FDD's Long War Journal

Afghanistan

Exit Interview: Eikenberry On Tensions With Karzai, Iran’s Influence, And The Security Transition

USS Cole bomber reported to have been target of Yemen airstrike

Fahd al Quso is said to have narrowly escaped yesterday’s airstrike in Abyan province.

Iraq

Insurgents killed four civilians in attacks in Baghdad, Kabala, and Kirkuk. The Iranian ambassador to Iraq was wounded in an accident in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Cyprus

Cyprus says attempted to offload Iran blast cargo

Insurgents killed two soldiers in Mosul, a police colonel in Tikrit, an Army officer in Al Kut, and a US soldier in the south. Iran threatened to attack bases of the PKAK, a PKK offshoot, inside Iraq.

Cyprus

Iran explosives at centre of Cypriot intrigue

Iraq

Weapons prove Iranian role in Iraq, US says

Suicide attack kills 35 Iraqis north of Baghdad

The attack is the latest by al Qaeda in Iraq against government installations.

Iraq

Insurgents killed a policeman in Ramadi and kidnapped five Iraqis west of Ramadi. Security forces detained three wanted men in Kirkuk. Iran denied it is sending longer-range rockets to the Special Groups in Iraq.

Afghanistan

Iran funnels new weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan

Iraq

Iraqi forces have launched an operation against the Iranian-backed Shia Special Groups in Maysan. Two policemen and a soldier were killed in Mosul.

Syria

Security forces killed seven civilians during operations against anti-regime protesters in the villages of Mareyan and Ahsem. Britain accused Iran of supporting Syria’s crackdown on anti-regime elements.

DC district court denies former Taliban governor’s habeas petition

In a decision released on Thursday, a DC district court denied Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court cited Khairkhwa’s clandestine meetings with Iranian officials, among other evidence.

ISAF captures ‘foreign fighter’ facilitator in southeastern Afghanistan

“The facilitator assisted in the transfer of Uzbeks and Farsi speaking foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban,” ISAF reported.

Iraq

Several Iranian troops are said to have been killed in a minefield on the Iraqi side of the border in the north. Gunmen killed a Kuwaiti, an Indian, and a Turk in an attack on a home in Hillah. An insurgent was killed in a premature detonation.

US Predator strike kills 15 ‘militants’ in South and North Waziristan

The unmanned aircraft hit a vehicle and a compound in an area administered by “good Taliban” leader Mullah Nazir, and a vehicle in an area run by the Haqqani Network.

Hezbollah

Hezbollah rise in Lebanon gives Syria, Iran sway

Zarqawi aide returns to Afghanistan to wage jihad for al Qaeda

Salahuddin al Maqdisi, the brother of Abu Mohammed al Maqdisi and a former aide to slain al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was released from Iranian custody and has recently returned to Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda facilitator properly detained, DC Circuit Court finds

The DC Circuit Court ruled on Friday that al Qaeda facilitator Hussain Salem Mohammad Almerfedi is properly detained at Guantanamo. According to a leaked threat assessment, Almerfedi operated out of an al Qaeda safehouse in Iran.

Iraq

The Hezbollah Brigades claimed Monday’s rocket attack in Baghdad that killed five US soldiers. The Iranian-backed group claimed it has rockets that are “ready to be used at any time to target enemy bases, especially its embassy.”

Hamas

‘Iran caught 10 times trying to send arms to terrorists’

Real progress in Afghanistan … but to what end?

Significant forward momentum is imperiled by holes in US strategy and policy.

Afghanistan

Iran’s illegal arms trade: ‘Hypocritical and dangerous’

Lebanon

A military court charged a Shia cleric with spying for Israel. The cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Ali al Husseini, has been critical of Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria, and reportedly has his own militia comprised of 1,500 fighters.

Taliban claim attacks in western Afghan city of Herat

The Taliban detonated a car bomb in the city while a suicide assault team attacked the Italian-manned Provincial Reconstruction Team base.

Iraq

Ali al Lami, the chief of the Justice and Accountability Commission which rooted out Ba’athists, was assassinated in Baghdad. Lami was arrested by the US in 2008 for ties to Shia militias backed by Iran.

Bahrain

Saudi bid to curb Iran worries US

‘Germany-based Moroccan al Qaeda foreign fighter facilitator’ captured in southeastern Afghanistan

The al Qaeda operative is providing intelligence on the Qaeda network that funnels terrorists into Afghanistan. Before he reached Afghanistan, he traveled through Iran, where a recruiter attempted to convince him to become a suicide bomber.

US designates Palestinian Salafist group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Jaish al Islam, or Army of Islam, “subscribes to a Salafist ideology of global jihad together with the traditional model of armed Palestinian resistance.”