As the Islamic State is driven out of its former strongholds, a U.N. panel is warning that the next big terror threat in the region could come, once again, from Al Qaeda — led by the son of Usama bin Laden.
The report by U.N. experts, delivered to the Security Council and released this week, included startling findings about both terror networks. The report found that while ISIS had been defeated militarily in Iraq and most of Syria, it had rallied in early 2018 and still had approximately 20,000-30,000 members in the two countries.
The U.S.-led coalition in the region racked up numerous military wins against the group in 2017 and helped reduce its territory to mere pockets of Syria. At the State of the Union address this year, President Trump declared victory: “I’m proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and in Syria.”
The U.N. report found ISIS, though, is in the process of moving from “a proto-State network to a covert network” that continues to threaten other countries, and its leadership is still in tact, under Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
Yet the report also raised significant concerns about Al Qaeda, which fell into the background amid the international attention on ISIS and its brutal tactics, particularly after the death of Usama bin Laden in 2011.
The report found that Al Qaeda is still a global network showing resilience, and it is stronger than ISIS in places like Somalia, Yemen and South Asia — and its leadership in Iran has grown more prominent.
Further, bin Laden’s son — Hamza bin Laden — has “continued to emerge as a leadership figure in Al Qaeda,” the report said. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Sometimes when people marry, they really deserve each other.
That’s never been truer than the marriage between Hamza bin Laden and the daughter of the lead hijacker in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as reported by the U.K. Guardian.
As Fox News’ Katherine Lam noted, this is truly a “match made in Hell.”
Hamza is the son of Osama bin Laden by one of bin Laden’s three surviving wives. He has previously said that he wants to avenge his father’s death.
Hamza is reportedly married to the daughter of Mohammed Atta. He was the Egyptian national who led the 9/11 hijackers and himself hijacked the first plane that flew into the World Trade Center. – READ MORE
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