Shabaab
Arms ship seized by Yemen may have been Somalia-bound: UN
Monthly Archives: July 2013
United States
Fugitive NSA leader Edward Snowden threatened more leaks and asked a number of countries, including Russia, for asylum; President Putin said Snowden could stay as long as he “cease[d] his work aimed at inflicting damage to our American partners.” Secretary of State Kerry has been visiting the Middle East, trying to restart peace talks between […]
Afghanistan
The Ministry of the Interior said that more than 300 Afghan policemen were killed during the month of June. The Taliban killed a district police chief in an IED attack in Baghlan. The NDS killed a suicide bomber in Kabul and captured a Pakistani suicide bomber in Nangarhar.
Afghanistan
Karzai Choices for Afghan Human Rights Panel Raise Questions
Ansar Dine
Who’s Who in Northern Mali?
Iraq
A suicide bomber killed 22 Iraqis in an attack inside a Shia mosque in Muqdadiyah. Eight Awakening members in Tarmiyah were kidnapped and then executed. Iraqi troops destroyed an al Qaeda “base” near the Syrian border.
Syria
A Tunisian commander in the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham was killed in fighting with a military motorcade near Ein Issa in Raqqah. Regime forces assisted by Hezbollah fighters attempted to retake rebel-held areas in Homs, but despite fierce regime shelling did not advance. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council asked the UN to intervene […]
Suicide bomber detonates inside Iraqi Shia mosque
In the past 16 days, al Qaeda in Iraq has executed 14 suicide attacks; several have targeted Shia mosques.
Lebanon
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns condemned Hezbollah’s actions in Syria “in the strongest terms” and said they jeopardized Lebanon as well. He also promised increased US support for the Lebanese Army. Sources say fugitive Sunni leader Sheikh Ahmad Assir was on Hezbollah’s hit list before his followers clashed with the Lebanese Army; the […]
Jordan
Ahmad Atallah Shbeib al-Majali, a Jordanian air force captain from Karak, deserted the military and joined the Al Nusrah Front in Syria over the weekend. A Salafist leader alleged that eight people from the Karak area are fighting with Al Nusrah; Jordanian Salafists claim that over 500 Jordanian jihadists have gone to Syria.
Egypt
The military said it was giving the nation’s political forces 48 hours to solve their issues or the military will create a new roadmap. A senior Muslim Brotherhood official said no government institution would wage a coup against the Morsi government. The Tamarod movement threatened to launch a campaign of civil disobedience if President Morsi […]
Israel
Authorities detained a Palestinian woman armed with knives in Hebron who was preparing to conduct a terror attack. Defense Minister Ya’alon pledged “total war and zero tolerance” on “price-tag” perpetrators. The IAF conducted a drill in Bulgaria, which focused on operating against advance defense systems.
Palestinian Territories
Military Training Of The Resistance Factions In Gaza
Taliban militants bungle coordinated multi-province terrorist attacks
Afghan security forces disrupted terrorist plots in Kabul City and Jalalabad, but a massive explosion near the Parwan provincial governor’s compound caused significant damage. An additional suicide attack failed after the bomber prematurely detonated in Kunduz.
China
Snowden’s Leaks Cloud U.S. Plan to Curb Chinese Hacking
Afghanistan
As U.S. Pulls Out, Feuds Split Afghanistan’s Ruling Family
Iran
The FBI Renews The Search For One Of Its Own
NSA
Misinformation on classified NSA programs includes statements by senior U.S. officials
ISAF ends its daily ‘operational update’ reports
Over the past several years, the daily operational updates have revealed that al Qaeda and its allies remain entrenched in Afghanistan and continue to cooperate closely with the Taliban.
Syrian jihadists behead Catholic priest, 2 others
The Vatican reported last week that the priest was captured by fighters “linked” to the Al Nusrah Front for the People in the Levant, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. A graphic video of his beheading has been published on the Internet.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
AQIM stepped up propaganda efforts, airing its monthly bulletin and highlighting its blog and Twitter account. Algerian AQIM leader Sheikh Abu Abdulillah Ahmed al-Jijeli stressed that the group would follow the directive of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri to cooperate with governments in Arab Spring countries and help them implement sharia law, and would […]
Mali
Some 6,300 West African troops were “re-hatted” as the new United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali, called MINUSMA; the force will grow to its full strength of 12,640 by December. France has slowed its withdrawal and will have between 3,000 and 3,500 troops in the country at the time of the nationwide election in late […]