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MidEast Terror Threatens Governments’ Stability

[Analysis] Islamic terrorism across the Middle East has made top headlines in many of the region’s countries this week, fueling internal and cross-border tensions, and at times even threatening top ministers’ jobs.
 
In Afghanistan, at least 15 people were killed Tuesday during an attack conducted by the Islamic Taliban movement in the eastern district of Nanjahar. Among those killed were police officers and heads of local tribes, who were participating in a local summit.
 
But even more significant was the failed attempt on the Afghani president’s life earlier this week during a ceremony in honor of the Afghani holy warriors, who fought the Soviets during the 1980s. The Taliban, using rockets and machine guns, managed to kill three people, including an Afghani MP, but missed their main target, President Hamid Karzai.
 
The historical irony, though, could not be missed. Many of the “terrorists” fighting today among the ranks of the Taliban against Karzai are the successors of the “holy warriors” who were honored by Karzai himself.    
 
Following the failed assassination, the Afghani parliament summoned the ministers of interior, intelligence and defense to explain their failure to thwart the attack. Not convinced by their explanations, many legislators have demanded the ministers be fired for incompetence. All three survived the vote, although two of them – the ministers of defense and interior –with only a small margin of 11 votes.
 
Meanwhile, the Afghani ministers’ counterparts in Somalia will probably not enjoy the same good fortune.
 
The recent successes of the Holy Warriors Youth (HWY) in conquering several towns in the southern and central regions of the country, have led President ‘Abdallah Yousuf to rethink his government’s make-up. Yousuf has already begun interviewing possible candidates to replace the ministers of interior and intelligence, a source at the president’s office told the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat.
 
The HWY is the armed wing of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), an organization which took over Somalia in 2006 and was ousted a year later by the Somali and Ethiopian armies. The HWY was designated a terror group by the U.S. in March 2008.
 
In the past 48 hours at least 30 people have been killed in clashes between the HWY and Ethiopian and Somali military units across the country. This escalation comes only two weeks ahead of a round of peace talks between the Somali interim government and the opposition alliance. Both the interim government and the HWY have announced that the latter would not participate in the talks.
 
In Yemen clashes between the army and the Shi’ite rebels in the north continued for the third day in succession. Eleven soldiers and insurgents were killed in a battle on Tuesday in the ‘Sa’da region.
 
In the capital ‘San’a a loud explosion was heard near the Italian embassy on Wednesday morning. Eyewitnesses reported they saw unidentified men firing two shells at the parking lot of a customs authority building near the embassy.
 
The local police said it was possible Al-Qa’ida was behind the attack, in which no casualties were reported. 
 
The Iraqi arena remains however, by far, the most terror-ridden in the world.
 
With close to 30 separate armed groups, many of which are affiliated with parliamentary parties, the U.S.-led coalition forces are fighting an almost lost battle.
 
The recent clashes of the U.S. and Iraqi forces with the armed group of Shi’ite leader Muqta’da A-‘Sadr, have revealed a direct Iranian involvement, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmai Khalilzad said on Tuesday.
 
Immediately following Khalilzad’s accusation, leader of the U.S.-backed ‘Sahwa Committees (SC) in Iraq issued an unprecedented warning to the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad.
 
SC leader ‘Ali Hatim responded to an announcement by the Iranian ambassador, according to which the SC is an illegal armed militia and therefore should be disarmed.
 
"The Iranian ambassador must not interfere in Iraqi matters. If he thinks that his diplomatic immunity gives him this right, then he is wrong. We are tribes which do not follow any diplomatic practices, so we will reason with him by force," said Hatim.
 
Hatim further blamed Iran for supporting "Al-Qa’ida and the militias with weapons, money and training."
 
The SC was established last year in Baghdad and several other cities. Numbering between 60,000 and 80,000, the SC comprises mainly Sunni armed volunteers. Since its establishment, the SC has reportedly helped lower the number of terror attacks committed by Al-Qa’ida, particularly in Baghdad.
 
Last week two top Iraqi security officials in Ba’sra were removed from their posts, after being accused of failure to reduce the number of terror attacks in the city. 
 
Meanwhile, tension in the Gulf has also risen as a result of the arrival of a second American aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.
 
"I don’t see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters Tuesday.
 
If plans go according to schedule, the second carrier is meant to replace one scheduled to leave the Gulf in two days, the Pentagon reported.