{"id":24,"date":"2006-09-20T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-20T15:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=24"},"modified":"2006-09-20T15:40:00","modified_gmt":"2006-09-20T15:40:00","slug":"al-qaida-plans-for-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"
Here is a note I received from Massoud Derhally of Arabian Business <\/a>about a documentary al-Jazeera is showing on al-Qa`ida in the Levant. It explains how al-Qa`ida leaders hope to open a new front in Syria and the states surrounding Palestine. <\/p>\n

Al Jazeera ran on Sept 18 the second part of a documentary by Yusri Fouda on Al Qaeda in “Bilad al Sham”. The thesis is that inherently Al-Qaeda has a forward looking plan that was to attack the US, draw America to the Middle East and then fight it (i.e. in Iraq) and then exploit that conflict to get to the Palestinian front using Damascus and Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The documentary interviews among others the son of Azzam who I am sure you know was instrumental in indoctrinating OBL in his early days before he jumped ship to Zawahri. It also interviews the founder of Junood Al Sham, and several Jihadi veterans from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.<\/p>\n

The seminal point the documentary makes is that “the youth are jaded with the corruption in the Arab world and an impotent leadership” so much so, that bright, educated people like Mohammad Atta (this is the documentary’s assessment not mine) turn to religion as a means to an end.<\/p>\n

In fact the founder of Junood Al Sham is on record saying the only way to fight Israel is to turn to religion and that when you do so as a fighter, you are fearless.<\/p>\n

This zealous fervor invariably is the panacea to the “Zionist-American-Western” axis, several of the interviewees hold.<\/p>\n

An interesting and worrying dimension to all this was the existing and growing Salafist movement in Lebanon, namely in mountainous areas and even places like Baalbak where one of the 19 hijackers that carried out the Sept.. 11 attacks was from.<\/p>\n

The documentary goes on to narrate how Al Qaeda’s man in Lebanon was arrested and then ‘died’ in detention. His supporters claim he was tortured and killed.<\/p>\n

This all really is put in the context of a prophetic turn of events, where on the one hand there is a literal reading to Quranic texts to explain what is taking place on the ground in the ME region and on the other hand, a blue print of Al Qaeda’s greater plans, that in many ways is at the other end of say the Christian Right ideology, that is actively trying to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah.<\/p>\n

The exception is that Al Qaeda and the Salafists don’t really see their struggle as part of preparing for such a showdown, but in essence more as confronting the infidel and crusaders.<\/p>\n

There are some alarming clips in the documentary, where Azzam’s son says there will be something like 960,000 fighters in Damascus, specifically Halab, where there will be a battle against the invading forces.<\/p>\n

Anyway the punch line which I think you will be interested in is that the documentary assesses Syria, Lebanon and other countries can turn to America, as they have, and point to this ominous and growing radicalization, and say we can help you in this war on terror, and that if you think for a moment that there is an alternative to the status quo it lies in the nexus of this fanaticism that spreads from Iraq, to Jordan, Egypt to Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.<\/p>\n

Best, Massoud <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lawrence Wright<\/strong>, who has recently published his block buster book on al-Qa`ida, The Looming Tower<\/a>, which is the best al-Qa`ida book to date, has written about these plans in his latest New Yorker article: (I am copying less than half the original article. It is all worth reading.) <\/p>\n

The Master Plan<\/a>, by Lawrence Wright
For the new theorists of jihad, Al Qaeda is just the beginning.
From the Issue of 2006-09-11<\/p>\n

