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02/09/22

Terrorism Today: The Past, The Players, The Future

6th Edition

Chapter 9 The Persian Gulf

Learning Outcomes

9.1 Summarize the role played by Saudi Arabia in balancing power in the Middle East

9.2 Describe how Sunni groups have risen to prominence in sectarian fighting in Iraq

9.3 Examine Iran’s supporting and exporting terrorism in the Middle East

9.4 Define the conditions that have allowed the rise of Islamic State in Iraq

9.5 Describe the fundamental differences between al Qaeda and Islamic State

Figure 9.1

Map of Saudi Arabia

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9.1 Summarize the role played by Saudi Arabia in balancing power in the Middle East

➢ Royal dynasty – Saud family – Sunni Muslims ▪ Pro western regime

▪ Support from U.S. France and Great Britain

▪ Open hostility from Iran towards Saudi Arabia

▪ Pushed Saudi Arabia to get foreign support (U.S.)

➢ Iraq invasion of Kuwait - 1990 ▪ Saudi government agrees to U.S. troops in country

▪ Consultation with other Gulf states

9.1 Saudi Arabia – Terrorism (1 of 2)

❑ Wahhabi Islam – Ultra conservative movement within Islam

– Practiced in Saudi Arabia

– Purify Islam of heretical assertions

– Osama bin Laden – wealthy family

❑ Osama bin Laden – Believed Saudi Royals betrayed Islam

– Designs on forced removal of Royal family

– Spread the word of jihad

91. Saudi Arabia – Terrorism (2 of 2)

• Spreading the word of Islam - jihad – Promoted by Saudi Arabia

– Extreme version included jihad

– Saudi’s exported fighters to conflicts, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Soviet republics and beyond

– No tolerance for terrorists on Saudi soil

• Al Qaeda – Ultimate removal of Saudi Royal family

– Removal of ALL western influences in the Kingdom

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Figure 9.8

Map of Iraq

9.1 U.S. military presence in Iraq

➢ Growing anti-west and U.S. sentiment in Saudi Arabia

– Opportunity for al Qaeda to prosper

– Saudi internal security police apparatus

– Attacks by al Qaeda within the kingdom

– Numerous shootouts with security forces

– Much al Qaeda sympathy

– 2004- bin Laden openly calling for attacks on his homeland

9.2 Describe how Sunni groups have risen to prominence in Iraq

➢ Sunni sect of Islam accounts for only 20% of Iraq’s population

– Sunni Ba’athists in power for three decades in Iraq

– Shia rights and freedoms severely checked during Saddam Hussein regime

– Saddam removal

– Vacuum created an ethnic religious conflict

– Sunni support from Sunni tribes

➢ Majority Shia sect – Supported by Iran

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9.2 Saddam Hussein (1937-2006)

➢ President of Iraq 1979-2003 – Moderate social democracy

– A secular state with economic and business freedoms

– Controlled the various tribal and religious groups

– Eliminated all opposition to his rule

– His secret police – permeated all levels of society

– Torture and murder

– Chemical weapons used against Kurds in Northern Iraq

– Captured after U.S invasion

– Sentenced to death – executed December 2006

9.2 Operation Iraqi Freedom

• U.S. led invasion of Iraq – remove Saddam Hussein from power and disarm Iraq

– Bombing campaign by U.S, forces

– Land invasion

– Iraqi military and the crack Republican Guard vanish before the onslaught

– Fedayeen Saddam – 40,000-50,000 Sunni fighters loyal to Saddam’s regime

– Responsible for atrocities against Saddam’s opponents

– Ready as an insurant force to challenge any Shia dominance in Iraq

9.2 Iraqi insurgency 2003-2011

➢ Hostilities ended officially in 2003 – Shia dominated government hastily established

– Supported by U.S. ground troops

– Insurgent groups both Shia and Sunni

– Groups with differing agendas

– Sunni and Shia attack U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq

– Insurgents also come from outside Iraq

– Al Qaeda in Iraq – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

– Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

– Intense pressure on insurgents till 2011 draw down

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9.3 Examine Iran’s supporting and exporting terrorism in the Middle East

➢ Iran population – 89% Shia Muslim – Revolution – reversed Iran’s close ties to the West

– Foreign policy aimed at the Middle East

– Syria – ally in the region

– Number one exported of terrorism

– Threatens both U.S. and Israel

– Assembling weapons grade nuclear material

➢ 2006 – Iran’s solution to Middle East crisis – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

– Total destruction of Israel

9.3 Iranian Sponsorship (1 of 2)

• Khobar Towers attacked – Iran intimately involved

• Support and aid to Palestinian groups opposed to Israeli peace accords

• Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – Cultivate and support terrorists abroad

– Formed after the revolution – Ayatollah Khomeini

– 100,000 fanatical revolutionaries

– Loyal to clerical regime

– Balance against the army

Figure 9.3

The truck bomb at Khobar Towers Dhahran, Saudi Arabia caused a crater 185 feet wide by 35 feet deep. The Jersey barrier in front of the towers helped deflect the blast upwards

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Figure 9.5

Nineteen airmen died and hundred were injured in the terrorist attack on June 25th 1996 at Khobar Towers Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The facility housed U.S. service members and served as the Headquarters for the U.S. Airforce’s 4404th wing southwest Asia.

Figure 9.17

Map of Iran

9.3 Iranian Sponsorship (2 of 2)

➢ Iran and IRGC support – weapons, training, funding to Middle East groups:

▪ Hamas

▪ Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)

▪ Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC)

▪ Lebanese Hezbollah

▪ Training to Taliban in Afghanistan

➢ UN Security Council Resolution 1701 ▪ Israeli conflict with Hezbollah

▪ Rearming and equipping Hezbollah

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9.3 Iranian Qods Force

➢ Revolutionary Guards ‘Special Force’ – Actively training militant organizations

– Beirut, Lebanon and Sudan

– Shia militias in Iraq

– Provides advanced rocket systems, sniper rifles

– Expertise in design and construction of IED’s

– Senior Hezbollah fighters supporting Syrian regime in civil war

– Training Iraqi Shia militia

9.4 Define the conditions that have led to the rise of Islamic State in Iraq

➢ A creation of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al Qaeda presence in Iraq

– Zarqawi pushed al Qaeda further than bin Laden wanted

– Zarqawi killed in 2006

– Succeeded by little known Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

– Group almost annihilated during U.S. troop surge

– 2011 - U.S. troops pull out of Iraq

– Resurgence of Islamic State

9.4 Islamic State – Caliphate (1 of 2)

➢ Islamic State – Attacks cities and villages

– Iraq’s Shia military collapse

– Resurgent IS cities and villages north of Baghdad

– Traditional Sunni areas

– Sunni support – protection from Shia militia

– 2014 Mosul falls to IS

– Al-Baghdadi proclaims a Caliphate

– Calls on all Muslims

– Global jihad

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9.4 Islamic State – Caliphate (2 of 2)

➢ Al-Baghdadi - Caliphate proclamation – Calling all Muslims to follow his edicts

– Muslims fighters from around the world flock to Middle East

– Fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Dagestan, France, Germany, Great Britain, Finland, USA and Africa

– IS occupies and controls large areas of northern Iraq and Syria

– Enforces strict version of Sharia on all subjects

– Destruction of all other religions

9.4 Islamic State methods of occupation

✓ Indoctrinate children to IS ▪ Investing in the future of IS

▪ Tactical and strategic value

▪ Encouraged to spy on friends and family

✓ Extensive propaganda with global audience ▪ Sophisticated use of all social media formats

▪ Designed to encourage teenagers to join IS

✓ Direct coercion ▪ Through abductions and compulsory recruitment

Figure 9.12

Photo of Internet video of Nick Berg and his murderers – (website no longer operational) – jihadi web posting

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Figure 9.13

Vehicle bomb found by U.S. forces in Baghdad

9.5 Describe the fundamental differences between al Qaeda and Islamic State (1 of 2)

Similarity in terror tactics - however:

• Al Qaeda ▪ Aims to attack the far enemy first – U.S.

▪ Remove western influence from the region

▪ Saudi Arabia

▪ Does not acquire or occupy territory

▪ Operate with cellular structures – geographically dispersed

▪ Osama bin Laden - terror a prologue to establishing a caliphate at some point in the future (did not expect this in his lifetime)

9.5 Describe the fundamental differences between al Qaeda and Islamic State (2 of 2)

➢Islamic State: – Nation building from the outset

– Appears to upstage AQ

– Proclaims a caliphate after capturing Mosul

– Has an extensive propaganda machine

– Suppresses all other religions

– IS - to create a global caliphate spreading from the Middle East and destroy all other religions

– Pledges from Abu Sayyaf and Boko Haram

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9. Review Questions (1 of 2)

1. Describe how the Sunni and Shia elements in Iraq are fuelling sectarian violence.

2. List and explain why Iran supports the Houthis of Yemen and Saudi Arabia supports the current government.

3. Describe methods employed by Saddam Hussein to maintain his control over Iraq.

9. Review Questions (2 of 2)

4. Compare the methods used by the Shah of Iran to control the populace with those used by the current regime.

5. Describe the type of support that Saddam Hussein provided to international terrorism.

6. Compare the stated goals of the Islamic State with those of al Qaeda.