The KLA's main staging area is in the vicinity of the town of Tropoje
in northern Albania [Jane's International Defense Review, 2/1/99].
Tropoje, the hometown and current base of former Albanian president
Sali Berisha, a major KLA patron, is also a known center for Islamic
terrorists connected with Saudi renegade Osama bin-Ladin. [For a
report on the presence of bin-Ladin assets in Tropoje and connections
to anti-American Islamic terrorism, see "U.S. Blasts' Possible
Mideast Ties: Alleged Terrorists Investigated in Albania, Washington
Post, 8/12/98.]
The following
reports note the presence of foreign mujahedin (i.e., Islamic holy
warriors) in the Kosovo war, some of them jihad veterans from Bosnia,
Chechnya, and Afghanistan. Some of the reports specifically cite
assets of Iran or bin-Ladin, or both, in support of the KLA. To
some, "mujahedin" does not necessarily equal "terrorists."
But since the foreign fighters have not been considerate enough
to provide an organizational chart detailing the exact relationship
among the various groups, the reported presence of foreign fighters
together with known terrorists in the KLA's stronghold at least
raises serious questions about the implications for the Clinton
Administration's increasingly close ties to the KLA:
"Serbian
officials say Mujahideen have formed groups that remained behind
in Bosnia. Groups from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Chechnya are also
involved in Albanian guerrilla operations. A document found on the
body of Alija Rabic, an Albanian UCK member killed in a border crossing
incident last July, indicated he was guiding a 50-man group from
Albania into Kosovo. The group included one Yemeni and 16 Saudis,
six of whom bore passports with Macedonian Albanian names. Other
UCK rebels killed crossing the Albanian frontier have carried Bosnian
Muslim Federation papers." [Jane's International Defense Review,
"Unhealthy Climate in Kosovo as Guerrillas Gear Up for a Summer
Confrontation," 2/1/99]
"Mujahidin fighters have joined the Kosovo Liberation Army,
dimming prospects of a peaceful solution to the conflict and fuelling
fears of heightened violence next spring.. . . . Their arrival in
Kosovo may force Washington to review its policy in the Serbian
province and will deepen Western dismay with the KLA and its tactics.
. . . 'Captain Dula', the local KLA commander, was clearly embarrassed
at the unexpected presence of foreign journalists and said that
he had little idea who was sending the Mujahidin or where they came
from; only that it was neither Kosovo nor Albania. 'I've got no
information about them,' Captain Dula said. 'We don't talk about
it.' . . . American diplomats in the region, especially Robert Gelbard,
the special envoy, have often expressed fears of an Islamic hardline
infiltration into the Kosovo independence movement. . . . American
intelligence has raised the possibility of a link between Osama
bin Laden, the Saudi expatriate blamed for the bombing in August
of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, and the KLA. Several
of Bin Laden's supporters were arrested in Tirana, the Albanian
capital, and deported this summer, and the chaotic conditions in
the country have allowed Muslim extremists to settle there, often
under the guise of humanitarian workers. . . . 'I interviewed one
guy from Saudi Arabia who said that it was his eighth jihad,' a
Dutch journalist said." ["U.S. Alarmed as Mujahidin Join
Kosovo Rebels," The Times (London), 11/26/98]
"Diplomats
in the region say Bosnia was the first bastion of Islamic power.
The autonomous Yugoslav region of Kosovo promises to be the second.
During the current rebellion against the Yugoslav army, the ethnic
Albanians in the province, most of whom are Moslem, have been provided
with financial and military support from Islamic countries. They
are being bolstered by hundreds of Iranian fighters, or Mujahadeen,
who infiltrate from nearby Albania and call themselves the Kosovo
Liberation Army. US defense officials say the support includes that
of Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi terrorist accused of masterminding
the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. A
Defense Department statement on August 20 said Bin Laden's Al Qa'ida
organization supports Moslem fighters in both Bosnia and Kosovo.
. . . The KLA strength was not the southern Kosovo region, which
over the centuries turned from a majority of Serbs to ethnic Albanians.
The KLA, however, was strong in neighboring Albania, which today
has virtually no central government. The crisis in Albania led Iran
to quickly move in to fill the vacuum. Iranian Revolutionary Guards
began to train KLA members. . . . Selected groups of Albanians were
sent to Iran to study that country's version of militant Islam.
So far, Yugoslav officials and Western diplomats agree that millions
of dollars have been funnelled through Bosnia and Albania to buy
arms for the KLA. The money is raised from both Islamic governments
and from Islamic communities in Western Europe, particularly Germany.
. . . 'Iran has been active in helping out the Kosovo rebels,' Ephraim
Kam, deputy director of Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for
Strategic Studies, said. 'Iran sees Kosovo and Albania as containing
Moslem communities that require help and Teheran is willing to do
it.' But much of the training of the KLA remains based in Bosnia.
