The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock – among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.)
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Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
New Fatwa Encourages Attacks On French Embassies, Citizens, And Companies
On February 11, 2013, the Salafi-jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad published a fatwa by one of its leading clerics, Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti, in which he approved attacks on French embassies, encouraging jihadis to carry them out wherever they can. He also called upon them to respond to French intervention in Mali by attacking French interests, companies, and citizens everywhere. Al-Shinqiti explained that the Islamic laws regarding the immunity of emissaries do not apply to modern-day ambassadors. Furthermore, he claimed that French embassies were "dens of evil" that strive to spread corruption in Muslim lands and to spy on the mujahideen and Islamists.
It should be noted that Al-Shinqiti recently published a similar fatwa, in which he retroactively approved the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 4963, Prominent Salafi-Jihadi Cleric Issues Fatwa Sanctioning Killing Of U.S. Ambassadors, Including Chris Stevens, September 20, 2012.
Following are excerpts from the fatwa:
In response to the query, "Please provide us with a fatwa regarding the targeting of French embassies and the diplomats who work in them," Al-Shinqiti replied:
"What we said about the death of the American ambassador applies to the other ambassadors of France [sic]. I mentioned in the [aforementioned response] that the rules of emissaries do not apply to ambassadors, whose mission is to protect the interests of the governments that appointed them and to carry out the plans and projects that these strive for..."
On February 11, 2013, Abu Sajed, who is described as a "distinguished" member of the leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, published a tutorial video explaining how to convert written jihadi statements into video segments, so "they can be easily published on YouTube and social media sites." In the 5:09 long tutorial video, which was originally uploaded to Sendspace.com and later reposted on Archive.org and YouTube, Abu Sajed walks his viewers through the conversion steps, providing onscreen text instructions describing each step.
Jabhat Al-Nusra Communiqué Describes Group's Takeover Of Al-Shadadah, In Hasaka Province
In a February 15, 2013 communiqué, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihad group Jabhat Al-Nusra describes its takeover of the city of Al-Shadadah in Syria's Hasaka province. The communiqué was released by the organization's media company, Al-Manara Al-Baida, and posted on the jihadi website Shumoukh Al-Islam. The following are its main points. The organization states that "the lions of Jabhat Al-Nusra" are making daily gains in their war against the tyrant Bashar Al-Assad and his troops, and that its forces in the east of the country have managed to liberate Al-Shadadah completely after launching a comprehensive attack on it and on all the checkpoints and military posts surrounding it.
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Ansar Al-Shari'a In Mauritania Announces Its Establishment
On February 12, 2013, the Mauritanian news website Mauripress reported on the establishment of a new Salafi group called Ansar Al-Shari'a Fi Bilad Shinqit ("Ansar Al-Shari'a in Mauritania"), according to a document a copy of which the former obtained. The announcement, dated February 11, 2013, apparently was made from inside Nouakchott's civilian prison by one Abu Ayyoub Al-Mahdi, aka Salem bin Al-Hasan, a Salafi prisoner who had issued at least two recent statements from his prison cell regarding the French military intervention in Mali.
Blind Sheikh's Son Claims Mursi Calls Father's Release 'A National Cause'
Ibrahim 'Abd Al-Rahman, the son of Sheikh 'Omar 'Abd Al-Rahman, aka the Blind Sheikh, who is serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for terror related activities, said that Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi had promised him his father would soon be released. According to the Blind Sheikh's son, Mursi had said he would exert his utmost efforts toward effecting his release. Mursi called the matter a "national cause," and one which all of Egyptian government's apparatuses, headed by the Foreign Ministry, were working to solve.
In a communique dated February 6, 2013, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) accuses the Yemeni government of selling the country's oil and gas at a low price, and demands to establish an independent committee to manage Yemen's resources. The following is the text of the communique, which was released by AQAP's media company Al-Fajr and posted February 7, 2013 on the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam.
