At 300 dawn on Monday , March 17 , 2016 , the Tunisian city (Ben Guerdane) belongs to the state (Medenine) which is located far south – east near the Libyan-Tunisian border , witnessed a heavy fighting and major military confrontations ,which the city has never seen before, and surprised the Tunisian military and security forces stationed in the area and this operation was carried out by elements belong to the state organization living in Libyan territory , crossed border and clashed with forces belong to the Tunisian National Guard and security assigned to protect the city and these confrontations led to a state of fear and panic among the inhabitants of the city represented in attempts to storm the military barracks and security headquarters and the target those who are present in it and the control of the city and the announcement of it as a state belonging to the organization which is present on Libyan territory and achieve political and media purpose of this operation represented by targeting sovereign sites and security centers and military installations that the organization did not succeed formerly to reach it , and to strengthen its presence and its extension in the Tunisian-Libyan border area in order to confuse the political and security situation inside Tunisian territory.
The beginning of the attack was launched from the border area targeted area (Jalal) located downtown (Ben Guerdane) to its importance and being supervised at all the important sites and places , and from which fighters of the organization tried to execute their task ,totaling (15) fighter, and riding in quartet payment cars using light and medium weapons and machine guns in their attack on the city, and the most important goals were to control the areas ( the security and the National Guard and the headquarters of the army ) in the city , and the offensive has been marked as a street fighting in the alleys neighborhoods of the city for several hours experienced by citizens of the city, which led to the mobilization of all Tunisian security and military a commands and forces stationed in the city , which used all weapons and military equipment in the face of this terrorist attack carried out by combat groups in coordination with the elements of sleeper cells inside the city.
This event formed a security breach that was dealt with by the executive organs firmly and intensity and it had a decisive rapid response represented by the elimination of this attempt and killed 36 terrorists and arrested (7) others.
And by a quiet and realistic reading to this terrorist incident , we can identify the most important goals sought by ISIS in its terrorist operation ,These are:
1.the leadership of the organization, present in the Libyan city (Sirte) reminded us of the ideology and goals of the organization in its extension and crawl to control the cities and capitals of other countries and spread in North Africa , noting this is what we have already referred to , indicated in our article ( state organization in Libya: the goals and objectives ) dated December 15, 2015.
2.The leadership of the organization depends on the principle of extension and expansion towards North Africa, especially after that domination over the most important Libyan cities (Sirte and Sabratha) and important parts of the city of Ajdabiya proving its existence and achieving its objectives in advance and crawling towards the strategic territory and areas .
3.Attempts of the organization to strengthen its combat bases and implementing its offensive and combat activities in some border cities, including the city (Ben Guerdane) that events proved that sleeper cells are exist in it working for the benefit of the organization that help it in the terrorist attack on the city.
4.To enhance the possibility of the organization in control of the important sites from the nearby areas of Libya, and began in (Ben Guerdane) with a population of more than 75 thousand people and with a border line with Libya in a distance of 97 km to achieve its objective to access to the area of southern Tunisia.
this operation was taken place after the air raid carried out by US aircraft on one of training camps of ISIS in the Libyan city (Sabratha) led to the deaths of many of its fighters, mostly from Arab fighters who were joined to the combat formations of the organization.
Before the attack on the city (Ben Guerdane) , the Tunisian security authorities had carried out a wide operation in the Tunisian capital, specifically in the Altadhamin district which is one of the largest districts in the capital led to the dismantling of a terrorist cell belonging to the state organization which is composed of 6 elements and foiled their plans in targeting sensitive and important military and security areas in the capital and in which it has controlled a number of light and medium weapons and pamphlets to educate making of explosive grenades.
After shedding lights on the fact of the goals sought by ISIS from its offensive operation to the city (Ben Guerdane) , We have to determine the strategic dimensions that followed the implementation of the operation which can be identified by the following:
1. The operation proved the real intentions and goals of the organization and its serious attempt to establish Islamic states in All the Arab countries located to the north of Africa after its success and being able to control some of the strategic cities in Libya.
2.the organization was able to rely on sleeping and quiet cells within the Tunisian depth and that participated in the attack on the town (Ben Guerdane) and strengthening of its strength during the offensive to it and represented in a number of leaders and fighters , most notably:
a. Mfattah bin Hussein bin Mohammed Manatah: a master mind of the implementation the operation of the attack and he is the first to put the first lines to storm the city and control it . He was born in 1977 , resident of the city (Medenine , Tunisia) joined to work with state organization in 2009 and is one of the most prominent elements that was attracting the Tunisian youth and convince them to join the combat formations of the state organization in Syria and Libya, and he was killed by the security authorities in the offensive carried out by the organization on the city ( Ben Guerdane) at dawn on the seventh of March 2016.
b.Adel bin Mohammed bin hanu Aghanndora , born in 1986, he was the one who planned for the operation to infiltrate the Tunisian territory across the border with Libya, down to the center of town ( Guerdane) and he is linked to the organization of the state since 2011, and he is the one who provided organization with sufficient and adequate information about the city in terms of its exits and alleys and streets and ways to enter to it by effective and active elements in the organization , and has a close relationship with the Tunisian leader (Noureddine Shushan), who was targeted with an air raid by US aviation during his presence in one of the training camps of the organization of Libyan city (Sabratha) and this operation led to kill him on February 19, 2016, and he is one of those involved with the assaults to the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March, 201,518 led to kill 21 foreign tourists.
C .Alez bin Abdul Qadir Alfranj was born in 1969 and is the linkage among all the terrorist cells that are associated with leaders of the organization in the Libyan city of Sirte and in charge of the transference of the instructions and directives to all elements of the organization within the Tunisian territory, specifically the border cities, and he is one of the most senior leaders of the state organization and he has relationship with ( Furqan Brigade) stationed in the Libyan territory and is responsible for many of the operations carried out within the Libyan depth,
3.the operation confirmed that the organization had worked seriously on finding a terrorist base in the city ( Guerdane) and managed to establish many of its elements in it providing them with arms and light and medium machine guns, and this was confirmed by follow-up and confrontation operations carried out by the Tunisian security forces which have dismantled a number of terrorist cells in the city and its control over a large truck containing weapons and ammunition that the organization was intended to use it within the city.
4.the attack was characterized with inclusiveness and good organization, but it was failed in front of the challenge and confrontation operations carried out by the security forces and Tunisian army deployed in the city in a scientific and well civilized manner that reflects the awareness and understanding and good management and knowledge of the seriousness of the ongoing events in Libya and preparedness for any emergency and serious event noting that the image of caution and rapid decisive response which foiled the intentions of the organization and the killed many of the elements of leadership and the responsible element for leading the operation and planning for it .
This operation indicates to us the hidden dimensions of the orientations of the state organization and its quest to extend its influence and spread of his fighters over a larger area of land that it sees its potential in it and the logistic nature that is serving the movements of its elements and its extension and of executing their plans, will we see in the coming days what to prove the reality of orientations sought by the United States and European countries in their real quest to confront the organization and stop the march in North Africa, in a regional and international cooperation that is maintaining security and stability in the region that is one of the important areas located in front of the European depth and next to the Mediterranean sea or we will see the continuation of terrorist operations and offensive to the coastal cities and the attempt to break through the border areas from inside the Libyan depth and enable the organization to expand its influence on events in north Africa.
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies