(13 Sep 2012) The assault on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi earlier this week was described by an analyst on Thursday as an "opportunistic" attack on the part of a militant group.
American Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed on Tuesday when a mob of Libyans attacked the US consulate in Benghazi.
Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said it looked as though the attack was pre-planned by a group called Ansar al-Sharia, which he called a "shadowy Jihadi outfit that is very anti-American, anti-Western".
Hokayem, addressing journalists at a news conference in London, said the group took advantage of a demonstration outside the consulate against a film called "Innocence of Muslims", which came to attention in Egypt after its trailer was dubbed into Arabic and posted on YouTube.
But he said that the "firepower deployed, the number of fighters on the ground, the sophistication of the attack" all suggested a pre-planned operation.
The trailer for the controversial film depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womaniser and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres.
Since the trailer emerged, American missions have been attacked in three Arab nations - Yemen, Egypt and Libya - that have faced persistent unrest and are struggling to restore law and order after last year's revolts deposed their authoritarian regimes.
In Iraq on Thursday, hundreds of Shiite followers of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demanded the closure of the US Embassy in Baghdad because of the film.
But despite this weeks violence in response to the film, Hokayem compared the situation to previous crises, and suggested that if it is is well managed "perhaps the worst can be avoided."
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
