September 23, 2013 -- Updated 1157 GMT (1957 HKT)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has suggested that some outside
governments may urge rebels to attack international inspectors sent into
war-fractured country to secure its arsenal of chemical weapons. FULL STORY
Bashar al-Assad says Syrian rebels may attack chemical weapons inspectors
September 23, 2013 -- Updated 1039 GMT (1839 HKT)
World leaders to meet at U.N. to discuss Syria
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Some countries may ask rebels to attack international inspectors, al-Assad says
- "We cannot know until the inspectors arrive in Syria," he tells China's CCTV
- The U.S.-Russian plan for Syria's chemical disarmament calls for inspections soon
- Al-Assad says it is "quite natural" for Syria to have "large quantities" of chemical arms
"There might be countries
that might ask the terrorists to attack the inspectors to prevent them
from doing their job, and blame the Syrian government," he said in an
interview aired Sunday by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
"At this point, this remains just a possibility and we cannot know until the inspectors arrive in Syria," al-Assad said.
Syria submitted an
initial declaration to the world's chemical weapons watchdog last week
outlining its inventory of the munitions. The move was part of a deal
forged earlier this month by the United States and Russia to begin
Syria's chemical disarmament.
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The plan then calls for
international inspectors in position to secure that arsenal no later
than November. Veteran weapons inspectors have said securing and
destroying the Syrian stockpile could take huge numbers of people,
including hundreds of inspectors and thousands of troops to provide
security.
Al-Assad noted that the plan requires his government to ensure the safety of the inspectors.
He said the weapons stockpile is secure, despite the civil war raging in Syria.
"Chemical weapons are
safely stored to prevent terrorists or groups from other countries from
taking them over," al-Assad told CCTV.
'Large quantities'
Asked if it was true
that there are more than 1,000 tons of chemical weapons in Syria, he
said, "Syria has been producing these weapons for decades, and it is
quite natural that there are large quantities of them.
"We are in a state of
war, and we have territories that have been occupied for over 40 years,"
he continued. "But at any event, the Syrian army was geared toward
fighting with conventional weapons."
The United States and
other Western nations blame al-Assad's regime for an August 21 chemical
weapons attack outside Damascus that U.S. officials estimate killed
1,400 people.
Russia and Syria say they think rebels used the weapons.
Citing international
norms against the use of chemical weapons, U.S. President Barack Obama
called for authorization from Congress to use military force in Syria.
As the United States
threatened force to degrade Assad's ability to carry out chemical
weapons attacks, a diplomatic opportunity arose between Russia and the
United States to put Syria's stockpile under international control.
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry said he aand Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hammered
out the deal in Geneva, and Syria agreed to it.
CNN's Ali Younes and Brian Walker contributed to this report.
TOP MIDDLE EAST STORIES
- Russia accuses U.S. of Syria 'blackmail'
- Israeli solider killed, body hidden in well in alleged bargaining ploy
- Syria hands over chemical weapons list
- No Iran meeting yet, but Obama's U.N. visit will center on region
- Bombing rocks mosque in Iraq; 18 dead
- Iran president calls for 'constructive' talks
- Yemen militants kill 8 officers in raid on police compound
- Kerry blames Assad for chemical attack
-
Assad: Inspectors welcome to return
|
Rebels reject deal
BREAKING NEWS
EXPLOSION, SMOKE, GUNFIRE
Army claims control of mall
- Army says it has control of all floors of Westgate building
- Unclear if hostages still inside
- Terrorists on run as smoke rises
- Toll rises to 69 dead, 175 injured
September 23, 2013 -- Updated 1222 GMT (2022 HKT)
Heavy smoke rises from the
Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, where hostages were being held
for a third day on Monday, September 23. Gunmen burst into the mall and
opened fire in a deadly attack on September 21. Terrorists from the
Somalia-based Al-Shabaab group were believed to have about 10 remaining
hostages on one level of the mall, security officials said.
HIDE CAPTION
Kenya mall attack
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Two terrorists dead, Kenyan forces in control after mall assault, official says
- NEW: Some terrorists may be on the run inside the mall, interior secretary says
- Death toll stands at 69; more hostages freed overnight
- Terror group Al-Shabaab claims three Americans among the attackers
It was unclear if any
hostages remained inside the building, but authorities expect the number
to be "very, very minimal," if any remain, Interior Minister Joseph Ole
Lenku said at a news briefing. Most had already been evacuated, he said
Monday, the third day of the siege.
At least 69 people have died since the siege began Saturday, authorities said.
Dark smoke seen rising
from the building after the assault began was from fires set by the
gunmen to distract forces from the assault, Lenku said.
Cell phone video shows Kenya mall attack
Terrorists appear to be on the run inside the mall, which Lenku said was sealed off to prevent their escape.
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"We are in charge of the situation, our people are safe," he said.
Before the assault,
Terrorists from the Somalia-based Al-Shabaab group were believed to have
about 10 hostages on one level of the mall, security officials said.
An unspecified number of hostages then were freed overnight, the head of the Kenyan police force said.
Outside the security perimeter around the mall, volunteers waited Monday for their chance to go inside and recover bodies.
At a community center nearby, a distraught woman continued to seek information about her missing husband, a mall employee.
Sporadic gunfire
continued into Monday morning, but it could not be determined if
security forces or militants were firing at each other.
Israeli special forces were at the scene, Kenyan government sources told CNN.
The FBI is looking into
claims by Al-Shabaab of American citizens being involved the attack but
have not confirmed the claims, law enforcement officials told CNN.
The siege
The attack began at midday Saturday, Nairobi time, with an estimated 10 to 15 gunmen. Two attackers were killed Saturday.
According to witnesses, the gunmen went from store to store shooting people and then took hostages.
Al-Shabaab has claimed that the attackers targeted non-Muslims and vowed they would not negotiate for the hostages' lives. CNN security analyst Peter Bergen said the terrorists apparently took hostages only to prolong the siege and win more media attention.
As Kenyan police and
military tried to end the standoff in its third day, authorities
elsewhere were collecting names and details and planning to track down
those in Al-Shabaab behind the attack.
The dead
Most of the dead were said to be Kenyans.
Four British citizens, two French nationals and two Canadians, including a diplomat, also perished, their governments said.
A 33-year-old Dutch
woman also was killed in the attack, said Friso Vijnen, a spokesman for
consular affairs with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He did not
provide any other details about her.
And a major African poet, author and Ghanian statesman, Kofi Awoonor, also died, Ghana's president said.
President John Mahama called the killing of Awoonor "such a sad twist of fate."
And the tragedy is
personal for Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta. He said one of his
nephews and his nephew's fiancee were among the dead.
Witness: We saw lots of blood
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The wounded
Kenyatta said more than 175 people were wounded. Five of those were Americans, the State Department said Sunday.
Elaine Dang, 26, a
University of California, Berkeley, graduate from San Diego underwent
surgery to her chest, arms and legs but told CNN affiliate KFMB-TV, "I'm OK, I'm very grateful to be alive."
She said two of her local friends died in the attack.
Dang, who has worked for humanitarian organizations, now is the general manager for Eat Out Kenya.
She said she hoped Americans would not form negative opinions about Kenya.
"I'm very prideful for the country, and I love Kenyans," she said.
Three injured security forces also were seen taken out of the mall, but the severity of their injuries was unclear.
The terrorists
Before its Twitter
account was suspended, Al-Shabaab issued a list of nine names it said
were among the attackers. It said three were from the United States, two
from Somalia and one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the United
Kingdom.
A senior State
Department official said that the United States was trying to determine
whether any of the alleged attackers are American. While they are still
working to verify the claims, authorities said they were becoming more
confident that American citizens may be involved.
