Afghanistan
Afghanistan – Senate Speaker Lashes Out at Foreign Troops Over Border Posts
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
AQIM mounts media campaign
Egypt
An American citizen was stabbed near the US embassy in Cairo. Authorities discovered a cache of weaponry in the South Sinai. Two senior Muslim Brotherhood officials failed to show up for a speaking engagement at a Washington, D.C. think tank; their current whereabouts are unknown.
Syria
Turkish PM Erdogan: Syria has crossed red line, used chemical weapons
Salafist clerics preach on the streets of Tunisia
Tunisia is seeing an influx of radical preachers from outside the country. The leader of Ennahda suggested the Salafists do this more than one year ago.
Tunisian indicted in New York linked to Canada terror plot
Ahmed Abassi, a Tunisian national, has been indicted for fraudulently applying “for a work visa in order to remain in the United States to facilitate an act of international terrorism.” Abassi, who previously lived in Canada, is tied to a terror plot linked to al Qaeda elements in Iran to blow up a commuter train between Canada and the US.
Palestinian Territories
During a visit to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi said, “Our wish should be that we carry out Jihad to death.” A Hamas official denied reports that Qatar and Hamas’ relationship is weakening. Nine Hamas members were reportedly detained by PA security forces in the West Bank. A poll found […]
Hezbollah
Israeli Intelligence Brushes Off Sensational Spy Account, Emphasize Operational Dangers
Libya
Militiamen continue to blockade the Foreign and Justice ministries. Prime Minister Zeidan said militiamen threatened him with a grenade and a gun during negotiations yesterday. Security forces evicted irregular brigades from 56 sites in and around Tripoli.
Ennahda
Preachers take over public spaces in Tunisia
France
French ministers boycott talks with Muslim scholar
Nigeria
Gunmen from a local militia ambushed police officers in central Nassarawa state, killing 46. The ambush occurred as police were setting out to arrest the leader of the militia. The governor said the gunmen were from the Ombatse cult, which has already attacked officials, churches, and mosques. Ombatse, a banned group likely linked to Boko […]
Free Syrian Army fighters defecting to Al Nusrah Front
More than 3,000 Free Syrian Army fighters as well as entire units have defected to al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, yet the US government seems determined to fund the FSA.
France
Foreign Minister Fabius urged the UN to designate the Al Nusrah Front a terrorist group. Al Nusrah, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, was added to the US terrorist list in December. France still seeks a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict, and wants to increase support for the Syrian National Coalition.
Egypt
Islamists Rely on TV Sheiks to Woo the Masses in Egypt
Libya
At Benghazi hearing, State Dept. officials challenge administration review of attacks
Al Qaeda
Diplomat Says Questions Over Benghazi Led to Demotion
MSC in Jerusalem official eulogizes slain jihadist known for rocket expertise
An official from the MSC in Jerusalem eulogized a leading Salafi jihadist killed on April 30 in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Tensions persist between Hamas and the Salafi jihadist groups in the coastal enclave.
Afghanistan
Police killed eight protesters, who are said to have been infiltrated by “militants,” at an anti-Pakistani demonstration. Militants killed three truck drivers during the protest. The Taliban killed five Afghan soldiers and a policeman in Farah, and three civilians in an IED attack in Helmand.
Iraq
A suicide bomber killed a Kurdish security guard in Kirkuk. Gunmen killed three Iraqi policemen in Fallujah. Jordan and Iraq are starting work on an oil pipeline from Basrah to Aqaba.
Israel
South Korea is considering buying Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense battery system. Israeli authorities announced the arrest of two Hamas operatives who were planning kidnapping operations and other terrorist attacks against Israelis. Israel warned the US that Russia plans to provide Syria with S-300 missile batteries.
Palestinian Territories
A senior Palestinian official said “resistance to Israel remains on our agenda….I mean resistance in all of its forms.” Five Hamas members were arrested by PA security forces in the West Bank. A senior Hamas official said that “as long as the [Syrian] government has missiles they should be fired at Israel not at its […]
Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula gunned down three Yemeni pilots outside of the Al Anad airbase in Lahj province. Gunmen kidnapped two Egyptian workers and two Indian Red Cross aid workers in Abyan.
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Dagestani Relative of Tamerlan Tsarnaev Is a Prominent Islamist
Israel exposes new Hamas kidnapping cell near Ramallah
Israeli authorities announced the arrest of members of a Hamas terror cell operating near Ramallah that planned to carry out a kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, among other terror activities.
ISAF launches multiple raids against IMU as fighting season heats up
Raids against the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan continue at an unprecedented pace. There have been five raids against the group in Afghanistan so far this month and 26 this year.
Algeria
The opposition Islamist Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP) party chose hardliner Abderrezak Mokri as its new leader during the fifth party congress, held over the weekend in Algiers. The congress was attended by Islamist leaders from Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, and the Palestinian group Hamas. Military forces killed four Islamist militants in Tizi […]
Syria
Pentagon Plans for the Worst in Syria
Morocco
A prominent Salafist preacher issued a takfir fatwa against Moroccan human rights activist Ahmed Assid for suggesting that religious school textbooks could lead youth to violence, and called for Assid to be ‘silenced.’ Morocco’s Research and Jurisprudence Studies Society also criticized Assid for the ‘provocation.’ The Moroccan Coalition of Human Rights Groups urged the government […]
Mali
Jihadists claimed that four Egyptian suicide bombers had died in attacks in Mali, including one who had appeared in videos with Muhammad al Zawahiri, the brother of al Qaeda’s emir. The Malian military is preparing to take back Kidal, Tessalit, Abeibara, and Aguelhok from the separatist Tuareg MNLA, which is holding the territory after the […]