Middle East Overview
Spectacular and horrific bombings in Dhahran, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem dominated terrorist incidents in the Middle East in 1996 and nearly doubled the number of terrorist casualties to 837 from 445 in 1995. The truck bombing of the residential of the residential building occupied by US military personnel participating in the Joint Task Force/Southwest Asia near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on 25 June killed 19 US citizens and wounded over 500 persons. Several groups claimed responsibility, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Saudi Government continue their investigation into the incident.
In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, suicide bombs in February
and March killed 65 persons, including three US citizens. The radical
Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) was responsible for three of the
bombings, and HAMAS and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) both claimed
responsibility for the fourth. In December the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the shooting of an
Israeli woman and her son. Israeli extremists were responsible for several
attacks in 1996 that resulted in the deaths of at least two Palestinians.
Following the February and March bombings, 29 world leaders from the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Asia met in March and held the "Summit of the Peacemakers" in Sharm ash Shaykh, Egypt. They pledged to support the Middle East peace process and to take practical steps to expand regional cooperation against terrorism.
The Palestinian Authority continued its efforts-in-cooperation with Israeli authorities to combat the threat posed by terrorist groups such as HAMAS and the PIJ and to root out those who plan and carry out these attacks.
The Egyptian Government cracked down on extremist violence and significantly reduced terrorist incidents at the country's popular tourist sites where attacks had occurred during the previous two years. Fatalities from security incidents in Egypt decreased in 1996. However, extremist violence in upper Egypt and some outlying areas continued. In Cairo, 18 tourists were shot and killed by members of al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group or IG). Also, the men responsible for carrying out the assassination attempt against President Mubarak in June 1995 remain at large.
In Algeria, political violence and random killings continued on a large scale around the county, causing major loss of life. Car bombs targeting Algerian municipalities, press center, schools and cafes were set off regularly. Indiscriminate killing of civilians at false highway checkpoints or in outlying towns were almost daily occurrences. Terrorists often targeted the families of members of government security services.
The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) kidnapped and subsequently killed seven French monks when its demands for the release of GIA members were not fulfilled. Otherwise, attacks against foreigners in Algeris decreased in 1996. Algerian extremists are believed to be behind a deadly bombing of a Paris commuter train in which four persons died and some 80 other passengers were wounded. Elsewhere in North Africa, there were few terrorist incidents.
In Lebanon, the security situation improved as the government continued its efforts to expand the rule of law to more of the country. Lebanese courts are increasingly active in prosecuting terrorists. One was convicted of terrorist attacks on Kuwaiti interests in Beirut in the early 1990s, and two others for the car-bombing death of the brother of a senior Hizballah official. A military appeals court upheld the conviction of the murdered of a French military attaché killed in 1986, and another court extradited to Germany a man accused in the 1986 bombing of the La Belle discotheque in Berlin. a Lebanese court upheld the conviction for kidnapping of two men involved in the 1976 kidnapping and murder of two UN diplomats but then released the two under a Lebanese amnesty law. Terrorist group, especially Hizballah, continued to operate with relative impunity in large areas of Lebanon, and Beirut's southern suburbs.
This site seeks to provide a summary of the most prominent groups who have terrorist designs in the Middle East. For this reason, the site has been broken into separate pages, according to country, so as to create a more organized view of terrorist groups throughout the regions listed.