Dominos

According to this FOX News article (HT: Power Line), a chief terrorist financier has been captured in Iraq.

Iraqi police on Wednesday arrested Saddam Hussein's (search) nephew in Baghdad, charging that he served as the top financier of Iraq's (search) rampant insurgency, senior Iraqi security officials said.

Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim (search), son of Saddam's half brother Sabhawi Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, was arrested in a Baghdad apartment, several days after Syrian authorities forced him to return to Iraq, the officials told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Cairo. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to deal with the media.

On Monday I wrote about the capture of Abu Khalil, Abu Azzam's banker. I speculated that Khalil probably gave up the location of Azzam, and the fact we heard about this capture three weeks after the fact indicated other operations probably took place as a result of any intelligence Khalil divulged.

This is pure speculation on my part here, but I would not be surprised if the capture of Ibrahim is also related to the capture of Khalil. It is likely that Khalil, a person involved with the higher levels of finance in the terrorist operations, would know and interact with Ibrahim.

My speculation is that Khalil knew Ibrahim was in Syria, and said so, providing direct confirmation of what has been suspected.

Since Khalil's capture, I speculate the US has put serious pressure on Syria to return Ibrahim, pressure made all the more real by the fact the US could produce direct proof of the knowledge Ibrahim was in Syria. I speculate Syria returned Ibrahim, and the Iraqi authorites were allowed to take credit for the capture as a way of bolstering their capabilities in the eyes of the Iraqi people.

Last Saturday, Belmont Club linked to an article that reported the following:

A series of clashes in the past year between U.S. and Syrian troops, including a prolonged firefight this summer that killed several Syrians, has raised the prospect that cross-border military operations may become a new front in the Iraq war, according to current and former military and government officials.

The firefight, between Army Rangers and Syrian troops along the border with Iraq, was the most serious of the conflicts with President Bashar al-Assad's forces, according to U.S. and Syrian officials.

It illustrated the dangers facing U.S. troops as Washington tries to apply more political and military pressure on a country that President Bush last week labeled one of the "allies of convenience" with extremists.

There has been more talk recently about US pressure on Syria. The fact the US can credibly apply pressure is a direct benefit of the improved capability of the Iraqi security forces. It's not quite so simple as one trained Iraqi soldier means one US soldier is available for use elsewhere. But, as Iraqi forces are increasingly able to provide their own security, US forces will become available for any possible operations against Syria. Certainly such threats become much more credible. These kinds of operations have been highly unlikely in the past because US forces have been spread so thin in Iraq to begin with.

Again I speculate here, but the US might have waved this newfound stick at Syria, and politely requested they could return Ibrahim as a sign of their willingness to cease support of cross-border terrorist operations.

As the Iraqi forces continue their development, look for more talk about Syria.

(CentCom and MNF-Iraq do not yet have press releases on the capture of Ibrahim.)

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Security Watchtower has an excellent post on the capture, with some good background and links.