Intelligence sources say mercenaries and volunteers for the separatist
movement have been recruited and paid handsome salaries. . . . The
trainers and fighters in the KLA include many of the Iranians who
fought in Bosnia in the early 1990s. Intelligence sources place
their number at 7,000, many of whom have married Bosnian women.
There are also Afghans, Algerians, Chechens, and Egyptians."
["Kosovo Seen as New Islamic Bastion," Jerusalem Post,
9/14/98]
". . .
By late 1997, the Tehran-sponsored training and preparations of
the Liberation Army of Kosovo (UCK -- Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves
-- in Albanian, OVK in Serbian), as well as the transfer of weapons
and experts via Albania, were being increased. Significantly, Tehran's
primary objective in Kosovo has evolved from merely assisting a
Muslim minority in distress to furthering the consolidation of the
Islamic strategic axis along the Sarajevo-to-Tirane line. And only
by expanding and escalating subversive and Islamist-political presence
can this objective be attained. . . In the Fall of 1997, the uppermost
leadership in Tehran ordered the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] High
Command to launch a major program for shipping large quantities
of weapons and other military supplies to the Albanian clandestine
organisations in Kosovo. [The supreme Iranian spiritual leader,
the Ayatollah] Khamene'i's instructions specifically stipulated
that the comprehensive military assistance was aimed to enable the
Muslims 'to achieve the independence' of the province of Kosovo.
. . . [B]y early December 1997, Iranian intelligence had already
delivered the first shipments of hand grenades, machine-guns, assault
rifles, night vision equipment, and communications gear from stockpiles
in Albania into Kosovo. The mere fact that the Iranians could despatch
the first supplies within a few days and in absolute secrecy reflect
extensive advance preparations made in Albania in anticipation for
such instructions from Tehran. Moreover, the Iranians began sending
promising Albanian and UCK commanders for advanced military training
in al-Quds [special] forces and IRGC camps in Iran. Meanwhile, weapons
shipments continue. Thus, Tehran is well on its way to establishing
a bridgehead in Kosovo. . . The liberation army was to be only the
first phase in building military power. Ultimately, the Kosovo Albanians
must field such heavy weapons as tanks, armoured personnel carriers,
artillery, and rocket launchers, if they hope to evict the Serbian
forces from Kosovo. . . . The spate of UCK terrorism during the
Fall of 1997, . . . should be considered intentional provocations
against the Serbian police aimed to elicit a massive retaliation
that would in turn lead to a popular uprising. Thus, the ongoing
terrorism campaign in Kosovo should be considered the initial phases
in implementing the call for an uprising. Iran-sponsored activists
have already spread the word through Kosovo that the liberation
war has already broken out. If current trends prevail, the increasingly
Islamist UCK will soon become the main factor in overturning the
long-term status quo in the region. Concurrently, the terrorist
activities have become part of everyday life throughout Kosovo.
Given the extent of the propaganda campaign and the assistance provided
by Iran, the spread of terrorism should indeed be considered the
beginning of an armed rebellion that threatens a major escalation."
["Italy Becomes Iran's New Base for Terrorist Operations,"
by Yossef Bodansky, Defense and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy
(London), February 1998. Bodansky is Director of the House Congressional
Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. This report
was written in late 1997, before the KLA's offensive in early 1998.]
USA
Republican Policy Committee
Larry E. Craig, March 31, 1999
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/fr033199.htm
BIN
LADEN, IRAN AND THE KLA
How Islamic Terrorism Took Root in Albania,
by Christopher Delisso
KLA
- ISLAMIC LINKS
OVERVIEW
- KLA Islamic Links
The
Times, US Alarmed as Mujahidins Join Kosovo Rebels, Nov 26, 1998
The Scotsman,
US Tackles Islamic Militancy in Kosovo, Nov 30, 1998
AP, Bin
Laden Operated Terrorist Network Based in Albania, Nov 29, 1998
Jerusalem
Post, Kosovo Seen as New Islamic Bastion, Sep 14, 1998
Sunday
Times, Bin Laden Opens a New Terrorist Base in
Albania, Nov 29, 1998
Sunday Times,
Iranians Move in (Kosovo Link), Mar 22, 1998
Saudi Arabians in Post-war
Kosovo
Osama Bin Laden or not?
Reuters,
Security Fears in Kosovo, NATO Raids Saudi House, April 3, 2000
Charisma
Magazine, Kosovo Christians Targeted by
Islamic Militants, May 18, 200o
Islamic Circles in UK and the Fund Raising
for Arms in Kosovo
Sunday
Telegraph UK, KLA Raises Money in Britain For Arms, Apr 23, 2000
