While making the argument that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is the rightful representative of jihadist activities in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s deputy leader notes that top al Qaeda and jihadist leaders over the past decades have based their activities in the region.
AQAP has confirmed that its emir, Nasir al Wuhayshi, was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month. The group’s new leader is Qasim al Raymi, who previously served as AQAP’s military commander.
Reports of the death of Nasir al Wuhayshi, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s emir and al Qaeda’s general manager, are unconfirmed. The US launched a drone strike in Hadramout province last week.
The Islamic State has used the suicide assault to demoralize and strike fear into the hearts of Iraqi troops, and often uses five or more suicide bombers during a single attack.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, has issued a statement disavowing the massacre of Druze civilians in Idlib last week. The group doesn’t deny that its fighters are responsible for the slaughter, but claims that the jihadists disobeyed specific “directives” banning such acts.
According to multiple reports, the Islamic State’s province in Derna, Libya has lost ground to its jihadist rivals after fighting broke out last week.
Leading Iraqi political and religious leaders such as Prime Minister Haidar al Abadi and Grand Ayatollah Sistani have been reduced to cozying up to what John Allen, the US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition To Counter ISIL, or the Islamic State, described as the “extremist elements” of the Popular Mobilization Committee.
Earlier this week, one of the Islamic State’s “provinces” in Libya assassinated a veteran jihadist in Derna. The act sparked intense fighting between Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s followers and al Qaeda-allied jihadists in the city.
Three jihadists attacked the Karnak Temple in Luxor with small arms and explosives; two of the attackers died and one was wounded, while four others were injured. President al Sisi has ordered security strengthened at famous historical sites. An Egyptian appeals court canceled a previous ruling to list Hamas as a terrorist organization on June […]
US intelligence agencies thought that Abdul Haq al Turkistani, a member of al Qaeda’s executive council, was killed in a drone strike in February 2010. But according to a jihadist media outlet, he was badly wounded but recovered and assumed command of the Turkistan Islamic Party in 2014.
The attack in southern Mali, which is a rare occurrence, is part of the trend of increased jihadist attacks in the central and southern portions of the country.
Dozens of jihadists attacked a police base in Misseni in southern Mali; one policeman was killed and the base was burned to the ground. The Malian army is moving to establish a presence in the northern desert.
Iranian-backed militias, including Asaib al Haq and the Imam Ali Brigades, and Iraqi forces are said to control half of the central Iraqi city. Baiji has changed hands twice since the Islamic State launched its offensive in June 2014.
Akram Abbas al Kabi, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and the leader of the Harakat Nujaba, said his group and others “will seek revenge” for what he claimed was a US airstrike that killed 10 members of the League of the Righteous.
The Islamic State’s fighters in Libya say they have taken control of a power plant outside of the city of Sirte. The group has repeatedly targeted locations in Sirte since the beginning of the year, taking over significant parts of the city in the process.
The jihadist group, which has published pictures of BGM-71 anti-tank missiles before, again shows the usage of these weapons at Palmyra. Many of these systems have been employed by jihadist groups or have been used to assist jihadist groups.
Jaysh al Fateh, a jihadist-led coalition of several groups that includes al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, overran several more towns and villages in the province of Idlib in the past few days. The coalition is consolidating its hold on the province after running Assad’s forces out of the city of Idlib in March.
The attack took place in a section of Pakistan’s tribal agencies where the the US is concentrating its drone campaign in North Waziristan.
Five of the eight strikes that have taken place in Pakistan so far this year have targeted jihadists operating in the Shawal Valley, which spans both North and South Waziristan.
Al Jazeera aired the second part of its interview with Abu Muhammad al Julani earlier this week. Julani again made it clear that Al Nusrah is a part of al Qaeda and referenced Ayman al Zawahiri’s “directives” following the beginning of the Arab revolutions in late 2010 and early 2011.
The new propaganda film focuses on several Balkan fighters, as well as the events in the Balkans in the 1990’s. The video is just the latest attempt to showcase foreign fighters within its ranks.
In late May, the Islamic State’s so-called “Khorasan province” released a video threatening the Taliban. Multiple press reports say the two sides have repeatedly fought one another since the beginning of the year. Still, the Islamic State’s presence in the region is likely much smaller than the network operated by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and their allies.
Simply because Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and his representatives are endorsing the Popular Mobilization Committee or Iranian-supported militias such as the Iman Ali Brigade doesn’t make them any less radical.
Several al Qaeda ideologues have issued a fatwa saying it is “compulsory” to fight the Islamic State in Aleppo. The edict was issued after the Islamic State seized towns and villages from other rebel groups in the province.
If true, US intelligence assessments on the strength of the Islamic State are grossly underestimated.
Fighting between the Islamic State and other rebel factions, including Al Nusrah, remains ongoing in northern Aleppo province. The US has accused the Assad regime of enabling the Islamic State’s advance in the area with airstrikes. The Turkish president has said an opposition journalist who leaked video purporting to show Turkey supplying arms to Syrian rebels […]
The video features footage from recent fighting near the town of Karmah, just northeast of Fallujah.
The strike took place in the Shawal Valley in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The US continues to launch drone strikes in Pakistan, but the counterterrorism operation does not stray beyond the tribal areas.
Government forces are facing an ammunition shortage as they continue to battle Islamist militias in Benghazi, according to a spokesman. As oil output plummets and its currency devalues, “”Libya is on the verge of economic and financial collapse,” according to a UN envoy. The Islamic State has “effectively taken over” Sirte.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed two recent terrorist attacks against UN forces in Mali. According to the 2015 Small Arms Survey report, jihadist groups in Mali are increasingly armed and equipped, and could rival the firepower of the Malian military.