Islamic Terror Abductions In The Middle East

Investigates abductions, hostage taking, beheadings, and global jihad influences in four theatres in the Middle East over the last 25 years (1980-2005): Israel, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. This work includes discussion of the William Buckley, William Higgins and "Iran gate" abductions.

In recent decades, the taking of hostages has proven to be a particularly effective tactic for Islamic terrorist organizations worldwide, including al Qaeda. The global jihad movement regards citizens of foreign (mainly western) countries as prime targets for abduction, although in fact local residents have constituted the majority of kidnapping victims. This book analyzes Islamic terror abductions over the last 30 years in the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia), Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines), Africa (the Maghreb, the Sahel regions, and Somalia), and in Russia as a part of the Russian-Chechen conflict. Discussion also focuses on the abduction by Hizballah of Israeli soldiers, the Second Lebanon War of 2006, the Mumbai terror attack (2008), the Chechen hostage crisis in Moscow and Beslan (2002 and 2004), the kidnapping of employees of the Algerian In Amenas gas facility by al Qaeda of the Maghreb' in January 2013 and the Nairobi "Westgate Mall" hostage crisis in September 2013. The role of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, and its patronage of terror organizations that utilize the tactic of abduction to promote Iranian interests in Lebanon and Iraq, is highlighted throughout. Discussion focuses on the challenges faced by countries whose citizens have been abducted by Islamic terror organizations and their reactions to these challenges, and provides theoretical classifications of the phenomenon of terrorism in general and terror abduction in particular.

Kidnapping constitutes a central component in the "attack repertoire" of terror organizations. It is a means of promoting the goals of their organizations and their patrons. Since the 1960s, Israel has been extorted by terrorist organizations holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage, who would be returned in a deal securing the release of imprisoned members of these terror organizations. In the wake of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the ascent of a terror-supporting regime in that country, Islamic terror entities-such as the Lebanese Hezbollah organization and the Palestinian Hamas movement-have become preeminent in the Middle East in all matters connected to terror in general, and kidnappings in particular. This study analyzes the challenges that radical Islamic groups pose, and the response of Israel relating to abductions in Lebanon via the Hezbollah organization (1983-2016), and abductions in Israel via the Hamas movement (1989-2016). The main debates about prisoner exchange within Israeli society revolve around the following questions: (1) Does conceding to terrorists lead to further kidnappings? and (2) Do the terrorists that are released return to terrorist activity? The challenge issued by terror organizations to Israel whose citizens have been kidnapped, and the way Israel has risen to that challenge, is the prime focus of this study. It follows two earlier books by the author published by Sussex Academic on the regional and global aspects of terror abductions. Subject: Middle East Studies, Politics, Israeli Studies, Terrorism]

The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s ended the Yugoslavian Federation, which for nearly fifty years had succeeded in preserving a delicate coexistence among the ethnic, religious, and national components contained within it. Following this, the Balkans became a violent arena of confrontation due to these warring factions. Islamic Terror and the Balkans describes and analyzes the growth of radical Islam in the Balkans from its inception during the years of World War II to the present. Shay's account shows how the Bosnian War between the Muslims and the Serbs provided the historical opportunity for radical Islam to penetrate the Balkans, at a time when the Muslim world, headed by Iran and the various Islamic terror organizations, including Al-Qaida, came to the aid of the Muslims in Bosnia. In the framework of the mobilization of these entities in aiding the Muslim side in the conflict, the operational and organizational infrastructure of Iranian intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards was established, as well as those operated by other Islamic terror organizations. When war in Bosnia ended, terrorist infrastructures remained in the Balkans and served as a basis for these entities' intervention in the confrontation that developed in the Balkans in the late-1990s, specifically in Kosovo and Macedonia. Today, the Balkans serve as a forefront on European soil for Islamic terror organizations, which exploits this area to promote their activities in Western Europe, Russia, and other focal points worldwide. Shay's analysis of terror activity in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and exposure of terror cells throughout the world, and particularly in Europe, attest to the increasing involvement of the "Balkan alumni" and of the terrorist infrastructure from this area in creating global terror activity.

Investigates abductions, hostage taking, beheadings, and global jihad influences in four theatres in the Middle East over the last 25 years (1980-2005): Israel, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. This work includes discussion of the William Buckley, William Higgins and "Iran gate" abductions.

Examines the history of terrorism, both nationally and internationally.

The entity known (in one of many variants) as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has come to feature regularly in the news, and in our imaginations. The dreadful, Grand Guignol spectacle of beheadings, abductions, cages, flames and triumphalist proclamations arouses powerful emotions: disgust, rage, hatred, grief, a yearning for vengeance ......

In the aftermath of the terror campaign launched on Sep- tember 11, 2001, the United States declared war against global terror. It identified the al-Qaida organization and Afghanistan under the Taliban regime as the initial targets of the offensive, and Iraq as the next. However, aside from the countries included by President Bush in the "Axis of Evil" (Iraq, Iran, and North Korea), a triangle of countries in the Red Sea region are also potential targets in the war against terror—Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen. This assessment is based on the historical record: Each of these countries has in one form or another provided refuge for Islamic terror organizations. Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen are Muslim states, situated at the periphery of the heart of Islam, which is generally identified as the Arab Peninsula, Egypt, and the Fertile Crescent. This area is of strategic significance to both sides of the vital shipping route that connects the Arabian Sea (the Indian Ocean) and the Red Sea. Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaida, and members of other radical Islamic organizations have found allies and safe havens in both the heart of Islam and its periphery. The presence of radical Islamic entities in the region, alongside local problems and conflicts rooted in national, ethnic, and tribal issues, has turned the Red Sea countries into a nucleus of instability and dissension, one that threatens the security and peace of both neighboring and more distant countries. Shay examines the three countries designated as the Red Sea Terror Triangle, and explores the ties each maintains with Islamic terror, as well as the reciprocal links between them. Understanding these countries is of critical importance, since all or some of them may constitute a base for Islamic terror organizations in the future.