Khorasan group

Khorasan
(Arabic: خراسان‎)
Participant in the Syrian Civil War and
the Global War on Terrorism

The Shahada flag commonly used by al-Qaeda, the parent organization of Khorasan
Active March 2012 – present[1][2]
Ideology
Leaders
Headquarters
Area of operations Syria Northwestern Syria
Strength 50[12]
Part of

al-Qaeda

Allies al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula[1]
Jund al-Aqsa[11]
Opponents U.S. Armed Forces
European Union
Syria Syria[14]
Russian Armed Forces
Battles and wars

Syrian Civil War
Military intervention against ISIL

Khorasan, also known as the Khorasan group, is an alleged group of senior al-Qaeda members operating in Syria.[15] The group is reported to consist of a small number of fighters who are all on terrorist watchlists, and coordinates with al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria. At an intelligence gathering in Washington, D.C. on 18 September 2014, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated that "in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as ISIS."[16]

The term first appeared in news media in September 2014, although the United States had reportedly been keeping track of the group for two years.[17] By early November 2014, the term had disappeared from political rhetoric.[18] Commentators have stated that the threat the Khorasan Group represented was exaggerated to generate public support for American intervention in Syria, and some have questioned whether the group even exists as a distinct entity.[19]

On 28 May 2015, al-Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani explicitly denied the existence of the supposed Khorasan group.[20] The al-Nusra Front had received specific orders since at least early 2015 from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to cease any activities related to attacking Western targets.[21]

In July 2015, both Muhsin al-Fadhli, said to be the operational leader of the group, and chief bombmaker David Drugeon, were killed by 2 US airstrikes.[22][23] After their deaths, FBI Director James Comey stated that the Khorasan group had become diminished, and that ISIL was now a bigger threat to the US.[24]

On October 15, 2015, a Coalition airstrike in northwest Syria killed Abdul Mohsen Adballah Ibrahim al Charekh (a.k.a. Sanafi al-Nasr), who was then the highest ranking leader of the Khorasan group.[25] He was the deputy leader of Khorasan before Muhsin al-Fadhli's death.[26]

Name

Khorasan is a historical term for a region overlapping modern-day Turkmenistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, and also is in the name of three provinces of Iran.[27] The name of the group was coined by intelligence agencies as a reference to the high-ranking Khorasan Shura, a leadership council within al-Qaeda, which many members of the group belong to.[28] United States Central Command, the U.S. Department of Defense military command responsible for operations in Syria and Iraq, described the Khorasan Group name in a 6 November 2014 press release as: "a term used to refer to a network of Nusrah Front and al-Qa'ida core extremists who share a history of training operatives, facilitating fighters and money, and planning attacks against U.S. and Western targets."[29]

Membership

The group is described as "a very small group - dozens of fighters only", composed of experienced jihadis from various countries.[15][30] The group is believed to be made up of "al-Qaeda core" members, meaning the high-ranking members of al-Qaeda who moved to Pakistan following the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.[1] An American intelligence source indicated the group numbers about 50 members.[12] Members of the group are said to have worked with bomb-makers from Yemen, including an al-Qaeda affiliated bomb-maker named Ibrahim al-Asiri[1] to target civilian aircraft heading to the United States[31] and other Western targets.[1] Another member of the group was Frenchman David Drugeon;[17] who was thought to have worked as a bombmaker for the group.[32]

According to US officials, the organization is led by Mohammed Islambouli, whose brother Khalid Islambouli assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.[2][4] A senior leader within the group was Muhsin al-Fadhli, a prominent al-Qaeda member who went to Iran after the US invasion of Afghanistan, until he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria in July 2015.[5] He was also in charge of Khorasan's external operations.[2] Another Khorasan Group member, Abu Yusuf Al-Turki, was reported to have been killed on 23 September 2014 by US airstrikes in Syria.[33]

There are indications that some members of the Khorasan Group (including Abu Yusuf Al-Turki) were part of an elite sniper subunit of the al-Nusra Front that was known as the "Wolf Group".[34]

Activities

The group was initially reported to pose an "imminent" threat to the United States, with reports of potential plots involving "a bomb made of a nonmetallic device like a toothpaste container or clothes dipped in explosive material".[35]

Later statements by officials indicated that "there were no known targets or attacks expected in the next few weeks" at the time the US began bombing in Syria.[35] On 5 October 2014, FBI director James Comey stated, "I can't sit here and tell you whether their plan is tomorrow or three weeks or three months from now", but that "we have to act as if it's coming tomorrow."[36]

Criticism of term

A 23 September 2014 article by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace stated that "the sudden flurry of revelations about the 'Khorasan Group' in the past two weeks smacks of strategic leaks and political spin".[37] The article also stated that "Whatever one decides to call it, this is not likely to be an independent organization, but rather a network-within-the-network, assigned to deal with specific tasks."[37]

