The US added a wanted Saudi al Qaeda leader, Abu Maryam al Zahrani, to its list of designated terrorists. David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani-born US citizen who helped the Lashkar-e-Taiba carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The Pentagon released a timeline of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on […]
Egypt: on 25 January, one anniversary but two commemorations
Egypt’s Revolution, Two Years On
Hamas to establish military academy for schoolkids
Following the UN’s condemnation of its ballistic missile launch, North Korea vowed to conduct more nuclear weapons tests and missile launches. North Korea said it was targeting the US as its “sworn enemy” and would retaliate against the US with “force, not with words, as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival.”
Khuseyn Gakayev, one of the two commanders reported killed, split with Doku Umarov in the summer of 2010, but reconciled in July 2011 and was named commander of the terror group’s eastern front.
Government jets bombed rebel positions in Daraya, a strategic suburb close to a key air base southwest of Damascus. France said it saw no signs that the Assad regime was about to fall.
Desecrations alarm Pakistan’s Ahmadi sect
Said al Shihri died “after succumbing to wounds received in a counter terrorism operation” late last year, the Yemeni government said. The Saudi press and a prominent jihadist have also claimed that al Shihri is dead.
Western embassies warned their citizens to leave Benghazi over a “specific and imminent threat” in the city. Prime Minister Zeidan said his government “is serious in protecting our petroleum installations.” Air Malta canceled flights between Benghazi and Tripoli over security concerns. Although the UK, Netherlands, and Germany have issued alerts, the Libyan interior ministry denied […]
American Mumbai plotter to be sentenced in Chicago
Ahmed Abdullah Saleh al Khazmari al Zahrani, who is better known as Abu Maryam al Zahrani, is thought to be based in Pakistan and has been spotted in Iran.
A group calling itself the Islamic Movement of Azawad (MIA) has split from Ansar Dine and offered to negotiate. Islamists hold Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal as more African forces join the French military intervention. Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UAE are providing air transport for African and French soldiers in the […]
An Algiers court postponed the trial of former al Qaeda emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who claimed the recent assault on the Id Amenas gas field. He and nine other defendants, including Abu Zeid, whose forces seized the Malian town of Diabaly, will be tried in absentia in March. The African Union is considering training extra forces […]
A Tunis court sentenced 16 Salafists to one month in prison for their roles in a violent protest in June 2012 against an art exhibition. The defendants were acquitted of more serious charges. Others who had incited the violence, included imams who advocated the killing of the artists, were not charged.
Pakistan’s first anti-blasphemy telefilm premiered
The Taliban executed a “US spy” who they claimed is responsible for the drone strike that killed mullah Nazir in South Waziristan. The Taliban’s spokesman vowed that his group would attack a Hindu group in Kashmir.
The Taliban killed an ISAF soldier in the east, a policeman in Herat, and a doctor in Helmand. Five policemen were arrested after beating shopkeepers in Parwan.
An al Qaeda suicide bomber killed 42 Iraqis in an attack at a funeral in a mosque in Tuz Khurmatu. “Gunmen” killed an Awakening leader at his home in Samarra.
The latest strike took place outside of Sana’a. Over the past year, the US has expanded the drone campaign throughout all of Yemen.
A US drone strike in northern Yemen killed at least six al Qaeda operatives after targeting a vehicle as it traveled in a rural area near Sana’a. It is the fourth strike in five days in Yemen. A Baydah province police chief escaped an assassination attempt that killed a soldier and injured the chief’s son […]
Defense Secretary Panetta decided to overturn a 1994 Pentagon rule barring women from serving in combat. Secretary of State Clinton said the US faces “a spreading jihadist threat” from “a global movement.” She could not confirm whether there was a link between the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi and the […]
Following yesterday’s UN Security Council vote condemning North Korea for launching a ballistic missile, North Korea said it would no longer participate in nuclear talks and would boost its military and nuclear capabilities.
Russia’s foreign minister said there could be no peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria as long as rebels refused to negotiate with the Assad regime. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said the scale of violence used by Syria’s government meant a negotiated settlement was unthinkable.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s party won a narrow victory in Parliamentary elections while the centrist Yesh Atid made strong gains. With almost all the votes counted, Israel’s two political blocs each held 60 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
Shabaab released a video of two captured Kenyans. The al Qaeda affiliate said it would execute the Kenyans in three weeks if Kenya doesn’t release all prisoners.
The Islamic Supreme Council of Mali said the French military intervention in Mali is “Islamic” and permissible. The African Union chair said all of the African heads of state “are happy about the speed with which France acted and with France’s political courage.” Some 1,600 AFISMA troops from Benin, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, and Niger have […]
Boko Haram fighters murdered and then beheaded five people in Maiduguri. The military said it killed two Boko Haram fighters in the city and detained three more. President Goodluck Jonathan said the military is in Mali to protect Nigerian citizens.
President Marzouki said Tunisia is “turning into a corridor for the passage of Libyan weapons to northern Mali.” Tunisian jihadists are now estimated to number in the thousands, and are fighting in Syria and Mali.
Civil Society Activists Fear Afghan Exodus