Israel Matzav: Somali-based al-Qaeda group threatens Israel

Somali-based al-Qaeda group threatens Israel

Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group in Somalia, which controls part of that country, is seeking to expand its scope of operations by threatening Israel (Hat Tip: Jihad Watch).

"The Jews started to destroy parts of the holy mosque of Al Aqsa and they routinely kill our Palestinian brothers, so we are committed to defend our Palestinian brothers," said Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, a prominent Al-Shabab commander.

His threat was part of a series of fiery sermons delivered after Friday prayers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia. Al-Shabab controls the region, which is part of a country that has been without an effective national government for nearly 20 years.

Other leaders of the group also threatened Israel, the first time the group is known to have done so.

"We will transfer and expand our fighting in the Middle East so we can defend Al Aqsa mosque from the Israelis," Al-Shabab commander Abdifatah Aweys Abu Hamza said in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

My first reaction on reading that was 'good luck with that,' but maybe I should not have been so quick to brush them off.

It is not clear whether Al-Shabab has the capacity to carry out its threats against Israel.

But Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group warned that the group should be taken seriously.

"We should not underestimate the capacity of Al-Shabab," he said. "This is a deadly organization, a formidable foe."

Abdi said the group had been mutating from a nationalist group into a terrorist organization more like al Qaeda, which was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"If you look at the rhetoric and language and if you look at the Web sites, if you hear their preachers or their scholars speak, it is completely indistinguishable from al Qaeda leaders," Abdi said.

The group has also become more vicious in Somalia, a local human rights expert said.

"The most gruesome and gross violations of human rights are committed by Al-Shabab," activist Hassan Shire Sheikh said. "They have also instilled fear. They just shoot, they kill, they maim and they lash."

And you thought the war on terror was over, eh Barack?

Israel Matzav: Somali-based al-Qaeda group threatens Israel