Ansar al-Islam

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Banner of Ansar al-Islam with the Shahada on the white stripe

Ansar al-Islam ( Arabic أنصار الإسلام, DMG Anṣār al-Islām  'Helpers of Islam') is a Kurdish Islamist group that operates in northern Iraq and, until the US invasion of 2003, controlled dozens of villages in an area from the far north of Iraq to the Iranian border. Ansar was suspected of being in contact with al-Qaeda . After the US invasion in 2003, it appeared in numerous attacks and suicide bombings, in which there were many deaths. There are close ties to the Ansar al-Sunna group (defenders of tradition).

Surname

" Ansar " (dt. Helpers, but also keepers and disseminators) is the Arabic term for newly arrived in Medina Muslims that Mohammed after his exodus from Mecca in 622 stood aside. Ansar al-Islam therefore means "the helpers of Islam".

history

The village of Biyara was the headquarters for Ansar al-islam 2001-2003

In the north of Iraq, a number of Islamist organizations had been formed since the 1980s, which - due to the lack of popular support - initially had little political influence. However, they have received financial support from Iran , among others , for the construction of mosques and the establishment of a social system , and they have also received support from the United Arab Emirates .

In the 1990s and at the beginning of the new millennium, radical Islamist groups repeatedly split off from the Islamic movement in Kurdistan . On December 10, 2001, the Jund al-Islam group merged with the other splinter group Isla (renewal) to form the Ansar al-Islam. Mullah Krekar became the leader . From 2001, the radical Islamist group controlled an area in northern Iraq between Halabja and the Iranian border, with its center in Biara. And repeatedly fought with troops of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan .

According to the USA , the Ansar were responsible for attacks on unveiled women until the beginning of the third Iraq war . In addition, the Ansar burned pictures with human motifs, attacked girls' schools and burned hairdressing salons. There were dress codes similar to those in Afghanistan during the Taliban's rule and a similarly extreme interpretation of Sharia law . Music and shops selling cassettes and CDs were banned. Human Rights Watch reported torture, arbitrary arrests and killings of militants after their surrender .

The USA accused Ansar of making their camps available to al-Qaeda fighters as bases and of producing poisonous gas (e.g. ricin ). An alleged stay of Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi in northern Iraq, together with the presumed connection to Saddam Hussein, was intended to establish a connection between Al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein and contribute to the legitimation of the Iraq war (see Colin Powell on February 5, 2003 before United Nations ). However, these claims were rejected by Mullah Krekar.

In February 2003, Mullah Krekar was deposed as the leader of Ansar al islam, and was succeeded by Abu Abdallah al-Shafi , who also appeared as such in 2003. During the Iraq war in March 2003, the US Navy bombed Ansar positions in northern Iraq. In attacks jointly with the PUK against the Ansar positions, numerous members of Ansar and the Islamic community in Kurdistan were killed and injured. A suspected Ansar al-Islam chemistry laboratory was destroyed by rockets. The rule of the Ansar in northeast Iraq came to an end.

When the war in the north came to an end through the cooperation of the PUK with the US Army , many of the surviving members initially fled to Iran, but later returned to Iraq to fight against American troops and the new Iraqi government. Some Ansar members, including Omar Barziani and Hemin Benishari , joined Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group, Al-Tawheed wa al-Jihad .

Ansar al-islam is blamed for many of the suicide attacks in Iraq, including the attack on the UN headquarters on August 19, 2003 in Baghdad . She also claims to be responsible for the simultaneous attacks on the PUK and the Kurdish Democratic Party on February 1, 2004 and the March 17, 2004 attack on the Lebanon hotel in Baghdad. She also claims to have participated in the attacks against coalition forces in Fallujah in April 2004 .

Ansar al-Islam probably merged into Jaish Ansar al-Sunna in 2003 (see introduction above).

Ansar al Islam was classified as a terrorist organization by the EU in 2002 (Council Regulation (EC) No. 881/2002 of May 27, 2002). On February 24, 2003, the UN Security Council added Ansar al Islam to its list of terrorist groups. It is also on the US State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

According to US intelligence, an attack on the Bundeswehr hospital in Hamburg was planned by Ansar al Islam at the end of 2003 , which, according to later newspaper reports, should have been an error. The alleged member Abderazzak Majoub was arrested in Hamburg . At the beginning of December 2004, a cell was also dug in Munich . Two Iraqis , including Lokman Amin Mohammed , are said to have provided support for Ansar al Islam from there. On January 12, 2006, Lokman Amin Mohammed was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the Munich Higher Regional Court for membership in a foreign terrorist organization (Section 129b of the Criminal Code ) and other things. In June 2006 further trials against alleged members began in Munich and Stuttgart; In Stuttgart, Rafik Yousef was sentenced to eight years in prison for membership in a terrorist organization and attempted involvement in a murder. In Munich, one of the accused, an Iraqi, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison on June 25, 2007, among other things for supporting a terrorist organization; the other defendant was sentenced on July 8, 2007 to five and a half years in prison.

organization

Ansar al-Islam is hierarchically structured, with a council (shura) as the governing body. In addition to the chairman (see above) there is a first (initially al-Shafi) and second deputy (initially Aso Hawleri ) and assessors for information, relationships, religious affairs, organization, security and several regimental leaders.

Members

The Ansar al-Islam fighters in Iraq were predominantly Kurds from northern Iraq, plus some Arabs . Some of them fought in Chechnya and Afghanistan , or were trained in camps there. After the war in Afghanistan, veterans joined Ansar al Islam from there. The PUK estimated the number of supporters before the third Iraq war in 2003 at around 1,000 in northern Iraq and several hundred in Iranian Kurdistan . There they are said to have had a 200-300-strong militia . Several hundred fighters were killed in the war.

It is estimated that there are around 80 supporters of Ansar al-Islam in Germany . The majority of them, around 60, are said to be in Bavaria for the first half of 2006, according to the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Report. According to an alleged member of Ansar al-Islam, the number could reach 300 members.

In Italy there were Ansar cells in Milan and Cremona. Italian police arrested several suspects, including Mohammed Tahir Hamid and Radi al-Ajaschi ("Merai"); one was convicted in 2005 for his activities with Ansar. The Italian police showed some loose connections with al-Qaeda and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. There should also be supporters in London .

literature

  • Guido Steinberg: The near and the distant enemy. The networks of Islamic terrorism; Verlag CHBeck, Munich, 2005, ISBN 3-406-53515-1
  • Jean-Charles Brisard: The New Face of Al-Qaida. Zarqawi and the escalation of violence. From the Franz. By Karola Bartsch. Propylaen-Verl., Berlin 2005. ISBN 978-3-549-07266-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Counterterrorism Blog: Ansar al-Sunnah Acknowledges Relationship with Ansar al-Islam, Reverts to Using Ansar al-Islam Name ( Memento of October 13, 2009)
  2. ^ State.gov Foreign Terrorist Organizations of January 27, 2012