In an article in The Intercept, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain stated that "There are serious questions about whether the Khorasan Group even exists in any meaningful or identifiable manner", describing reports of the group as "propagandistic and legal rationale" for military intervention.[38] Similarly, according to an analysis in Conflict News, "the US government made the decision to bomb this Wolf Group of Jabhat Al-Nusra, and then later came up with a way to sell to the public. This strategy ended up in the creation of 'Khorasan' a group which never existed in any form beyond the statements of US officials."[39]

On 27 May 2015, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, the leader of the al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, stated that the al-Nusra Front did not have intentions to "target the West", referring to North America and Europe, while warning against Western Coalition airstrikes. He also alleged that "there is nothing called [the] Khorasan group. The Americans came up with it to deceive the public".[20]

American-led intervention

On 23 September 2014, United States Central Command stated that they had conducted eight air strikes against the group’s training camps, command and control facilities, and other sites in the area west of Aleppo, Syria.[9] The attacks were ineffective and killed only one or two militants, largely because the members of the group had been warned in advance.[17]

On 6 November 2014, US-led coalition forces bombed targets in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces.[40] Despite US military officials stating that only the Khorasan Group was targeted, local activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that both Ahrar ash-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra were also hit.[41] It was later announced that the Khorasan's chief bombmaker David Drugeon was believed to have been killed in the attack,[42] but later reports indicated he was only wounded.[43]

The US carried out a third raid on the group on 13 November 2014.[44]

On 18 November, the Syrian Army ambushed a group of Khorasan militants in the countryside of Latakia in a separate operation. Eleven members of the group were killed and another 13 were wounded or captured. The Kazakh and Chechen field commanders of the unit, along with Burmese and Saudi jihadists, were among the dead. The attack also left seven al-Nusra Front fighters dead.[45]

On 19 November, the US launched another airstrike on Khorasan near Harim, Syria, which struck and destroyed a storage facility associated with the group.[46]

On 1 December 2014, the US carried out another airstrike on Khorasan near Aleppo.[47] On 10 December, the CIA stated that both Muhsin al-Fadhli and David Drugeon, who were both thought dead after US airstrikes, were still alive. Drugeon was said to be badly wounded, and was recuperating in a Khorasan-operated hospital.[43]

On 24 March 2015, it was reported that 17 Khorasan fighters had been killed by US airstrikes targeting the group, since the beginning of the campaign on 22 September 2014.[48]

On 20 May 2015, the US conducted 2 airstrikes on Khorasan targets in the Idlib Province, killing Algerian jihadist Said Arif, who was a US-designated terrorist that had become the military chief of Jund al-Aqsa.[11]

On 1 July 2015, David Drugeon was killed by a US airstrike to the west of Aleppo, though his death was not reported until 11 September 2015.[23]

In late July 2015, the Pentagon claimed that it had killed Muhsin al-Fadhli on 8 July 2015, in an airstrike on a vehicle near Sarmada, Syria.[22] After the death of Muhsin al-Fadli, FBI Director James Comey stated that Khorasan had become "diminished," and that ISIL was now a bigger threat to the US than al-Qaeda or the Khorasan group.[24]

On 18 October 2015, it was reported that Sanafi al-Nasr, the new leader of the Khorasan group, was killed in a US airstrike on 15 October 2015. He was formerly al-Qaeda's chief financial officer, and he was also said to have been the 5th Khorasan senior leader killed by US airstrikes in the last 4 months.[6]

