Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

by Raphael Lefevre

  11. James A. Paul, op. cit., p. 55.

  12. Interview with Walid Safour, London, 22 Sept. 2011.

  13. James A. Paul, op. cit., p. 56.

  14. Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni quoted in Alan George, Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom (London: Zed Books, 2003), p. 91.

  15. Interview with Issam al-Attar, Aachen, 19 Nov. 2011.

  16. For more information, see Syrian Human Rights Committee, “The Tadmur (Palmyra) prison massacre on its 27th anniversary”, 26 June 2007, also available at: http://www.shrc.org/data/aspx/d3/3243.aspx

  17. Quoted in Paul A. James, op. cit., p. 16.

  18. Rif’at al-Assad in an editorial in Tishrin, 1 July 1980 quoted in Paul A. James, op. cit., p. 16.

  19. Interview with Abdel Halim Khaddam, Paris, 23 June 2011.

  20. Interview with Mohammed Aldik, Paris, 8 Feb. 2012.

  21. Syrian Human Rights Committee, “Special Report: repressive laws in Syria”, 19 Feb. 2001, also available at: http://www.shrc.org/data/aspx/d4/254.aspx#D2

  22. Interview with Ahmed al-Uthman, Paris, 2 June 2011.

  23. Interview with Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, London, 30 Nov. 2011.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Interview with Muhammed Riyad al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011.

  26. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., pp. 13–14.

  27. Ibid., p. 35

  28. Unknown author, document found in Usama Bin Laden’s home in Abbottabad, Pakistan, referenced by West Point’s Center for Counter Terrorism as [SOCOM-2012–0000017], available online at: http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/letters-from-abbottabad-bin-ladin-sidelined

  29. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 37.

  30. Interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 3 Oct. 2011.

  31. Interview with Muhammed Hawari, Aachen, 19 Nov. 2011.

  32. Interview with Issam al-Attar, Aachen, 19 Dec. 2011.

  33. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 41.

  34. Michel Seurat (1989), op. cit., p. 57.

  35. US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), “Syria: Muslim Brotherhood pressure intensifies” (Secret), DDB-2630–34-B2, 22 Apr. 1982.

  36. Interview with Obeida Nahas, London 23 June 2011.

  37. Interview with Ahmed al-Uthman, Paris, 2 June 2011.

  38. A deputy leader of al-Tali’a quoted in Chris Kutschera, “Les Frères Musulmans et l’alliance politique”, Le Monde Diplomatique, March 1983.

  39. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 16.

  40. For the full text of the Islamic Front’s Charter, see Umar F. Abd-Allah, op. cit., pp. 148–90.

  41. Interview with Muhammed Hawari, Aachen, 19 Dec. 2011.

  42. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 40.

  43. Interview, name withheld on request, Jan. 2012.

  44. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 42.

  45. Ibid., p. 40.

  46. Ibid., p. 16.

  47. Ibid., p. 15.

  48. Ibid., p. 16.

  49. Interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 3 Oct. 2011.

  50. Interview with Muhammed Riyad al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011 and interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 20 July 2011. See also Alison Pargeter, The Muslim Brotherhood: The Burden of Tradition (London: Saqi Books, 2010), pp. 85–6.

  51. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 41.

  52. Interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 3 Oct. 2011.

  53. Interview with Muhammed Riyad al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011.

  54. Interview with Muhammed Riyad al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011 and interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 3 Oct. 2011.

  55. Adnan Saadeddine for instance stated “[Marwan Hadid] stayed in the Ikhwan and he didn’t leave it. We never kicked him out”: Adnan Saadeddine quoted in Alison Pargeter, op. cit., p. 77.

  56. Interview with Muhammed Riyad al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011.

  57. Interview with Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, London, 30 Nov. 2011. Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni’s suggestion that, in Hama, there was cooperation, if not fusion, between the local branches of al-Tali’a and the Syrian Brotherhood is partially confirmed by the release of an intelligence cable from the US Defense Intelligence Agency according to which Adnan Saadeddine “had acquired considerable experience with [al-Tali’a al-Muqatila]” and Said Hawwa, “his deputy”, had even “served as an assistant to Sheikh Marwan Haddid” up to the latter’s death. See US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), “Syria: Muslim Brotherhood pressure intensifies” (Secret), DDB-2630–34-B2, 22 Apr. 1982.

