Jihadist groups, including the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, are cheering on the announcement that al Qaeda’s affiliates in Iraq and Syria are henceforth to be known as the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.”
Al Qaeda in Iraq’s emir announced a new brand for his organization’s efforts in Iraq and Syria: the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.” The name replaces all previous names used by the group, including the Al Nusrah Front in Syria, which was a creation of AQI.
The terror group continues to retain the capacity to launch suicide and other attacks throughout Iraq while expanding its network into Syria.
Jihadist social media sites are asking supporters to pray for Abdullah Azzam al Qahtani, an al Qaeda in Iraq leader who admittedly proposed an attack against the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Al Qahtani, the sites say, was scheduled to be executed inside Iraq this week.
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Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria teamed up with several rebel groups to overrun an air force base and several checkpoints in Dara’a province. The operation put Al Nusrah and its allies in effective control of an area that borders both Israel and Jordan.
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The Iraqi terror group said yesterday’s attacks which killed 60 people are part of “the first rain, and the first phase” aimed at the Justice Ministry.
The Al Nusrah Front said that “brothers from the rest of the brigades participated in operations of advancement and positioning” in one of the two attacks.
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The use of chemical weapons has yet to be confirmed. Sixteen Syrian soldiers are said to be among the 26 people killed in the purported chemical attack.
The Iraqi terror group said the attack was part of its “Destroying the Walls” campaign, which was announced by the group’s emir, Abu Du’a, last year.
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The suicide attacks in the Iraqi capital highlight the resurgence of the al Qaeda affiliate, and the risk it poses to Iraq’s shaky political structure.
The al Qaeda affiliate continues to push back government forces in Deir al Zour, and the group has also established the Sharia Committee for the Eastern Region to govern areas under its control.
The Iraqi terror group said it killed the Syrian and Iraqi soldiers just one day after its affiliate, the Al Nusrah Front, seized a border crossing in Syria.
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria teamed up with the jihadist Ahrar al Sham Brigade to take control of the provincial capital. The jihadist alliance effectively controls most the Euphrates River Valley in Syria all the way to the Iraqi border. The Al Nusrah Front also carried out two suicide attacks in Homs.
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria has claimed credit for 12 of the 13 suicide attacks that have been recorded in the country so far this year.
The Iraqi government appears to point the finger at the Al Nusrah Front, which is al Qaeda in Iraq’s affiliate in Syria.
The State Department will back the Syrian Opposition Coalition, which opposes the US’s designation of the Al Nusrah Front as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and the Free Syrian Army, which fights alongside with and under the command of Al Nusrah.
The al Qaeda affiliate continues to use the suicide bomber as a major weapons system against the Syrian regime; 10 of the 11 suicide attacks in Syria have been claimed by the terror group.
The suicide attack killed scores of civilian workers at a munitions factory near Hama. Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria has now claimed credit for nine of the 10 suicide attacks that have been reported in Syria so far this year.
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Omar al Chechen is a key leader in the Muhajireen Brigade, a jihadist group that fights alongside the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant against the regime of President Bashir al Assad.
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Nine suicide attacks have now been reported in Syria so far this year; the al Qaeda affiliate has claimed credit for eight of them.
The Al Nusrah Front took control of the town of al-Shadadi in Hasakah province. Five Iraqi and Kuwati fighters were killed during the operation.
The al Qaeda affiliate, the Muhajireen Group, and the Free Syrian Army took control of the headquarters of the Syrian Army’s 80th Regiment near the main airport in Aleppo.
A fighter from the Ahrar al Sham, a jihadist group in Syria, is heard saying on a video that the aircraft at the overrun al-Jarrah airbase “are now in the hands” of the group. The Al Nusrah Front also participated in the assault.