Suri believed that the jihadi movement had nearly been extinguished by the drying up of financial resources, the killing or capture of many terrorist leaders, the loss of safe havens, and the increasing international co\u00f6peration among police agencies. (The British authorities were pursuing him as a suspect in the 1995 Paris M\u00e9tro bombings.) Accordingly, he saw the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan, in 1996, as a \u201cgolden opportunity,\u201d and he went there the following year. He set up a military camp in Afghanistan, and experimented with chemical weapons. He also arranged bin Laden\u2019s first television interview with CNN. The journalist Peter Bergen, who spent several days in Suri\u2019s company while producing the segment, and who recently published an oral history, \u201cThe Osama bin Laden I Know,\u201d recalled, \u201cHe was tough and really smart. He seemed like a real intellectual, very conversant with history, and he had an intense seriousness of purpose. He certainly impressed me more than bin Laden.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1999, Suri sent bin Laden an e-mail accusing him of endangering the Taliban regime with his highly theatrical attacks on American targets. And he mocked bin Laden\u2019s love of publicity: \u201cI think our brother has caught the disease of screens, flashes, fans, and applause.\u201d In his writings, Suri rarely mentioned Al Qaeda and disavowed any direct connection to it, despite having served on its inner council. He preferred to speak more broadly of jihad, which he saw as a social movement, encompassing \u201call those who bear weapons\u2014individuals, groups, and organizations\u2014and wage jihad on the enemies of Islam.\u201d By 2000, he had begun predicting the end of Al Qaeda, whose pre\u00ebminence he portrayed as a stage in the development of the worldwide Islamist uprising. \u201cAl Qaeda is not an organization, it is not a group, nor do we want it to be,\u201d he writes. \u201cIt is a call, a reference, a methodology.\u201d Eventually, its leadership would be eliminated, he said. (Suri himself was captured in Pakistan in November, 2005. American intelligence sources confirmed that Suri is in the custody of another country but refused to disclose his exact location.) In the time that remained to Al Qaeda, he argued, its main goal should be to stimulate other groups around the world to join the jihadi movement. His legacy, as he saw it, was to codify the doctrines that animated Islamist jihad, so that Muslim youths of the future could discover the cause and begin their own, spontaneous religious war.<\/p>\n

In 2002, Suri, in his hideout in Iran, began writing his defining work, \u201cCall for Worldwide Islamic Resistance,\u201d which is sixteen hundred pages long and was published on the Internet in December, 2004. Didactic and repetitive, but also ruthlessly candid, the book dissects the faults of the jihadi movement and lays out a plan for the future of the struggle. The goal, he writes, is \u201cto bring about the largest number of human and material casualties possible for America and its allies.\u201d He specifically targets Jews, \u201cWesterners in general,\u201d the members of the NATO alliance, Russia, China, atheists, pagans, and hypocrites, as well as \u201cany type of external enemy.\u201d (The proliferation of adversaries mirrors Al Qaeda\u2019s hatred of all other ideologies.)<\/p>\n

And yet, at the same time, he bitterly blames Al Qaeda for dragging the entire jihadi movement into an unequal battle that it is likely to lose. Unlike most jihadi theorists, Suri acknowledges the setback caused by September 11th. He laments the demise of the Taliban, which he and other Salafi jihadis considered the modern world\u2019s only true Islamic government. America\u2019s \u201cwar on terror,\u201d he complains, doesn\u2019t discriminate between Al Qaeda adherents and Muslims in general. \u201cMany loyal Muslims,\u201d he writes, believe that the September 11th attacks \u201cjustified the American assault and have given it a legitimate rationale for reoccupying the Islamic world.\u201d But Suri goes on to argue that America\u2019s plans for international domination were already evident \u201cin the likes of Nixon and Kissinger,\u201d and that this agenda would have been pursued without the provocation of September 11th. Moreover, the American attack on Afghanistan was not really aimed at capturing or killing bin Laden; its true goal was to sweep away the Taliban and eliminate the rule of Islamic law.<\/p>\n

In Suri\u2019s view, the underground terrorist movement\u2014that is, Al Qaeda and its sleeper cells\u2014is defunct. This approach was \u201ca failure on all fronts,\u201d because of its inability to achieve military victory or to rally the Muslim people to its cause. He proposes that the next stage of jihad will be characterized by terrorism created by individuals or small autonomous groups (what he terms \u201cleaderless resistance\u201d), which will wear down the enemy and prepare the ground for the far more ambitious aim of waging war on \u201copen fronts\u201d\u2014an outright struggle for territory. He explains, \u201cWithout confrontation in the field and seizing control of the land, we cannot establish a state, which is the strategic goal of the resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suri acknowledges that the \u201cJewish enemy, led by America and its nonbelieving, apostate, hypocritical allies,\u201d enjoys overwhelming military superiority, but he argues that the spiritual commitment of the jihadis is equally formidable. He questions Al Qaeda\u2019s opposition to democracy, which offers radical Islamists an opportunity to \u201csecretly use this comfortable and relaxed atmosphere to spread out, reorganize their ranks, and acquire broader public bases.\u201d In many Arabic states, there is a predictable cycle of official tolerance and savage repression, which can work in favor of the Islamists. If the Islamists \u201copen the way for political moderation,\u201d Suri writes, they will \u201cstretch out horizontally along the base and spread. So they once again exterminate and jihad grows yet again! So then they try to open things up once again, and Islam stretches out and expands again!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bush Administration has declared a \u201cwar of ideas\u201d against Islamism, Suri observes, and has had some success; he cites the modification of textbooks in many Muslim countries. This effort, he writes, must be countered by the propagation of the jihadi creed\u2014and this is what his book attempts to do, offering a minutely detailed account of the tenets of Salafi jihadism. Suri urges his readers to reject their own repressive governments and to rise up against Western occupation and Zionism. Although the leaders of Al Qaeda have long excused the slaughter of innocents, and many of its attacks have been directed at other Muslims, Suri specifically cautions against harming other Muslims, women and children who may be nonbelievers, and other noncombatants.<\/p>\n

