Gulf Cooperation Council
Gulf talks put off due to spat over Islamists
Monthly Archives: November 2014
Iraq
Effort to arm Sunni tribes in Iraq against Islamic State faces hurdles
Islamic State
To counter rise of Islamic State, Jordan imposes rules on Muslim clerics
Islamic State
Bodyguard of Syrian rebel who defected to ISIS reveals secrets of the jihadist leadership
Australia
Prime Minister Abbott said that 200 Australian special forces troops will be moving into Iraq; they had been waiting for clearance in the UAE for over a month. The Defense Ministry declined to speculate on further troop commitments.
United States
US officials indicated that more work needs to be done on negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, and said Secretary of State Kerry denounced comments by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei calling for the destruction of Israel. US Central Command said it has carried out 23 airstrikes in Syria and 18 in Iraq against the Islamic […]
Syria
Unidentified gunmen killed five nuclear engineers, one of them Iranian, near Damascus, according to SOHR. The Lebanese Army arrested a Free Syrian Army commander attempting to enter the country with false paperwork. The president of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition said that Western airstrikes are weakening support of non-extremists. At least 21 people were killed […]
Nigeria
A suicide bomber dressed in a school uniform killed at least 48 and wounded 79 at a high school in northern Nigeria. Unknown gunmen abducted the brother of the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Adamawa state, “one of the states worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.” Boko Haram took […]
AQAP eulogizes emir of Lahj province killed in Aden, Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a statement eulogizing its slain emir of Lahj province, Turki al Asiri, who was killed by Yemeni security forces last week.
AQAP continues escalation of attacks in Yemen, targets US ambassador
Over the weekend, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed credit for a series of high-profile attacks throughout Yemen, including a failed assassination of the US ambassador, Matthew H. Tueller.
Egypt
Authorities arrested a leader of the Salafist Front on charges of inciting terrorism; also arrested was a man suspected of posting threats against US and international schools in Egypt to a jihadist web site. An Islamic State leader called on the group’s followers to take jihad to Egypt in the wake of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, […]
Somalia
A freelance journalist was seriously injured after a bomb detonated on his car in Mogadishu on Nov. 9. Unknown gunmen killed a government intelligence official in the the southern city of Marka on Nov. 8.
Libya
Three car bombs exploded on Nov. 9 in the eastern city of Sharat, where the prime minister was set to meet a UN envoy. Three security officers and two journalists were wounded in the attack; two suspects from the city of Derna were arrested. Jihadists controlling Derna have recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. […]
Algeria
The Algerian Army arrested a senior AQIM operative and killed three other militants in an ambush on a convoy of technical vehicles near the southwestern border with Mali. Weapons and ammunition were seized in the raid.
Sinai-based jihadists pledge allegiance to Islamic State in audio recording
An unidentified jihadist has released an audio recording saying that Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, the most prolific terrorist group in Egypt, has pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdad’s Islamic State.
Mali
The French military has updated the number of jihadists killed in a firefight on Oct. 29 in the Kidal region to 24; the operation also resulted in the death of a French soldier, two captured militants, and the seizure of “materials used to make suicide bomber vests.” On Nov. 8, a truck carrying civilians in […]
United Kingdom
The UK conducted its first drone strike against the Islamic State in Iraq over the weekend, targeting militants who were emplacing IEDs near Baiji. Chief of Defense Staff Nick Houghton cautioned that the Islamic State will regenerate even if top leaders such as Abu Bakr al Baghdadi are killed, so long as the political aspects […]
Iran
Congress lays groundwork for stepped-up US presence in Iraq
Al Nusrah Front
Obstacles Limit Targets and Pace of Strikes on ISIS
Isma
Malaysia’s sharia law costs non-Muslims their kids
Iraq
Iraqi military reach Baiji; Baghdadi’s fate unclear
Austria’s radical Islam problem
The small Alpine country has become an extremist hub, where Hamas enjoys support, Iranian intelligence maintains a significant presence, and jihadist groups such as the Islamic State are drawing members and planning attacks.
United Kingdom
Kabir Ahmed a.k.a. Abu Sumayyah, a Briton who had joined Jund al-Sham in Syria and then the Islamic State, was reportedly killed while carrying out a suicide bombing in Baiji, Iraq on Nov. 7. Ahmed had been jailed in 2012 for calling for the execution of homosexuals. Police said four men suspected of an Islamist […]
Islamic State
How a Libyan City Joined the Islamic State Group
Houthis
Yemen announces new cabinet as UN sanctions Saleh, Houthis
Afghanistan
Powerful Afghan Police Chief Puts Fear in Taliban and Their Enemies
Iraq
US air strikes target Islamic State convoy in Iraq
Afghanistan
Port Authority Officer Kept Sources With Ties to Iran Attacks
Australia
Authorities are seeking to determine the veracity of reports that an Australian man has died in Syria fighting for the Islamic State; if confirmed, it will be the third such incident in a month. The Islamic State and the Al Nusrah Front have seized thousands of hectares of cropland in Syria and Iraq developed by […]
Iraq
US-led airstrikes target Islamic State leaders in Iraq: report