Analysis: Iranian state textbooks incite terrorism
Unsurprisingly, Iran’s official government textbooks continue to incite hatred, extremism, and terrorism.
Unsurprisingly, Iran’s official government textbooks continue to incite hatred, extremism, and terrorism.
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.
The Pakistani Taliban announced today that two splinter factions, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and Hizb-ul-Ahrar (HuA), have rejoined the organization.
According to UNAMA, civilian casualties decreased during the first quarter of the year, as compared to similar timeframes in previous years. However, there was a “disturbing increase in violence” in Afghanistan following the U.S. agreement with the Taliban on Feb. 29. And the Taliban is the prime culprit with respect to civilian casualties.
Saudi Arabia has revised its educational curriculum, but the kingdom’s textbooks still include passages that incite hate against Jews, homosexuals and the “infidels.”
The Palestinian militant group Nasser Salah al Din Brigades offers details as to why it launched an operation against IDF soldiers at the Gaza security fence.
Militants restart their low-tech campaign of violence at the Gaza border.
Ali Mohamud Rage, a senior Shabaab official, has released a video concerning the group’s assault on the Manda Bay Airfield earlier this week. Three Americans were killed during the attack, which Rage says was “carried out under the guidance and direction” of Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Afghan officials have identified several AQIS members who were killed during a controversial raid in Musa Qala, Helmand earlier this week. They have also posted images purportedly documenting the weaponry, explosives and cash seized at the jihadists’ compound.
U.S. and Afghan officials say they targeted al Qaeda members in Musa Qala, a Taliban-controlled district in the southern Helmand province. Reports indicate that dozens of civilians perished during the clash that ensued.
On Aug. 21, the US State Department Rewards for Justice Program announced rewards of up to $5 million each for information concerning three wanted Islamic State leaders. The three jihadists are “legacy” members of the group and serve as a money man, a senior ideologue, and an explosives expert.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at a hotel where a wedding party was celebrating. ISIS-K claims the bombing operation was two-part. After a suicide bomber detonated himself inside the hotel, a car bomb was detonated outside.
The bombing, which leveled a police station and killed and wounded scores of people, is the latest in a series of terror attacks in the capital. The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation continues to claim the Taliban can be an “effective counterterrorism partner”despite the Taliban’s repeated use of terror tactics.
The Taliban has ramped up its suicide operations over the past month. It has claimed six suicide operations. Two more have gone unclaimed.
The Taliban has used female suicide bombers in the past. Years ago, a wanted commander known as Qari Zia Rahman established training camps to indoctrinate women and young girls to carry out the gruesome attacks.
US military and diplomatic officials have claimed that attacks such as these are designed by the Taliban to increase its leverage in so-called peace talks with the US. In reality, the Taliban has all the leverage it needs. The Taliban is preparing the ground for the next stage in the war by targeting and weakening Afghan forces in major cities and outlying areas.
A suicide bomber dispatched by the Taliban detonated his explosives-laden vehicle outside of a facility run by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Ghazni earlier today. Preliminary casualty reports indicate that upwards of 200 people were either killed or wounded, including schoolchildren.
As the Taliban launches major attacks in four provinces, it is revealed that 64 districts in 19 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces are not being governed from the existing district centers.
As part of its “And the Best Outcome is for the Righteous” series, the Islamic State has released videos of jihadists from the Caucasus and the Philippines renewing their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Saudi and Yemeni special forces captured the leader of ISIS in Yemen, as well as the group’s chief financial officer, earlier this month. The raid was backed by the US.
The Taliban’s “Commission for Military Affairs of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” gave media outlets a one week deadline to cease broadcasting anti-Taliban commercials or they “shall become military targets.”
Sri Lankan security forces clashed with Islamic State loyalists during a raid in Kalmunai. The Islamic State claims that 17 members of the security forces were killed, but that claim is not corroborated by independent reporting. Instead, it appears that several terrorists, along with women and children, perished in the raid.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has released a video of eight jihadists in Sri Lanka swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before a series of bombings on Easter Sunday. The video is similar to a string of others released by Amaq since mid-2016.
In a speech released earlier this week, Islamic State spokesman Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir claimed that the group remains a “reality” despite its territorial losses. He also references the terrorist attack by a white supremacist in New Zealand earlier this week.
According to UNAMA’s annual report for 2018, more civilians were killed in Afghanistan than in any year since 2009. The Taliban remains the main culprit when it comes to civilian casualties, killing or wounding more than any other party. But the number casualties attributed to the Islamic State’s branch more than doubled in 2018, as compared to 2017.
In a message released on Feb. 5, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri harshly criticizes the jihadists in Syria. He says they are engaged in a misguided “competition” for “imagined authority” over territory that is under the oversight “of secular Turkish checkpoints.”
US Treasury on January 24 designated the Afghan Fatemiyoun Division and the Pakistani Zeynabiyoun Brigade, which are led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), pursuant to counter-terrorism and human-rights-abuses designations. Criticizing the US, the Shiite-Islamist militias emphasized that they are part of the IRGC-led transnational militant network, pledged to keep fighting, but stopped short of directly threatening the US.
Al Qaeda’s branch in Mali attacked a UN base earlier today, killing at least ten peacekeepers from Chad. The group says that the assault was part of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s global campaign, which rejects the “normalization” of Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited Chad today.
Islamic State West Africa has forced thousands of civilians to flee Rann after raiding and ransacking the makeshift town in northeastern Nigeria. The assault in Rann is part of a broader ISWA offensive in the region.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a “complex martyrdom operation” in Kabul’s Green Village late yesterday. The target of the attack isn’t clear. The Taliban says the facility served as a “a key intelligence site” for “foreigners.” Afghan officials claim it was mostly empty and had been inhabited by UN employees and NGO workers.