  58. Interview with Muhammed Aldik, Paris, 8 Feb. 2012.

  59. Interview with Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, London, 30 Nov. 2011.

  60. US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) cable, “Syria: Muslim Brotherhood pressure intensifies” (Secret), DDB-2630–34-B2, 22 Apr. 1982.

  61. This account is based on extensive discussions with Obeida Nahas, Ali al-Bayanuni and Zouheir Salem. Interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 21 July 2011; interview with Ali al-Bayanuni, London, 21 July 2011 and interview with Obeida Nahas, London, 23 June 2011.

  62. Interview with Muhammed Riyad al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011.

  63. Interview with Zouheir Salem, London, 20 July 2011.

  64. Interview with Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, London, 30 Nov. 2011.

  65. US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) cable, “Syria: Muslim Brotherhood pressure intensifies” (Secret), DDB-2630–34-B2, 22 Apr. 1982.

  66. James A. Paul, op. cit., p. 20.

  67. Patrick Seale, op. cit., p. 335.

  68. Eberhard Kienle, Ba’th v. Ba’th: The Conflict between Syria and Iraq, 1968–1989 (London: I.B. Tauris, 1990), p. 35.

  69. Amazia Baram, “Ideology and Power Politics in Syrian-Iraqi Relations, 1968–1984” in Moshe Ma’oz and Avner Yaniv (eds), Syria under Assad; Domestic Constraints and Regional Risks (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1986), p. 128.

  70. Interview with Abdel Halim Khaddam, Paris, 23 June 2011.

  71. Hanna Batatu (1999), op. cit., p. 269.

  72. Interview with Obeida Nahas, London 23 June 2011.

  73. Interview with Muhammed Riyadh al-Shuqfah, Istanbul, 9 Sept. 2011.

  74. Correspondence with Muhammed al-Jundi through an intermediary, Muhammed Aldik, 16 March 2012.

  75. Hafiz al-Assad quoted in Raymond Hinnebusch (1990), op. cit., p. 290.

  76. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri quoted in Brynjar Lia, Architect of Global Jihad: the Life of al-Qaeda Strategist Abu Mus’ab al-Suri (London: Hurst & Co., 2008), p. 44.

  77. President Sadat was eventually assassinated in October1981 by members of Islamic Jihad, a violent offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood set up in 1980 by the jihadist ideologue Muhammad Abdel Salam Faraj.

  78. Brynjar Lia (2008), op. cit., p. 45.

  79. Interview with Abdel Halim Khaddam, Paris, 23 June 2011.

  80. Interview with Obeida Nahas, London, 23 June 2011.

  81. Ibid.

  82. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 9.

  83. Ibid., p. 10.

  84. Ibid., p. 22.

  7. MILITANT ISLAM AFTER HAMA

  1. Thomas Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem (New York: Anchor, 1990), p. 76.

  2. It has been reported that former members of al-Tali’a, who participated in the Syrian jihad of the early 1980s, have now made their way back to fight the Ba’ath regime. For instance, a group including former Syrian jihadist fighters is called the Harakat al-Mu’uminun Yusharikun (the “Believers Participate Movement”) led by a former al-Tali’a member, Lu’ay al-Zu’bi. See Abdulrahman Alhaj, “Political Islam and the Syrian Revolution”, Al Jazeera Center for Studies, 10 June 2012.

  3. Interview with a former senior British Intelligence official, name withheld on request, Nov. 2011.

  4. US Embassy cable to State Department, “The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood”, DAMASCUS 575, 26 Feb. 1985.

  5. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 13.

  6. Ibid., p. 36.

  7. US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), “Syria: Muslim Brotherhood pressure intens
ifies” (Secret), DDB-2630–34-B2, 22 Apr. 1982.

  8. Interview with Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, London, 4 Sept. 2012.

  9. Interview, name withheld on request, Dec. 2011 and Feb. 2012.

  10. Interview, name withheld on request, Feb. 2012.

  11. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 13. A cable from the US Embassy in Damascus disputes Abu Mus’ab al-Suri’s claim that only a “few members” of al-Tali’a returned to Syria after having negotiated with the Assad regime. It instead suggests the number of former jihadist fighters who gave up their fight against the Ba’ath was then much higher: “we even have a report that some ‘few hundred’ al-Tali’a members have returned to Syria from refuge in Saudi Arabia”, the cable states. See US Embassy cable to State Department, “The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood”, DAMASCUS 575, 26 Feb. 1985.

