Earlier this week, Al Jazeera aired the first part of its interview with Abu Muhammed al Julani, who is the emir of the Al Nusrah Front. Julani stressed that his organization is “committed” to Ayman al Zawahiri’s “orders,” thereby dispelling erroneous reports that his group was going to “break” with al Qaeda.
Jihadists, including al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, have claimed victory in the battle for the town of Ariha. The town was one of the last regime-controlled areas in the province of Idlib.
Salahuddin al Shishani also accused the Islamic State of attempting to assassinate him after his failed attempt to mediate a dispute between the group and al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
Said Arif, an al Qaeda veteran, has reportedly been killed in an airstrike in Syria. Jihadists on social media have identified Arif as a senior figure in Jund al Aqsa, an al Qaeda front group.
The Pakistani Taliban has released a lengthy statement rejecting Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s claim to be the new caliph. The group praises Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, as well as deceased al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his successor, Ayman al Zawahiri.
The former Afghan Taliban shadow governor for Badakhshan province appears in a new propaganda video featuring recent clashes in Warduj District. Taliban fighters show off captured Afghan army and police vehicles and eulogize the jihadist leader who was killed last summer.
Iranian-supported militias, including Hezbollah Brigades, a US-listed Foreign Terrorist Organization, are advancing against the Islamic State east of Ramadi. The US is providing air support.
A newly-released file recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound shows that the Taliban offered its condolences on the death of a senior al Qaeda leader in May 2010. Other documents reveal that Mullah Omar’s representative corresponded with bin Laden’s chief lieutenant even as he negotiated with the State Department.
Haditha is one of the few towns in Anbar that have resisted the Islamic State’s onslaught in Anbar province.
The jihadist group may destroy ancient ruins in the city, as it has done in Mosul and elsewhere. The Islamic State is now said to control half of Syria.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, claims that 14 fighters were killed in recent coalition air strikes in Syria.
Earlier today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a set of files recovered from Osama bin Laden’s compound. These are but a fraction of the files that should be released to the public.
The Islamic State is attacking Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shiite militias that have regrouped at Habbaniyah, the last major city between Ramadi and Fallujah.
With victory over Assad’s forces at the military camp, the al Qaeda-led coalition continues to overrun regime positions in Idlib province.
In a video recorded prior to his death, a jihadist known as Abu Hafs al Masri explained that he served al Qaeda for 17 years and had lived with Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. Al Masri was a senior leader in Ahrar al Sham in Syria when he was “martyred” in late March.
The 8th Brigade headquarters also appears to have fallen. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Iraqi forces in the Fallujah-Ramadi corridor are in complete disarray and are withdrawing from Habbaniyah and other areas.
The attack, which took place the Shawal Valley, a terrorist haven, is just the sixth recorded inside Pakistan this year. The US launched 117 drone strikes in Pakistan at the peak of the campaign in 2010.
US troops killed Abu Sayyaf, a military and financial leader in the Islamic State, during an attempt to capture him at the Al Omar oil field in eastern Syria. His wife, Umm Sayyaf, was captured.
The loss of the government complex, which has been under siege since the Islamic State renewed its push to take control of Ramadi in April, is a major blow to the Iraqi military and government, which have sought to regain the initiative in Anbar after a string of losses there over the past year.
A jihadist leader known as Adnan Abu Walid al Sahrawi has declared allegiance to the Islamic State. It appears that he has pledged fealty to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi on behalf of MUJAO, a jihadist group in West Africa. There is no indication that al Qaeda loyalists, such as Mokhtar Belmokhtar, have also defected.
The Taliban claimed credit for today’s attack and said it was carried out by a single fighter. The jihadist group denounced the hotel for promoting “lasciviousness and indecency.”
Iraq’s Ministry of Defense claimed that Abu Alaa al Afari and a large number of Islamic State fighters were killed in a coalition airstrike that targeted a mosque. CENTCOM denied it launched a strike on a mosque.
A US drone strike reportedly killed Ma’moun Abdulhamid Hatem, an AQAP and Ansar al Sharia official who supported the Islamic State, yesterday in Yemen. His purported death has not been confirmed by the group.
The Taliban’s propaganda cannot be independently verified. The Pakistani government claims the Mi-17 crash, which resulted in the death of the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and five others, was caused by a technical malfunction.
AQAP has confirmed that Nasser bin Ali al Ansi was killed in a US drone strike. Al Ansi was a senior AQAP official, as well as al Qaeda’s deputy general manager. He was considered one of Osama bin Laden’s “special ones.”
Iraqi and US military officers have warned that the facility is close to falling to the Islamic State. The Iraqi government and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are sending reinforcements to besieged troops.
Matiur Rehman, who has served as a senior al Qaeda leader and the operations chief for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, brought three Pakistani jihadist groups into the fold of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the shooting in Garland, Texas on its Al Bayan radio program. The claim offered no new details about the terrorists responsible, but at least one of them was a known Islamic State supporter.
The leader of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent says that attacks by al Qaeda’s branches against supposed “blasphemers” were ordered by al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. He claims that several murders in Bangladesh and Pakistan were part of this campaign, which also includes the Charlie Hebdo massacre earlier this year.
“If America persists” in advocating for a Sunni and Kurdish state outside of Iraq, “then it will cease to exist,” the Iranian-backed cleric threatened.