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.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu earlier today.
Bilal Khuraysat, an al Qaeda ideologue in Syria, has released a treatise justifying Shabaab’s war with the Islamic State in Somalia. The Islamic State continues to battle al Qaeda’s branches and like-minded jihadists in several theaters.
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 Islamic State’s loyalists claimed more operations in Somalia in 2018 than in 2016 and 2017 combined. The group has also expanded its operations to include tactics normally associated with its larger rival, Shabaab.
Islamic State West Africa reportedly seized the town of Baga in northeastern Nigeria earlier this week. The Nigerian military downplayed the jihadis’ advances, but it appears that ISWA seized the town, at least temporarily. And ISWA documented its spoils in a series of images released today.
President Trump claimed earlier today that the Islamic State has been “defeated” in Syria. But an unknown number of the group’s top leaders, including presumably Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remain alive. And there are likely thousands of fighters in both Syria and Iraq, where they operate as insurgents.
The Islamic State released its first video footage of a clash with Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia and East Africa.
The Islamic State claims to have killed 14 members of Shabaab, al Qaeda’s arm in Somalia.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency released a short message claiming that the terrorist responsible for attacking the Strasbourg Christmas market was a “soldier” of the so-called caliphate. The message was disseminated online hours after Chérif Chekatt, who has been identified as the assailant, was shot dead by French police. Thus far, the Islamic State hasn’t provided any corroborating details.
In the past 24 hours, the Islamic State has conducted more than one suicide bombing against US-backed forces in Hajin, Syria. One Islamic State “martyr” blew himself up near the Hajin hospital, which became the scene of intense fighting earlier this week.
The Department of Justice announced yesterday that Damon M. Joseph, a 21-year-old man from Ohio, has been arrested and charged with planning an attack on one or two synagogues in Toledo. According to court documents, Joseph praised the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in late October. He was allegedly inspired by both the Islamic State and Anwar al-Awlaki.
Nashir News Agency, which disseminates content on behalf of the Islamic State, reposted an oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The statement reaffirming the jihadis’ fealty to Baghdadi comes in the middle of a crackdown by Telegram, which has suspended dozens of Nashir accounts since the beginning of the month. The bay’ah statement is not new, as it has been circulated in the past.
The US-led coalition, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), says it was forced to strike a hospital in Hajin, Syria because it was being used by Islamic State fighters. US-backed forces have been battling the Islamic State for control of Hajin for weeks.
The US-led coalition announced today that Abu al Umarayn and “several” other Islamic State leaders were killed in recent airstrikes in Syria. Umarayn was purportedly involved in the 2014 murder of Peter Kassig, a former US Army Ranger who was working as a humanitarian worker in Syria.
The US-led coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) counterattacked the Islamic State in eastern Syria yesterday. The jihadists launched a large-scale offensive in Deir Ezzor province on Nov. 23, assaulting SDF positions along two axes.
The US State Department has designated Hajji ‘Abd al-Nasir, a senior Islamic State official, as a terrorist. The US government says al-Nasri has served in “several leadership positions,” including as the group’s military emir in Syria and the “chair” of the Islamic State’s delegated committee.
The Islamic State warns Shabaab that it will respond to the group’s campaign targeting Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s loyalists in Somalia. Shabaab has been executing and arresting defectors who join the Islamic State since 2015. But the al Qaeda branch has stepped up its anti-Islamic State operations again in recent weeks.
The US-led coalition and Iraqi forces recently hunted down senior Islamic State personnel responsible for “overseeing operations conducted within Salah ad Din, Kirkuk, Ninewah and northern Anbar provinces.” The Islamic State claims that is men are especially prolific in these same areas. Over a six-week period from Sept. 27 to Nov. 7, the Islamic State claimed a total of 313 operations in Iraq, with more than 100 occurring in Kirkuk province.
The Islamic State claims that one of its “fighters” carried out a stabbing attack in Melbourne, Australia earlier today. One person was killed and two others wounded in the terrorist’s assault. The attacker used the same crude methods employed in previous small-scale Islamic State attacks.
The US military’s repeated attempts to spin the Taliban’s victory in Jawzjan as its own only serves to demonstrate just how eager it is to manufacture successes in Afghanistan when they are few and far between.
Since early September, the US has issued terrorist designations for Islamic State moneymen operating around the globe, from the Caribbean to East Africa. The designations highlight the diverse sources the so-called caliphate uses to fund its insurgency and terrorist operations.
In a newly released message, Islamic State spokesman Abul-Hasan Al-Muhajir boasts that his organization’s men were able to carry out the Sept. 22 terrorist attack in Ahvaz, Iran. Al-Muhajir’s message is intended to underscore the Islamic State’s responsibility for the operation, as there were conflicting claims regarding the identity of the perpetrators.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has released a short video allegedly showing three of the men responsible for yesterday’s attack on a military parade in Ahvaz, Iran.
Gunmen attacked an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz earlier today. Initial reports say two dozen or more people were killed and dozens more wounded. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility. But media outlets say another group, the Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz, has as well.
Iran has its tentacles all over Iraq, and the United States has no one to blame but itself. It is a bipartisan failure dating back to the March 2003 invasion. The seeds of this failure can be seen in the interrogation transcripts of Qayis Khazali, the leader of the Mahdi Army’s Special Groups and Asaib Ahl al Haq.
The press release that announced Orakzai’s death said that he “is the third Islamic State – Khorasan chief killed in 25 months.” However, that is incorrect. The US military has announced the death of four Khorasan province emirs since July 2016.
A newly released interrogation report shows that Qayis al-Khazali identified Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani as the two individuals Iran trusted “the most with attempting to implement the Iranian agenda in Iraq.” The pair went from being marginal players shortly after the US-led invasion in 2003 to leading the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, one of most powerful and influential military organizations in Iraq.
Despite official Lebanese claims to the contrary, the photos recently released by Hezbollah offer more evidence of how its forces coordinated with the Lebanese military in last year’s battle near Arsal.
On Aug. 24, the US Treasury Department designated three Islamic State recruiters as terrorists. The trio appeared in a June 2016 beheading video that was used to recruit fighters from Southeast Asia. The new designation is the latest in a series of moves taken by the US government to target the Islamic State’s global network with financial sanctions and other measures.