Ahvaz attack: New losses to Daesh after adopting operations it did not implement

Abdul Rahman Saqr

The Daesh organization sustained material and morale losses in a row. After the great defeats in the battlefields, in the countries of Iraq, Syria and Libya, the extremist organization loses credibility because of the large number of terrorist operations that it did not implement and researchers in the Islamist movements affairs said that they are based on delusional data, indicating the weakness of the organization and its internal collapse, and its failure to carry out terrorist operations.

The organization Daesh claimed on Saturday the implementation of the armed attack on the military parade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in the city of Ahvaz, while the Arab Struggle for the Liberation of Ahvaz claimed its responsibility for the attack.

Earlier this morning, an armed attack by four extremists on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, resulted in the killing of 11 people and the injury of more than 30 while two of the attackers were killed, and the others were arrested, and the number of military deaths was 9.

Iranian state television reported that the attack targeted a platform where officials gathered to follow up on the annual event to mark the anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war, which took place between 1980 and 1988.

Conflicts adoption process:

The Arab Struggle for the Liberation of Ahvaz claimed responsibility for targeting the military parade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the city of Ahvaz, according to the Iranian Mehr Agency.

The announcement of the Daesh adoption of the process was made through a statement published by the organization’s news agency Amaq. The statement read, “Elements of the organization are attacking a gathering of Iranian forces in the city of Ahvaz, Iran in the presence of the Iranian president who is attending a military parade.”

The chief spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, Brigadier General Abu Al-Fadl Shukarji, denied the statement, saying: “They are not from Daesh.” “But they are connected to America and the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad,” he added.

Daesh proactiveness in adopting attacks

This was not the first operation adopted by the Daesh organization in conjunction with the announcement of other organizations claimed responsibility for these operations. It was repeated more than once in January 2015 when Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack on the headquarters of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo in the French capital Paris.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack, and Nasr bin Ali al-Anisi, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said in an online message titled “Revenge of Allah’s Messenger on the Battle of Paris”, “We, in the organization of the jihad base, adopt this process as a revenge for our prophet.”

Al-Anasi stressed that “the person who chose the target, drew the plan, financed the operation and delegated its leader is the leadership of the organization in response to the command of Allah and the Prophet of Allah”.

On August 23, 2018, a young man killed his mother and sister in Paris with a knife in a suburb in the French capital of Paris. Daesh also hastened to “adopt” the operation, but the local council of the suburb said in a blog post on Twitter: “The operation ended with identifying the perpetrator and his death.”

Hisham al-Najjar, a researcher specializing in Islamic movements and terrorism, said that Daesh is still a new organization compared to al-Qaeda, which was founded in 1988. The latter has the basis for large-scale terrorist operations since 2001, to promote itself and recruit new followers. He pointed out that radical jihadist organizations consider their operations as their first capital, which they use to recruit elements, promote and compete for expansion and impose influence against other organizations.

Al-Najjar continued, in statements to the Reference that during all these years, Daesh needed to carry out operations specific to it and to distinguish itself from Al-Qaeda organization. He explained that the two organizations are equally in failure regarding governance. Al Qaeda failed in Afghanistan and the Emirate of the “Taliban” fell. Also, Daesh failed in Iraq and its alleged state has fell down.