ACCORDING to US President Joe Biden, Islamic state (ISIS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, also known as Hajji Abdullah, Amir Mohammed Said Abdul Rahman al-Mawla, and Abdullah Qardash, were killed by a bomb that he detonated himself last Thursday.
This year’s most high-profile
terrorist group leader has been exterminated. Despite the fact that the deaths
of terrorist group leaders have been considered as detrimental to the groups’
continued existence, the atrocities perpetrated by these groups around the
world are obvious evidence that they pose a threat to the peace and security to
any nation in the globe.
Since the onset of the US-led
war on terror following September 11, terrorist organisations’ leaders have
been hunted own; either captured or hunted down.
The pressing question here is
why, despite their leaders being targeted and assassinated, security and
intelligence agencies are unable to defeat these groups completely.
These groups, in my opinion,
no longer depend on their leaders to inspire their supporters, sympathisers, or
co-terrorists, but instead rely on their ideology to carry out terror attacks
around the world.
Is it conceivable that present
counter-terrorism measures will be able to subdue terrorist groups’ ideology,
which has long been regarded as the most lethal weapon used to terrorise security
forces around the world?
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi
al-Qurayshi
Abu Ibrahim is an Iraqi who is
a key figure in the Islamic State of Iraq, which is an al-Qaeda affiliate.
After his predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, blew himself to death during a US
operation in Syria, he was named the leader of ISIS in 2019. He was a low-key
person but was feared for his brutality.
In Syria and abroad, he communicates with
others by deploying trusted couriers to deliver his commands. As a result, the
leaders of these terrorist groups are hesitant to communicate using new devices
or technology because it will be easier for intelligence agencies to hunt down
them down.
Abu Ibrahim is a son of a
preacher and was born in 1976 in Mosul’s west. He focuses on religious
counselling and Islamic jurisprudence. He was also a member of Saddam Hussein’s
military.
US forces apprehended Abu
Ibrahim in 2008 and arrested him at Camp Bucca, where Abu Bakr was also being
held. He was instrumental in the genocide committed against the Yazidi people
in northern Iraq that began in 2014.
The US strike on Abu Ibrahim’s
stronghold in Atmeh, which included armed Reaper drones and attack jets, was
not far from where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest when US
soldiers raided his safe house in 2019.
To summarise, these notorious
terrorist leaders that follow a deceptive ideology follow a similar pattern.
They transmit information via human couriers and live in a position where no
one will suspect them, such as near an international border or enemy-controlled
territory.
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was a radical Muslim cleric
born in the US, ascended through the ranks of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate to
become a significant figure. On September 30, 2011, a Hellfire missile launched
from a drone operated by US forces killed him.
He was the most notable
proponent of violent jihad against the US, with his message widely disseminated
online. More than a dozen terrorist attacks or attempted terrorist attacks in
the West have been linked to his online lectures and sermons.
A charismatic preacher like
Anwar, who is fully committed to the erroneous doctrine, can easily sway those
who do not have a thorough understanding of the religion.
After e-mails linked him to Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the army personnel suspected of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas in November 2009, he became a person of concern. He was also linked to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man accused of attempting to detonate a bomb on a Detroit-bound airliner in December 2010.
Faisal Shahzad, the
Pakistani-American man accused of attempting to explode a car bomb in Times
Square, mentioned Anwar in May 2010. Anwar incendiary words, according to
Shahzad, motivated him.
His sermons also influenced a
young Bangladeshi man charged in 2012 with attempting to blow up the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, according to investigators. This definitely
demonstrates that Anwar’s ideology lingered long even after he died.
According to a source at the
time, his death was noteworthy since he had become one of Al Qaeda’s top
operational planners as well as a renowned propagandist. His death does not
rule out future terror attacks, but his lectures and sermons continue to affect
unsuspecting minds.
Conclusion
The leaders and propagandists
of terrorist groups can be identified and eliminated by security and
intelligence organisations. Until now, the evolution and existence of terrorist
groups mushrooming over the world has been well documented.
Terrorist organisations such
as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and Ansar al-Sharia no
longer rely on their leaders to incite their sympathisers and terrorists to
carry out attacks elsewhere.
These groups have redefined
their false ideology by developing effective propaganda materials that are
available online as a weapon and recruitment tool. Countering this ideology in
order to bring terrorist groups to their knees will be a constant struggle for
intelligence and security organisations.
As a result, an effective
counter-terrorism strategy must incorporate a productive counter-ideology
approach, because erroneous ideology is self-sustaining.
To recapitulate, I urge the
relevant authorities to convene an all-inclusive panel of experts with diverse
backgrounds to develop an effective counter-ideology apparatus to stop
terrorist groups from influencing innocent people, particularly young minds. –
Feb 13, 2022.
Source: https://focusmalaysia.my/terror-groups-how-dead-leaders-keep-inspiring-attacks-from-the-grave/
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