Legitimate fear of Al Qaeda and affiliates taking over Tunisia

This is likely to happen given the kind of madness which has taken over the planet.    If you read through the entire article you will come to the conclusion that another stinkhole has opened up in a nation that used to be a secular progressive country even if it was purportedly headed by a "dictator" as the US media told us.  Libya is again funding extremism here as they are doing in Egypt.  USA has to shoulder the blame for the consequences of  all this revival of  the cult's ultra extremism... even if some of us are reluctant to sling that mud at  our neighbour  we know in our heart of hearts that it's true. The domino effects of  NATO's might toppling the Libyan dictator and handing that country to pure incarnate evil has given the dormant lunatics of the cult a brand new life. We reap what we sow.

Translated by Noureldine al Faridi at Al-Monitor from Al-Hayat:
.....The confrontations between armed groups  and the army and security forces in various areas of Tunisia — the most recent ones being the search operations that have been ongoing for more than two weeks in Jebel ech Chambi and in the midwest — indicate that the armed wing of the Ansar al-Sharia organization has prepared logistical and organizational plans that enable it to wage an open confrontation with the state in multiple cities, as well as in the mountains, where gunmen are holed up and are polarizing the efforts of the special forces.

The clashes with the security forces, which have occurred in multiple locations, are exhausting security forces’ already limited capabilities. They are giving the impression that the Tunisian state is weak and that the country is vulnerable to the activities of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), through the Ansar al-Sharia organization, which began its confrontation with security forces in Kairouan and Tunis on the same day.....

....Ever since the emergence of the Islamist-led government in January 2012, Ansar al-Sharia’s supporters started training for continuous attacks against those who are not members of the Brotherhood. The Salafist jihadists were empowered by Ennahda, which dominated important state posts — particularly the Ministry of Interior under former Interior Minister and current Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh.....


....The important thing now is that the entire country finds itself facing destructive chaos that may set the stage for AQIM and organized-crime networks, now that their bases have been attacked in northern Mali....

....The Salafists imposed their authority in the Fath Mosque, among others, in the center of the capital. A personal visit to this mosque has allowed me to conclude that the Salafists there do not comply with the rules of the administration and do not heed the demands of the imam appointed by the ministry, despite the fact that he does not object to their behavior. In the Jerusalem Mosque in the low-income suburb of Oued Ellil, Imam Abu Ayyub praises the qualities and great deeds of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In broad daylight, a number of minarets call for jihad in Syria and hundreds of Tunisians were mobilized to engage in combat operations. The cost of a Tunisian "volunteer" reaches $2,000, an amount provided by networks that operate on Libyan soil......

......Ennahda activists and the Salafists have targeted public and private media institutions and recruited the unemployed, some of whom do not belong to the Brotherhood and have fled from prison, in order to participate in sit-ins that lasted for 54 days in front of the doors of various TV studios. These sit-ins were funded by a scrap merchant affiliated with the Ennahda movement who works in the Bardo district. The businessman paid each of the 200 protesters 50 dinars ($30) for two months. For their part, Ennahda supporters and Salafists did not hesitate to target the faculty of arts in Manouba and the headquarters of the General Union of Tunisian Workers. Their activists established brigades that they called Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution. These act as militias targeting Ennahda’s opponents in the political arena, as well those in the trade union and cultural institutes.....

....A videotape released in March 2012 revealed tips offered by Ghannouchi to the leaders of the Salafist movement, urging them to slow down and get ready to change society. “Why are you in a hurry?” he asks. “Why don't you realize what has already been achieved? Open the Riyadh religious forum, the universities and television stations ... organize camps (training courses) and host preachers. No one is stopping you.” Then he calls into question the loyalty of the military institution and says: “Do you think that the army is trustworthy? Are the security forces trustworthy? The army, security, the economy and the media are in the hands of secularists.”......

....Abu Iyadh, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia and a former fighter in Afghanistan, organized the attack on the US Embassy. Disguised in a full face veil, he managed to escape from the Fath Mosque in the center of the capital, while hundreds of security men were surrounding it. Today, Abu Iyadh is leading the campaign against the government in Kairouan and Tunis’ suburbs, as well as the web campaign.   
The jihadist attack against the embassy was followed by a series of attacks on the secular components of society. Lotfi Naguedh, an activist in the opposition Nidaa Tunis Party, was assassinated in Tataouine (southeast of the country) by Ennahda militants and members of the Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution.....


.....Tunisia seems like a land prone to violations, ever since the Islamists tightened their grip on the Ministry of Interior. It is visited by extremist Arab preachers who do not have any limitations. They fill the halls with their insults and cursing against seculars and “Occidentalists” who imported women’s rights, tourism and cultural ways from the West.....

.....President Francois Hollande said at the Donor Conference for Mali in Brussels in mid-May 2013 that “the gunmen fled from Mali to Tunisia, Libya and possibly to other areas.”
Moreover, Mali’s interim President Dioncounda Traore explained the escape of the jihadists and extremists, saying that “they were seeking to find regions where the security is weak and the government is fragile.” This applies to some extent to the situation in Tunisia, and to a great extent to that in Libya. The delicate situation in Tunisia inspired the speech of the country’s representative at the conference, Hedi Ben Abbas, who said: “Tunisians discovered that the borders of their country are not far from Mali.” Abbas was referring to the fighters holed up weeks ago in Jebel ech Chambi. He stated that they might have been trained in Mali and returned to Tunisia in the midst of AQIM members fleeing the country. Tunisia may be, by virtue of its geographical location and especially the fragility of its political and security situation, al-Qaeda’s favorite place to build a logistic base to launch its operations in Tunisia, Algeria and elsewhere, having lost its bases in Mali.