On 3 April 2016, Abu Firas al Suri, seen as a leading figure within the Khorasan group, was killed in a US airstrike. [49] Later in the same week, a second airstrike killed several Khorasan militants, including Rifai Ahmed Taha Musa, who attempted in January 2016 to unite Ahrar ash-Sham with al Nusra front. [50]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Phillips, James; Siegel, Josh (20 September 2014). "Q&A: Meet Khorasan, the Terrorist Group That Might Be Scarier Than ISIS". The Daily Signal. Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Al-Qaida Reasserts Itself With Khorasan Group". NPR. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Hudson, Valerie. The Hillary Doctrine. Columbia University. p. 154. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  4. 1 2 "French bomb-maker with Khorasan radicalized over 'several years'". Foreign Policy. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.(subscription required)
  5. 1 2 "Key al-Qaeda figure Muhsin al-Fadhli killed in U.S. airstrike in Syria - Pentagon". BNO News. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 Top al Qaeda leader Sanafi al-Nasr killed in U.S. airstrike, Pentagon says
  7. ↑ http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/04/us-strikes-al-qaedas-khorasan-group-in-syria.php
  8. ↑ "Details of the mission against militants in Syria". Associated Press. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  9. 1 2 Herridge, Catherine (23 September 2014). "US strikes target Al Qaeda veterans in Syria plotting 'imminent attack'". Fox News. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Syria's Qaeda leader killed in explosion - ARA News". ARA News.
  11. 1 2 3 "An internal struggle: Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate is grappling with its identity". Brookings Institution. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Airstrikes in Syria That Targeted Khorasan Group Disrupted Plots Against US, Gen. Dempsey Says". ABC News. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  13. ↑ "The strange story behind the ‘Khorasan’ group’s name". Washington Post. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  14. ↑ "Syrian Army Lays a Huge Ambush on the Khorasan Group in Latakia". Al-Masdar. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  15. 1 2 Karouny, Mariam (26 September 2014). "Insight - U.S.-led strikes pressure al Qaeda's Syria group to join with Islamic State". Reuters. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "US admits there is a much scarier terrorist group than ISIS". RT. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  17. 1 2 3 "Syria Airstrikes Failed To Cripple Khorasan Threat". AP. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  18. ↑ Banco, Erin (5 November 2014). "Khorasan Group disappears from US political rhetoric, raising questions about its existence". International Business Times. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  19. ↑ Makarechi, Kia (29 September 2014). "Did the government invent an "imminent" threat to bolster support for war?". Vanity Fair.
  20. 1 2 "Nusra leader: Our mission is to defeat Syrian regime". Al Jazeera English. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  21. ↑ Lister , Charles (1 June 2015). "An Internal Struggle: Al Qaeda's Syrian Affiliate Is Grappling With Its Identity". Huffington Post. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Senior al-Qaida figure, Muhsin al-Fadhli, killed in US air strike in Syria, officials say". the Guardian.
  23. 1 2 "French jihadist Drugeon killed in Syria: US official". AFP. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  24. 1 2 Evan Perez; Tom LoBianco (23 July 2015). "James Comey says Khorasan Group diminished". CNN.
  25. ↑ Release No: NR-400-15 (October 18, 2015). Statement on Airstrike in Syria that Killed Sanafi al-Nasr. U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved: October 18, 2015.
  26. ↑ Khorasan
  27. ↑ "Khorāsān". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  28. ↑ "Al Qaeda Plotters in Syria ‘Went Dark,’ U.S. Spies Say". Newsweek. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  29. ↑ "Nov. 6: U.S. Military Forces Conduct Airstrikes Against Khorasan Group Terrorist Network in Syria". United States Central Command. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  30. ↑ "Meet The Khorasan, The Terrorist Group That's Suddenly A Bigger Threat Than ISIS". Business Insider Australia. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  31. ↑ "Syria’s hard cell: Rise of Khorasan group alarms U.S.". The Pueblo Chieftain. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  32. ↑ "French bomb-maker with Khorasan radicalized over 'several years'". CNN. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  33. ↑ "Khorasan leader’s death suggested in militant tweets". AFP. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  34. ↑ Paraszczuk, Joanna (2 October 2014). "Wolf or Khorasan: Who was Jabhat al-Nusra’s Abu Yusuf al-Turki?". Chechens in Syria. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  35. 1 2 Levs, Josh; Cruickshank, Paul; Lister, Tim (23 September 2014). "U.S. strikes Khorasan Group in Syria". CNN. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  36. ↑ "Khorasan terrorists will attack US 'very, very soon,' FBI director warns". RT. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  37. 1 2 "What Is the "Khorasan Group" and Why Is the U.S. Bombing It in Syria?". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  38. ↑ Greenwald, Glenn; Hussain, Murtaza (28 September 2014). "The fake terror threat used to justify bombing Syria". The Intercept. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  39. ↑ Cruickshank, Michael (5 December 2014). "The myth of the Khorasan Group". Conflict News.
  40. ↑ "US strikes Khorasan Group targets in Syria". Anadolu Agency. 6 November 2014.
  41. ↑ "Report: Airstrikes target another Islamist group in Syria". CNN. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  42. ↑ "U.S. strike in Syria reportedly kills key bomb-maker". CNN. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  43. 1 2 "Officials: Khorasan Group bomb maker thought dead survived". CNN. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  44. ↑ "US bombs Al-Qaeda offshoot Khorasan for third time". AFP. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  45. ↑ "Syrian Army Lays a Huge Ambush on the Khorasan Group in Latakia". Al-Masdar News. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  46. ↑ "Airstrikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria, Iraq". United States Department of Defense. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  47. ↑ "Airstrikes continue against ISIL in Syria, Iraq". United States Department of Defense. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  48. ↑ http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2015/03/24/Nusra-Front-quietly-rises-in-Syria-as-ISIS-targeted.html
  49. ↑ "Al Nusrah Front confirms al Qaeda veteran killed in US airstrike | The Long War Journal". The Long War Journal. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  50. ↑ "US strikes al Qaeda’s ‘Khorasan Group’ in Syria | The Long War Journal". The Long War Journal. Retrieved 2016-04-13.

Further reading

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