The Taliban continue to bring recalcitrant leaders back into the fold. The Dadullah family and commanders from the Mullah Dadullah Front, a jihadist faction with close ties to al Qaeda, rejoined the Taliban and swore allegiance to its emir, Mullah Haibatullah.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri blasts the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in a newly-released audio message, saying the organization has adopted secular ways.
The US military claimed that Khan’s death and the operation in Nangarhar will hurt the group’s operations in Afghanistan. However the Islamic State’s inability to form alliances with the established jihadist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan has led to its isolation.
The Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia militia has shown off a considerable troop deployment to the frontlines of Aleppo just days after Iranian media reported the move.
Qassem Soleimani will play a “major” role in upcoming operations to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, according to the spokesman of the Iraqi Population Mobilization Front.
The “Solid Structure” operations room claims to have seized key locations from the Islamic State inside Sirte, Libya this week. Libyan ground forces are backed by American airstrikes. According to US Africa Command, the US carried out 36 airstrikes between Aug. 1 and Aug. 10.
The presence of an al Qaeda camp in South Waziristan as late as 2013 contradicts claims by the Pakistani military that the tribal agency was secured after launching an offensive against the Movement of the Taliban and allied groups, including al Qaeda, in 2009.
Mullah Baz Mohammad, who served as a deputy to the leader of a rival breakaway faction, and a military commander in Uruzgan reunited with the Taliban and swore allegiance to its emir.
The al Qaeda branch highlights one method of governance in the southern Somali region of Middle Jubba.
A light US footprint in Afghanistan has led to Taliban gains throughout the country. The Taliban has surrounded Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand.
A senior Afghan military officer claimed that his forces killed Hafiz Saeed Khan, the emir for the Islamic State’s Khorasan province, during an ongoing military operation in the eastern province of Nangarhar. However Khan’s death cannot be independently confirmed.
After the jihadist-led Jaish al Fatah and Syrian rebel groups succeeded in breaking the siege of Aleppo, an Iranian media outlet has reported the deployment of elite Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Harakat al Nujaba to cut the opposition’s artery to the rebel-held eastern side of the city. [Update: IRGC confirms rank of officer announced dead on Monday as Major].
While the competing claims cannot be verified, both groups are capable of executing the mass-casualty suicide attack in Quetta.
More than 20 jihadist, Islamist and other rebel organizations took part in the offensive to break the siege of Aleppo. It was likely one of the largest combined efforts in the history of the Syrian war.
Despite not previously reporting taking hostages during last month’s attack in Nampala, Ansar Dine is now claiming to have captured five Malian soldiers during the large-scale assault.
The Islamic State has named a new wali (governor) for its “province” in West Africa. The move prompted a reply from Abu Bakr Shekau, the longtime leader of Boko Haram who became the wali after announcing his allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi last year. The SITE Intelligence group translated the Islamic State’s announcement and Shekau’s response.
US Africa Command announced today that it carried out nine airstrikes in Sirte, Libya between Aug. 1 and Aug. 3. The bombings are part of “Operation Odyssey Lightning,” which targets the Islamic State’s positions inside the city.
Iran has announced casualties coinciding with the latest battles for Aleppo, reflecting its deep military involvement in Syria.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been behind numerous deadly attacks inside Pakistan and is closely allied with the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda. In 2014 it celebrated al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks on the US and said it would fight until an Islamic caliphate “is established in every nook and corner of the world,” it concluded.
The US military justified the strikes by noting that AQAP remains a “significant threat” to the United States and its allies.
The Taliban, via one of its official spokesmen, quickly issued a denial that its shadow governor and military commander in Helmand were killed in an airstrike. The Afghan government has a spotty track record when reporting on the deaths of Taliban commanders.
The US announced today that it has carried out airstrikes in support of local fighters who are trying to dislodge the Islamic State from the Libyan city of Sirte. After initially advancing in May and early June, an offensive launched by the “Solid Structure” operations room ground to a halt, which likely prompted the US to assist with air support.
The attack on the Criminal Investigation Department in Mogadishu is the second complex suicide assault by al Qaeda branch in East Africa in the past week.
Washington should take a series of steps to stop nations from supporting the newly rebranded version of Al Nusrah Front in Syria.
A transcript of Abu Muhammad al Julani’s remarks yesterday shows that his statement has been misconstrued in the press.
Abu Muhammad al Julani announced that Al Nusrah Front has been rebranded as Jabhat Fath Al Sham. Many have read into Julani’s statement as a formal disassociation with al Qaeda. But Julani didn’t actually say that, as his language was intentionally ambiguous. While sitting next to a longtime al Qaeda veteran from Egypt, Julani did not explicitly say that his group has broken from al Qaeda.
Iranian media reported on July 27 that the IRGC Basij chief inspected Quneitra in the Golan Heights by the demarcation with Israel.
The Iraqi Prime Minister’s order will establish Iraq’s own IRGC, institutionalizing Tehran’s influence in the country. This development follows similar trends in Iran and Lebanon.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency released a video purportedly showing the two terrorists responsible for yesterday’s assault on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France. One of the two, identified as Abu Jalil al Hanafi, swears allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi on behalf of himself and his comrade. The Islamic State has also released a profile of Mohammad Daleel, the jihadist who blew himself up in Ansbach, Germany on July 24. The biography indicates that Daleel was a veteran of the jihad in Syria.
Shabaab says that the former MP was one of the drivers in yesterday’s double suicide car bombing near an African Union base.