The governor of Kenya’s Mandera County recently stated that Shabaab is controlling “over 50 percent’ of northern Kenya and “more than 60 percent” of Mandera. Kenyan authorities have quickly scrambled to contradict these claims.
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss and critique Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech on the Iran-Al Qaeda axis. Contrary to much reporting, there is a long history of ties between the two. But there’s also much evidence pointing to al Qaeda’s ongoing alliance with the Taliban, an issue Pompeo is eager to downplay. The guys also explain why the 2001 AUMF isn’t being used to start a war with Iran.
Joint U.S. and Israeli military cooperation led to airstrikes targeting Iranian sites and that of its proxy groups in eastern Syria Wednesday morning.
The State Department revealed today that ‘Abd al Rahman al Maghrebi, a senior al Qaeda leader who heads the group’s propaganda arm and has served as its “general manager,” is based in Iran. Maghrebi and four others based in Iran were designated as terrorists.
Additionally, the U.S. State Department will also designate three of the Houthis’ top leaders as global terrorists.
In Israel’s attempts to thwart the establishment of Iranian-led proxies in southern Syria, it has also targeted Syrian troops in recent weeks.
Falih al-Fayyadh, the Chairman of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces and the former National Security Advisor to the Iraq’s Prime Minister, was identified as a member of an “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Force Qods Force supported crisis cell” that supported attacks on protesters in 2019.
For the second time in less than a week, Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian-affiliated military targets in Syria.
Robin Simcox joins hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio to discuss the ongoing jihadist threat in Europe and efforts to combat extremism in the U.K. and elsewhere. Simcox is the director of the London-based Counter Extremism Group.
Afghan security forces continue to target Al Qaeda as the Taliban promises that it won’t allow allow foreign fighters to attack the West, even though the Taliban claims Al Qaeda doesn’t exist inside Afghanistan.
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio air and discuss their 2020 grievances, which pale in comparison to the problems faced by so many around the world today.
Palestinian factions operating under the Joint Operations Room announces they will be holding a joint military maneuver for the first time Tuesday.
FDD senior fellow Emanuele Ottolenghi joins hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio to discuss the history of Iran’s and Hezbollah’s illicit activities across Central and South America, including the trafficking of “black cocaine.”
Israel has called Iran a “third circle” threat and its new multi-year Momentum plan calls for a dedicated headquarters and general to focus on this threat.
Shabaab killed several military officials in a suicide bombing today in Galkayo. This is just the latest in a renewed assassination campaign that has targeted a wide range of high profile Somali leaders this year.
‘Boogaloo Bois’ member pleads guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to provide material support to Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday that Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a 30-year-old Kenyan national, has been charged with plotting a 9/11-style attack inside the U.S. Abdullah allegedly served as an “operative” for Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa.
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss President Trump’s decision to order the withdrawal of a small American force from Somalia. Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, will continue to fight on, waging an insurgency against the Somali government while threatening countries throughout the region and possibly elsewhere as well.
Saraya al Mokhtar is now the second Bahraini militia to be designated as terrorists for ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups published statements denouncing the normalization of ties between Morocco and Israel.
The effort to degrade and contain Shabaab without will be all the more difficult without a U.S. presence in the country.
FDD senior fellow Behnam Ben Taleblu joins the podcast to discuss recent assassinations inside Iran and the state of the Iranian regime’s various proxy wars.
Despite the repeated targeting, killing, and capturing of Al Qaeda leaders and operatives, the Taliban maintains that the terror group does not operate in Afghanistan.
Analyzing the outpouring of commentary after Fakhrizadeh’s death from Iranian politicians, military personnel, and media outlets can help shed light on Tehran’s immediate political concerns, security imperatives, as well as prospects for retaliation and escalation.
Hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio discuss the killing of al Qaeda’s deputy emir in Tehran. The operation was reportedly conducted by Israeli assassins at the behest of the U.S.
Shabaab briefly occupied a Somali military base and its adjacent town yesterday following a major assault in central Somalia.
Iranian Brigadier General and scientist Mohsen Farkhrizadeh was assassinated Friday in an operation attributed to Israel’s Mossad.
Recent airstrikes in southern Syria indicate Israel’s attempt to thwart Hezbollah activity near the Golan border.
LTG (ret.) H.R. McMaster joins hosts Tom Joscelyn and Bill Roggio to discuss his new book, his career in the U.S military and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Powered by RedCircle Take a look around the globe today and you’ll see jihadists fighting everywhere from West Africa to Southeast Asia. They aren’t the dominant […]
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has named Abu Ubaidah Yusef al-Annabi as its new emir. His predecessor, Abdelmalek Droukdel, was killed in a French counterterrorism operation in Mali earlier this year.