Federal officials and Somali-American leaders in Minneapolis have reported that Al-Shabaab has recruited young men there to go to Africa to fight.
While senior Kenyan
intelligence sources told CNN on Monday that surveillance video from
inside the mall appears to show a white woman taking part in the attack,
Lenku told reporters that all of the attackers were men.
Some of the terrorists apparently dressed as women, he said.
The report came after
earlier speculation that the Al-Shabaab-affiliated "White Widow,"
Samantha Lewthwaite, may have been involved in the attack.
Lewthwaite's husband,
Germaine Lindsey, was one of the suicide bombers killed in the 2005
attack on London's transportation system. His Buckinghamshire-born widow
is wanted by Kenyan authorities for her alleged role as an Al-Shabaab
and al Qaeda-linked financier.
State House spokesman
Manoah Esipisu earlier said that "nothing is being ruled out" when it
comes to Lewthwaite's possible involvement.
Such involvement would be "very unusual," CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said.
"Typically these groups are misogynist," he said. "Their view is the woman should be in a home and shrouded in a body veil."
The investigation
Kenyatta vowed Sunday to punish those responsible for the attacks.
"They shall not get away
with their despicable, beastly acts. Like the cowardly perpetrators now
cornered in the building, we will punish the masterminds swiftly and
indeed very painfully," he said.
Secretary of State John Kerry promised an American investigation.
"Obviously, it's an
enormous offense against everybody's sense of right and wrong," Kerry
said. "It represents the seriousness and the breadth of the challenge we
face with ruthless and completely reckless terrorists, and we're going
to pursue them."
The mall siege was the
deadliest terror attack in Kenya since al Qaeda blew up the U.S. Embassy
there in 1998, killing 213 people.
Al-Shabaab is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.
Since Kenya launched
attacks against Al-Shabaab in Somalia in 2011, the group has hurled
grenades at Kenyan churches, bus stops and other public places.
Last year, the Kenyan
military was part of a peacekeeping force that defeated Al-Shabaab
forces to liberate the key Somali port of Kismayo.
TERROR ATTACK IN KENYA
The choice of target and method of attack show how terror group is evolving.
- Who is Al-Shabaab?
- Somali jihadists: Why Kenya?
Al-Shabaab breaks new ground with complex Nairobi attack
September 23, 2013 -- Updated 1148 GMT (1948 HKT)Al Qaeda-linked group claims attacks
STORY HIGHLIGHTS- Al-Shabaab has threatened revenge on Kenya ever since Kenyan forces entered Somalia
- Mall attack shows Al-Shabaab has taken its ability to strike outside Somalia to a new level
- The operation meets criteria that al Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri listed in a recent message
- Al-Shabaab allies in region include Kenyan militant group al Hijra and Eritrean government
(CNN) -- The Al-Shabaab assault on a mall in Nairobi, Kenya, is alarming for its audacity, its scale and the sophisticated planning that went into it. Both the choice of target and method of attack exactly fit the new al Qaeda playbook.
