Yesterday’s terrorists are today’s public health providers except in Somalia

In October 2015, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocked South Asia, killing around 400 people, many of them in Pakistan. On the front lines of the response to this tragedy were thousands of volunteers of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity that serves as a front organization for a militant jihadi group with al Qaeda ties, Lashkar-e-Taiba. In the aftermath of the natural disaster, Jamaat-ud-Dawa—and by extension Lashkar-e-Taiba—won widespread praise for its efforts to help provide support and distribute aid to Pakistanis impacted by the earthquake.

Hezbollah medical workers stand in front of ambulances during the coronavirus outbreak in Beirut on March 31. DANIEL CARDE/GETTY IMAGES

The coronavirus pandemic has opened up similar opportunities for a range of terrorists, insurgents, and criminal organizations. Across the world, they are already seeking to acquire political legitimacy through the provision of public health services, especially in countries and regions where the government has been either unwilling or unable to help.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban have promised safe access to health care workers crossing through territory it controls, while the group’s members have begun a public health campaign to inform Afghan citizens of the dangers of the virus, providing information on how to remain safe from its spread. As of early April, Afghanistan has a reported 367 cases of the coronavirus, although, given the country’s inadequate health infrastructure, this number seems remarkably low. Perhaps in an effort to prove it can be a responsible stakeholder in a future Afghan government, the Taliban even offered to implement a cease-fire in parts of Afghanistan especially devastated by the outbreak.

In Lebanon, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah has offered a fleet of dozens of ambulances and dispatched members of the Islamic Health Society to spray disinfectant in public spaces. Lebanon has reported 541 cases of the coronavirus, and the government is struggling to deal with the spread of the pandemic. Hobbled by corruption and economic malaise, Lebanon’s government, which includes Hezbollah, will need all the help it can get to respond to the crisis. Hezbollah has offered its health-related resources to the government, perhaps in an effort to ensure that its efforts are not perceived as strictly sectarian, thus increasing the group’s appeal across all sectors of Lebanon’s political establishment.

In war-torn Syria, the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham cited guidance from the World Health Organization in the March edition of its newsletter, Ebaa, offering advice on how Syrians could protect themselves and their families from getting sick. The group is capable of printing thousands of copies of its newsletters per day, and its primary distribution is thought to be throughout northwest Syria in rebel-controlled territory. The number of reported coronavirus cases in Syria is currently less than two dozen, although few expect transparency from Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who belatedly adopted measures to assist Syrians living in areas still controlled by his regime.

In Somalia, where the number of reported cases is currently low but which would be ravaged by a significant coronavirus outbreak, the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab has disseminated propaganda linking the virus to so-called crusader forces in an effort to blame Western troops.

Source