Muslim Scholars Committee (MSC) negotiators reported that the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State have said they will release the remaining 29 kidnapped Lebanese security forces if Hezbollah withdraws all of its fighters from Syria. Another report claimed that the Qataris have become involved in the negotiations, and that Al Nusrah and the Islamic […]
ISIS Pressed for Ransom Before Killing Journalist
Shafi Sultan Mohammed al-Ajmi and Hajjaj Fahd Hajjaj Muhammad Sahib al-‘Ajmi, who were added to the US’ list of global terrorists on Aug. 6 for supporting the Al Nusrah Front in Syria, appear relatively undeterred by the recent sanctions.
New anti-terror law with approved in United Arab Emirates
Kuwaiti authorities detained Hajjaj al-Ajmi, a cleric recently added to the terrorist lists of the UN and the US, at the international airport on his arrival from Qatar. He is suspected of serving as a financier for the Al Nusrah Front in Syria. Another cleric, Shafi al-Ajmi, was detained briefly on Aug. 17 after returning […]
Syria and Iraq: Why young German men bring terror and death
The Shura Council of Islamic Youth publicly executed an Egyptian man in a Derna football stadium filled with applauding spectators; the al Qaeda-linked group similarly executed two men in Derna on July 27. Clashes between Islamists and pro-government forces continued in Benghazi, where Operation Dignity sources said reports that Benina Airport had fallen were false, […]
Austrian authorities arrested nine people with asylum status who are suspected of trying to travel to Syria to join jihadist groups. The suspects, who are all Chechens with Russian citizenship, were arrested near the border in Carinthia and Burgenland. In June, Austrian intelligence said an estimated 100 people had left Austria to fight for rebel […]
Steep obstacles to any Gaza deal
Obama Holds to Afghanistan Withdrawal Deadline
Foreign Minister Fabius warned that the Islamic State’s ambitions extend beyond the Middle East, and said France wants the UN Security Council nations as well as countries in the region to join the fight against the Islamic State. President Hollande said the world security situation was at its gravest since 2001, and called for an […]
Foreign Secretary Hammond said the Islamic State jihadist whose videotaped murder of US journalist James Foley was published yesterday appears to be British, and warned that “there are a significant number of British nationals in Syria and Iraq operating with extremist organisations” and accordingly the Islamic State presents “a direct threat to the UK’s national […]
An Ontario Superior Court judge acquitted London, Ont. pathologist Khurram Sher of a terrorism charge after deciding that Sher had not shown the requisite intent to join a terrorist group. One of Sher’s alleged co-conspirators, Misbahuddin Ahmed, was found guilty of terrorism charges in July; authorities have banned publication of the identity of the third […]
Unmanned US drones conducted airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq today and the Pentagon is said to be considering sending up to 300 more US security forces to Baghdad. President Obama vowed that the US would be relentless in bringing justice to the Islamic State terrorists who beheaded US journalist James Foley. Confirming Foley’s […]
A top Malaysian counterterrorism official said police had foiled terrorist plans to bomb targets in Malaysia and set up regional and global Islamic State networks; 19 suspects were arrested. The suspects, who sought to establish an Islamic caliphate comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore, included two housewives as well as professionals, and some […]
Kurdish commander: ISIS worse than Saddam
Libya calls for regional security alliance
Scholars call for Christian safe haven in Iraq
A new report estimates that militants in Syria have several hundred portable anti-aircraft missiles, which are easily smuggled out of the country. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamic State gained 6,300 recruits in Syria in July alone. The Islamic State clashed with regime forces in Raqqah, where the IS reopened the road […]
The interrogation of Islamist commander Imad Jomaa was postponed after his lawyer submitted documents alleging that his confession and those of 42 other suspects arrested during recent clashes in Arsal were coerced. Sheikh Amama of the Muslim Scholars Committee said he decided to collaborate with Sister Agnes-Mariam of the Cross after she arranged the repatriation […]
Mother Agnes: The efficient mediator who draws controversy
Washington, Damascus at odds in fight against ISIS
Islamist militias continued to clash with pro-government forces in Tripoli, where airstrikes reportedly targeted militias that had not agreed to the government’s order for a ceasefire. The Revolutionary Shura Council of Benghazi, which includes Ansar al Sharia, Libya Shield, and other Islamist groups, denounced the newly formed Shura Council of Benghazi, which is led by […]
The UN Security Council condemned the Aug. 16 suicide attack in Ber that killed two UN peacekeeping troops from Burkina Faso and wounded seven other troops, and said the attack will not deter UN efforts. On Aug. 10, French special forces captured three suspected members of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb near Timbuktu; the […]
Chadian troops have freed 85 kidnapped Nigerians from a convoy of buses guarded by Boko Haram fighters near Lake Chad, but 30 others are still held captive. The freed captives, all males, had been seized by Boko Haram during a raid in Doron Baga in Borno state on Aug. 10. On Aug. 11, the US […]
Saudi top cleric blasts Al Qaeda, Islamic State as ‘enemy No 1’ of Islam
Police arrested a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber from Niger at Murtala Airport in Lagos yesterday; he said he had been sent with two others to bomb targets in the city. Boko Haram fighters killed 14 people during raids in two Borno state villages on Aug. 17. A group of about 40 soldiers in Borno […]
China plans to fight terror with ‘dozens’ of new cities
Pakistan fires 5,000 missiles on Afghan borders over past year
Women Beyond the Veil in Mali