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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EXCLUSIVE: Wanted: Western Professionals To Join The Islamic State (ISIS)
By: A. Agron
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Introduction
In his first public address after being declared Caliph in late June 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi called on professionals to immigrate to the territories under his control in order to help build up the fledgling state. "We make a special call to the scholars, fuqahaa' [Islamic jurisprudence experts], and preachers, especially the judges, as well as people with military, administrative, and service expertise, and medical doctors and engineers of all different specializations and fields."
This statement stems from ISIS's ambition to build itself as a viable project. In order for its project to last, ISIS knows that it needs to supply basic services to the population and to create revenue, and it knows that educated professionals are an integral part of forming a successful, operational society. Therefore, in addition to its heavy emphasis on recruiting young men from abroad to serve as fighters in its ranks, ISIS is also making an effort to recruit men and women who are able to assist with their professional know-how and experience.
To recruit these elements, ISIS propaganda appeals to their desire to be part of a successful community that implements Islamic law. At the same time, it stresses the religious obligation on those who have such professions to come and join its ranks, as part of the duty of hijra and jihad. Recent ISIS media releases have showcased young Western operatives who came to Syria to work for ISIS in the profession that they acquired in their countries of origin. On social media, individuals share their day-to-day experiences of working in various capacities, as doctors, nurses, teachers, and so on. These methods are used to entice other capable Muslims to join ISIS.
This report will look at a number of examples of highly educated professionals who have immigrated to join ISIS, and at the roles some of them play in it.
EXCLUSIVE: British ISIS Fighter Offers Tips For Military Service At An Outpost On The Jihadi Front
On May 5, 2015, British ISIS fighter Omar Hussain, aka Abu Sa'eed Al-Britani, from Wycombe, shared on his Tumblr account a guide he authored for fellow fighters with detailed instructions on serving at an outpost on a jihadi front in the Islamic State. His guide is titled "A Word of Advice to the Newcomers in Sham [Syria]: Advice for Those in Ribat [military service at an outpost]." He maintains an active online presence; he frequently posts articles with advice as well as photos from Syria on his Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr accounts. He was also featured in an October 2014 ISIS video encouraging Muslims to launch attacks in the West. Before joining ISIS, he fought with Jabhat Al-Nusra.
His lengthy guide is divided into 16 sections; this report will review some of them.
"Increase Your Defense Everyday"
The first section, "Increase your Defense every day," includes advice on how to defend an outpost on the jihadi front. In it, Hussain discusses the importance of digging ditches, and the effective use of sandbags:
"Digging ditches are very useful especially when motor rockets are landing near you or a tank is firing at you. Likewise if the enemy attacks, you have a nice ditch to jump into to protect yourself from being shot. There are many different ways you can dig this, either as a 'grave' which two men can sit in, or as a one man hole which you stand in, also referred to by some as foxholes, as well as a really long ditch surrounding your area."
#Londonattack Hashtag Announcing Imminent Threat Circulated On Twitter
On May 11, 2015, a number of pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Twitter users shared tweets in the #LondonAttack hashtag that is currently trending on Twitter. British ISIS fighter Abu Rahin Aziz, who on Twitter calls himself Abu Abdulluh Britani, launched the initial threat, writing, "Let the reality hit home, the taste of chaos, carnage & bloodhsed. #foreignpolicy #QaribanQariba ["soon soon" and the title of an ISIS nasheed]." The tweet also included images of Big Ben, an explosive device, a map of London's Paddington area, and the Tower Bridge. Some users also included the hashtag #QaribanQariba.
"The Last Tweet" Twitter User
One user, The Last Tweet, tweeted a photo of ball bearings and nails, writing: "Alhamdulil Allah, Gave Bayaa to Amir ul Momineen [ISIS Caliph] Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi #London Attack Floral St. Covent Garden"
In another tweet, The Last Tweet wrote: "Assalam Alaikum Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu Target has been set. #LondonAttack #QaribanQariba." The tweet included a photo of British soldier Lee Rigby, who was beheaded by Michael Adebolajo in 2013.
Second Algerian Mujahideen Group Swears Fealty To ISIS
On May 9, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) released an audio message by the "Skikda Brigade" (aka Ansar Al-Khilafa fi Jibal Al-Rahman Brigade), where it swears fealty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The Skikda Brigade is the second Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)-affiliated group to split from AQIM in order to join ISIS. Last September, AQIM's central region left the group in order to join ISIS under the new name of Jund Al-Khilafa Fi 'Ard Al-Jaza'ir ("The Caliphate Army in the Land of Algeria").
In the current message, the speaker recalls the calamities that befell Muslims after the collapse of the last caliphate (the Ottoman Empire) and says that they had occurred as a result of Muslims abandoning the "great duty" of establishing a caliphate.