Al-Qaeda Flag, Sign Reading 'The Islamic Emirate' Hung On Display In Tripoli, Lebanon
On February 8, 2013, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported that in Al-Najma Square in Tripoli, Lebanon, an Al-Qaeda flag was hung on display where there had previously been a picture of former Lebanese president S'ad Al-Hariri.
On January 31, 2013, the Egyptian daily Al-Dustour reported that, following the investigation of 17 members of a terror cell based in Cairo's Manshiat Nasser neighborhood, who were arrested in October 2012, it had surfaced that the cell comprised a total of 28 members, 10 of whom had fled and another of whom had died. The top suspect is the cell's leader, Tareq Taha Abu Al-'Azzam, who belongs to Islamic Jihad, followed by Muhammad Gamal 'Abdo, who served as the cell's liaison to Al-Qaeda. Indeed, a sweep of the latter's personal computer uncovered a number of handwritten letters he had sent to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.
The daily exposed, among other details, a letter 'Abdo had sent Al-Zawahiri on August 18, 2012, in which, among other things, he asked the Al-Qaeda commander to clarify whether, following the Egyptian revolution, he still maintained that a jihadi organization should be established in the country or if jihad supporters there should rather invest their efforts in the realm of da'wa. Likewise, the daily reported that 'Abdo had established a forward base in Libya for the purpose of arms acquisition, and that he and his fellow mujahideen were striving to found a jihadi cell in the Sinai Peninsula.
Following Lengthy Shutdown And Recent Relaunch, Shumoukh Al-Islam Denies Claims It Was Hacked
On February 13, 2013, the administration of the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam published a clarification regarding the difficulty users were experiencing in logging onto the site using their personal passwords since its relaunch, following a lengthy period offline. Denying claims that the site had been hacked, they attributed the issue to the site's technical support staff, which, they said, require users to change their personal passwords periodically, for increased security. The clarification was issued in the site's name by an admin using the handle "Abu ‘Aina Al-Khurasani."
'Ansar Al-Din' Twitter Account Launched And Closed Down
Image of the Ansar Al-Din Twitter account
On January 13, 2013, an account titled "Ansar Al-Din" was launched on Twitter (http://twitter.com/ansar_rdani). The account administrators were careful to note (in the profile description) that it is not an official account of the jihad group Ansar Al-Din, which operates in northern Mali, because "Ansar Al-Din has no official account on Twitter nor on any other social network website." The account was closed down in early-mid February.
Jabhat Al-Nusra's banner
On February 14, 2013, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) published a statement pertaining to its media wing, Al-Manara Al-Baida', in order to clarify the status of its official presence online. The group reminded its supporters that its only official accounts are those on the jihadi forums Shumoukh Al-Islam and Ansar Al-Mujahideen. It added that "these accounts are supported by the Jabha's account on Twitter as a secondary source for its publications."
Prominent Writer Urges Online Jihadis To Return To Jihadi Forums, Warns Against Reliance On Twitter
On February 13, 2013, Mu'awiyya Al-Qahtani, a prominent writer on the leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam published a post in which he called on online jihadis to return to actively participate in jihadi forums, which are experiencing a major decrease in participation as forums members have moved to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as a result of the continued interruption of access to the forum. Addressing the importance of jihadi forums, Al-Qahtani mentioned that they are recognized by the mujahideen in the battlefields as the main base for their statements and official productions.
UPDATED GIMF Releases Encryption Software For Instant Messaging
On February 6, 2013, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) released Asrar Al-Dardashah, an encryption plugin for instant messaging, on the top jihad forums, as well as on its official website (gimfmedia.com). Asrar Al-Dardashah relies on Asrar Al-Mujahideen, GIMF's primary encryption program that the former released back in 2007.
Video tutorials, in Arabic and English, linking to YouTube were provided on the GIMF website. Tutorials were also provided in German, Urdu, Indonesian, Pashtu and Bangla. It is noteworthy that previously, GIMF had relied on various blogs to disseminate its material, such as the now-defunct gimf1.wordpress.com or gimfmail.blogspot.com, which contained the group's public key for use in encrypted communication. GIMF's current website is hosted by the Singapore-based M1 Connect Pte. Ltd.
