at breaking Israel’s military blockade in Gaza marked the “beginning of Israel’s end.”

That flotilla ended violently after the ship Mavi Marmara ignored warnings from Israel to turn around. Israeli commandos stormed the IHH-owned ship. Passengers opened fire on them and attacked them with knives and clubs. Nine IHH activists were killed.

Yildirim accused Turkey’s Jewish community of subverting Turkey on Israel’s behalf in 2014. Video Bozkurt discovered Yildirim bizarrely claiming that “Jews/Masons are partners in crime for supporting Zionism which rules Jerusalem.”

A 2008 IHH document included homosexuality among “the main factors leading the world to a global catastrophe.”

Yildirim has maintained ties with top Hamas figures including political leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal. IHH aid workers posed with Haniyeh in a 2012 Twitter post.

Germany and The Netherlands designated IHH as a terrorist organization due to its Hamas financing and support for Israel’s destruction.

A bipartisan group of 87 U.S. senators wrote to President Barack Obama in 2010 asking his administration to consider classifying IHH as a terrorist entity due to its Hamas links. They pointed to IHH’s membership in the Union of Good, a network of Muslim charities sanctioned by the United States in 2009 for funding Hamas

The Obama administration never replied to the senators.

IHH’s cooperation with Hamas continues.

Yildirim and IHH held an event in Istanbul last year called “Jerusalem, Capital of the Ummah” that was attended by Hamas representative Talal Nassar. Yildirim vowed there would never be peace with Israel and said that Turkey’s sons would grow up to destroy the Jewish state. Yildirim charged that Israel wants to destroy all Muslims.

In June, IHH hosted Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in June at one of the charity’s offices in Turkey.

Barzegar’s support for IHH, a group that has intimate terror ties, should be taken as an ideological red flag for all in the media who read his work or take his analysis of CAIR’s critics seriously.

Doha is home to and protects another equally famous “patron of terror”.

Despite the denials of the Qatari authorities, which are trying to deny any involvement in the financing of terrorism, scandals have multiplied, and revelations have followed one another since the beginning of the summer, bringing a surprising amount of documents and evidence that overwhelm the gas emirate.

Revelations that splash on many local businessmen and dignitaries, but also prominent members of the princely family, including Fahad bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, one of the brothers of the current Amir, Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and former Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, close advisor and business associate of former Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

The summer saga with revelations providing evidence of Qatar’s involvement in terrorist financing began on June 20 with an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.

Based on internal UN documents, this investigation revealed that al-Qaeda’s famous Qatari money lender, Khalifa al-Subaiy, known as the financier of the “brain” of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, registered as such on the UN and US Treasury black lists, had continued – with the help of the Doha authorities – to access his assets supposed to be frozen by the UN Security Council since 2008. Worse still, with impunity due to its proximity to some of the leading figures of the princely family of Qatar, including former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, al-Subaiy did not hesitate to resume his activities as a “patron of terror”, by raising funds again in 2009, then in 2011, 2012 and 2013, for networks linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Doha is home to and protects another equally famous “patron of terror”. His name is Abderrahman al-Nuaimy. UN investigations have established that since 2005 he has collected more than $2 million per month on behalf of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, in other words for the Zarqawi organisation, ISIS’ ancestor. In 2013, the American Treasury classified him as a “specially targeted terrorist”. His name was then included on the American, European and United Nations blacklists. As with Khalifa al-Subaiy, al-Nuaimy’s assets are supposed to be frozen. But this does not prevent him from continuing to finance Osbat al-Ansar in Lebanon, the Shebbabs in Somalia and the al-Nusra front in Syria.

Al-Nuaimy’s generosity does not spare the European continent. Through the Eid Charity association, of which he is co-founder, he finances, in Great Britain, Human Appeal International, an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, affiliated to the Union of Good organisation, founded and chaired by Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, registered by the American Treasury on the black list of organisations financing terrorism, since 2008.
And through its al-Karama foundation, al-Nuaimy is accused of providing funding to many associations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups, including Palestinian Hamas, through two controversial characters based in Switzerland: the Qatari Khalifa bin Mohammed al-Rabban, patron of the Swiss branch of al-Karama, and the Algerian Ahcene Kerkadi, member of al-Karama and former executive of the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front (FIS).

Eight other Qatari dignitaries and businessmen have been pinned down by Western or UN investigation reports.

For example, Salem Hassan Kuwari and Abdullah Ghanim Khawar were pinned by the US Treasury for “providing several hundred thousand dollars to al-Qaeda for its operations, as well as for the release of al-Qaeda detainees in Iran and elsewhere”. A third Qatari citizen, Ibrahim Issa al-Bakr, was also blacklisted by the US Treasury for raising funds for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He also reportedly provided logistical support to the al-Nusra Fund in Syria.

In 2012, former Qatari Olympic Committee member Abdulaziz bin Khalifa al-Attiyah was arrested in Lebanon for providing funding to activists linked to al-Qaeda in Syria.

In 2014, two brothers of Qatari nationality, Abd al-Malik and Ashraf Mohammed Yusuf Abd al-Salam, were put on the American blacklists for their financial support to the al-Nusra front in Syria. They are the sons of Mohammed Yusuf Abd al-Salam, aka Abdulaziz al-Qatari, the founder of the Jihadist group Jund al-Aqsa in Syria.