'Al-Murabitoun' Jihad Group Appoints New Emir, Swears Allegiance To ISIS
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Al-Murabitoun's new emir, 'Adnan Abu-Walid Al-Sahrawi
On May 14, 2015, the Jihadi Media Platform Forum reported that the jihad group Al-Murabitoun, active in North Africa and Mali, had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The report, originally published by the independent Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar, also states that the group has replaced Mokhtar Bel-Mokhtar with a new emir, 'Adnan Abu-Walid Al-Sahrawi.
Following are images of two Islamic State (ISIS) pamphlets that were left at the site of the May 13, 2015, attack in Karachi, Pakistan, which killed approximately 45 Ismailis, a sect of Shi'ite Muslims.
These pamphlets, which were released immediately after the attack through jihadi accounts on social media sites such as Twitter, are written in Urdu and English, with nearly identical text. The Urdu text is titled: "The establishment of the Islamic State, a message of death for the Rawafidh [Shi'ites]!"
ISIS Claims Responsibility For Karachi Bus Attack
On May 13, 2015, a Twitter account affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), posted a statement attributing the killing of dozens of Ismaili Shia Muslims in Pakistan to the ISIS affiliate Khurasan Province.
According to the brief statement, "with Allah's grace, 43 apostates have been killed and nearly 30 have been injured in an attack [carried out by] the soldiers of the Islamic State [who targeted] a bus carrying Ismaili Shia polytheists, who badmouth the wife of the Prophet Mohammad, in the city of Karachi in Khurasan province."
Is ISIS Flying Warplanes In Syria?
After capturing the Tabqa airbase near Raqqa in Syria last August, the Islamic State (ISIS) paraded several planes it had seized there. According to an article published May 8, 2015 by a group of anti-ISIS activists called "Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently," eyewitnesses have seen aircraft taking off from the base and flying northwest towards Aleppo before returning.
The aircraft's reported flight path
The author of the report claims that he himself "saw three warplanes, one black and two white, take off from the Tabqa military airport and fly north at low altitude over the villages of Alfedawi and Gleb al-Ajeel and over the Aleppo-Raqqa highway. The planes, accompanied by drones, flew for half an hour and then returned to the airport, but remained outside the hangars until the evening." Other eyewitnesses say they saw heavy ISIS activity around the base and saw the aircrafts being loaded with missiles.
Following reports that the Islamic State (ISIS) has been flying the planes it captured at the Tabqa airbase near Al-Raqqa in Syria, the oppositionist Syrian website All4Syria.info reported that ISIS also controls two other military airports in Syria - Al-Jarrah near Aleppo and Hamdan north of the city of Al-Bukamal in the Deir Al-Zor area - in addition to airports it controls in Iraq. According to the site, these airports hold some 20 aircraft, at least 5 of which can be made operational again. Specifically, there are three Mig jets and several helicopters at Al-Jarrah; 10 warplanes, 4 of them operational, in Tabqa; and 6 military helicopters in Hamdan.
Mosul-Based Activist Group Posts Details of Major Upcoming ISIS Production
Mosul Eye, a Facebook page run by a group of activists who report on ISIS activity in Mosul, shared details about a forthcoming large-scale ISIS film on May 7, 2015.
The post reads: "ISIL is in the process of producing a drama documentary film about its rise and control of vast areas of Iraq, Syria, and Libya. A team of highly professional producers and movie technicians are working on its production with a huge budget allotted for it. The film title is 'The Caliphate,' and the initial information about the film's scenario is said to cover what ISIL calls 'The Foundation stage,' and 'The Secret Invocation,' [in addition to] its confrontation with the government forces and the formation of the Caliphate's ideology, as well as covering the [biographies] of the top men in ISIL."
On May 11, 2015, the Palestinian jihadi organization Ansar Al-Sharia, which is associated with the Islamic State (ISIS), tweeted photos supposedly showing the ISIS flag flown in various locations "in the heart" of the Palestinian city of Rafah. The photos were captioned: "Islamic State flags adorn the city of Rafah in the Southern Gaza Strip in spite of hostile [elements, i.e. Hamas]."
Pro-ISIS Hacking Group Threatens Imminent Cyberattack
On May 11, 2015, a group of pro-Islamic State (ISIS) hackers published a 3:30-long video, in Arabic with English subtitles, threatening the U.S. and Europe with an imminent cyberattack. The video, titled "Message to America from the Virtual World," was distributed via Twitter by a pro-ISIS account, and the tweet also spread a campaign of hashtags in English and Arabic, such as: #HelloftheAmericansystem, #┘ç┘âÏ▒_Ï▒ϺϿÏÀÏ®_Ϻ┘äÏú┘åÏÁϺÏ▒ ("Ansar hacker group") and a banner.
A writer on the Al-Manar jihad forum, "Al-Nasr Ledawlat Al-Islam" ("Supporter of the Islamic State"), posted a call to lone wolves across the world to carry out operations against eight strategic targets, such as the Vatican archives and secret U.S. and Russian military facilities. This, he said, would strike a crushing blow to the Western countries, paralyze them, and set them back "1,000 steps."
