Alwaght-ISIS is expanding beyond Iraq and Syria, establishing the Province of Sinai as a start, and now the group is determined to expand into all of North Africa .
Province Sinai in Egypt was launched on November 2, 2014; today, it is Province Sirte’s turn in Libya and tomorrow it will be Province Algeria and Province Morocco. Rather than a mere possibility, this is a reality that seems to be etching itself into the sprawling map of North Africa, where thousands of miles of borders cover a vast expanse of unruly desert terrain .
Egypt and Libya plunged into chaos, following the 2011 uprising that toppled their longtime dictators, and due to international conflict of interests, no stable government have been formed after that in those countries. This messy situation gave rise to a patchwork of heavily armed militias and deep political divisions .
Exploiting the power vacuum in North Africa, ISIS Takfiri militants, which control some regions in Iraq and Syria, have expanded their acts of terror to the violence-wracked North African country .
In February 45, people were killed and dozens of others injured in ISIS’s triple bomb explosions that struck Libya’s northeastern city of al-Qubah .
In the same month, the Takfiri group also released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya. The victims had reportedly been abducted in Libya's northern coastal city of Sirte in two attacks in December and January .
In addition, the Takfiri terrorists previously conducted several attacks at the Egyptian army in Sinai desert under the name of Ansar Baitul Maqdis (ABM). It is worth mentioning that no matter what name the Takfiri terrorist adopt for their group, at the end, they all plead allegiance to ISIS’s leader al-Baghdadi .
Although it seemed that ISIS lusted for laying its hands on the oil wells in Iraq, and Syria represented a historical dream for the Takfiri terrorists with the ambition of the caliphate, but the insecurity and vast areas in North Africa appeal to the desires of ISIS. Obviously, countries such as Egypt and Libya present a fertile land for terrorism during the current situations over there .
In specific, another reason that may attract ISIS terrorists to Libya is the existence of certain chemical weapons remaining from the time of Qaddafi’s regime, which if those weapons fall in ISIS’s hands, they may serve their terrorist goals in the region .
The significance of the Libyan case is that extremist groups went from operating in the shadows to operate openly, after seizing control of vast areas including cities and strategic roads that link the Mediterranean to the Sahara Desert. This was made possible mainly by the state of lawlessness in Libya after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime and the absence of forces, capable of asserting authority over Libyan territories .
In addition, not forgetting that the real instructor of ISIS being US and Israeli regime, we can realize that the existence of Takfiri terrorist groups in the Golan heights and now in the Sinai desert present an extra protective shield for the Israeli regime from the North and the South .
It has been reported previously that ISIS deployed several brigades in Sinai desert, whose commanders were trained by Israeli Golani Brigade and are now operating against Egypt army .
Another report stated that since ISIS is nearing complete destruction in Iraq and Syria, it has been transferred to Egypt under the name of ISES (So-called Islamic State in Egypt and Sudan) .
An important point we can mention in this context is that the expansion of ISIS in North Africa will eventually decrease the concentration of the US-led coalition strikes on Iraq and Syria, due to several reasons. First, the spread of ISIS crisis in North Africa will increase the fear of the public opinion, especially the near Europeans, who are in return, will ask for a shift in anti-terrorism war from Iraq and Syria to North Africa before they reach Europe. In addition, the increase of international anxiety toward ISIS will bring more countries into anti-terrorism war, which will weaken the concentration of the strikes on ISIS due to less efficient coordination and increase of conflicts occurring among greater number of members in the coalition attacks .
It may appear that there are many reasons for ISIS to expand into North Africa, but the main goal is one: spreading terrorism and turmoil all over the world under the mask of establishing the Islamic caliphate. This goal serves the interest of the West by both spreading Islamophobia in the world and disorder in the regions; they want to increase their influence in .
North Africa is once again at the heart of the international conflicts that comprise the war on terror. These wars are fueled by other factors such as disputes over borders and the natural resources they contain, further complicating the scene, and turning North Africa into an important area witnessing conflicts at the international level. In addition, Western countries have used the weak central authorities in aforementioned countries to justify establishing military bases, thus procuring the military tools they need for the future .
