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.)
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 [email protected] . Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
In an Urdu-language statement, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) vowed to avenge the killings of American Jewish aid worker Warren Weinstein and Italian national Giovanni Lo Porto in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan region, saying that the two captives had converted to Islam.
The two Western hostages and a number of AQIS leaders were killed in multiple drone strikes in Pakistan in January 2015.
The statement, released June 18, 2015 on Twitter by AQIS spokesman Usama Mahmood, claims that Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto were known to the jihadis by the adopted Muslim names of Chacha Is'haq ("Uncle Isaac") and Muhammad Atalvi after their conversion. "May Allah accept the martyrdom of these of our brothers and empower the mujahideen of the Ummah to take revenge against the American infidels for these American and Italian brothers," the statement says.
EXCLUSIVE: Children Undergoing Military Training In New ISIS Video: Obama, We Cubs Of The Caliphate Will Kill You
A video released by ISIS on June 15, 2015 shows children in the Al-Raqqah province of Syria conducting military training with weapons. The children train with live fire and carry out military drills. One child says that they will kill the "head of unbelief," Obama, and calls to "lead us to martyrdom operations." Another addresses the Crusaders, saying: "We shall crush you by the thousands."
Following are excerpts:
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Child #1: "Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar."
Narrator: "When the voice of the caller to Jihad is heard, they hasten toward him, disregarding the length of the road. They follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, on a path dyed with pure blood. They have reached their prime in the shadow of the swords, to joim those who take up the banner from their predecessors, in order to pass it on to Jesus, son of Mary (on Judgment Day)."
Masked Child: "Praise be to Allah, who supports His soldiers and defeats His enemies. Let me start with a message to the apostate Aran and non-Arab rulers: Allah willing, we shall fight you, and you shall be defeated, like the Byzantines were defeated in the days of the Prophet Muhammad. Allah willing, we will kill the head of unbelief, the dog of the Byzantines, Obama, who mobilized armies against the Islamic State. To the Crusader coalition, I say: Blood will be met with blood, and destruction with destruction. I address my last message to the Emir of the Believers, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi: Lead us to where Allah has instructed you, lead us to martyrdom operations. I advise you, our sheik, not to be lenient towards the enemies of Allah."
Child #2: "This is my message to the Crusaders, from the land of Islam to the land of unbelief: We have brought against you men who love death more than you love this world. You imagine that we will meet our end, but no - we shall crush you by the thousands, we shall not let you be, and we shall make an example out of you. Oh Obama and all those who joined the coalition against the Islamic State, we, the cubs of the caliphate, will kill you."
EXCLUSIVE: Radical U.S.-Based Group Supports Jihad On Social Media
A U.S.-based group called Dawah Squad, which is active across various social media platforms, has been promoting jihad and radical Islamic ideology. The group is likely based in the U.S., as indicated by the fact that Verizon is the carrier for the account operator's phone. While blatantly jihadi symbols such as ISIS flags are not displayed, an analysis of the group's postings reveals pro-jihadi tendencies. The group is active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Kik. It resembles similar groups of online activists based in the West that produce slick pro-jihad propaganda, such as the Birmingham, UK-based Invite to Islam, which produces professional-looking jihadi memes that are widely circulated by ISIS fighters and their supporters. Dawah Squad appears to be more visually focused, adding short, snappy messages to images, as opposed to quotations from the Koran or hadiths. It should also be mentioned that the group supports the radical British cleric Anjem Choudhary and like-minded clerics, which places it in the circles of vocal pro-ISIS activists in Western countries. At the time of this writing, Dawah Squad's Instagram account has 1,326 followers.
EXCLUSIVE: Is Someone Trying To Collect Funds For ISIS On The Dark Web Using Bitcoin?
A recent pro-Islamic State (ISIS) imageboard included a link to a webpage on the Dark Web that called on people to "fund the Islamic struggle" anonymously. The page provided a Bitcoin address through which funds would have supposedly reached ISIS.
EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Supporters On Facebook Use Humor, Sarcasm To Propagate ISIS Message
A recent development in ISIS supporters' use of social media to recruit fighters and raise funds is their use of humor and sarcasm to defend the organization, spread its ideology, and criticize its opponents. At least two pro-ISIS Facebook accounts currently use a variety of visual tools to this end, including comic strips and memes; these are mostly in the Egyptian dialect and target mainly an Egyptian audience. The "5elafa [Caliphate] Sarcasm Society" and "ISIS Comic" pages have been actively posting pro-ISIS content such as these.
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The Islamic State (ISIS) has released a video featuring Abu Al-Hajjaj Al-Yamani, a Yemeni suicide bomber, directing a call to Yemenis against the Houthis. In it, he informs Yemenis that now is the time to fight the Houthis, because, he warns, they are more dangerous to Islam than the Jews and the Christians. He also calls on them to join ISIS.
The video also shows Al-Yamani in his explosive-rigged vehicle bidding farewell before his suicide mission.
ISIS Claims Credit For Anti-Houthi Bombings In Sanaa
One of the explosions in San'a
ISIS in Yemen's Sanaa province issued an announcement claiming responsibility for four suicide bombings performed on June 17, 2015 against Houthi targets in the city. The series of bombings attests to ISIS' deeper penetration of Yemen and its intensified violent activity against the Houthis.
Amid recent media reports of fighting in Afghanistan between Islamic State (ISIS) militants and the Afghan Taliban, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban umbrella organization led by Mullah Mohammad Omar) has published an open letter to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, urging him not to interfere in Afghanistan.
