Testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade on the US counterterrorism strategy in Syria. “The West’s involvement is ad hoc, tactical and reactionary.”
Jihadist groups in Afghanistan continue to operate training camps despite the presence of coalition troops.
Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, claims to have overrun the Abu Duhour airbase in Idlib. Al Nusrah also says that more than 100 of Bashar al Assad’s fighters were killed and an additional 60 or so captured during the fighting.
While the Islamic State gets most of the attention for the training camps it runs for children, it is not the only jihadist group in Syria that does so.
The Uzbeks may have been members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, whose leader recently swore allegiance to the Islamic State, or the splinter Islamic Jihadi Union, which remains loyal to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Both groups are known to operate in North Waziristan.
The Jaysh al Fateh coalition, which includes the Al Nusrah Front, Ahrar al Sham, and other allied-organizations, has launched a new offensive targeting the Al Ghab plain. The alliance claims to have already made significant gains.
Mansur al Harbi, a Saudi who served as a senior al Qaeda military leader, trainer, and facilitator is said to have been killed by the US in an airstrike in Afghanistan over the past several days. His death has not been confirmed.
The Long War Journal has identified 117 training camps run by jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria. Almost half are operated by the Islamic State, while the other half are administered by the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and its allies. Some facilities are no longer operational, while other camps likely exist, but are not publicized by the jihadists.
The attack took place in a section of Pakistan’s tribal agencies where the the US is concentrating its drone campaign in North Waziristan.
Five of the eight strikes that have taken place in Pakistan so far this year have targeted jihadists operating in the Shawal Valley, which spans both North and South Waziristan.
The strike took place in the Shawal Valley in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The US continues to launch drone strikes in Pakistan, but the counterterrorism operation does not stray beyond the tribal 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.
Many jihadist groups, including those within al Qaeda’s network in Syria, have published videos of their forces celebrating in or near Jisr al Shughur in Idlib province.
Senior al Qaeda, Taliban, and allied jihadist leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 – 2017 Created by Bill Roggio Since 2004, the US has been conducting a covert program to target and kill al Qaeda and Taliban commanders based in Pakistan’s lawless northwest. The program has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda’s […]
The strike took place in the Shawal Valley, a jihadist hub that spans both North and South Waziristan.
A media organization linked to Boko Haram, the jihadist group that controls large portions of northeastern Nigeria, has released images purporting to show children receiving weapons training.
The Washington Post cited Bill Roggio on Muqtada al Sadr’s threat to reactivate the military wing his militia that is assigned to attack the US and its interests. Reuters cited Bill Roggio’s report on an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader who was freed in Afghanistan and has returned to wage jihad in Kunduz. The Boston […]
The strike in the Shawal Valley is the third attack in the jihadist haven in the past three days.
The pair of al Qaeda commanders are said to be members of the Badr Mansoor Group, which was described in one of Osama bin Laden’s documents as an al Qaeda “company.”
‘Removing Godane from the battlefield is a major symbolic and operational loss to al-Shabaab,” the Pentagon’s spokesman said. But jihadist groups have withstood the loss of top leaders in the past.
Usama Mahmoud, AQIS’s spokesman, openly stated that the group “was formed by the gathering of several jihadi groups that have a long history in jihad and fighting.”
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s spokesman described the military press release and subsequent reporting in the Pakistani media as “nothing but complete lies,” and claimed that jihadists had moved out of the area long before the operation began.
The attack is the fourth by the US in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan since July 10; at least three al Qaeda leaders are thought to have been killed in one of the strikes.
The Pakistani government has blocked The Long War Journal website from being accessed inside Pakistan. The censorship began sometime in July 2012, and continues to this day.
Pakistani officials have said there was a “mix-up” and an al Qaeda explosives expert, and not Rasheed, was captured during a raid two weeks ago in South Waziristan.
The US has launched three strikes in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan in the past 10 days, indicating that a top jihadist leader is thought to be operating there.
The strike is the second in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan in the past week.
The strike took place in an area of North Waziristan that has served as a command center for al Qaeda’s military.
A government official said that those who “terrorize in Pakistan” are the target of the operation, while a general danced around the issue of the Haqqani Network.
The military said the Taliban commander is known as “Commander Umer” but did not name the al Qaeda explosives expert.