North Africa: Shifts of geography of terrorism and threat of ISIS lone wolves in Maghreb
The terrorist lone wolves of ISIS
have re-emerged in the Maghreb region, taking advantage of the tension that the
world is witnessing at the present time, which confirms that the
transformations of the geography of terrorism may appear more during the coming
period, especially in the Maghreb region.
Terrorist
project
The Moroccan authorities announced
on Wednesday, March 2, that they had arrested a 27-year-old person on the
outskirts of the southeastern city of Tata who was suspected of financing ISIS
and was preparing to implement a terrorist project targeting foreign citizens
and officials, according to an official statement from Morocco’s counterterrorism
police.
In February, Morocco dismantled
sleeper cells affiliated with ISIS that were planning to carry out terrorist
operations inside the country and intending to join the camps in the Sahel
region with the aim of conducting combat operations.
The danger of Moroccan returnees is
a hotbed of tension, especially since ISIS has received painful blows, the
latest of which is the killing of leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi,
which may allow the return of Moroccan fighters in an attempt to gain a place within
the terrorist cells emerging in the African Sahel to strengthen their power, as
well as the sleeper cells inside Morocco attracting children on the one hand
and relying on rural areas on the other in order to carry out training in more
comfortable conditions.
At the end of February, the Algerian
National Army was able to arrest four elements supporting terrorist groups
across different regions in Algeria.
On February 20, the forces of the
Algerian National Army killed seven terrorists in the forest of Oued El Douar
in the town of Beni Zid in Skikda Province, according to a statement by the
Algerian Ministry of Defense.
Security
transformations
The recent security strike by
Morocco reflects a transformation in the terrorist phenomenon in the Kingdom, as
it becomes clear that it has lone wolves that feed on extremist ideology
through the internet, as what is happening in the world today may lead to the
emergence of the phenomenon of global terrorism more severely.
The current period may bring about a
shift in the geography of terrorist groups that will find an opportunity in the
current global tensions to re-emerge, as the elements that were recruited in
ISIS in Iraq and Syria did not find refuge after the dissolution of the
organization, and they could turn to other arenas to reactivate their
activities.
The spread of lone wolves was not
limited to just one country, especially since in light of technological
progress, communication through the internet has become largely possible, as
some reports and information indicate that elements in Algeria, Morocco, and
even Tunisia were previously benefiting from the organization’s concentration
in the Libyan desert.
Algerian
experience
Algeria, with its long experience in
combating terrorism and the state of alertness of its military and security
forces, has managed to limit the impact of terrorist operations in the country,
where individual operations represent a war of attrition and diversion of the
efforts of the security forces.
The defense of Algerian national
security is based in principle on two inseparable approaches: that of the
Algerian army and the Algerian diplomatic approach. With the deterioration of
the political and security situation in its various manifestations and
complexities in North Africa (the Libyan crisis) and the Sahel, decision-makers
in Algeria realized the need to think about redoubling efforts in order to
confront the various challenges and stakes that are increasing at an alarming
pace.
The spread of lone wolves is part of
the attrition processes, but the spread remains limited in view of the people's
awareness of the danger of the phenomenon, their cooperation with the security
forces and the experience of the latter.
In March 2017, the so-called Group
to Support Islam and Muslims was founded, led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, which includes
the Emirate of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in the Sahara belonging to the
Algerian Yahya Abu Hammam, Ansar Dine led by Ghaly himself, and Al-Mourabitoun
affiliated with Mohamed OuldNouini, better known as Hassan al-Ansari, as well
as Amadou Koufa's Macina Liberation Front.
In January 2020, ISIS launched an
attack on the armed forces of Niger deployed in Chinagodrar near the border
with Mali, leaving 77 people dead.
ISIS also launched 59 attacks in
2020 and three attacks in 2020 against al-Qaeda in West Africa in the Sahel
region.
