Khorasan (Islamist group)

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The Shahada used by the parent organization al-Qaeda against a black background

Khorasan (or Khorasan , Arabic جماعة خراسان, DMG ǧamāʿat Ḫurāsān ) describes an Islamist group that is close to al-Qaeda and that migrated to Syria . It is an offshoot of the al-Nusra front . The members come from different countries and have reportedly with Yemeni collaborated bomb makers, in particular with Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri also known as al-Chorasani that an al-Qaeda branch in the Middle East belongs and attacks on civil aircraft on their way to the United States have planned should.

At a meeting of top news and intelligence officials on September 18, 2014 in Washington, DC , Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper stated that the Khorasan group “may pose as great a threat to our country as they are Islamic State ”. The organization was presumably headed by al-Qaeda member Muhsin al-Fadhli , who was quite important to al-Qaeda as he knew about the 9/11 attacks beforehand. The members emigrated to the US invasion of Afghanistan in Iran .

As part of the expansion of the international alliance's air offensive against the Islamic State to include Syria, the “Khorasan Group” was targeted by the US Navy . According to the US Department of Defense (DoD) and CENTCOM , eight air strikes were carried out against targets of the group west of Aleppo on the night of September 23, 2014 . According to the information, training camps, a production facility for ammunition and explosives, a communication center and command and control facilities were destroyed by Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the ships Arleigh Burke (at that time in the Red Sea) and Philippine Sea (in the Persian Gulf) had been. Only US units were involved in these air strikes.

According to reports from intelligence circles, however, these air strikes did not turn out to be the devastating blow intended for the group, because its leading members had become cautious in the run-up to the bombing and dispersed in time, probably due to the international media interest. Another reason cited was the lack of informants and appropriate technological intelligence in the area of ​​the target area or in Syria itself.

In a television interview with Al Jazeera in late May 2015, the leader of the al-Nusra front, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani , claimed that such a group did not exist and that it was an American invention. The bombed targets were facilities of his organization. The group was invented to justify the bombing of al-Nusra's headquarters against the local population. In addition, a legitimation for a renewed bombing had been found, although no useful claim to self-defense or authorization from the UN had been submitted.

On July 8, 2015, according to the Pentagon, Muhsin al-Fadhli, one of the leading figures of the Khorasan was killed. Al-Fadhli was killed in an air strike near Sarmada in northern Syria. The US-led coalition had targeted him while he was traveling in a vehicle near the border with Turkey. He was one of the few confidants of Osama bin Laden , who had been privy to the plans to attack the World Trade Center even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 . The US State Department had placed a bounty of seven million dollars on al-Fadhli.

On October 18, 2015, the US military reported that Sanafi al-Nasr was killed in an air strike in Syria.

The IS terrorist militia also has a Khorasan subdivision ( Arabic الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام - ولاية خراسان, ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām - Wilayah Khorasan ), or ISIL-KP ,

Surname

The name Khorasan or Khorasan comes from the name for the historical region in Central Asia in the area of ​​today's states Afghanistan , Iran , Tajikistan , Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan . The name for the group was probably chosen by secret services. Hadith , by Abu Nu`aym and Ahwal of Safarini from the Khorasan originate, deliver that Mohammed said the arrival of the Mahdi will by the Black Banner , the flag of jihad , signaled.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Americans report killing of extremist leader. In: FAZ. Retrieved July 22, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b James Phillips, Josh Siegel: Q&A: Meet Khorasan, the Terrorist Group That Might Be Scarier Than ISIS. In: The Daily Signal. Heritage Foundation , accessed September 24, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Syria's hard cell: Rise of Khorasan group alarms US (No longer available online.) The Pueblo Chieftain, September 14, 2014, archived from the original on September 21, 2014 ; accessed on September 23, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chieftain.com
  4. ↑ US Suspects More Direct Threats Beyond ISIS. NYT, September 21, 2014, accessed September 23, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Al-Fadhli's profile on Rewards for Justice ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved June 15, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rewardsforjustice.net
  6. ↑ DoD News: US Military, Partner Nations Conduct Airstrikes in Syria , accessed November 13, 2014, and News Transcript: Department of Defense Press Briefing on Operations in Syria , accessed November 17, 2014.
  7. ↑ Syria Airstrikes Failed To Cripple Khorasan Threat . The Huffington Post, October 9, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  8. ↑ Abu Mohammed al-Golani's Aljazeera Interview , English-language summary by Aron Lund, Syria Comment, May 29, 2015
  9. ↑ Murtaza Hussain: Al Qaeda Syria Boss Says That His “So-Called Khorasan Group Doesn't Exist” , The Intercept , May 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ Glenn Greenwald : The Fake Terror Threat Used To Justify Bombing Syria , The Intercept , May 26, 2015.
  11. ↑ https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/al-kaida-syrien-103.html
  12. ^ Statement on Airstrike in Syria that Killed Sanafi al-Nasr
  13. ^ Designations of Foreign Terrorist Fighters . State.gov. September 29, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  14. ^ What Is the "Khorasan Group" and Why Is the US Bombing It in Syria? In: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. September 23, 2014, accessed September 23, 2014 .
  15. ^ David Cook: Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic . Darwin Press, 2002, pp. 153,125,206 . So Cook, 125 and 206. It should be noted that this particular tradition is ambiguous and that it is not clear whether the Mahdi himself would choose the black flag. Other traditions are less prudent (see below).