Few counterterrorism experts are surprised that the Somali group launched another attack in the Kenyan capital. It has threatened to take revenge ever since Kenyan forces entered Al-Shabaab's heartland in southern Somalia. Small-scale attacks, frequently with hand grenades, have already brought bloodshed to Nairobi's streets. Back in September of last year, Kenyan authorities said they had disrupted a major plot to attack public spaces in Nairobi in its final stages of planning. Authorities also broke up a plot by the group against Western tourists in the city in late 2007.But the scope of the assault on the Westgate Mall -- and especially its eerie similarities to the attack in Mumbai, India, in 2008 -- show that Al-Shabaab has taken its ability to strike outside Somalia to a new level.Only once before has the group caused such carnage in East Africa, when bombers attacked bars and restaurants in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on the night of the World Cup Final in 2010. More than 60 people were killed. Al-Shabaab said the attacks were in retaliation for Uganda's leading role in the African Union force supporting Somalia's weak government in Mogadishu.But the attack on the Westgate Mall is very different, involving perhaps 10 or more heavily armed assailants, using multiple entrance points to lay siege to a high-profile venue in an upscale neighborhood. The assault then evolved into a hostage-taking to garner maximum publicity.Al-Shabaab says the attack took months of planning and training, and as it unfolded the group kept up a running commentary on its Twitter feed.Terrorists attack mall in Kenya
"The Mujahideen entered #Westgate Mall today at around noon and are still inside the mall, fighting the #Kenyan Kuffar (infidels) inside their own turf," it said.Al Qaeda TemplateThe operation ticks the boxes that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri listed in a message published just over a week ago.1. Ensure the target is Western. The Westgate Mall has several Israeli establishments and is popular with expatriates. Those killed include three British citizens, two French nationals and two Canadians, their governments said. In his September 13 message, al-Zawahiri warned against attacks on non-Western states unless the regime was part of "the American forces." Kenya, with its long tradition of pro-Western governments and close relationships with Western militaries, fits that bill.2. Take hostages where possible. Al-Zawahiri recommended taking "the citizens of the countries that are participating in the invasion of Muslim countries as hostages so that our prisoners may be freed in exchange."3. Try to avoid Muslim casualties. Al-Shabaab claimed on its Twitter feed that the gunmen escorted Muslims out of the mall, before turning on the "disbelievers" inside. Witnesses said the gunmen at the Westgate tried to identify Muslims by asking shoppers the name of Mohammed's mother. They shot those who didn't know.Nairobi is vulnerable to Al-Shabaab attacks not least because of the large Somali community, many of them refugees from the country's long-running clan warfare, that lives in the Eastleigh district. Known as "little Mogadishu," Eastleigh is now home to an estimated 250,000 Somalis. And Al-Shabaab is well established there, raising money, finding recruits and setting up safe houses.Al-Shabaab also has an ally in the militant Kenyan group al Hijra, formerly the Muslim Youth Center, which has a strong presence in Eastleigh and in the coastal city of Mombasa. Investigators will be examining whether al Hijra played a role in the attack on the Westgate mall. Kenyan al Hijra militants are suspected to have been responsible for several of the small-scale terrorist attacks that have hit the country.This is a worrying trend, analysts say. While Al-Shabaab's Somali fighters are not used to operating abroad, non-Somali East Africans have been training with the group in southern Somalia. Al Hijra is the most potent outgrowth of that training. Founded in an Eastleigh mosque in 2008, al Hijra took advantage of growing radicalization among a minority of Kenya's 4.3 million Muslims to build a significant presence in Nairobi and Mombasa. Investigators established the group had close links to the attacks in Kampala in July 2010. According to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia, most of the operatives who conspired in the attack were Kenyan and close to al Hijra leaders.A crackdown against al Hijra by Kenyan authorities, helped by the United States, has weakened the group. According to a 2013 United Nations report, "Al Hijra members were plagued by unexplained killings, disappearances, continuous 'catch and release' arrest raids and operational disruptions." But al Hijra is far from defeated. According to the U.N. report, it has established links with Al-Shabaab affiliates elsewhere in East Africa and is enlisting the services of fighters returning from Somalia "to conduct new and more complex operations." Its leadership has become closer to al Qaeda through figures such as Abubakar Shariff Ahmed, known as "Makaburi," who is said to favor large-scale attacks in Kenya in support of Al-Shabaab.Al-Shabaab has other valuable alliances in the region, including the government of Eritrea, which sees it as