Al Qaeda “Prince” reported captured in Mosul

Long War Journal ^ | May 19, 2008 6:24 PM | Bill Roggio

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Iraqi security forces, back by US forces, are pressing the offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq and allied insurgent groups in Mosul and Ninewa province. The operation, which initially was called Lion’s Roar but has morphed into Operation Mother of Two Springs, has netted more than 1,100 al Qaeda and insurgent operatives. Today, the Iraqi Army reported it captured the “Prince of Ninewa” during a raid. The Iraqi is planning an amnesty and may be forming an Awakening in Mosul proper, a source toldThe Long War Journal.

The “Prince of Ninewa” captured?

The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior reported on Monday that it captured Abdul Khaleq al Sabaawi, who is described as the “prince,” or emir, of Ninewa province. A US military source in Mosul confirmed that Sabaawi was in custody but was unable to provide additional details on his role in al Qaeda’s network. Sabaawi was captured along with his son in western Mosul.

The Iraqi military and police have misidentified senior al Qaeda leaders in the past.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another possible big fish.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the LSJ sidebar:

*********************************

Al Qaeda

Osama bin Laden will release yet another tape in the next several days, according a banner posted by Al Ekhlass, an al Qaeda-linked web forum. The banner said bin Laden will make a "very strong statement" to the Muslim world. His last audio tape was released on May 16 and addressed the state of Israel.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LWJ sidebar: ....Sorry

[ExTexasRedhead]

He’s just sending a tape to voice his support for Hussein Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

[Selmore]

They are running out of names for operations.

I suggest the next operation be called.........

“Operation Two Dogs.”

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the BBC:

Gunmen 'kill 11 Iraqi recruits'

Eleven police recruits have been killed by gunmen in northern Iraq, local officials have said.

The men were leaving the northern town of Baaj, 130km (80 miles) west of the city of Mosul, when the gunmen ambushed their minibus.

They were killed with a bullet to the head, one official said.

Iraqi forces backed by the US have been conducting a crackdown against al-Qaeda militants in Mosul and the surrounding area in recent days.

The men had been returning home from a recruitment camp.

The killings came shortly after officials said they had arrested a man suspected of being al-Qaeda's leader in Mosul.

The suspect, an ex-official in former president Saddam Hussein's army, was detained after fleeing south from Mosul to Tikrit, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The ex-official was named as Abdul Khaliq Sabawi.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the BBC article

The suspect, an ex-official in former president Saddam Hussein's army,

More connections with Saddam and al Qaeda.....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Guess we have a thread from yesterday on the coming message:

Bin Laden to issue "very strong" message: website

[Tennessean4Bush]

Seen this?

[Marine_Uncle]

"Another possible big fish."
What did they do? Hook him from a boat in the Tigris river or perhaps used a harpoon. Either case. Hopefully he shall squeal his guts out as the interrogator whips out his filleting knife.

[jaz.357]

The “Prince of Ninewa” captured?

I think they meant the "PRINCE of NARNIA"!

[Marine_Uncle]

Interesting entry at Bill's site:
"Al Qaeda has purportedly ordered its fighters to leave Saudi Arabia and move to to Yemen. "Leave the country for Yemen, lest [you] be killed or arrested by Saudi security forces," the statement said on a website."

[Marine_Uncle]

I often throw in Izzat Ibrahim al-douri's name to remind folks the Saddamist are still active and supporting al-Qaeda and any Sunni radical groups who wish to resist the new Iraq government.
I am still waiting for the Syrians to honor the request of Collin Powell so long ago, in turning in all the Saddam elements operating out of Syria. The little Lion and his gang seem to be a bit on the lazy side. sarc off.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Didn't see that...so they are fleeing Saudi Arabia...as well as Iraq.

Sanctuaries are now Yemen and Pakistan....oh and Somalia.

[Marine_Uncle]

UBL strongly suggests they flee to Yemen to save their skins. He sure of lately is getting sentimental. Used to be where he demanded his minions just charge in as cannon fodder.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Why don’t we take this “prince” and put him in a tough American prison? Then he will become someone’s “queen”.

[jveritas]

It is excellent news and I hope it is true. Mosul is the last refuge of the remaining and defeated Al Qaeda terrorist force in Iraq. Once the battle of Mosul is over Al Qaeda is officially annihilated from Iraq. The terrorist forums are denying the capture of Al Qaeda leader in Mosul which is expected for them to do but they are also very worried that it can be true.

