There is also an element of “Wish You Were Here” photography to many of the photos of the ISI’s flag being unfurled around the Arab world and posted in jihadi forums.
It could just as easily be youth taking advantage of their newfound freedom to scare their elders, or repressed Salafis using the most shocking symbol possible to voice their anger in public. He appearance of the flag in other Arab countries is not necessarily evidence of growing support for al Qaeda or terrorist group’s presence.
Writing at Foreign Policy, Will McCants, a former State Department counterterrorism adviser, says that the flag’s “appearance in Benghazi certainly raises questions about the sympathies of some within the movement that ousted Muammar al-Qaddafi, adding to widespread reports of fighters sympathetic to al Qaeda among the rebels.” But he cautions against reading too much into the use of the flag:
#Middle east flags free
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Īs I wrote last week, the appearance of a flag used by Al Qaeda in Iraq flying over a Benghazi courthouse has caused some anxiety over the extent of extremist sympathies among rebels in Libya.Ī similar flag-which Brandeis researcher Aaron Zelin identifies as being associated with the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization of jihadists that includes al-Qaeda’s Iraqi franchise-has been popping up elsewhere in the region. This second flag has been described in some quarters as cause for concern and been greeted with outright hysteria in others. Earlier this morning, the Clarion Fund, a conservative organization where current Mitt Romney adviser and former Lebanese Forces member Walid Phares serves on the advisory board, sent out an email warning that Al Qaeda “had seized control of Libya.”
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