a useful ally against its arch-enemy Ethiopia. A United Nations Monitoring Group reported in 2011 that financial records and shipping movements indicated Eritrea's support for Al-Shabaab went far beyond the humanitarian.In a 400-page report, it concluded that Eritrea's relationship with Al-Shabaab seemed designed to "legitimize and embolden the group rather than to curb its extremist orientation or encourage its participation in a political process."Al-Shabaab has also established a relationship with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, from which it obtains weapons and training, according to counterterrorism officials and former members of both AQAP and Al-Shabaab. One former jihadist tells CNN the relationship began in 2008 when he linked up a senior figure in Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Warsame, with the Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.In September 2011, the U.S. Africa Command warned that Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram in NIgeria and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb were trying to synchronize their efforts to launch attacks on U.S and Western interests.Kenyan incursionThe Kenyan capital became much more vulnerable to retaliation when Kenyan troops and tanks, supported by airstrikes, moved into Somalia in October 2011 in response to growing cross-border violence. Al-Shabaab immediately warned that the incursion would have "cataclysmic consequences."What was meant to be a limited engagement dragged on. It took a year for Kenyan forces to capture the port of Kismayo, but in doing so they dramatically raised the stakes for Al-Shabaab. According to the U.N., Al-Shabaab used to collect an estimated $35 million to $50 million annually in custom tolls and taxes on businesses in Kismayo and two secondary ports higher up the coast -- about half its entire estimated annual income.Its expulsion from Kismayo changed the dynamics for Al-Shabaab. Previously the group held off plotting large-scale attacks in Kenya because of Kenya's importance for recruitment, logistics and fund-raising. Al-Shabaab commanders realized a crackdown by law enforcement on Somali interests in Kenya would be devastating to the Somali business community, creating a backlash against it in Somalia. But after they lost control of Kismayo, the gloves came off.In March, Al-Shabaab warned Kenyans they would not "sleep safely" in Nairobi as long as their soldiers were in Somalia. And in the midst of the siege, the group tweeted: "For long we have waged war against the Kenyans in our land, now it's time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land.""The attack at #WestgateMall is just a very tiny fraction of what Muslims in Somalia experience at the hands of Kenyan invaders," another tweet said.It's notable that Al-Shabaab was able to plan and train for such a sophisticated attack despite losing much territory in southern Somalia and around the capital, Mogadishu. As it has lost ground, the group has resorted to suicide bombings. Earlier this month it carried out a bomb attack against a restaurant popular with Westerners in Mogadishu, killing more than a dozen people.A U.N. report issued in July noted that Al-Shabaab "has shifted its strategic posture to asymmetrical warfare in both urban centres and the countryside" but added that it "continues to control most of southern and central Somalia." The report estimated the military strength of Al-Shabaab at about 5,000 fighters, with a functioning chain of command, and said it had "preserved the core of its fighting force and resources."After years of infighting and feuds, the Nairobi attack may also confirm the ascendancy of Al-Shabaab's most militant faction and its leader Mukhtar Abu al Zubayr (aka Ahmed Abdi Godane). Zubayr attended a madrassa in Pakistan as a young man and merged the group with al Qaeda in February 2012. He sees Al-Shabaab as part of al Qaeda's global jihad.Dissenters have defected or been killed. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys of Al-Shabaab's old guard surrendered to Somali authorities. And earlier this month Zubayr reportedly ordered the killing of two Western militants who were critical of his leadership style and had aligned themselves with Aweys -- Omar Hammami and Osama al Brittani. Hammami was an American from Alabama who had become a prominent mouthpiece for Al-Shabaab before publicly criticizing Zubayr last year.Zubayr's increasingly tight grip on Al-Shabaab -- thanks to his ruthless use of the group's intelligence wing in hunting down opponents -- appears to have forestalled the collapse of Al-Shabaab, and may have made it more dangerous.Zubayr has threatened a direct attack on the United States, and last year the U.S. offered a $7 million reward for information locating him. It would be very surprising if the attack in Nairobi did not receive his blessing, and it may be a sign of things to come as Al-Shabaab takes its war to other parts of East Africa.Of more immediate concern to Kenyan authorities, in a country where political violence can explode quickly, is a likely backlash against Somali and Kenyan Muslims, which could create a new cycle of radicalization and unrest.copy http://edition.cnn.com
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