ISLAMISTS FILLS SECURITY VOID IN EGYPT
A radical Islamist group is filling a security vacuum in the southern part of Egypt as local law enforcement proves incapable of maintaining order. Gamaa Islamiya, “the Islamic group,” has started to provide food, fuel, and vigilante justice in towns like Assiut. Some fear the group will take advantage of the power vacuum to push their own agenda of transforming Egypt into an Islamic state. Although Gamaa Islamiya’s leaders have insisted their intentions are peaceful, group’s violent past has raised suspicions about its intentions. Many members of Gamaa Islamiya were imprisoned as a result of their participation in a decades-long insurgency against the Egyptian government and specifically a 1997 massacre of 62 people in Luxor. (The Washington Post, March 20, 2013)
ANSAR DINE ADDED TO LIST OF TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
The U.S. has designated the al-Qaeda-linked Malian rebel group Ansar Dine as a foreign terrorist organization. Ansar Dine’s assets in the U.S. have been frozen and American citizens are forbidden from providing any material support to the organization. By officially tying the group to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the U.S. may be setting itself up to take more direct action against Ansar Dine. The U.S. has previously cited terrorist groups’ links to al-Qaeda as justification for drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia. (The Washington Post, March 21, 2013)
SAUDI ARABIA ACCUSES SHI’ITES OF BEING IRANIAN SPIES
Riyadh announced that it has detained 16 Saudi Shi’ites for allegedly spying on behalf of an unnamed foreign power widely assumed to be Iran. None of the accused spies are known for political activism and many have respectable careers in fields like finance and academia. The Shi’ite community in Saudi Arabia has accused the Sunni government of discriminating against them and tensions are running high after clashes over the past two years between the police and Shi’ite activists left more than a dozen people dead in the Qatif district. (Reuters, March 20, 2013)
TUNISIAN SOLDIERS CLASH WITH SALAFISTS
Tunisian troops have exchanged fire with Islamist militants in the town of Tajrouin, near the country’s border with Algeria. It was reported that six militants Salafists of unknown nationality were part of the incident. Tunisia has been in a state of disarray since the assassination of a main opposition leader in early February. Last month the police seized a large weapons cache in Tunis that was linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the terrorist organization’s North African arm. (Reuters, March 19, 2013)
SYRIAN OPPOSITION ELECTS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN AS ITS LEADER
The Syrian National Coalition, the opposition’s new interim government, has chosen a Syrian-born American citizen as interim prime minister. Ghassan Hitto has spent decades living in the U.S. where he worked for technology companies and was a prominent advocate for Muslim charities and organizations. The Syrian National Coalition hopes that Hitto will be able to unify the various rebel groups that currently make up the coalition fighting the Assad regime. Although Hitto won 35 of the 48 votes cast by the coalition’s voting members, some have insinuated that his many years spent living in America have put him out of touch with the Syrian people. The U.S. government has issued a statement saying that it is aware of Hitto’s actions and supports his efforts “to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country.” (ABC News, March 20, 2013)