It should be noted that the list of targets was taken from a June 19, 2014 article in the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Yawm titled "The Ten Most Inaccessible Areas In The World," and that numerous articles and videos with similar content in English can be readily found online.
Pro-ISIS Activist Hacks Facebook Pages Of Shi'ite Bodies In Lebanon
A 14-minute video posted May 11, 2015 on the Jihadi Media Plaform documents the hacking of several Facebook pages by pro-ISIS activist "Marwan Al-Nuaimi". The pages belong to Shi'ite organizations in Lebanon, most of them in the field of medicine, including voluntary groups, a doctors' association and a medical equipment store. The film, accompanied by the song "We Are Determined," which is associated with ISIS, shows the hacking operation, stage by stage. On each page, the hacker planted an image saying "game over" and another saying "terrorist hacker Marwan Al-Nuaimi, supporter of the Islamic State."
English-Language Twitter Q&A With Australian Sheikh Of Al-Qaeda Syria Affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN)
On May 8-10, 2015, the Egyptian-Australian sheikh of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN), Mostafa Mohamed, better known as Abu Sulayman Al-Muhajir, launched a series of three one-hour question and answer sessions, in English on his Twitter account, held on three consecutive days. In the sessions, he answered selected questions submitted by his readers on Twitter. In the Q&A sessions, Abu Sulayman Al-Muhajir, who has become a prominent spokesman and religious authority within JN, explained JN's policy and views regarding the group's future, its objectives, and its positions vis-à-vis other groups such as Ahrar Al-Sham and the Islamic State (ISIS).
Senior AQAP Figure Mamoun Hatem Killed In Yemen
The Haq Islamic news agency has reported that the mujahid Sheikh Mamoun Hatem, the most prominent Islamic State (ISIS) supporter in AQAP) was killed in a U.S. drone strike on May 11, 2015. The strike targeted an AQAP gathering near the presidential palace in Al-Mukalla, a main port city and the capital of the Hadhramaut governorate. The agency said that despite the absence of an official announcement by AQAP, the news was confirmed by reliable jihadi sources and that in addition to Hatem, the drone strike also killed other senior officials including Abu Anwar Al-Kathiri, Muhammad Saleh Al-Ghurabi, and Mabkhout Waqash Al-Si'iri.
According to the report, for the first time since disagreements surfaced between Al-Qaeda and ISIS, supporters of the two organizations came together on Twitter to eulogize, mourn, and praise Hatem under the hashtag "The Martyr Death of Sheikh Mamoun Hatem." The report ended by stating that Hatem joins a series of AQAP commanders killed in the past three months including Harith Al-Nadhari, Ibrahim Al-Rubaish, Muhanad Ghallab, and Nasser Al-Ansi.
AQAP-Affiliated Group Bans Importing And Selling Khat In Al-Mukalla
On May 14, 2015, a newly formed group called Sons of Hadhramaut, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), banned "importing and selling" khat in Al-Mukalla, the capital city of Hadhramaut, Yemen, which has been under the group's control since early April.
The group cited "recurring complaints and the danger resulting from the consumption and sale of khat" as well as "the serious damage which [chewing] khat causes to the body, property and family" as reasons behind its decision.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has released a video showing what it calls a Sam-7B missile that was used to shoot down a Pakistan army helicopter carrying the Norwegian and Philippines ambassadors and several others, who were killed in the May 8 incident.
A copy of the TTP statement posted on Wordpress.com
According to a TTP statement in Urdu posted on Wordpress.com, the TTP's Taliban Intelligence Agency (TIA) and the TEC (Taliban Engineering Commission) were behind the missile attack. As per the statement, the missile was of Russian make and its model was Sam-7B Guided.
The statement notes that the attack was carried out from a distance of three km and that since the missile struck the tail of helicopter, it could not be destroyed fully in the air. On May 8, the date of the incident, the TTP had immediately claimed that the shoulder-fired missile was used to target Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but that he had escaped as he was in another helicopter.
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a leading jihadi group whose leadership is believed to be working from Afghanistan, has issued a statement claiming responsibility for shooting down a Pakistani army helicopter in Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan region on May 8, in which the Norwegian and Philippines ambassadors were killed along with several other people.
In an Urdu-language statement, the TTP said that the target was another helicopter in which Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was believed to be travelling in the Gilgit Baltistan region, which is situated along the border with China. It should be noted that recently the TTP released a video showing how it prepared and successfully tested a ballistic missile.
Following is the text of the statement issued by TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurasani, as translated from Urdu:
The statement was posted on Wordpress.com
"Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan accepts the responsibility for shooting down the army's MI-17 helicopter in Gilgit Baltistan.
"The special squads of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan STF (Special Task Force) and TIA had prepared a special plan to target [the helicopter] on the occasion of the visit of Nawaz Sharif today, but Nawaz Sharif escaped because he was in another helicopter. The Pakistani MI-17 helicopter was shot down by an anti-aircraft [missile], thereby killing the pilots and foreign diplomats who were part of Nawaz Sharif's tour. All praises be to Allah."
