Iraqi army and intelligence services captured a five member al-Qaeda cell last week that specialised in manufacturing “extremely dangerous” chemical weapons intended for use in Iraq and abroad, the Iraqi Defence Ministry said.

The Daily Journalist Comment:

Our theory about the latest Chemical Attack in Syria holds Al-Qaeda and the FSA responsible. We believe that SAA defectors of high rank gave inside knowledge to Al-Qaeda about all the stock piles of chemicals weapons deserted by Assad’s forces due to territorial expansion from the Rebels.

Al-Qaeda helps the training of Rebels and provides weapons to the FSA. Not all rebels inside the FSA take orders from Al-Qaeda, but do get supplied with weapons to combat Assad’s forces. Not all FSA operatives are radical Islamist, some really just fight Assad for nationalist causes, unlike Al-Qaeda.

We understand by Intelligence reports that  30%  of casualties are caused by mistakes conducted by the own rebels, who’ve never been properly trained to use sophisticated weapons and are not educated enough to learn without military mentor ship.

We believe this to be an accident, originally targeted to the SAA, by the rebels. However, what we ‘cannot prove’ is whether this was really an attack caused by the FSA , or was an Al-Qaeda move to hit Ghouta, a farming section outside of Damascus that posses Alawite/Shia communities.

The Daily Journalist has 90% confidence this was perpetrated by FSA forces, that work alongside Al-Qaeda operatives. They both have different nationalistic goals and but similar beliefs, and they hate Shia’s,, Christians, and Alawites who are working alongside Assad.

There is currently no credible report that denies Rebels or Al-Qaeda ever used these chemical weapons,  that caused 1,300 deaths in Ghouta.

By Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh, August 31, 2013 

Ghouta, Syria – As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week’s chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.

Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.

The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”

However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.

This was reported by Turkey Intelligence. 

“Turkish security forces found a 2kg cylinder with sarin gas after searching the homes of Syrian militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front who were previously detained, Turkish media reports. The gas was reportedly going to be used in a bomb.

The sarin gas was found in the homes of suspected Syrian Islamists detained in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersia following a search by Turkish police on Wednesday, reports say. The gas was allegedly going to be used to carry out an attack in the southern Turkish city of Adana.

On Monday, Turkish special anti-terror forces arrested 12 suspected members of the Al-Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda affiliated group which has been dubbed “the most aggressive and successful arm” of the Syrian rebels. The group was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in December.

Police also reportedly found a cache of weapons, documents and digital data which will be reviewed by police.

Following the searches, five of those detained were released following medical examinations at the Forensic Medicine Institution Adana. Seven suspects remain in custody. Turkish authorities are yet to comment on the arrests.

Russia reacted strongly to the incident, calling for a thorough investigation into the detention of Syrian militants
in possession of sarin gas.

“We are extremely concerned with media reports. Russia believes that the use of any chemical weapons is absolutely
inadmissible,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.”

By Intel Center.

ASSESSMENT

While it is impossible to ascertain the exact nature of al-Ablaj’s comments regardingsarin and the poisoning of water supplies, it is clear that al-Ablaj said an attack againstAmericans would occur following his latest interview with al-Majallah, which was published on 25 May. Due to Abu Mohammad al-Ablaj’s previous messages to alMajallah providing advance notice of the Riyadh attack, one 35 days and another about 48 hours prior, his latest threat delivered through an established channel should be taken with serious concern.

INTRODUCTION

This report is designed to pull together and help make sense of the various comments made by al-Qaeda member Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj in his emails to the Arabiclanguage news magazine al-Majallah. While al-Ablaj’s comments regarding water and sarin have gotten disproportionate attention in the media and other circles, it is our assessment that the most significant comments are those pertaining to a planned series of operations in Gulf states, as well as a threat of an impending attack against US interests, possibly within CONUS.

The comments regarding water and sarin are significant, however, it is impossible to fully understand the context of the remarks without first reviewing the full correspondence between him and al-Majallah. The introduction of sarin and water into the interview may have been the result of an al-Majallah question or by al-Ablaj himself. We simply do not know. It is also important to point out that sarin and the threat to poison water do not appear to be necessarily linked.

Al-Qaeda has demonstrated an interest in water and conducted research on the subject. In2002, at least one plot was foiled in Rome, Italy dealing with water. A cell believed to be connected to al-Qaeda was apparently working to contaminate the water supply of the US Embassy there with cyanide.

As far back as February 1995 a letter by Ramzi Yousef concerning a strategy to obtainthe release of Abdul Hakim Murad in the Philippines was found to contain a reference to water. In the letter Yousef writes, “We also have the ability to make and use chemicals and poisonous gas for use against vital institutions and residential populations and drinking water sources and others.”

