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Posted on 09/29/2001 7:02:59 AM PDT by Ron C.

FReepers PLEASE NOTE: This source is new to FR, and not yet shown to be completely reliable. But it is the work of an Israeli who has been connected with Mideast military and intelligence sources for 30 plus years - so it is expected his contacts are numerous, if not completely reliable. The source correctly identified the temporary inability of the US to gain access to a needed Saudi base, prior to confirmation by US sources. At, any rate, what is said here is at least interesting, if not shown to be wholly accurate as yet

Bin Laden Readies 5 Warfronts
29 September: DEBKAfile intelligence sources name three locations in the forbidding mountains of Little Pamir, Afghanistan, as the present hideouts of the ex-Saudi terror master, Osama Bin Laden: a set of chambers buried in the mountains south of the Sari Qul Valley; a site on the Tadjik frontier north of Buzai Gumabad, and a fort carved out of the mountains northeast of Wakhyir, the wayside station on the old caravan route to China.

None of these locations are visible to aerial or satellite surveillance.

Under 200 close followers occupy his main retreat; some 2,500-3,000 Al Qaeda partisans, his eyes and ears, are distributed at key points of Little Pamir's mountain valleys and mingle with friendly local fundamentalists.

American strategists know more or less where he is, but reaching the locations is a tall order. They have therefore posted a small force of Special Forces commandos 'mostly SEAL and Delta units' in the Tadjik center of Dzhartygumbez, no more than 35 miles from the Little Pamir panhandle, sending small squads in on reconnaissance missions to pick up any clues leading to Bin Laden's precise whereabouts.

Some have skirmished with outlying Al Qaeda patrols and sentries scattered round the mountain valleys. With the US units are Russian elite forces intelligence officers, armed with maps, Russian troops permanently posted in Tadjikistan and Tadjik mountain guides.

The Americans hope to cut the Pamir panhandle off, bottle Bin Laden up in his retreat and then move in to capture him before the cruel mountain winter sets in. The first snow has already begun to fall.

According to DEBKAfiles intelligence sources, Bin Laden though in hiding is still on top of things. Before going to ground, he divided his top officers into five autonomous commands armed with guidelines and missions.

He himself leads the Afghanistan-Pakistan-Tadjikistan command; the Central Asian command is led by the Uzbek fundamentalist Jumma Mamangani. It is based in the strategic Ferghana Valley that straddles Kyrgizia, Tadjikistan and Uzbekistan; the Balkan command comes under the Egyptian Jihad Islami chief Ayman al-Zawahri. It is based in Albania or Kosovo and covers also Europe and the UK; the commander of the Gulf-Middle East command is the Tehran-based former Hizballah hostage taker Imad Mughniyeh; and the North Africa-Spain-France command is headed by the Algerian Islamic extremist Fateh Kamel who enjoys strong links to the international corporate world.

Al Zawahri and Kamel also lead operations in North America by the remote control of deep-cover cells and sleepers, mainly through Canada.

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