ANBAR OFFENSIVE DISPLAYS IRAQI ARMY TRAINING INADEQUACIES
Two and a half years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, Anbar province remains consumed with conflict,albeit now between Iraqi security forces and Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaeda. Iraq has dispatched 42,000 troops to the restive province, but has been grappling with casualties, mass desertions, and an enemy force that is sometimes better equipped than the Iraqi security forces. The situation has been aggravated by the fact that the Sunni-dominated province borders unstable Syria, where Sunni militants allied to al Qaeda are fighting the Assad regime. Iraqi security forces are struggling to impede the influx of weapons and militants from, and some 40 to 60 cars packed with Islamist militants likely cross the border every week. (Washington Post May 8, 2013)
MORE BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS ROUNDED UP
In a live television statement, the Egyptian interior minister, Mohammad Ibrahim, revealed that 225 members of a ‘terror cell’ reportedly aligned with the now-banned Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood had been arrested. Many of the 225 were reportedly carrying explosives when captured. During the raid that exposed the cell and its members, security forces uncovered storage facilities for manufacturing harmful material, hand grenades and large quantities of bomb-making material. The cell is one of 44 that security forces have uncovered since Brotherhood President Mohammad Morsi was ousted in July 2013. (Al Arabiya May 12, 2014)
U.S.-YEMEN RELATIONSHIP
The recent killings of two would-be kidnappers by a Central Intelligence Agency officer and a Special Operations Commando in Yemen confirms that intensive intelligence and military-to-military cooperation has endured under the new Yemeni government. The officer and the commando were able to leave Yemen without interference from the government, a sign that Washington remains as engaged with President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi as it was with his predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The incident comes on the heels of the eleventh U.S. drone strike on al Qaeda-affiliated militants in Yemen this year. (The New York Times May 10, 2014; The New York Times May 9, 2014)
DISCORD AMONGST AL QAEDA AFFILIATES
The leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, is urging al Qaeda (Central) chief Ayman al-Zawahri to step down after he chose to support a rival Syrian al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, over ISIL. In an unprecedented audio message on a militant website, al-Adnani criticized his parent-organization’s leader for undermining unity among al Qaeda affiliates. The decision comes amid fierce fighting between the two al Qaeda affiliates in Syria, which reportedly resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 people. (ABC News, May 12, 2014)