Once again, it is impossible to know the nature of al-Ablaj’s comments pertaining to water without seeing the original correspondence. It is our assessment that when viewing al-Ablaj’s comments in light of other recent threats by al-Zawahiri and Thabit bin Qays,the attacks in Riyadh and Casablanca, as well as other developments, that the threat of an attack against Western interests, especially American, is high. An attack using sarin or targeting the water supply are only two of many options al-Qaeda may select.

To continue reading this report: http://www.intelcenter.com/ATA-PUB-v1-0.pdf

By Belfercenter.

Several terrorist groups have actively sought weapons of mass destruction (WMD) of one kind or  another. In particular, the Japanese cult group Aum Shinrikyo, al Qaeda and its associates—notably the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jemaah Islamiya and Lashkar al Tayyib—figure most prominently among the groups that have manifested some degree of intent, experimentation, and programmatic efforts to acquire nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. To date, however, al Qaeda is the only group known to be pursuing a long-term, persistent and systematic approach to developing weapons to be used in mass casualty attacks.

Osama bin Ladin’s assertion in 1998 that it was his Islamic duty to acquire weapons of mass destruction ensured that the fulfillment of this intent would become a top priority for his lieutenants in the ensuing years. In an effort to explain his thinking to his followers, and to help guide their efforts, the al Qaeda leader has offered a number of statements that provide a need and rationale for using weapons of mass destruction as a means of achieving the group’s concrete and ambitious goals.

Most recently, he promised in a 2007 video release to “escalate the killing and fighting against you (Americans)”–on grounds of destroying an international conspiracy to control the world–adding, “The capitalist system seeks to turn the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations under the label of globalization in order to protect democracy.”

These statements should not be interpreted as empty rhetoric and idle threats: Osama bin Ladin has signaled a specific purpose for using WMD in al Qaeda’s quest to destroy the global status quo, and to create conditions more conducive to the overthrow of apostate regimes throughout the Islamic world.

His argument is essentially that even weapons of mass destruction—which are outlawed under Islam—are a justifiable means of countering US hegemony. Osama bin Ladin’s morality-based argument on the nature of the struggle between militant Islamists and the US-led coalition of secular forces focuses the group’s planning on the acquisition of strategic weapons that can be used in mass casualty attacks, rather than on the production of tactical, more readily available weapons such as “dirty bombs,” chemical agents, crude toxins and poisons.

In this light, it is not surprising that the group’s top WMD priority has been to acquire nuclear and strategic biological weapons. Considering the potential that such weapons hold in fulfilling al Qaeda’s aspirations, their WMD procurement efforts have been managed at the most senior levels, under rules of strict compartmentalization from lower levels of the organization, and with central control over possible targets and timing of prospective attacks. In this sense, their approach has been “Muhammed Atta-like”—similar to the modus operandi Khaled Sheikh Mohammed employed in making preparations for the 9/11 attacks—as opposed to resembling the signature characterizing most terrorist attacks to which the world has become accustomed.

Al Qaeda’s patient, decade-long effort to steal or construct an improvised nuclear device (IND) Al Qaeda Weapons of Mas Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality? flows from their perception of the benefits of producing the image of a mushroom cloud rising over a US city, just as the 9/11 attacks have altered the course of history. This lofty aim helps explains why al Qaeda has consistently sought a bomb capable of producing a nuclear yield, as opposed to settling for the more expedient and realistic course of devising a “dirty bomb,” or a radiological dispersal device.

Another 9/11-scale operational plot managed by the al Qaeda core leadership was the development of anthrax for use in a mass casualty attack in the United States. The sophisticated anthrax project was run personally by al Qaeda deputy chief Ayman Zawahiri, in parallel to the group’s efforts to acquire a nuclear capability; anthrax was probably meant to serve as another means to achieve the same effect as using a nuclear bomb, given doubts that a nuclear option could be successfully procured. Notably, al Qaeda’s efforts to acquire a nuclear and biological weapons capability were concentrated in the years preceding September 11, 2001.

Based on the timing and nature of their WMD-related activity in the 1990’s, al Qaeda probably anticipated using these means of mass destruction against targets in the US homeland in the intensified campaign they knew would follow the 9/11 attack. There is no indication that the fundamental objectives that lie behind their WMD intent have changed over time.