Suri addresses the issue of Israel, writing that \u201cthe Zionist presence in Palestine\u201d is an insult to Muslims; but he also excoriates the secular Palestinian National Authority that governs the country. \u201cArmed jihad is the only solution,\u201d he advises. \u201cEvery mujahid must wage jihad against all forms of normalization\u2014its institutions, officials, and advocates . . . destroying them and assassinating those who rely on them . . . while paying attention not to harm Muslims by mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are five regions, according to Suri, where jihadis should focus their energies: Afghanistan, Central Asia, Yemen, Morocco, and, especially, Iraq. The American occupation of Iraq, he declares, inaugurated a \u201chistorical new period\u201d that almost single-handedly rescued the jihadi movement just when many of its critics thought it was finished.<\/p>\n

The invasion of Iraq posed a dilemma for Al Qaeda. Iraq is a largely Shiite nation, and Al Qaeda is composed of Sunnis who believe that the Shia are heretics. Shortly before the invasion, in March, 2003, bin Laden issued his own list of targets, which included Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen\u2014not Afghanistan or Iraq. Presumably, he regarded the chances of a Taliban resurgence as remote; moreover, he was aware that an Iraqi insurgency could ignite an Islamic civil war and lead to ethnic cleansing of the Sunni minority.<\/p>\n

The American occupation posed a major opportunity, however, for a man named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi….<\/p>\n

Zarqawi and his men were putting into action the vision that Abu Musab al-Suri had laid out for them: small, spontaneous groups carrying out individual acts of terror in Europe, and an open struggle for territory in Iraq.<\/p>\n

Suicide bombings became a trademark of Zarqawi\u2019s operation, despite Maqdisi\u2019s condemnation of the practice….<\/p>\n

Within radical Islamist circles, Zarqawi\u2019s gory executions and attacks on Muslims at prayer became a source of controversy. From prison, Maqdisi chastised his former prot\u00e9g\u00e9. \u201cThe pure hands of jihad fighters must not be stained by shedding inviolable blood,\u201d he wrote in an article that was posted on his Web site in July, 2004. \u201cThere is no point in vengeful acts that terrify people, provoke the entire world against mujahideen, and prompt the world to fight them.\u201d Maqdisi also advised jihadis not to go to Iraq, \u201cbecause it will be an inferno for them. This is, by God, the biggest catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zarqawi angrily refuted Maqdisi\u2019s remarks, saying that he took orders only from God; however, he was beginning to realize that his efforts in Iraq were another dead end for jihad. \u201cThe space of movement is starting to get smaller,\u201d he had written to bin Laden in June. …<\/p>\n

In July, 2005, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda\u2019s chief ideologue and second-in-command, attempted to steer the nihilistic Zarqawi closer to the founders\u2019 original course. In a letter, he outlined the next steps for the Iraqi jihad: \u201cThe first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage: Establish an Islamic authority or emirate, then develop it and support it until it achieves the level of a caliphate. . . . The third stage: Extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq. The fourth stage: It may coincide with what came before\u2014the clash with Israel, because Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zawahiri advised Zarqawi to moderate his attacks on Iraqi Shiites and to stop beheading hostages. \u201cWe are in a battle,\u201d Zawahiri reminded him. \u201cAnd more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zarqawi did not heed Al Qaeda\u2019s requests. As the Iraqi jihad fell into barbarism, Al Qaeda\u2019s leaders began advising their followers to go to Sudan or Kashmir, where the chances of victory seemed more promising. Al Qaeda, meanwhile, was confronting a new problem, which one of its prime thinkers, Abu Bakr Naji, had already anticipated, in an Internet document titled \u201cThe Management of Savagery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naji\u2019s identity is unknown. Other Islamist writers have said that he was Tunisian, but a Saudi newspaper identified him as Jordanian….<\/p>\n

In 2005, Hussein produced what is perhaps the most definitive outline of Al Qaeda\u2019s master plan: a book titled \u201cAl-Zarqawi: The Second Generation of Al Qaeda.\u201d Although it is largely a favorable biography of Zarqawi and his movement, Hussein incorporates the insights of other Al Qaeda members\u2014notably, Saif al-Adl, the security chief.<\/p>\n