  12. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri, op. cit., p. 35.

  13. Interview with Abdullah Anas, London, 2 Oct. 2011.

  14. Ibid.

  15. “Join the caravan” was the title of a book authored by Abdullah Azzam and also one of his catchphrases to implore Muslims across the world to rally around his call for jihad aimed at protecting Islamic lands from foreign domination. A copy of his volume translated into English is available at: http://www.hoor-al-ayn.com/Books/Join%20the%20Caravan.pdf

  16. Interview with Abdullah Anas, London, 2 Oct. 2011.

  17. Bernard Rougier, “Le jihad en Afghanistan et l’émergence du salafismejihadiste”, in Bernard Rougier (ed.), Qu’est ce que le salafisme? (Paris: PUF, 2008), pp. 65–86.

  18. Abdullah Azzam, “The solid base”, al-Jihad (Apr. 1988, No. 41), quoted in Rofl Mowatt-Larssen, “Al-Qaeda’s Religious Justification of Nuclear Terrorism”, Working Paper, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School (12 Oct. 2010).

  19. Bernard Rougier, “Le jihad en Afghanistan et l’émergence du salafismejihadisme” in Bernard Rougier (ed.) Qu’est ce que le salafisme? (Paris: PUF, 2008), p. 69.

  20. Interview with Abdullah Anas, London, 2 Oct. 2011.

  21. Brynjar Lia, op. cit., p. 74.

  22. Ibid., p. 73.

  23. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri quoted in Brynjar Lia, op. cit., pp. 74–5.

  24. Brynjar Lia, op. cit., p. 75.

  25. Ibid., p. 104.

  26. US Embassy (Madrid) cable to State Department, “Spain: an active front in the war on terror”, Secret, 05 Madrid 3260, 15 Sept. 2005.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Brynjar Lia, op. cit., pp. 132–3.

  29. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri quoted in Nibras Kazimi, Syria Through Jihadist Eyes: A Perfect Enemy (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2010), p. 35.

  30. Abu Mus’ab al-Suri quoted in Nibras Kazimi, op. cit., p. 33.

  31. Abu Baseer al-Tartousi quoted in Nibras Kazimi, op. cit., pp. 38–9.

  32. Interview with a Salafist-jihadist, name withheld on request, Tunis, March 2012.

  33. Abu Jandal quoted in Nibras Kazimi, op. cit., pp. 40–41.

  34. Murad Batal al-Shishani, “Abu Mus’ab al-Suri and the Third Generation of Salafi-jihadists”, Terrorism Monitor (Vol. 3, No. 16, 2005).

  35. For the full detailed figures see Brian Fishman (ed.), Bombers, Bank Accounts and Bleedout: Al-Qaeda’s Road in and out of Iraq (West Point: Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, July 2008), pp. 33–6, and US Embassy Cable to State Department, “Syria: 2008 country report on terrorism”, 08STATE120019, 29 Dec. 2008.

  36. Michael Rubin, “Syria’s Path to Islamist Terror”, Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2010), p. 30.

  37. Interview with a former senior British Intelligence official, name withheld on request, Nov. 2011.

  38. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, “From here to eternity”, The Guardian, 8 May 2005.

  39. Matthew Levitt, “Syria’s Financial Support for Jihad”, Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2010), p. 41.

  40. US Embassy cable to State Department, “Syria: 2008 country report on terrorism”, 08STATE120019, 29 Dec. 2008.

  41. The full translated transcript of Muayed al-Nasseri is available: “The ‘Army of Muhammed’ confesses: we received aid in money and arms from Syria and Iran”, Memri TV, 14 Jan. 2005.

  42. US Embassy (Baghdad) cable to State Department, “The great game in Mesopotamia: Iraq and its neighbours, Part II”, 09BAGHDAD2561, 24 Sept. 2009.

  43. US Embassy (Damascus) cable to State Department, “Syria: 2008 country report on terrorism”, 08STATE120019, 29 Dec. 2008.

  44. Matthew Levitt, “Syria’s Financial Support for Jihad”, Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2010), p. 44.