On the other hand, the pursuit of crude toxins and poisons appears to have been of little interest to the al Qaeda leadership, even though the production of such weapons is easier and thus might seem more attractive for potential use in attacks. Although experimentation and training in crude chemical agents and pathogens was standard fare in al Qaeda’s camps in Afghanistan before 9/11, their use in attacks appears to have been left to the initiative of individual cells and planners outside the direct supervision of the al Qaeda core leadership.

Prominent examples of small-scale chemical- and biological- related activity include Midhat al-Mursi’s (aka Abu Khabab)  basic training for operatives in the al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan before 9/11; the Abu Musab al Zarqawi network’s plotting to use ricin and cyanide in multiple attacks planned in Europe in late 2002-early 2003; and a Bahraini terrorist cell’s plot to use a crude cyanide gas device called the “mobtaker” (an Arabic word roughly meaning “invention”) in an attack on the New York City subway in the same time frame.

In each of these cases, the evidence suggests that the al Qaeda senior leadership was not directly involved or apparently even aware of attack preparations until late stages of planning. Moreover, there is no evidence that the al Qaeda leadership regarded the use of crude toxins and poisons as being suitable for conducting what would amount to pin prick attacks on the United States; on the contrary, Zawahiri canceled the planned attack on the New York City subway for “something better,” suggesting that a relatively easy attack utilizing tactical weapons would not achieve the goals the al Qaeda leadership had set for themselves.

1999-2001

Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan conduct chemical, biological, and radiological basic training courses for hundreds of extremists. The organization’s Durante & Tarnak Farms training courses were led by Abu Khabab al-Masri (aka Midhat Mursi al Sayid Umar), a chemist and alleged top bomb maker for al Qaeda, who was part of Osama bin Ladin’s inner circle and Abu Musab al-Suri (aka Setmariam), a Spanish citizen born in Syria .

1999-2001

Abdel Aziz al Masri (aka Ali Sayyid al-Bakri), confirmed to be the father of al Qaeda’s nuclear program, conducts nuclear-related explosive experiments in the desert. He is an explosives expert and chemical engineer by training, and reportedly self-taught on things nuclear.

Before August 2001

UTN CEO Bashiruddin Mahmood offers to construct chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs for al Qaeda and Libya, in two separate, discreet approaches.

Note: The US subsequently passed this information to Libyan intelligence Chief Musa Kusa in London. Musa Kusa later confirmed to US intelligence that Libya would have no dealings with the UTN  “WMD for hire” consortium.28

November 7, 2001

Osama bin Ladin states in an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, “I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons. We have the weapons as deterrent.”50 In the same interview, Ayman Zawahiri states that, “If you have $30 million, go to the black market in the central Asia, contact any disgruntled Soviet scientist, and a lot of dozens of smart briefcase bombs are available. They have contacted us, we sent our people to Moscow to Tashkent to other central Asian states, and they negotiated and we purchased some suitcase bombs.”

Note: On November 14, 2001 President Bush met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Crawford, Texas, and is passed the Presidential Daily Brief containing an assessment of the proliferation threat posed by the Pakistan UTN group.52 Bush asked Putin if he is certain at all Russian nuclear weapons and materials are secure. Putin responded using words to the effect: I can only vouch for the security  of nuclear materials in Russia after I assumed power.

January 2002

Capture of al Qaeda senior operative Ibn al-Shaykh al Libi. During interrogation by Egyptians, al Libi claims al Qaeda operatives received chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear training in Baghdad. He claims several small containers of nuclear material were smuggled into New York City by Russian organized crime.

June 2002

Extremists under the command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (aka Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh) conduct crude chemical and biological training and experiments in a remote camp in northeastern Iraq (Khurmal).71 Zarqawi’s commanders include Abu Ashraf, Abu Attiya and Abu Taisir, all of whom had served as lieutenants in the Herat Camp that Zarqawi ran in Afghanistan. Zarqawi is well known to al Qaeda, but is considered to be an independent operator who had not sworn loyalty (“bayat”) to Osama bin Laden.

Note: Zarqawi, a Jordanian, was engaged in a blood feud with the Jordanian government and was also preoccupied with mountingattacks in Jordan, in addition to his activities in Iraq.74He was convicted in absentia for planning the assassination of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman, Jordan.

August 2002

CNN exposes Afghanistan training camp experiments conducted on animals in late 1990’s, led by Abu Khabab al-Masri. These gruesome experiments include testing the lethality of crude toxins and poisons, including cyanide creams, ricin, mustard, sarin, and botulinum. Abu Khabab later laments that his students did not take their training to heart by using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons in terrorist attacks.

Note: Abu Khabab was killed by a U.S. predator strike in Pakistan on July 28, 2008.

For more on this report: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/al-qaeda-wmd-threat.pdf