Dutch national Sjaak Rijke has been freed from captivity after being held in Mali since 2011. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Qaeda’s official branch in North Africa, is still believed to be holding two other men captured with Rijke in Timbuktu.
The photos show its forces engaging Palestinian factions in the camp, including beheading two members of Aknaf Bayt al Maqdis, a group loyal to Hamas.
The photo report details the fighting at Sheikh al Hilal near the city of Al Salamiyah in Hama province. The Islamic State was able to seize a nearby town, as well as release a video showing the execution of several regime soldiers. In the south, the jihadist group was able to enter the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp but is now fighting for control against Jaish al Islam and a group loyal to Hamas.
Several Iranian-backed Shiite militia groups continue to operate in Tikrit, despite claims by US government officials that most of these militias had left the battle. The US continues to launch airstrikes to support Iraqi forces and these militias, many leaders of which are responsible for killing US and Coalition servicemen during the Iraq War.
The two suicide bombers, one Kuwaiti and one Saudi, were deployed in conjunction with a larger assault on the regime-held Idlib city. Several rebel groups, including the Al Nusrah Front, Jund al Aqsa, Ahrar al Sham and others have joined forces in a coalition called Jaish al Fateh.
Four of the crew are reported to have been captured with a fifth being executed on the spot. The fate of the sixth crew member remains unknown. No official statement has come from the Al Nusrah Front but the chopper went down in a Nusrah stronghold of Idlib province.
At least 13 suicide bombers, including jihadists from Belgium, Australia, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia launched a coordinated assault on Anbar’s provincial capital.
Several Shiite militias, which are supported by the Iranian Qods Force, and the Iraqi Security Forces have taken over several surrounding towns of Tikrit. These militias have published several photos and videos from these towns in recent days.
The rocket barrage has not yet been claimed, but al Qaeda-affiliated groups have launched similar attacks on the UN in the past. This comes one day after a terrorist attack, perpetrated by group loyal to al Qaeda, occurred in Mali’s capital.
The assault, which has been claimed by the Al Qaeda-affiliated group, is the first of its kind in Bamako.
Several photos have been released by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars showing Qassem Soleimani on the battlefield near Tikrit. Other photos circulating on social media show the leader of the Qods Force with various Shiite militias taking part in the current offensive in central Iraq.
Iraqi Security Forces and the Islamic State clashed in Khaladiyah in recent days. The city and surrounding areas in Anbar province have seen intense fighting in the past.
The Hazm Movement was once touted as a moderate Syrian rebel group that the US could work with to counter the Islamic State in Syria. In the past, the rebel group allied with the Al Nusrah Front and other jihadist movements.
The Assyrians were kidnapped in the Al Hasakah province of Syria where the Islamic State is engaged in fierce fighting with Kurdish and Assyrian forces for control of the area.
Islamic State fighters overran an Iraqi military position near Amiriyat al Fallujah and seized a large cache of weapons even as a US drone was spotted flying overhead.
In a video released by the jihadist group, its fighters are shown attacking near al Baghdadi in Iraq’s Anbar province. While it is unclear when the footage was shot, fighting is still raging for control of the town close to the al Asad airbase where over 300 US Marines are currently stationed.
The al Qaeda-affiliated Turkistan Islamic Party has released images showing its fighters capturing an American-made Humvee in Afghanistan.
Fighting began when regime forces launched an offensive to cut off rebel supply routes and break the siege of two Shiite towns.
The video shows scenes from as far back as December, while some footage appears to be more recent. The release comes as Iraqi forces have reportedly launched an offensive to take back Baiji.
Iyad Ag Ghaly, the reclusive leader of the Malian jihadist group Ansar Dine, is purported to be living freely in the Kidal region of Mali. A journalist for the German publication Der Spiegel met with the jihadist leader and his lieutenants.
The Islamic State has published photos from fighting in Zawbaa near Amiriyat al Fallujah. Recent press reports suggest the jihadist group has launched a renewed offensive on the town.
The Islamic State has released a video purporting to have beheaded freelance journalist Kenji Goto Jogo after negotiations with Japan reportedly became “deadlocked.”
The Islamic State attack was repelled by Iraqi border guards backed by Iraqi airstrikes.
A media organization linked to Boko Haram, the jihadist group that controls large portions of northeastern Nigeria, has released images purporting to show children receiving weapons training.
The Islamic State is threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless Japan pays the terrorist group $200 million within three days.
Suspected jihadists have hit the central Malian town of Teninkou and the northern town of Kidal in the last 24 hours. Four people, including a Chadian peackeeper, were killed.
In a new propaganda film released by the Islamic State, two alleged spies for the Russian Federal Security Service are executed by a child. This boy, who is an ethnic Kazakh, was previously featured in another Islamic State propaganda film.
Various jihadist groups around the world have commented on the terrorist attacks in Paris and have lauded the terrorists as “heroes.”
Al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria launched a double suicide attack in a predominately Alawite neighborhood of Tripoli.
An IED blast in the northern Malian town of Kidal has left seven Senegalese peacekeepers from the UN mission wounded. The attack follows a string of operations in central Mali by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.