http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374167
TERRORISM FOCUS
May 13, 2008
“Jihadis Urge Naval Terrorism in the Middle East”
By Abdul Hameed Bakier
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Islamist forums and jihadi media have been promoting and threatening to perpetrate naval terrorism as an important strategic trend in the jihadi path. Jihad Press, an e-journal affiliated with al-Qaeda, issued a statement entitled “Naval Terrorism, a Strategic Necessity,” which was carried by several different jihadi forums (hanein.info, April 30). The Jihad Press article was re-published by other pro-jihadi media outlets attributing it to al-Qaeda, some of which added further comments intended to instigate naval terror attacks in Yemen (asrarpress.net, April 30).”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Jihadi forum contributors hailed the new strategy as appropriate and necessary, especially for jihadis desiring to redeploy in Somalia. “The subject is timely. Many brothers from Yemen, Southern Saudi [Arabia] and beyond want to troop out to Somalia, but fear the enemy’s control of the sea, which is one of the important points jihadis must control,” says one forum participant.
Although jihadis are encouraging naval terrorism as a new phase in their targeting agenda, jihadi ideologues have long talked about the return of naval jihad. Jihadis believe that free navigation has critical importance for the U.S. economy and has to be disrupted. The fact that many significant sea passages, such as the Suez Canal and the Bosphorus, Mandab and Gibraltar Straits, are surrounded by, or in the vicinity of, Islamic countries and the low cost of perpetrating naval attacks—jihadis had to spend only a few thousand dollars to attack the multi-million dollar USS Cole—makes “naval jihad” a potentially serious terror threat. As Somalia’s pirates have shown, shipping in the region can be easily disrupted by lightly-armed groups in small motorboats.”