[Kackikat]

Don’t you mean Nancy P. Chavez?

[ExTexasRedhead]

My blood pressure can’t take any more today. Insanity seems to be the rule.

[Kackikat]

You know I have been noticing how FAST these demonic insane things have been moving, if that isn’t a sign of things to come I don’t know what is. And it’s like most people do not get the significance of what is happening..unreal.

[Kackikat]

And they say Saddaam had no connections with Al Queda...and those trucks that the satellites show going across the Syrian Border before we attacked Iraq, after we gave the 6 mo warning...I guess they didn’t have WMD either.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

Iraqi forces, Shiite militants fight in Sadr City
CNN | Mon May 19, 2008 6:47 a.m. EDT, | CNN Baghdad
Posted on 05/19/2008 9:52:46 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018142/posts

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[CutePuppy]

Oops, I just can’t keep out trouble today, it seems.
Here is a clean link (I hope) and better formatted:
http://en.epochtimes.com/tools/printer.asp?id=70818

Reuters
May 19, 2008
BAGHDAD—Iraqi and U.S. forces have arrested about 100 suspects thought to be crucial to the operations of militant groups in al Qaeda’s last haven of north Iraq, the commander of U.S. forces in the area said on Monday.

The Iraqi military launched an offensive against al Qaeda in the northern city of Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province on May 10. It has been largely Iraqi-led, with U.S. forces playing a support role.

Gunmen from Sunni Islamist al Qaeda regrouped in Nineveh after being pushed out of other parts of Iraq. The U.S. military says Mosul is its last major urban stronghold, from where its fighters still stage suicide bomb attacks and assassinations.

“They have arrested upward of about 1,250 individuals, of which about 100 are critical targets,” Major-General Mark Hertling told Reuters in a telephone interview from Mosul.

“In the last several weeks, we have either captured or killed several AQI (al Qaeda in Iraq) emirs (commanders), some suicide cell leaders, some military cell leaders,” he said, adding that some were from other groups with loose links to al Qaeda.

“Some of them are very senior. I’m talking about military emirs, battalion level commanders in al Qaeda,” he said.

Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for Iraq’s Defence Ministry, said Iraqi forces had captured one of the Mosul leaders of al Qaeda on Sunday.

Abdul Khaleq al-Sabawi, head of al Qaeda’s military organization in Mosul, was arrested near Tikrit, half-way between Mosul and Baghdad, in Salahuddin province and taken back to Mosul, he said.

Disrupted
Many of the others arrested in the raids were criminals, Hertling said, but the operation had also yielded some al Qaeda fighters the government had not previously known about. Two hundred on a list of al Qaeda targets were still at large.

“We are getting some intelligence that they have been very disrupted,” Hertling said. “We’ve significantly reduced the number of attacks in the city.”

The number of attacks attributed by the U.S. military and Iraqi officials to al Qaeda has fallen notably in recent weeks.

U.S. officials blame al Qaeda for most big bombings in Iraq, including an attack on a Shi’ite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 that set off a wave of sectarian killings that nearly tipped Iraq into all-out civil war.

An influx of U.S. troops last year and a decision by Sunni Arab tribes to turn against al Qaeda enabled U.S. and Iraqi forces to push the militants out of Baghdad and the western province of Anbar, their former strongholds.

The U.S. military says al Qaeda in Iraq is largely foreign-led but that its foot soldiers are mainly Iraqis.

...
[snip]

[Straight Vermonter]

Another possible catch.

[Deetes]

BOOMP !!

[DieHard the Hunter]

Speculations:

1) OBL has been a prisoner of the US for quite some time
2) He has been renditioned to an undisclosed location
3) Every once in a while he gets a surf on the waterboard
4) Shortly thereafter, another video gets released
5) This is to ensure that al Qaeda keep fighting
6) This in order that the US catches and/or kills all of them
7) This won’t stop until they are all gone
8) Somewhere in a witness protection program there is a very rich, very anonymous Afghan goat herder counting his millions.

[taxesareforever]

His last audio tape was released on May 16 and addressed the state of Israel.

Maybe May of 2002. Otherwise his audio is from a grave.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping. BTTT!