Zakir’s appointment to lead the fight against the National Resistance Front (NRF) in Panjshir and the district of Andarab in the neighboring province of Baghlan is a clear indication that the NRF is challenging the Taliban’s primacy in central and northern Afghanistan. Zakir is a capable military commander.
Shabaab’s recent hotel siege in Mogadishu, beginning on Friday and ending early Sunday, signals the severe challenges that remain in combating the al Qaeda branch.
In this episode, Bill interviews John Batchelor, host of CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor. Bill has been a regular on John’s radio show for more than a decade and considers him a mentor and friend. They discuss the Long War and how September 11, 2001 shaped both of their careers.
Since resuming military activity inside Somalia earlier this year, the Biden Administration has ramped up the pace of airstrikes in the Horn of Africa country in recent weeks. Since June 3, the US has conducted at least six airstrikes against Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa.
The raid also marks the first time that the Allied Democratic Forces, the local name for the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province, has struck inside Butembo city.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan leader Omar Khalid Khurasani, who is believed to have given sanctuary to Ayman al Zawahiri in the past, has called for global jihad, attacks on the US, and the establishment of the caliphate, and celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. He is reported to have been killed in a district in Afghansitan that has hosted an Al Qaeda training camp in the past.
Bill is joined again by Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at FDD, and by Joe Truzman, research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal, to discuss the latest round of violence that emanated from the Gaza Strip this weekend and eventually resulted in an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire. They also unpack details about the terrorist group behind the escalation, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — including where they get their weapons, training, and funding (spoiler alert: it’s Iran).
A ceasefire deal mediated by Egypt has been reached between Palestinian militant organizations and Israel.
Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets towards Israel as operation “Breaking Dawn” entered its second day.
In a targeted operation Friday afternoon, the IDF eliminated Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s northern commander, Taysir al-Jabari.
Edmund Fitton-Brown — outgoing coordinator of the UN Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring team and longtime friend of the show — joins Bill to discuss the killing of Al Qaeda emir Ayman Zawahiri, who died in a U.S. drone strike last Sunday.
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank behind the surge in militant activity was arrested in an Israeli security forces’ operation Monday night in Jenin.
Zawahiri’s death is being hailed as a counterterrorism success, but that masks the fact Afghanistan has become a safe haven for top Al Qaeda leaders.
In this episode, Bill flies solo and expands upon his recent article in FDD’s Long War Journal, “Ayman al Zawahiri is alive; Taliban and Al Qaeda ‘remain close,’ UN reports,” noting that reports today (August 1, 2022) of Zawahiri’s death inside of Afghanistan underscore the country’s role as a safe-haven for Al Qaeda.
Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida made a statement Sunday acknowledging that a member of a specialized unit in charge of guarding Israeli prisoners of war was killed during the 2021 Gaza conflict.
New reporting has shed new light on Shabaab’s recent incursions into Ethiopia. However, many perplexing elements remain uncovered.
In addition to recently striking two Ethiopian outposts inside Somalia right on the border with Ethiopia, Shabaab also launched a three-day incursion into Ethiopia itself. On the Ethiopian side, officials from the Somali Region have stated that Shabaab was attempting to assist an ethnic Oromo insurgent group. This claim is likely dubious but follows a clear historical precedent.
After a short lull, militants clashed with IDF troops operating in Nablus Sunday morning resulting in the deaths of two al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members.
You guessed it. Our guest is, indeed, Caleb Weiss. This time, he and Bill discuss how (and which) prison breaks fit into the larger strategy of various Jihadi groups — and why some don’t bother.
Zawahiri lives. The Taliban-Al Qaeda alliance remains strong. The leaders of Al Qaeda’s branches in North and East Africa have assumed roles in Al Qaeda’s line of succession.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced the formation of a new unit in Tubas after clashes against IDF troops on Sunday.
Almost 30 people have been killed in a series of jihadist attacks – many of which happened near simultaneously – across northern Togo over the last few days.
This policy both limits the effectiveness of anti-Taliban resistance and reduces the U.S. military and intelligence communities’ ability to monitor and strike Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other regional and global terror groups based in Afghanistan.
Mostafa Mahdovinejad, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed on Tuesday under unknown circumstances.
Hundreds of prisoners, including an unclear number of jihadists, remain free following a massive jailbreak just outside the Nigerian capital of Abuja earlier this week. The Islamic State has said its men were behind the raid.
The Taliban has made this false statement for decades, even prior to 9/11. And yet foreign terror groups continue to operate in Afghanistan to this day.
For the first time, Hamas has published information on an Israeli-Bedouin held in captivity since 2015 in an effort to revitalize negotiations of a prisoner swap with Israel.
On Saturday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for launching three drones towards the disputed Karish gas field.
Caleb Weiss is back to unpack with Bill the controversy surrounding the former head of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA). They discuss his background and build a context for better understanding the recent headlines concerning the ex-chief.
Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, a senior leader and military commander in the Al Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Din, was the target of the strike. CENTCOM claims he was killed, but al Yemeni was also reported killed in a U.S. strike in Sept. 2021.