Ashraf Mohammed Yusuf Abd al-Salam is also accused by the Americans of providing funding and technological equipment for al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (Zarqawi organisation) in 2005. For its part, the UN accuses him of sending funding to al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan via “facilitators” based in Iran. His brother Abd al-Malik is also accused of making remittances on behalf of Muhsin al-Fadhli, known as a “facilitator” working for al-Qaeda in Iran.

And in 2015, under pressure from the United States, Doha froze the assets of Saad al-Ka’bi and Abdelatif al-Kawari, considered by Washington to be major terrorist financiers, and imposed a ban on them to leave the country.

Article first published on Global Watch Analysis.

Iranian government is a staunch follower of the Shi’a branch of Islam while Al Qaeda espouses an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam and views Shi’a as ultimate betrayers of the faith. Analysts contend, however, that it’s a relationship of convenience that has benefits for both sides.

As the Trump administration doubles down on the contention that Tehran is cooperating with Al Qaeda, another former Iranian commander has reportedly come forward with allegations about an Iran-Al Qaeda link.

Said Qasemi, a now-retired spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told Al Arabiya that IRGC deployed undercover soldiers to Bosnia-Herzegovina during its conflict in the 1990s under the pretense that they were members of Tehran’s state-endorsed Red Crescent.

This is alleged to have been in cooperation with an Al Qaeda unit operating in the region, as confirmed by another IRGC official, whereby the two groups were able to engage in joint weapons training.

IRGC has long and persistently denied long-running claims by the international community, however, of any associations between the two factions — who view the U.S. as a staunch enemy – even as more claims and documents to the contrary have piled up over the years.

The annual Country Reports on Terrorism issued by the State Department last year reinforced global assessments that not only does Iran enable Al Qaeda to conduct international operations from within its borders, it also remains “unwilling to bring to justice senior Al Qaeda members residing in Iran and has refused to publicly identify the members in its custody.”

A United Nations report released last July noted that “Al Qaeda leaders in Iran have grown more prominent” and were specifically working to erode the Al Qaeda-connected Sunni rebel group Hayat Tahir al-Sham, which continues to dominate in the last remaining opposition bastion in the Syrian province of Idlib.

In 2017, documents obtained during the 2011 raid of Usama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound – which also killed the Sept. 11 financier and Al Qaeda leader – were finally declassified and revealed various instances of cooperation between the terrorist outfit and Tehran.

A year earlier, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on several Al Qaeda operatives who had alliances with Iran, with the department having stated earlier that Iran had served as a “core pipeline” to maneuver resources and personnel between the Middle East and its South Asia hub of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“For almost 30 years now, Iran and Al Qaeda have collaborated in their war against the Great Satan, America,” John Wood, longtime Iranian weapons and intelligence analyst, told Fox News.

“Centered on and from the safety of Lavizan, a suburb of Tehran, the leadership of Al Qaeda and its key lieutenants have been payrolled, trained, planned and executed, attacks on the United States, including heir apparent, Hamza Bin Laden, military mastermind, Saif al-Adel, and Al Qaeda’s nuclear chief, Abdel al-Aziz al-Masri.”

He also pointed to the notion that within “walking distance of a training camp supervised by trainers from Hezbollah and Al-Quds Force, and frequented by members of Al Qaeda, Taliban, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as the Los Zetas drug cartel, Venezuelan and Cuban intelligence, who learn their murderous terrorist tradecraft, including the making of IEDs and decapitating people, as well as money laundering.”

“Around the corner is the headquarters of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, FEDAT, as well as its principal R&D complex, Physics Research Center (PHRC) based at Malek Ashtar University, and last, but by no means least, underground nuclear weapons production facilities,” Wood continued.

The nuclear weapons program is allegedly run by Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, a senior officer in the IRGC. Mohsen is also said to teach classes on physics at Imam Hossein University, “which is just down the street, off Shahid Babaei Highway. In short, if Iran is the state sponsor of terrorism, then Lavizan represents its epicenter, and Al Qaeda is at its heart,” he said.

On the surface, such an alliance seems nonsensical, given that the Iranian government is a staunch follower of the Shi’a branch of Islam while Al Qaeda espouses an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam and views Shi’a as ultimate betrayers of the faith. Analysts contend, however, that it’s a relationship of convenience that has benefits for both sides.

“It allows Al Qaeda to move personnel, funds and communications to and from South Asia. This ‘core pipeline’ connects Al Qaeda’s senior leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the organization’s arms throughout the Middle East,” said Tom Joscelyn, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and senior editor of its Long War Journal. “From Iran’s perspective, it provides insurance against a possible Al Qaeda attack inside Iran, as any attempt to attack would lead the Iranians to shut down the network.”

Since withdrawing the United States from the controversial 2015 JCPOA, commonly referred to as “the Iran Deal,” a year ago, President Trump has maintained that Iran is “supporting proxies and militias such as Al Qaeda.”

Yet other experts have argued that such ties have been exaggerated and are largely unfounded.

A study released last August by the Washington-based think tank New America, which also examined the 2011 documents seized from the Bin Laden abode, concluded that there was next to no evidence that Tehran and the terror organization have worked together to carry out attacks. The report instead contended that Iran had grown “increasingly uncomfortable” with Al Qaeda’s presence in its country and, after the U.S invaded neighboring Iraq in 2003, took action to detain its members and deny them permission to exit is borders.

Article fist published on Fox.