It is chilling to read this work and realize how closely recent events seem to be hewing to Al Qaeda\u2019s forecasts. Based on interviews with Zarqawi and Adl, Hussein claims that dragging Iran into conflict with the United States is key to Al Qaeda\u2019s strategy. Expanding the area of conflict in the Middle East will cause the U.S. to overextend its forces. According to Hussein, Al Qaeda believes that Iran expects to be attacked by the U.S., because of its interest in building a nuclear weapon. \u201cAccordingly, Iran is preparing to retaliate for or abort this strike by means of using powerful cards in its hand,\u201d he writes. These tactics include targeting oil installations in the Persian Gulf, which could cut off sixty per cent of the world\u2019s oil supplies, destabilizing Western economies.<\/p>\n

In an ominous passage, Hussein notes that \u201cfor fifteen years\u2014or since the end of the first Gulf War\u2014Iran has been busy building a secret global army of highly trained personnel and the necessary financial and technological capabilities to carry out any kind of mission.\u201d He is clearly referring to Hezbollah, which has so far focussed its attention on Israel. According to Hussein, \u201cIran has identified American and Jewish targets around the world. This secret army is led by two professional Lebanese men who have pledged full allegiance to Iran and who hold enough of a grudge against the Americans to qualify them to inflict damage on Jewish and American interests around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran, he continues, has been cultivating good relations with other Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas. \u201cIran views these parties as its entrenched wings in occupied Palestine,\u201d Hussein writes, asserting that the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh in February, 2005, were secretly aimed at countering Iranian influence on the Palestinian resistance. \u201cAl Qaeda interpreted this as the first step toward launching an attack on Iran,\u201d Hussein claims. Both the U.S. and Israel view Hezbollah, the Islamist group in Lebanon, as a creature of the Iranian state, and are intent on eliminating it. \u201cThe military campaign against Iran will begin when the United States and Israel succeed in disarming Hezbollah,\u201d Hussein predicts.<\/p>\n

Hussein claims, without offering evidence, that Iran already has thirty thousand intelligence agents in Iraq. \u201cSince the Americans have not succeeded in eliminating the Sunni resistance, how can they deal with the situation if the Shiites join the resistance? Iran plans to incite its proponents in Iraq to join the anti-U.S. resistance in the event that the United States or Israel launches an attack on Iran. Iran plans to open its border to the resistance and provide it with what it needs to achieve a swift and major victory against the Americans.\u201d Al Qaeda, he writes, also expects the Americans to go after Iran\u2019s principal ally in the region, Syria. The removal of the Assad regime\u2014a longtime goal of jihadis\u2014will allow the country to be infiltrated by Al Qaeda, putting the terrorists within reach, at last, of Israel….<\/p>\n

Al Qaeda\u2019s twenty-year plan began on September 11th, with a stage that Hussein calls \u201cThe Awakening.\u201d The ideologues within Al Qaeda believed that \u201cthe Islamic nation was in a state of hibernation,\u201d because of repeated catastrophes inflicted upon Muslims by the West. By striking America\u2014\u201cthe head of the serpent\u201d\u2014Al Qaeda caused the United States to \u201close consciousness and act chaotically against those who attacked it. This entitled the party that hit the serpent to lead the Islamic nation.\u201d This first stage, says Hussein, ended in 2003, when American troops entered Baghdad.<\/p>\n

The second, \u201cEye-Opening\u201d stage will last until the end of 2006, Hussein writes. Iraq will become the recruiting ground for young men eager to attack America. In this phase, he argues, perhaps wishfully, Al Qaeda will move from being an organization to \u201ca mushrooming invincible and popular trend.\u201d The electronic jihad on the Internet will propagate Al Qaeda\u2019s ideas, and Muslims will be pressed to donate funds to make up for the seizure of terrorist assets by the West. The third stage, \u201cArising and Standing Up,\u201d will last from 2007 to 2010. Al Qaeda\u2019s focus will be on Syria and Turkey, but it will also begin to directly confront Israel, in order to gain more credibility among the Muslim population.<\/p>\n

In the fourth stage, lasting until 2013, Al Qaeda will bring about the demise of Arab governments. \u201cThe creeping loss of the regimes\u2019 power will lead to a steady growth in strength within Al Qaeda,\u201d Hussein predicts. Meanwhile, attacks against the Middle East petroleum industry will continue, and America\u2019s power will deteriorate through the constant expansion of the circle of confrontation. \u201cBy then, Al Qaeda will have completed its electronic capabilities, and it will be time to use them to launch electronic attacks to undermine the U.S. economy.\u201d Islamists will promote the idea of using gold as the international medium of exchange, leading to the collapse of the dollar.<\/p>\n

