Libya
Two more policemen were killed in a shootout with an “armed group” outside of the Benghazi Security Directorate. The director of the Benghazi Security Directorate was killed last month.
Monthly Archives: December 2012
Nigeria
France said al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was likely behind the kidnapping of a Frenchman in Katsina; the local police claimed it looked like an “inside job.” A court admitted into evidence over 200 pieces of improvised explosives in the case of six Boko Haram suspects arrested in July 2011.
Al Qaeda
Attack on Police Complex in Benghazi Kills Four
Afghanistan
Afghan Factions Hold Informal Talks Near Paris
Afghanistan
Once a symbol of new Afghanistan, can policewomen survive?
Germany
The banned group Millatu Ibrahim issued two German-language chants by Salafist rapper Denis Mamdou Cuspert through the Global Islamic Media Front. One chant, subtitled in English, calls for jihad throughout the world, including “Londonistan, Germanistan,” Rome, and Jerusalem; the other praises an imprisoned German Islamist and urges the kidnapping German citizens.
United Kingdom
The High Court declined to hear a Pakistani man’s challenge to the lawfulness of alleged targeting assistance given by the UK to the CIA for the drone campaign in Pakistan. Characterizing the lawsuit as an attempt to elicit a public statement condemning the campaign, the court said that oversight of intelligence matters was the business […]
‘Foreigners’ reported killed in US drone strike in Pakistan
The unmanned Predators or Reapers destroyed a compound in the Mir Ali area, which is known to host top al Qaeda and other jihadist leaders and operatives.
Afghanistan
The Taliban killed two Afghan security personnel and five civilians in a bombing in Nimroz. A Georgian soldier has gone missing in Helmand province. Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasool said the ANSF is not prepared to take over security in 2014.
Afghanistan
Ex-Afghan Spy Chief Opposes Paris Conference on Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Taliban Could Overrun Nuristan: Locals
Afghanistan
Afghan Forces Not Ready for Post-2014 Threats: Afghan Foreign Minister
Iraq
The finance minister said that a “militia force” kidnapped several members of his staff. President Talibani has been moved to a hospital in Germany after his stroke earlier this week.
Syria
Rebels began an offensive to seize a strategic town in Hama province that lies along the main highway between Damascus and Aleppo. Government forces resumed launching SCUD missiles at rebel positions. Fighting subsided at a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus.
Egypt
Egypt’s chief public prosecutor, appointed by President Morsi and forced to resign earlier this week by opposition protests, retracted his resignation. The controversy further heightens tensions between Muslim Brotherhood groups and the opposition ahead of Egypt’s second round of voting for a new draft constitution.
Iraq
Troops gone, US increasingly sidelined in Iraq
Syria
Syrian rebel infighting could take dangerous turn if Assad falls
Somalia
The Ethiopian military indicated that the African Union will expand its operations beyond Jowhar and Beledweyne. The towns of Bulo Burto and Jalalaqsi, which are between the two cities, are still under Shabaab control.
Libya
Nasser Torshani, an Ansar al Sharia official in Benghazi, denied that the al Qaeda-linked group was involved in assassinations of police officials in the city. He claimed that former Qaddafi loyalists have been executing police officers.
Nigeria
A group of 30 gunmen stormed a residence in Katsina state near the Niger border, killed a security guard and a neighbor, and kidnapped a French engineer. The group threw a grenade at a police station following the kidnapping.
Al Qaeda
‘Zero Dark Thirty’ waterboarding depictions not accurate, senators say
Hezbollah
Lebanon’s Shiites and Sunnis Fight in Syria, but Not at Home
Syria
UN warns of foreign influx into sectarian Syria war
Ahrar al Sham
Al Qaeda grows powerful in Syria as endgame nears
Pakistan
Polio workers speak out on Pakistan attacks
Tunisia
Salafists protested in the town of Menzel Bourguiba in Bizerte governorate against the detention of Salafists jailed over the Sept. 14 attack on the US Embassy in Tunis. They also called for clarification of the legal process against Abou Iyadh (a.k.a. Saif Allah ben Hassine), the leader of the Tunisian Salafist Ansar al-Sharia group, who […]
Mali
The UN approved the formation of an African military force called AFISMA to retake northern Mali from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and allied Islamist groups. The force of about 3,300 troops is expected to deploy in September 2013. The resolution also calls for the rebuilding of Malian forces. Funding for AFISMA has not […]
Report: Al Qaeda emir’s hand in Egypt and Syria
Die Welt, a German daily, has published an account that jibes with The Long War Journal’s reporting on the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.
Reports of Israeli drones operating in Azerbaijan spark Iranian condemnation, threats
Iran claims Israel is operating three separate drone platforms from Azerbaijan to conduct “secret spy missions” into Iranian territory. Iranian officials threatened that any drone crossing into Iranian airspace would receive a “sharp counterblow.”
United States
Three State Department officials resigned after a damning report on the the Benghazi consulate attack. Raees Alam Qazi and Sheheryar Alam Qazi, brothers from Fort Lauderdale, are to be detained until their trial on charges of plotting an al Qaeda-inspired attack in New York City. The new judge in the Ft. Hood shooting case allowed […]