French Foreign Ministry Sees Signs Radical Jihadists Gaining Ground in Syria, Sinai

"Diplomatic cables and intelligence service reports have never ceased alerting us to the growing power of jihadist groups in the Middle East," people at the Quai d'Orsay [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] admit but without being any more explicit.  Whereas diplomats posted to Lebanon assert that approximately 400 Pakistani Talibans have joined the Syrian front through Turkey.  They, in the name of solidarity among jihadists, have gone to defend the Aleppo neighborhoods held by the rebels who are expecting an imminent air and ground offensive from Bashar al-Asad's troops, who are hoping to regain control of this large city. 

These Sunni Pakistani Talibans, who are, it is said, more religious and radical than their Afghan colleagues, take delight in being able to combat "infidel" Muslims (Bashar's Alawite supporters and their Shiite allies from Hizballah) and even, when this appears necessary, confront insurgents who are too moderate or too secular for their taste. 

This is now often the case and Bashar recently had the opportunity to rejoice in this.  On several occasions, very violent skirmishes have pitted units of the Free Syrian Army against jihadists from the powerful Al-Nusra Front associated with a new organization christened -- if we may dare use the term -- the "Islamic Army of Iraq and Syria."  This is because a number of its members are former anti-Shiite fighters from Baghdad. 

The Islamic "employment office" has hardly any shortage of job prospects and available cadres.  On 13 July, speaking on France Culture's "Secret des sources" broadcast, Renaud Girard, a special correspondent for Le Figaro, said in substance that jihadist fighters held a preponderant place in the Syrian insurrection.

Syria is not the only place where these types of fighting "tourists" come to fight.  In the Sinai, other jihadist groups have already carried out several terrorist attacks.  They are hostile to the coup d'etat that recently took place in Cairo and they clash with the Egyptian army and hope to set up a permanent home in part of that desert and mountainous region, which is not far from the Israeli border, which rather worries Tel Aviv, whose drones monitor every suspicious movement. 

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However, the best reception area for resting or apprentice jihadists is in Libya, in the southern region of Al-Qadhafi's former stronghold and in the province of Fezzan.  "Libya has become a hostile sanctuary," regret people at the Quai d'Orsay.  Not without reason: three training centers, which can each take in 300 volunteers, are in business there.  Egyptian, Pakistani and Yemeni instructors share their experience with these future combatants who are ready to leave for the Sahel, the Egyptian Sinai, Syria or elsewhere. 

The internationalization of this civil war is not merely limited to the interventions of jihadists who have arrived from abroad.  Russia has been arming Bashar, cooperating with its army and even supplying him with combat helicopter pilots for more than two years.  The Iranians are not to be outdone.  They have delivered weapons and plan to send 4,000 Guardians of the Islamic Revolution to Damascus.  As for Lebanon's Hizballah, it also supplies the loyalist troops with fighters and advisers in urban guerrilla warfare. 

On the opposite side, Israel is on its fourth bombardment of the regime's military sites.  The reason invoked: Bashar is offering Hizballah gifts of Russian or Iranian weapons.  The latest episode was on 5 July.  According to French intelligence -- and the Sunday Times -- an Israeli submarine launched a cruise missile at the Syrian weapons depot located south of the port of Latakia.  Tel Aviv did not officially claim responsibility for this attack.  It is said that there was a recent delivery of Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles (three times the speed of sound and a range of approximately 300 kilometers) inside. 

This description of the spectacle would be incomplete if we did not mention the (limited) aid in light weapons granted to the rebels by certain NATO countries -- including the United States, France and Great Britain -- or the missiles and dollars generously distributed by Saudi Arabia and by Qatar: unavoidable Qatar.

 

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