Then an Islamic caliphate can be declared, inaugurating the fifth stage of Al Qaeda\u2019s grand plan, which will last until 2016. \u201cAt this stage, the Western fist in the Arab region will loosen, and Israel will not be able to carry out pre\u00ebmptive or precautionary strikes,\u201d Hussein writes. \u201cThe international balance will change.\u201d Al Qaeda and the Islamist movement will attract powerful new economic allies, such as China, and Europe will fall into disunity.<\/p>\n

The sixth phase will be a period of \u201ctotal confrontation.\u201d The now established caliphate will form an Islamic Army and will instigate a worldwide fight between the \u201cbelievers\u201d and the \u201cnon-believers.\u201d Hussein proclaims, \u201cThe world will realize the meaning of real terrorism.\u201d By 2020, \u201cdefinitive victory\u201d will have been achieved. Victory, according to the Al Qaeda ideologues, means that \u201cfalsehood will come to an end. . . . The Islamic state will lead the human race once again to the shore of safety and the oasis of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al Qaeda\u2019s version of utopia has drawn the allegiance of a new generation of Arabs, who have been tutored on the Internet by ideologues such as Suri and Naji. This \u201cthird generation of mujahideen,\u201d as Suri calls them, have been radicalized by September 11th, the occupation of Iraq, and the Palestinian intifada. (Suri wrote this before the current struggle in Lebanon.) Those jihadis fighting in the conflict in Iraq have been trained in vicious urban warfare against the most formidable army in history. They will return to their home countries and add their expertise to the new cells springing up in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and many European nations….<\/p>\n

Although American and European intelligence communities are aware of the jihadi texts, the work of these ideologues often reads like a playbook that U.S. policymakers have been slavishly, if inadvertently, following….<\/p>\n

As the writings of Abu Musab al-Suri, Abu Bakr Naji, Fouad Hussein, and others make clear, the tradition of Salafi jihad existed before bin Laden and Al Qaeda and will likely survive them; yet, from the beginning of the war on terror, the strategy of the Administration has been to decapitate Al Qaeda\u2019s leadership. Bruce Hoffman, who is the author of \u201cInside Terrorism\u201d and a professor at Georgetown University\u2019s School of Foreign Service, told me, \u201cOne of the problems with the kill-or-capture metric is that it has often been to the exclusion of having a deeper, richer understanding of the movement, its origins, and our adversaries\u2019 mindset. The nuances are absolutely critical. Our adversaries are wedded to the ideology that informs and fuels their struggle, and, by not paying attention, we risk not knowing our enemy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a note I received from Massoud Derhally of Arabian Business about a documentary al-Jazeera is showing on al-Qa`ida in the Levant. It explains how al-Qa`ida leaders hope to open a new front in Syria and the states surrounding Palestine. Al Jazeera ran on Sept 18 the second part of a documentary by Yusri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nAl-Qaida Plans for Syria - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is a note I received from Massoud Derhally of Arabian Business about a documentary al-Jazeera is showing on al-Qa`ida in the Levant. It explains how al-Qa`ida leaders hope to open a new front in Syria and the states surrounding Palestine. Al Jazeera ran on Sept 18 the second part of a documentary by Yusri […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-09-20T15:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@joshua_landis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"19 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/\",\"name\":\"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria - Syria Comment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-09-20T15:40:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Syria Comment\",\"description\":\"Syrian politics, history, and religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80\",\"name\":\"Joshua\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.joshualandis.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/joshua_landis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/author\/syriacomment\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria - Syria Comment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria - Syria Comment","og_description":"Here is a note I received from Massoud Derhally of Arabian Business about a documentary al-Jazeera is showing on al-Qa`ida in the Levant. It explains how al-Qa`ida leaders hope to open a new front in Syria and the states surrounding Palestine. Al Jazeera ran on Sept 18 the second part of a documentary by Yusri […]","og_url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/","og_site_name":"Syria Comment","article_published_time":"2006-09-20T15:40:00+00:00","author":"Joshua","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@joshua_landis","twitter_site":"@joshua_landis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua","Est. reading time":"19 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/","url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/","name":"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria - Syria Comment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-09-20T15:40:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/al-qaida-plans-for-syria\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Al-Qaida Plans for Syria"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/","name":"Syria Comment","description":"Syrian politics, history, and religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3b31d23576e1b8c0928811e638957c80","name":"Joshua","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.joshualandis.com","https:\/\/x.com\/joshua_landis"],"url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/author\/syriacomment\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p38J3A-o","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}