Eurasia Security Watch: No. 224

.style3 { color: #434172; } .style4 { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; } .style5 { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #5C6276; } .style6 { text-decoration: underline; } IRAQ SEEKS INFO ON IRAN NUKE SITES
Iraq has lodged a complaint against Iran for refusing to disclose information about a number of nuclear facilities located along the Iran-Iraq border. Iraqi Environment Minister Narmin Othman has explained that Iraq has sought assurances from Iran about the safety of some 20 nuclear facilities along the Iraqi border, but has received no response. In a sign of the seriousness with which Baghdad is approaching the issue, Iraq has established early-warning radiation monitoring stations, including three in Basra alone. The nuclear facilities could pose potentially serious environmental and radioactive threats, cautions political analyst Ibrahim al Sumaidae, who also suspects Iran might have positioned the facilities near Iraq “as a deterrent against a possible strike by the United States or Israel.” (Radio Free Europe, June 30, 2010)

TURKEY BEATS BACK PKK, WITH U.S. HELP
Tensions between Turkey and the PKK, a violent Kurdish separatist group which operates in Turkey and northern Iraq, have flared after a prolonged period of relative calm. In the past month, on three separate occasions, groups of as many as 200 PKK members tried crossing the Turkish border from northern Iraq, and each time were repelled by “Turkish security forces following intelligence provided by the US and using Israeli-made Heron unmanned aerial vehicles.” During a July 9th incident, Turkish aircraft pursued the PKK group across the border, killing 19. The U.S. began sharing intelligence on the PKK with Turkey and allowing Turkish aircraft to enter Iraqi airspace after a landmark meeting between then President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Cooperation has intensified since 11 Turkish soldiers were killed in a PKK terrorist attack on a military outpost June 19th, and the Turkish press considers U.S.-Turkish counterterrorism cooperation at its “peak.” (Istanbul Zaman, July 14, 2010)

AQAP TRIES ITS HAND AT WESTERN MEDIA, TARGETS YEMEN GOV
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has again put the Yemeni government in its crosshairs, as evidenced by two daring attacks on government buildings in less than a month. The first, conducted in June, saw a group of militants kill 11 people in a raid on the southern headquarters of the political security office in Aden. The second, equally brazen attack, took place on the July 13th, when “masked gunmen firing mortars, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades assaulted two adjoining intelligence and security offices,” with as many as five killed and eleven injured. AQAP has been accused of plotting the failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S.-bound airplane and a failed suicide bombing attack on the British ambassador in Sana’a.

AQAP has been busy in the digital arena as well. The group appears to behind the launching of al Qaeda’s first online English-language propaganda magazine. The inaugural, summer 2010, edition of “Inspire” faced a troubled release, however: only three of the publication’s 67 pages were readable and several features were inaccessible. Aimed at a Western audience, “Inspire” resembled AQAP’s Arabic-language website, “Echoes of Epic Battles (Sada al-Malahim).” The magazine claimed to feature articles on “sending and receiving encrypted messages,” OpEds by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, and technical manuals, such as one entitled “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom.” Some have speculated that the magazine is the “brain-child” of radical U.S.-born preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who has taken refuge in Yemen’s tribal areas but has been linked to several terrorist plots against the West. (London Guardian, July 1 and July 14, 2010)

TAJIKISTAN’S LONELY AIRBASE
When Tajikistan agreed to allow India to renovate runways and hangars at the air base at Anyi, many suspected India was taking initial steps toward establishing a presence in Central Asia (and its first airbase abroad). However, despite completing the renovations in 2006, the strategically-located Anyi airbase sits dormant. While indecisiveness in New Delhi might play a role, as may the high cost of stationing a squadron of MiG-29 fighters at Anyi (as was initially assumed by the Indian press), many in Tajikistan believe Russia is the real reason the base remains unoccupied. Russia, which already uses the 201st base in Tajikistan, simply may not want any more foreign powers establishing military bases in former Soviet Republics it considers part of its “sphere of influence.” Russia’s defense minister was quoted in 2009 as saying that Tajikistan and Russia would jointly use the base – a claim that Tajik officials have not confirmed. Indeed, Tajik president Imomali Rahmon recently made noises about the need for Russia to begin paying rent for its use of the 201st base. The U.S., whose only base in Central Asia, at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, has been the subject of repeated controversy in recent years, is another potential suitor, although the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan has denied any discussions over the use of Anyi have taken place. India, meanwhile, is keeping its options at the airbase open: Indian engineers still work on construction projects at the base and India’s president paid a visit to Dushanbe last year. (eurasianet.org, July 9, 2010)