The enemies of France, for example Iran, Turkey, Sudan, the Hezbollah of Lebanon, can support terrorist attacks against France. In the previous decades Qaddafi’s Libya was another potential sponsor of terrorism against France, but after 2000 the relations between France and Libya were normalized.
Obviously there are many African countries that can support terrorist attacks against France too, but I am talking about countries that are significant military powers, so that they can provide advanced weapons and intelligence support, which are necessary for spectacular attacks against France.
In 2015 there was the agreement for the nuclear program of Iran. France opposed the Iran deal in order to protect her Arab allies, but also because Iran challenges France in North Africa, where France gets a large part of her uranium imports. France needs the uranium because for her production of nuclear energy. France covers most of her energy needs from the production of nuclear energy. See “Nuclear Power in France”, November 2015.
The agreement for the Iranian nuclear program opened the road for the economic cooperation between France and Iran. Moreover, Sudan, a strong Iranian ally during the previous decades, and a strong supporter of international terrorism, changed sides and aligned itself with Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia is a French ally.
These developments changed the ability of Al-Qaeda to attack France, because Iran and Sudan were strong supporters of Al-Qaeda. That does not mean that Iran or Sudan own the terrorist groups of Africa, but these groups must receive support from the enemies of France in order to attack France, and the stronger the enemies of France the greater and more sophisticated the support they can receive.
Turkey, another great military power, is an enemy of France too. However it is difficult for Turkey to support Al-Qaeda related groups, because Turkey might be an enemy of France but she is an ally of the United States. Jihadist groups are communicating vessels, and support to one group that attacks France might end up to another group that attacks the United States.
However I have to say that Al-Qaeda of North Africa (Al-Qaeda of Islamic Maghreb) is a different organization from Al-Qaeda of Asia. In Asia Al-Qaeda is fighting the Americans who are trying to bring the oil and natural gas of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to India i.e. TAPI Pipeline, while in Africa Al-Qaeda is fighting the French who support the construction of the Trans-Saharan Pipeline, which will send the natural gas of Nigeria to Algeria and Europe. See “A Summary of the Wars of the 21st Century”.
For the difference between Al-Qaeda Africa and Al-Qaeda Asia see Rand Corporation “North Africa’s Menace : AQIM's Evolution and the U.S. Policy Response”.
Therefore before the agreement for Iran’s nuclear program and before the repositioning of Sudan’s foreign policy, Iran, Sudan and Hezbollah were the most powerful supporters of Jihadist groups who were fighting France in Africa. Now of course there is also the Islamic State, which was supported by Turkey and the Arabs, but I will come back to ISIS later on. But note that France is bombing ISIS in Syria, and therefore ISIS can support attacks against France too. ISIS consists of the ex-people of Saddam Hussein who were overturned by the Americans with the Iraq War of 2003. Saddam Hussein was a soviet ally and these people were trained by the Soviets and the KGB. See “Towards an Alliance Between Russia and ISIS”?
Note that Saudi Arabia, another country which supports Jihadist organizations has a limited ability to support Al-Qaeda, because Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States and France, and Al-Qaeda fights both of them. Saudi Arabia buys her weapons from the United States and France, while Iran, Hezbollah and Sudan are buying their weapons from Russia and China. Therefore Iran, Hezbollah and Sudan had a lot more freedom to support Al-Qaeda against their enemies i.e. the United States and France, while the Saudis would lose the American and French support if they were to support Al-Qaeda against the United States and France.
Moreover Saudi Arabia is not interested in the exports of natural gas. It is Iran, Qatar and Russia that really care about natural gas exports, because they are the ones who are very rich in natural gas. Saudi Arabia consumes domestically her gas production. The Saudis fight for their oil exports, because Saudi Arabia is the second richest country in oil reserves, second only to Venezuela.
Image Richest in Natural Gas
Image Richest in Oil
Therefore the Saudis do not really have to stop the TAPI Pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India), or the Trans-Saharan Pipeline (Nigeria-Niger-Algeria). It is the Iranians, the Qataris and the Iranians and the Russians that have to worry about them. The Turks must also stop the Tran-Saharan Pipeline because the Turks’ main ambition is to send the natural gas of the Middle East and Central Asia to Europe, and provide an alternative to the Russian gas.
Map TAPI Pipeline
Map Trans-Saharan Pipeline
Therefore, when I say that it was mainly Iran, Sudan and Hezbollah who were supporting Al-Qaeda against France in Africa, I am not saying that Saudi Arabia is a better country than Iran. I am just saying that the alliance of Saudi Arabia with France and the United States, and also Saudi Arabia’s lack of interest in natural gas pipelines, did not make Saudi Arabia the ideal backer of Al-Qaeda against France.
