There are numerous interpretations for the targeting of scientists, in military, scientific or intellectual fields, in several Arab states, through assassination or kidnapping. Most importantly are terrorist organizations’ retaliations against certain Arab regimes, maintaining Israel’s technological edge to perpetuate the power imbalance in the region, entrenching the role of Western countries in technical and scientific fields, the growing economies of criminal gangs and the emergence of sectarian dimensions in internal interactions. 

Targeting Arab “minds” is not a new phenomenon, it dates to seven decades ago when nuclear scientists from Egypt and Iraq were targeted. Over the past few years, the phenomenon has spread to Tunisian, Syrian and Palestinian scientists, especially in the manufacturing and construction technology of missiles, drones, electronic and electrical engineering, and chemical weapons. Thus hollowing out Arab countries from the rare expertise and disciplines. 

Currently, it can be argued that there is set of factors that explain why scientists are being targeted in the Arab states.  

Terrorists’ Retaliation 

1- Reprisals against Arab regimes by terrorist organizations, as evident in the murder of Aziz Asber, director of the Scientific Research Centre of the Syrian Ministry of Defense, on August 4, in a car bomb blast in Rif Hama in central Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the developer of the barrel bombs used against civilians, as the opposition claims.

In a statement on Telegram, the Abu Ammar Brigades, a group affiliated to Tahrir al-Sham, claimed responsibility for the attack. The latter includes al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda branch in Syria. The Syrian regime had previously accused al-Nusra Front of assassinating five nuclear scientists on November 9, 2014, in an area on the northern outskirts of Damascus, although it was not clear whether they were killed in a car bomb or shot in their car.

Deterrence Policy 

2- To prevent threatening certain regional powers (Israel): Asber is accused of aiding in the manufacture of chemical weapons used by Assad’s forces against the opposition and civilians in Eastern Ghouta, always at various intervals, according to accusations by the US and some European countries as well as the Syrian opposition, which might pose threats to Israel at some point. In addition, the investigators of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have confirmed that they have found evidence of the use of such poisonous gases, prompting the US to launch a missile attack on Shayrat airbase in Homs in April 2017, as well as Israeli raids on the Syrian Scientific Research Centre in Masyaf in September 2017 and July 2018. 

In this context, the Iranian and Syrian media (loyal to the Assad regime) accused Israel of orchestrating the operation which targeted Asber as being responsible for the development of the long-range Syrian missile system based on the Iranian “Fatah” missile, as well as the Joint Coordination Committee between Syria, Iran and Hezbollah with regard to arms transfer. In addition Asber was accused of being one of those responsible for non-conventional weapons, including nerve gas, which prompted the US Treasury Department to impose sanctions on five entities and eight individuals linked to Syria’s chemical weapons program. 

According to an Israeli newspaper, accusing Israel of masterminding such operation was based on Israel’s previous targeting of other Arab scientists working on missile systems, such as the Palestinian Fadi al-Batash, who was killed in Malaysia last April, and Mohamed Zouari, who co-manufactured a drone called “Ababil” for the Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, who was assassinated in Tunisia on December 15, 2016. It should be noted that Asber may be a high-value target for Tel Aviv, according to the prevailing analysis in some writings, as he holds a doctorate in atomic physics, a doctorate in liquid rocket fuel from France, and is one of the characters shrouded in great secrecy due to the nature of his tasks in the field of scientific development and chemical weapons.

Arab Subjugation 

3- To entrench international powers’ scientific and technological role: Numerous estimates argue that targeting Arab “minds” would lead force such countries to fill the ensuing vacuum in highly tech disciplines by enlisting scientific expertise from outside the Arab countries, thereby increasing the cost of scientific and technical production and undercutting the independence and scientific secrecy required by such processes, particularly the military, as well as disrupting any scientific project to advance the status of any Arab state, principally in the military sphere, and the nuclear in particular. The significant decline in the performance of some scientific institutions also pushes their staff to migrate to developed countries, creating what is known as brain drain.

Clandestine Networks

4- Burgeoning economies of criminal gangs: These networks have taken advantage of the internal turmoil or the faltering of the security apparatus in the aftermath of the popular revolutions and internal conflicts. Thus, Syria is witnessing kidnapping of scientists and physicians by armed gangs, demanding ransom to release them, especially if their relatives are rich. Gangs may demand monthly protection money in exchange for not harming them.

Sometimes, the goal of these gangs shifts to assassination to use human organs to make huge gains. There are also several gangs that kidnap and kill Iraqi scientists without demanding ransom, which led some analysts to suggest that there are foreign hands behind such assassinations, backed not by internal forces, but by external ones, which provide them with funds and weapons to carry out their tasks.

Sectarian Violence

5- The emergence of sectarian dimensions in internal interactions: Some writers argue that the Iraqi academics are targeted for sectarian reasons, especially since the Shiites took over the country’s rule in the post-Saddam Hussein regime and the US invasion of Iraq, posing a threat to the national identity. This led some writers to call it the “Second Wave”, targeting university professors and Sunni researchers, who hold doctorates in science and medicine especially from the US and UK, who work at the universities of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Al-Mustansiriyah, Salah al-Din, Diyala, Karbala and Najaf.

Growing sectarianism is evident in the region’s conflicts and the war against ISIS in the country. While the investigations yielded little results, the accusations are widely levelled at the Shiite militias, which are linked to Iran, especially that the latter are retaliating against the Iraqi scientists who were behind the Iraqi power during Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran. In addition, they are trying to weaken Iraq, obstruct reconstruction efforts and prevent its revival as a force capable of confronting Iranian influence in the region.

Destruction Mechanism

In short, there is an ongoing wave of targeting scientists in several Arab States, particularly those suffering from internal turmoil, at the hands of armed militias and terrorist organizations, as well as attempts by international powers to maintain control over scientific capabilities and develop rehabilitation programs for some scientists of the region if they accept to work abroad, such as the “rehabilitation of Iraqi scientists” program initiated by the US in December 2003, to prevent the leakage or transfer of information to hostile organizations and states, and moves by some regional powers to recruit people, whether from within or outside the region, to liquidate Arab scientists in the field of military industrialization.