Thread: Isil 'wants its own navy for attacks on cruise ships in the Mediterranean'

A senior Nato naval officer says the rise of the militant group in Libya is casting a shadow over shipping in the Med.


Islamic State militants hope to build a maritime arm that could carry out attacks in the Mediterranean, a senior Nato Naval officer has warned.


The march of Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil) along the Libyan coast has cast an "uncomfortable shadow" across shipping said Vice-Adml Clive Johnstone.
The spread of sophisticated Russian and Chinese weapons to armed groups in the region also means there is now the "horrible opportunity" a cruise liner or container ship could be hit, the commander of Nato's maritime command warned.


Libya's collapse into chaos and Isil's seizure of the coastal city of Sirte has prompted alarm in Europe, with countries including Britain and Italy considering sending thousands of troops to train local forces.



Vice-Adml Johnstone, a Royal Navy officer, said Isil was quickly changing and had ambitions to mount seaborne operations.
He said: "We know they have had ambitions to go off shore, we know they would like to have a maritime arm, just as al Qaeda had a maritime arm."

As the Mediterranean is becoming increasingly militarised, commercial and tourist shipping is coming under threat, he said.


Sophisticated Chinese, Russian and Korean weapons were finding their way to militant groups such as Hamas and Hizbollah. Though he said he did not believe groups were targeting shipping, there was still a risk of a serious incident.
He said: "There is a horrible opportunity in the future that a misdirected, untargeted round of a very high quality weapons system will just happen to target a cruise liner, or an oil platform, or a container ship."



The Nato allies must also not allow themselves to be "hustled out" of the eastern Mediterranean, where the Russian Navy is increasingly active, he said.
He said the growing risks to shipping in the Mediterranean mean he is "quietly worried" there will be an attack or serious incident.



He said: "I think it won't be a planned, horrible mischievous act, I think it will be an act which is almost a mistake, or it will be an act of random terrorism that will suddenly have extraordinary implications for the Western world."



Elsewhere, he said patrols by Russian submarines in the North Atlantic were back up to Cold War levels.
Activity is so high that some Nato members are considering redeploying submarines from the Mediterranean to northern European waters, he said.





Not a mention of the US and other NATO members who supplied arms to various "rebel' groups, weapons that have found their way to IS.

Libya's collapse into chaos

Was this not brought about by the actions of NATO members who attacked the country while murdering Gaddafi ?

Why not provide them with an air force too...that would assist evening up the conflict.
Good for the sale of armaments too.

Any old surplus U boats left over from WW-2? They seemed quite effective for a while.

Good luck with that ISIL.

That's great !
One shot and a boat full of fanatics sunk.

Allahu akbar !
Allahu akbar !
Allahu akbar !

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Good luck with that ISIL.

Indeed, it would be a silly move for them to come out into the open like that, and so much easier for them to be blasted to smithereens.

It's shit journalism to scare the sheeple. And there's no link.

My guess is Mail Online

^ Here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...terranean.html

Originally Posted by BobR

Any old surplus U boats left over from WW-2? They seemed quite effective for a while.

I'm sure they'll get something a bit better. They'll just have to lose a few Toyota 4WD's from the next shipment they get from the states.

We should let Britain's MoD procure their navy for them.

That way they'll end up with a hideously over-priced pile of floating junk that doesn't work and likely bankrupt themselves trying to fix it!

Did Libya not have a few ships at one time? If the Iranians can capture a couple of top of the range Ameristan boats under the nose of a Carrier Group costing billions of $$$, with a couple of pleasure craft why bother with anything more?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Did Libya not have a few ships at one time? If the Iranians can capture a couple of top of the range Ameristan boats under the nose of a Carrier Group costing billions of $$$, with a couple of pleasure craft why bother with anything more?

Maybe you have forgot that the Pride of the Royal Navy suffered the same humiliating setback too, Iron ships and wooden men http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Ir...Navy_personnel

They just need to recruit Somali pirates for training them, who easily boarded cargo ships with a bamboo pole with a grappling hook.

Originally Posted by wasabi

They just need to recruit Somali pirates for training them, who easily boarded cargo ships with a bamboo pole with a grappling hook.

The Rusky Navy gave the Somali Pirates a terrible beating and now you hardly hear of them , there's quite a few video's like this on youtube

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Good luck with that ISIL.

Yeah, you say that, but Daesh didn't have too much trouble smuggling shooters in with the huddled doe-eyed masses, and their incompetence was sufficient to inflict enough damage on the streets of Paris to make EU leaders and intelligence agencies look at best "complacent".

All those huddled masses pouring into the seas and being rescued are the sort of cover Daesh may be thinking of. Given that they don't give a toss about various human rights conventions, you have to assume that the west's proclivity for legalism and compassion will be seen as a weakness to be exploited.

Any notion of Daesh battleships and aircraft carriers is surely a long way off what is really being considered. Even the Somali style skiffs are probably not planned. Daesh sleepers on a cruise ship don't need formal weapons to ignite panic. An incident like that is pretty difficult to police.

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

the west's proclivity for legalism and compassion will be seen as a weakness to be exploited.

For sure the west's .........

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

Daesh sleepers on a cruise ship don't need formal weapons to ignite panic.

Two passengers on a plane, a bus, a train, talkin in Arabic is enough for some to panic! Who has generated this fear, the terrorists or the compliant MSM.