and now a few words on the HezBUTTS!
Seem the HezBUTTS are losing support amongst the MidEast too:
Apparantly Jamaa Islamiya is none too happy with Zawahiri's statement from yesterday that the groups have merged.
I can't think of another case where a significant Islamist group has gotten in Al Qaeda's face like this. This will be interesting to watch..
The following statement was published on the website of the Jamaa Islamiya website:
The Islamic Group (Jamaa Islamiya) in Egypt denounces the Al Jazeera broadcast of the speech of Dr. Ayman Al Zawahiri that announces that they have joined the Al-Qaeda network, and denies that it has joined the group.
With regard to Dr Ayman's statements regarding some of the leaders of the group that it claims is joining Al-Qaeda, these are flagrant lies.
It is known that Dr. Omar Abdul Rahman was and still is amongst the strongest supporters of the initiative that the group announced in 1997, and he is still captive in the American prisons till today, may God ease his problems and may Allah raise his status.
As for Sheikh Abdul Akher Hammad, he has already declared on Al Jazeera that the reports that he joined Al Qaeda are false.
As for Sheikh Rafai Taha, since August 1998 he has withdrawal from the international jihad against the Jews and crusaders. He then reiterated his commitment to the Group. He remains imprisoned until today in an Egyptian prison, where he was since 2001. All that is known about him is that he confirms his commitment to the Group and its policies.
As for Sheikh Mohamed Mostafa al Muqri, he has made clear his support for the Initiative by publishing a book stating that Islamic Sharia prohibits the killing of civilians. Everything that he has written contradicts the beliefs of the Al Qaeda network regarding killing civilians.
And Brother Mohamed Khalil Al Hukayma, who appeared remains in the statement that Al Jazeera broadcast. If he is a brother we are not aware and do not know him, and he has no been for a single day a leader of the Jamaa Islamiya. His joining Al Qaeda is only his personal decision (act), nothing more or less.
There remains a disagreement between Jamaa Islamiya and Al Qaeda network, one that is a deep disagreement in see reality, how they define targets (goals) and methods, and their strategies. The group has written the Al Qaeda leaders several messages asking that they reconsider their views and save the energy of jihad that sleeps in the sould of believers wherever there are unfair colonizer or sinful occupier, and distance itself from the explosions of Riyadh and Casablanca, and instead of a strategy that united the enemies and fights the entire world.
Al Jamaa Al Islamiya
Karam Zohdi, Najeh Ibrahim, Issam Derbalah, Osamah Hafez, Fouad al Dawalibi, Ali Al Sherif, Asem Abdel Majid, Hamdi Abdel Rahman
For more translations and news on terrorism, visit http://www.lauramansfield.com