Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia)
Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia | |
---|---|
Leaders | Abu Ayyad al-Tunisi † |
Dates of operation | 2011–present |
Active regions | Tunisia |
Ideology | Islamism Salafi jihadism Islamic fundamentalism |
Size | 10,000 (2013)[1] 120–140 (2024)[2][1] |
Part of | Al-Qaeda[3] |
Allies | Ansar al-Sharia (Libya) Ansar al-Sharia (Mali) |
Designated as a terrorist group by | Tunisia Iraq United Arab Emirates United States United Kingdom United Nations |
Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (
Background
Following the
Abu Ayadh aka ben Hassine founded Ansar al-Sharia in late April 2011. The group quickly established a media branch, al-Qairawan Media Foundation, and developed different media outlets including a
Members of Ansar al-Sharia have regularly taken part in protests in Tunisia against perceived
The group was designated as a terrorist organisation by the Tunisian government in August 2013.
An interview conducted over the course of three different meetings between January and March 2013 with a young leader of Ansar al-Sharia based in
From the perspective of the development of our group’s theoretical framework/worldview, some of the most influential Salafi activists include: Abu Quttada al-Falestini, Abu Mohammed al-Maqdassi, Abu Basir Tartusi, Hani Sabahi, and al-Aulaki. Abu Kottada al-Falestini is probably the most influential among them--our brothers that were in Europe over the past years all flocked to listen to his lessons. It is not strange then that Abu Yadh [aka ben Hassine] himself or Abdallah al-Tunsi [aka ben Hassine?] went to him as well. Sheikh Hani Sabahi is also respected in our movement. We have a steady contact with him and he is very sympathetic to our experience.
Ben Hassine was reportedly killed in a US airstrike in Libya in June 2015.[19] In March 2020, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb leader Abdelmalek Droukdel announced Ben Hassine's death but did not say when he died.[20]
Criticism
In its weekly newspaper al-Naba, in an article eulogizing Shaykh Abu Layla Kamal Zarruq al-Tunisi al-Qurashi, a Tunisian leader in the
The Ansar ash-Shari’ah organization, which was at the forefront, suffered from several problems, the most important being the misguidance of its leader, Abu ‘Iyad, and his promotion of Ayman al-Zawahiri ideas regarding their intention to make Tunisia an ’ard da’wah" (land of invitation) and not an "ard jihad" (land of waging jihad), which reassured the taghut so-called "post-Arab revolutions governments" that they would not fight them, instead asking them to give them room to simply "invite". It also suffered from Abu ‘Iyad’s ideas that were restricted to the country, focused on limiting the work to Tunisia, and based on his desire to lead the global jihad, despite his lack of experience and his weakness, which in turn led his organization in to the abyss when the new taghut revealed to them its new face.
Thus, those connected to him experienced the worst of torture, many of them being leaders of the organization, and only a few people survived this holocaust to which they were led by Abu ‘Iyad and his foolishness, frailty, and preferring his own opinions and those of his shaykh Abu Qatada al-Filastini and his "emir" Ayman adh-Dhawahiri. Those few who survived were they whom Allah guided to hijrah and jihad for the cause of Allah by opposing Abu Ayadh, who refused that the youth should emerge onto the battlefields of jihad, and specifically in Sham, wanting to keep them under his control, to use them in his failed projects and hand them over with his foolishness, to the tawaghit.[21]
Foreign relations
Designation as a terrorist organization
Countries and organizations below have officially listed the Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia as a terrorist organization.
Country/Organisation | Date | References |
Tunisia | August 2013 | [16] |
United States | 23 September 2014 | [22][23] |
United Kingdom | April 2014 | [6] |
United Arab Emirates | November 2014 | [24] |
United Nations | 23 September 2014 | [25] |
Iraq | ? | [26] |
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Meeting Tunisia's Ansar al-Sharia". Foreign Policy. 8 March 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ "S/2024/92". UN. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ a b "Ansar al Sharia responds to Tunisian government | FDD's Long War Journal". 3 September 2013.
- ^ Eurasia Review: "Tunisian Salafism: The Rise And Fall Of Ansar Al-Sharia – Analysis" By Christine Petré October 9, 2015
- ^ "Tunisia declares Ansar al-Sharia a terrorist group". BBC News. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ a b "Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations" (PDF). Home Office. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ^ "US Declares Ansar al-Sharia a Terrorist Organization". BBC News. 10 January 2014. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ telegraph.co.uk: "Tunisia attack: gunman's links to Britain", 30 Jun 2015
- ^ "Tarek Maaroufi: Tunisia's Most Notorious Jihadist, Returns Home". Tunisia Live. 1 April 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ a b "The Salafi Challenge to Tunisia's Nascent Democracy". Washington Institute. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ "Radical Islamists urge bigger role for Islam in Tunisia". Reuters. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- Al Akhbar. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ "Tunisia: Conservative Islamists Riot Over Art Exhibit". New York Times. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ "Two dead as protesters attack U.S. embassy in Tunisia". Reuters. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
- ^ "Tunisia leaders evicted from police memorial". Al Jazeera English. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Tunisia declares Ansar al-Sharia a terrorist group". BBC News. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
- ^ "The Rise and Decline of Ansar al-Sharia in Libya". Hudson Institute. 6 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
- ^ jadaliyya.com: "Salafism in Tunisia: An Interview with a Member of Ansar al-Sharia", 11 Apr 2013
- ^ "Senior Tunisian jihadist and Osama bin Laden associate 'killed by US strike in Libya'", 3 Jul 2015
- ^ "Al Qaeda confirma morte do fundador de grupo extremista da Tunísia". 3 March 2020.
- ^ https://halummu.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/shaykh-kamal-zarruq-at-tunisi.pdf [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
- ^ Designates Entities-26-11-2014
- WAM. 15 November 2014. Archived from the originalon 24 December 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- ^ "Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee Adds Fourteen Individuals and Two Entities to Its Sanctions List". United Nations. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ الموضوع moj.gov.iq (in Arabic)
Further reading
- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bridget Moreng & Kathleen Soucy, Raising the Stakes: Ansar Al-Sharia in Tunisia's Shift to Jihad (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague, 2014) Archived 10 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia's Long Game: Dawa, Hisba and Jihad (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague, 2013) Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine