The libia.it website reported that the Libyan Islamist component, represented by the Libyan National Assembly of Revolutionaries on February 17th, convened a demonstration in the capital on January 7th against the arrival of the European delegation and in support of the Agreement between Erdogan and Serraj. The group affirmed its clear refusal to visit Borell and the foreign ministers of Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and France in Libya, which would aim to derail the deployment of Turkish forces in favor of the militias and terrorists supported by the Muslim Brotherhood and from Ankara.
La Muslim brotherhood (AI-Khwan Al-Muslimun) is recognized as a terrorist movement by most Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, as well as by Russia and the American administration of President Donal Trump is also going into this sense. The group was founded in 1928 in Egypt as a religious, social and political organization and has evolved in the following decades assuming an international character that aims to move away from secularism and return to a system of government managed by Islamic law, the sharia. Hence, the creation of an Islamic State just like other more bloody terrorist groups: Daesh and al-Qaeda. Erdogan today does not hide his support for extremist groups and his role is similar to that of Bin Laden, but more dangerous if you think that he acts under the umbrella of political legitimacy. Although the Brotherhood was previously committed to operating with violent tactics to secure its goals, as well as Daesh, it currently rejects the use of violence and tries to get more involved in the traditional political process by using the media and propaganda mechanisms to establish itself as a democratic movement. , as happened in Libya where Daesh, al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia have been promoted as legitimate groups that opposed the risk of a military dictatorship, represented by the LNA, leveraging on the fragmentation of the post-revolutionary Libyan social fabric.
Since its founding, the Muslim Brotherhood has profoundly influenced political life in the Middle East. His motto is to say: “Allah is our goal. The prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying on the way to Allah is our highest hope. " If the radical ideas of the Brotherhood have shaped the beliefs of generations of Islamists, in the past two decades, it has lost some of its power and charm in the Middle East, snubbed by the younger generations of Islamists who often prefer more radical organizations. But the Middle East is only a part of the Islamic world. Europe, in fact, to which Erdogan aims with the sending of terrorists to Libya, has become the incubator of Islamic thought and political development. Since the early 60s, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and sympathizers have traveled to Europe and have slowly but steadily established a vast and well-organized network of mosques, charitable organizations, think thank you and Islamic organizations. "Unlike the wider Islamic community - wrote Professor Lorenzo Vidino in 2005 - the ultimate goal of the Brotherhood could not be simply to help Muslims be the best citizens they can be, but rather to extend Islamic law in Europe and in the States States ". Erdogan's sending of terrorists to Libya is part of this plan if we consider the country's strategic position in the region.
Interpol has already confirmed the terrorist threat from Libya, identifying the potential for infiltration into migrants' routes in Europe and the possibility of exploiting this illegal entry point in order to allow radicalized individuals to carry out attacks in Europe on its behalf or engage in other subversive activities, such as distributing propaganda or raising funds. The arrival of terrorists from Syria to Libya should also worry Europe about the almost imminent access to people who are often vulnerable in southern Libya, mainly migrants traveling to Europe who can be recruited as fighters, as well as being able to radicalize parts of the local population exploiting the political division of the country. Libya's geographical position in North Africa, in conjunction with the sub-Saharan African border and the display of a vast coast towards the Mediterranean Sea, although not the only factors - says Interpol - are decisive in leading Libya to become a transit country for migration in Europe. "Looking at the previous terrorist attacks in Europe, it is clear that ISIS has exploited the migratory routes in the continent". He adds the report, highlighting concerns that some terrorists will continue to attempt to enter Europe both at EU level and among Libyan security officials convinced that Daesh is collaborating with migrant smugglers now engaged in the front against the LNA, such as Abdulrahman al-Milad known as Bija, who in November 2017 was invited to Italy as an officer of the Libyan Coast Guard of Zawiya.
There is no shortage of examples of terrorists who have already arrived in Europe from Libya. Alagie Touray, a Gambian citizen arriving in Messina, Italy in the spring of 2018 and awaiting refugee status, appears to have planned an attack in Europe. After his arrest in Italy, a video was found containing a loyalty oath to Daesh, recorded and sent via Telegram to a series of recipients. Two major ISIS terrorist attacks, the one with a truck in December 2016 at an Christmas market in Berlin by Anis Amri and the bomb attack on the Manchester concert by the suicide terrorist Salman Abedi in May 2017, focused attention on ISIS activity in Libya. Both attacks were claimed by Daesh through his Amaq news agency. The links with Libya are of different qualities: the Tunisian Anis Amri received an online didactic guide and motivational support, while Salman Abedi, a British citizen of Libyan origin, physically went to Libya, where he reportedly met members of the IS and received instructions in person. The fact that both cases connect to Libya shows that Daesh has been able to establish an operational hub on Libyan soil that works to connect North African extremists in Europe. Jihadists have already used routes in the Mediterranean for arms trafficking and could improve their skills and expand their operations by taking advantage of the protracted conflict.
