Defense Secretary Hagel urged Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty. Secretary of State Kerry said yesterday that the US has an obligation to pursue diplomatic and other options to force Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program. Following the Obama administration’s announcement that it has ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for a full withdrawal […]
Security forces in Arsal arrested a senior Al Nusrah Front commander, Syrian national Nidal Sweidan, who is linked to terrorist attacks in east Lebanon. Security forces also arrested a man suspected of funding Naim Abbas, a Palestinian accused of involvement in bombings in southern Beirut and membership in both the Al Nusrah Front in Lebanon […]
Hospital officials said that 722 people have been killed during military shelling of Fallujah since the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham and allied tribes took control of the city. Security forces killed 16 ISIS fighters in Fallujah and nine “militants” north of Baqubah. Iraq will purchase $195 in weapons from Iran in violation […]
The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades conducted a double suicide attack at the Iranian Cultural Center in Beirut, killing at least eight people and wounding 128. The group also threatened further attacks against Iran and Hezbollah if their forces are not withdrawn from Syria and jihadists are not freed from Lebanese prisons. The army released […]
US officials said that Thirwat Shehata, 53, an Egyptian who is a senior al Qaeda figure and former deputy to Ayman al Zawahiri, has left Iran and was in Libya in 2013. A number of top al Qaeda operatives have left Iran in recent years, and the US has placed Iran-based operatives on its terrorist […]
Al Qaeda figures or associates linked to Iran
Israeli security chiefs modify assessment on Syrian war
Lahore Jan, an Afghan national based in Jalalabad, uses his hawala to transfer funds for the Taliban.
Testimony to the House Committee on Homeland Security on al Qaeda’s network in Egypt and the threat it poses to the US
The Israeli Air Force targeted a Gaza-based terror operative with links to the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem. Prime Minister Netanyahu denounced Iranian claims that they will soon send warships toward the US.
In October 2012, Israeli intelligence noted that cooperation between Ansar Jerusalem and members of the Popular Resistance Committees was occurring.
Three Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force officers and one facilitator who are involved in the “use of terrorism and intelligence operations as tools of influence against the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” were added to the US’ list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Brett McGurk said suicide bombings in Iraq have tripled over the past year, and that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham is using a “global network” of jihadists to supply the bombers, who are often foreigners; he also accused Iraq of not doing enough to stop Iran from […]
Two of the Haqqani Network leaders have close ties to al Qaeda; one of them has traveled to Saudi Arabia to fundraise as recently as late 2013. The other is a member of the Miramshah Shura and coordinates operations with the Taliban.
The Al Nusrah Front, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham continue to target Hezbollah in Lebanon.
At the Munich Security Conference, Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of Defense Hagel called on European allies to step up their participation with the US in facing joint political and security challenges. Hagel indicated that the Obama administration is seeking to place more emphasis on traditional diplomacy and less on the exercise of military […]
The war in Syria has increasingly become a battle of competing perceptions and narratives.
Israel’s head of military intelligence said al Qaeda maintains bases in Turkey, reportedly in the provinces of Karaman, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, and warned that foreign jihadists enter Syria weekly but “do not stay there.” Prime Minister Erdogan visited Tehran in an effort to improve relations and secure a discount for the purchase of natural gas, […]
In his State of the Union address, President Obama said that while “core al Qaeda” is “on a path to defeat,” threats are posed by al Qaeda affiliates and other extremists in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Mali, and elsewhere. He vowed that in Syria, his administration will “support the opposition that rejects the agenda of terrorist […]
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters gunned down a senior security officer outside of his home in Hadramout. A Yemeni official claimed that an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Sana’a in July 2013 was found beheaded in Marib; Iranian officials denied the report.
UN nuclear chief: Long way to go on Iran nuclear deal
Marie Harf wrongly claims Zawahiri is the only senior al Qaeda leader left standing and that he exercises zero operational control over the jihad in Syria.
In its designation, the State Department noted that Iran is a key backer of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In addition, the State Department noted the increase in cooperation between PIJ and Hamas.
At the Geneva II talks on Syria, Secretary of State Kerry said “parallel efforts” will be made during the talks to find other ways to pressure the Assad regime. Kerry also revived the idea that Iran could be part of the negotiations. The Navy is seeking more shore-based, localized solutions to the problem of piracy […]
In Reef Dimashq near the town of Sahem, regime forces, including Hezbollah, battled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, the Al Nusrah Front, Islamic battalion fighters, and rebels. In Aleppo province, the ISIS took over much of Menbej city and clashed with rebel and Islamic battalions in Azaz city and al Bab, and […]
Three Islamist fighting groups, including the large Islamic Front coalition as well as the Islamic Union of the Soldiers of al-Sham and the Army of the Mujahideen, issued a statement yesterday rejecting the Geneva II talks and vowing to fight on; they also thanked Turkey and Qatar for their support. In an effort to combat […]
The Al Nusrah Front, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, all al Qaeda affiliates, have carried out four suicide attacks in Lebanon since November 2013.
Geneva deal doesn’t stop Iran’s bid for a bomb: Israel
Despite concerns about terrorism at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, heightened by the release of a threatening video by Islamist militants, the US is sending a relatively small security contingent to the games. The US wants the UN to disinvite Iran to the Geneva II peace talks unless Iran endorses the Syrian transition plan […]
The head of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham released an audio message threatening that the US would soon have to confront ISIS directly; he also urged Syrians not to believe enemy propaganda about ISIS, criticized rebel attacks on ISIS as a “betrayal,” and called on rebels to stop fighting ISIS and focus […]