Two Facebook posts contain messages from Ansar al Sharia Egypt leader Ahmed Ashush honoring slain al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al Libi and praising Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. The statements were first published last year but were re-posted online in recent weeks.
Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, has launched his own Facebook page.
American officials have not been granted access to senior al Qaeda-linked terrorists detained in Egypt. One of them has ties to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
The Ansar al Sharia Facebook pages analyzed by The Long War Journal contain valuable information, in addition to bluster. Two Facebook pages we reported on have been taken down since our articles first appeared.
Ansar al Sharia Egypt, an al Qaeda-linked group, has called on Muslims to resist France’s intervention in Mali. In an entry on its Facebook page, the group posted an image of the Eiffel Tower being attacked and asked, “Is France unaware of who it is fighting?”
A British paper incorrectly reported that Mohammed al Zawahiri was arrested in Syria.
During an interview with a Cairo-based publication in late October, Ahmed Ashush repeatedly praised and defended al Qaeda. Ashush also said, “We are at war with the United States and Israel.”
