Osama Bin Laden. Operatives in the region
צילום: רויטרס
Al-Qaeda eyes ‘essential target’ in Gaza
Jordanian security sources say organization taking advantage of PA chaos, overpopulation to establish terror infrastructure, London-based newspaper al-Hayat reports
Sources in the Jordanian security establishment said that members of al-Qaeda are operating in the Gaza Strip, the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported.
This is not the first claim the terrorist organization has operatives in the region. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas also claimed in the past that al-Qaeda terrorists had reached the PA.
The Jordanian sources noted that a cell linked to the organization was recently thwarted in its attempt to perpetrate an attack against an "essential target” in Gaza. The sources, however, refused to reveal whether the cell members had been arrested, but noted that over 10 operatives had been involved in the plot.
Chaotic situation advantageous
According to the security sources, al-Qaeda’s operations in the area are coordinated with other terror organizations there.
Al-Qaeda apparently finds the chaotic situation and the extreme overcrowding in Gaza advantageous to its intentions, and is taking advantage of these conditions to establish a terror network there, the sources said.
Al-Qaeda is not operating to the same extent in the West Bank, mainly due to the tight Israeli watch there, they added.
The newspaper recently reported that al-Qaeda had started establishing infrastructures in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories, and has even appointed a new Emir, of Syrian origin, for the area.
The significance of the appointment is that al-Qaeda has delineated the activities of senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, of Jordanian origin, to Iraq, and therefore terror activity in the PA area will be guided by an alternate leader. The Jordanian sources said that Zarqawi is focusing terrorist efforts in Iraq.