The concerns become more concrete if we consider Turkey's approach and policies towards Daesh in Iraq and Syria. The Turkish government, hub of the International Muslim Brotherhood, has been accused of connivance several times, secretly providing financial and military support or at least tolerating ISIS. The decline of the Islamic State, almost four years after its appearance in these countries, was the result of an aggressive military campaign to fight the group, mainly led by the United States. Although Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tried to take credit for the group's death by insisting that Turkey's actions in northern Syria helped lay the foundations for sustainable peace, international observers noted that Turkey's actions instead helped fuel the rise of the Islamic state. Starting in late 2013 and early 2014, Turkish border towns became the main logistical hubs for foreign fighters who sought to enter Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State and other rebel groups. The same ones that are being redistributed in Libya today. It should also not be forgotten that foreign fighters from all over the world traveled first to Turkey and then to Iraq and Syria, forming the backbone and surprising power of ISIS. In 2013 alone, some 30.000 militants crossed Turkish soil, establishing the so-called jihadist highway, while the country became a channel for fighters seeking to join the Islamic State. In August 2015, only when all the fighters had already arrived in Syria, Turkey strengthened its borders and agreed to engage in missions such as Operation Inherent Resolve.
An account of Turkish support for Daesh is provided by Abu Mansour al Maghrebi, who, interviewed by the non-profit news agency Homeland Security Today in March 2019, said: “There have been some agreements and understandings between Turkish intelligence and the ISIS internal security organization, emis Isis, at border gates for people who were injured, ”Abu Mansour noted. "I had a direct meeting with the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), many meetings with them". “I crossed borders and they let me through. At the border, the Turks always sent me a car and I was protected. A team of 2-3 from our side was with me. I was in charge of our team most of the time ”. The leader of Daesh Abu Mansour added. There are many other examples of Erdogan's passive support for Syrian fighters, including wounded Islamic State militants treated for free in hospitals in southeastern Turkey. The same medical treatment was reserved for the Libyan extremists who participated in the attacks on the Oil Crescent with Ibrahim Jadhran, in June 2018, and even before for the commanders of al-Qaeda and the Misrata Third Force, responsible for the massacre of Brak al Shati in 2017. , in which over 150 people, mostly civilians, were killed. The attacks were justified as an attempt by the GNA to expand its territorial legitimacy, which never happened.
There was also widespread news of Turkish officials, including the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, involved in the purchase of oil from the Islamic State through front companies - actions that no doubt contributed to filling the insurgent coffers and the longevity of the group. . Daesh smuggling oil has been constantly sold in points along the Turkish border throughout 2014 and until 2015. The most shocking revelations from Erdogan's government and the ISIS oil business came from Russia, which is now working with Turkey to neutralize the jihadist threat in northern Syria. After a Russian warplane was shot down on the Turkish-Syrian border by a Turkish F-16 on 24 November 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin directly accused Turkey, in particular Turkish President Erdoğan and his family, of have commercial ties to ISIS and help sell its oil. After his jet was shot down and the pilot was assassinated, Russia was in the throes of massive anger. Without spending much time on the details of the border confrontation, the Russian side suddenly launched a series of accusations of help and support from Turkey against ISIS terrorists. Putin said: "We have every reason to think that the decision to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to protect the Turkish oil supply lines." Putin added that “this incident differs from the usual fight against terrorism. Our troops are heroically fighting against terrorists, risking their lives. But the loss we suffered today was caused by a stab in the back of accomplices of terrorists. "
A Rystad Energy report commissioned by the Norwegian government represents another serious contribution to the debate on Turkey's role in the terrorist oil trade network. The report determined that most of the oil sold by ISIS was sold directly to Turkey. Joseph Fallon, an Islamic extremist expert and research associate of the United Kingdom Defense Forum, told Fox News that an ISIS network was trading in oil through smuggling routes through Syria, Iraq and Turkey, where then they bribed or threatened government officials to accept their oil and get market prices paid, adding that when mixed with oil in legitimate oil pipelines, it becomes untraceable. Although they vary in detail, all these stories, studies and witness statements share the same common point, that Turkey contributed to the rise of ISIS through the role of facilitator and sometimes also through an active role in the oil trade, which it served as a lifeblood for ISIS.
At this point, we must also remember the journalist Serena Shim, an American citizen of Lebanese origins, who reported on the field the Syrian civil war, killed in a car accident in October 2014, a day after declaring that she was threatened by the Turkish intelligence agency for reporting that ISIS and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters were crossing the Turkish border in a truck. The circumstances of his death are still a mystery as are those of his Maltese colleague, Daphne Caruana Galizia, murdered in a bomb attack while investigating international oil smuggling between Libya, Malta, Italy and Turkey.