  45. US Embassy (Baghdad) cable to State Department, “The great game in Mesopotamia: Iraq and its neighbours, Part II”, 09BAGHDAD2561, 24 Sept. 2009.

  46. US Embassy (Damascus) cable to State Department, “Syrian intelligence chief attends Ct dialogue with S/Ct Benjamin”, 10DAMASCUS159, 24 Feb. 2010.

  47. Ghait Abdul-Ahad, “From here to eternity”, The Guardian, 8 May 2005.

  48. “In secular Syria, an Islamic revival”, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Oct. 2003.

  49. “The ‘Army of Muhammed’ confesses: we received aid in money and arms from Syria and Iran”, Memri TV, 14 Jan. 2005.

  50. Abu Ibrahim quoted in Ghait Abdul-Ahad, “From here to eternity”, The Guardian, 8 May 2005.

  51. Arnaud Lenfant, “L’évolution du salafisme en Syrie au XXème siècle”, in Bernard Rougier (ed.) Qu’est ce que le salafisme? (Paris: PUF, 2008), p. 174.

  52. Abu al-Qaqaa quoted in “In secular Syria, an Islamic revival”, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Oct. 2003.

  53. “Syria, long ruthlessly secular, sees fervent Islamic resurgence”, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2003.

  54. US Embassy cable to State Department, “Syrian roundup”, 06DAMASCUS2858, 15 June 2006 and Sami Moubayed, “The Islamic Revival in Syria”, Middle East Monitor (Vol. 1, No. 3, Sept. 2006).

  55. Accounts diverge on the exact identity of Abu al-Qaqaa’s assassin. See “Radical Syrian cleric shot dead”, BBC, 29 Sept. 2007, and “The killing of Abu al-Qaqaa”, Asharq al-Awsat, 3 Oct. 2007.

  56. US Embassy cable to State Department, “Syria: 2008 country report on terrorism”, 08STATE120019, 29 Dec. 2008.

  57. All of the quotes from Ali Mamlouk are drawn from US Embassy cable to State Department, “Syrian intelligence chief attends Ct dialogue with S/Ct Benjamin”, 10DAMASCUS159, 24 Feb. 2010.

  58. US Embassy cable to State Department, “Syrian intelligence chief attends Ct dialogue with S/Ct Benjamin”, 10DAMASCUS159, 24 Feb. 2010.

  59. Ahmed Kuftaro quoted in Eyal Zisser, “Syria, the Ba’ath Regime and the Islamic Movement: Stepping on a New Path?”, The Muslim World (Vol. 95, No. 1, 2005), p. 51.

  60. Ibid.

  61. Sami Moubayed, “The Islamic Revival in Syria”, Middle East Monitor (Vol. 1, No. 3, Sept. 2006).

  62. Ahmad Hassoun quoted in Radwan Ziadeh, Power and Policy in Syria: Intelligence Services, Foreign Relations and Democracy in the Modern Middle East (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011), p. 151.

  63. Said Ramadan al-Buti quoted in Eyal Zisser, op. cit., p. 50.

  64. Salah Kuftaro quoted in “Syria, long ruthlessly secular, sees Islamic resurgence”, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2003.

  65. Thomas Pierret (2011), op. cit., p. 110.

  66. Eyal Zisser, op. cit., p. 57.

  67. Abdul Kader al-Kittani quoted in “Syria’s ruling party solidifies its power”, New York Times, 5Apr. 2006.

  68. Radwan Ziadeh, op. cit., p. 151.

  69. Muhammad al-Habasch quoted in “Syria’s ruling party solidifies its power”, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2006.

  70. “Closing Pandora’s box?”, Al-Ahram, 18 Aug. 2010.

  71. “Islamic revival in Syria is led by women”, New York Times, 29/08/2006.

  72. Muhammad al-Habasch quoted in “The Qubaysi ladies take up Islamic preaching in Syria with government approval”, al-Hayat, 3 May 2006.

  73. Thomas Pierret, “Les mystérieuses Qoubeysiyyat divisées face à la révolution”, 2
2 Dec. 2011. Article accessed on 14 March 2012 and available at http://blogs.mediapart.fr/blog/thomas-pierret/221211/les-mysterieusesqoubeysiyyat-divisees-face-la-revolution.

  74. Quoted in Eyal Zisser, op. cit., p. 58.