ISIS Releases Photos Of German, British Suicide Bombers In Iraq
On June 13, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) published photos of several suicide attackers, including a German and a Briton, who had carried out separate attacks the previous night in Salah Al-Din province in Iraq. ISIS noted that the attacks were against different Iraqi army and Shi'ite militia targets in the Al-Hajjaj area, south of the city of Baiji.
ISIS Activists Distribute French-Language Magazine In Syria; French Taught In ISIS School
Since many of the fighters joining ISIS are from French-speaking countries (mainly France and Belgium) and countries with large French-speaking populations (such as Tunisia and Morocco), French has become an important language for ISIS media publications - both internal materials for the organization's members and propaganda and recruitment materials. On June 16, 2015, the Islamic State's (ISIS) media branch in "Barakah province" in northeastern Syria posted photos of ISIS activists handing out copies of ISIS's magazine in French, Dar-Al-Islam (Land of Islam), to people in the region.
ISIS Destroys Shrines, Levels Graves In Aleppo, Palmyra
In the past two days, ISIS published two photo reports showing the destruction and leveling of graves and shrines in the Al-Wuhaishiyya village in Aleppo and in the city of Palmyra. The first report, issued on June 14, 2015 by the press office of Aleppo province, was titled "Leveling of Graves and Shrines in Al-Wuhaishiyya village." The pictures in the report show an ISIS fighter destroying graves with a hummer and a shrine being bulldozed.
ISIS Video Documents Operation Of The Zakat (Alms) Department
On June 17, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video documenting the operation of the Zakat (Alms) Department. The video details many aspect regarding the zakat, such as its definition, use, and role in Islam and within ISIS territory as well. The video emphasizes the significant success that ISIS has had introducing and enforcing the zakat, while noting, among other things, how Muslims pay it willingly, and how the zakat funds have helped decrease poverty within the Islamic State.
The video also notes the ruling regarding those who deny the obligation to pay the zakat, and those who resist paying it by force, describing them as unbelievers and apostates, respectively.
The video provides detailed description of how zakat funds are distributed and also features interviews with satisfied Muslims who were paying zakat.
Despite focusing on how the zakat funds were used to aid the poor, the video also notes other uses for the zakat funds, including payment to the mujahideen and support for jihad.
Hands Of Thieves Chopped Off By ISIS In Nineveh Province, Iraq
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
On June 12, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Al-Khayr (Deir Al-Zur) province released a video that showcases the various ISIS medical services that are provided to Muslims in the province.
The video joins two other similar videos that were released last month in which ISIS medical services were touted, and included calls for hijra (emigration) directed at Western medical professionals. The current video echoes the same calls.
On June 9, 2015, the official Islamic State (ISIS) radio station Al-Bayan, broadcasting from Mosul, Iraq, aired a prerecorded interview with Abu 'Aisha Al-'Raqi, the ISIS military commander in Al-Anbar province, on the Al-Murasilun program. The 11-minute interview focused on ISIS's capture of Al-Ramadi in an operation dubbed "The Abu Muhannad Al-Sweidawi Raid." In the interview, Abu 'Aisha said that ISIS's next destination was Baghdad and Karbala.
On June 14, 2015, the ISIS information bureau in Syria's Aleppo district released an eight-minute video titled "I Repent - Number 4", documenting a group of fighters who defected from Ahrar Al-Sham, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) and other groups, swearing loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS) and Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The main narrator in the clip calls the rival jihadi groups [Western] "agents" and accuses them of forging an alliance with the "Crusaders." Likewise, he calls upon members of these jihadi groups to emulate him and his comrades by joining the Islamic state in order to pulverize the idiots of this era - America and her allies.
In a June 13, 2015 communique, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) apologized for the June 10 killing of dozens of residents in the Druze village of Qalb Loze in Syria's Idlib region. The communique, posted inter alia on the Jihadi forum Al-Fida (al-fidaa.com), states that JN fighters carried out the killing without the knowledge of their commanders and in strict violation of the organization's directives. It states further that JN is deeply sorry for the incident, and that, immediately after the events, several JN teams were sent to the village to investigate the matter in depth and to assure the villagers that JN wished them no harm and would provide them with security and protection in the future. The representatives promised the villagers that the perpetrators would be tried by a shari'a court and be punished according to the shari'a laws that JN enforces in the areas under its control.
AQAP Confirms Death Of Al-Wuhaishi, Announces Appointment Of Al-Rimi As His Successor
On June 16, 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a video statement confirming the death of its leader, Nasser Al-Wuhaishi. AQAP official Khaled Baterfi, who read the statement, announced that the group's shoura council was convened and appointed Qassem Al-Rimi, the military commander, as the new leader. AQAP vowed to pursue its war against the U.S., destroy the American economy and US global interests.
Photos Of TIP Fighters In Syria
The Sawt Al-Islam media company, which is affiliated with the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), an Uighur jihad organization, recently circulated two digital photo albums of the organization's fighters in Syria. The photos were posted on the jihadi forum Al-Fida, which described them as "rare". Some of the fighters appear in the pictures their faces blurred, while others appear with their faces exposed (the latter are possibly fighters who have since been killed in battle). There are also photos of young children bearing arms.
On June 10 2015, Jihadi supporters posted a 24-page document in English containing guides and tutorials for building improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
AMEF Says It Has Shut Down To Instead Work On Providing Media Services For The Mujahideen In Syria
Ansar Al-Mujahideen English Forum (AMEF) appears to have closed its doors indefinitely, to instead provide what it describes as "the best possible media platform" for the mujahideen in Syria.
