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October 30, 2015 JTTM Weekly No. 185

Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Weekend Summary

October 30, 2015
JTTM Weekly No. 185

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 media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.

 

EXCLUSIVE: In Latest Issues Of Their English Magazines, ISIS And Al-Qaeda Take Different Tacks To Address Racial Tensions In West

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.

Jihadi organizations often highlight and exploit divisive issues in the West as a way of promoting their own causes, and of deflecting criticism of themselves. Groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda are keenly aware that they can use the racial issues in the U.S. to their advantage to attract new recruits, as they stress the idea that all are equal in Islam in order to appeal to those who feel themselves to be disenfranchised and discriminated against in the West.

ISIS in particular has gone to great lengths to showcase the so-called Caliphate's alleged diversity and harmony, where all peacefully coexist. In Twitter campaigns, it has capitalized on events such as tensions such as the Baltimore unrest to promote its egalitarian agenda in which Muslims of all shades are equal, which is particularly appealing to minorities. Members of minorities, including African Americans, have joined ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria; however, it should be noted that these recruits come from a broad variety of backgrounds. Some are college graduates, while others are former gang members.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Foreign Fighters In Syria: Syria Will Be The Graveyard Of The Russians

The following clip is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

In a video posted on the Internet on October 13, 2015, foreign Jihadi fighters are shown standing with weapons and threatening Russia that "Syria will be the graveyard of the Russians."

Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV

 

EXCLUSIVE: Twitter Users Allege That Popular American Jihadi 'Mujahid Miski,' Previously Rumored Killed, Is Alive And Was Punished By Al-Shabaab For His Pro-ISIS Stance

Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan of Minneapolis, Minnesota, an Al-Shabaab fighter in Somalia, was a prominent figure on social media and ran an extremely popular Twitter account with a mass following in the past. He was a prolific tweeter, and when his posts stopped earlier this year, rumors spread that the fighter had been killed. However, on October 22, two Twitter users alleged that the fighter was alive, and that his return to Twitter was imminent. One user claimed that Miski was punished by Al-Shabaab for his vocal online support for ISIS.

 

EXCLUSIVE: In Pashtu Video, ISIS Khurasan Commander Threatens Attacks Against Jews And Christians Until They Are Eliminated From Earth

The Khurasan province of the Islamic State (ISIS) has threatened to target Jews and Christians in a new video posted online. The five-minute video, shot in a mountainous area somewhere in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, features an ISIS commander delivering his statement in Pashtu.

JTTM members can view the clip here.

 

EXCLUSIVE: AQAP Releases Messages In Support Of Palestinian Attacks, Stresses: Syria Is 'Gate To Liberating Palestine'

On October 23, 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) issued two audio messages expressing support for the Palestinians and their attacks on Jews and urging all Muslims to aid the Palestinian efforts. The messages also stressed the importance of Syria as the key to liberating Palestine, and therefore called to intensify the war in Syria against the Americans and Russians.

 

2nd Issue Of Jabhat Al-Nusra English Magazine Released

To request copy of the magazine, 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.

On October 25, 2015, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Global Islamic Media Group (GIMF) released the second edition of Al-Risalah, an English-language magazine devoted to promoting Al-Qaeda and its Syrian branch, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN).

 

Al-Qaeda In Syria Publishes Interview With Australian Jihadi Usama Hamza Australi - A Veteran Of Jihad In Afghanistan, Military Trainer For Jabhat Al-Nusra

The second issue of Al-Risalah, an English-language magazine published by Al-Qaeda (AQ) affiliates in Syria, features an interview with an Australian, a veteran Al-Qaeda operative known as Usama Hamza Australi. The operative, whose real name is unknown, states that he has been a member of Al-Qaeda for some 14 years, and that he is currently stationed in Syria and serving as a military trainer for Jabhat Al-Nusra. His interview offers rare insight into the profile of a high-ranking Al-Qaeda field commander.

 

Second Issue of Jabhat Al-Nusrah (JN) English Magazine 'Al-Risalah' Features Article By British JN Fighter

On October 25, 2015, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Global Islamic Media Group (GIMF) released the second issue of Al-Risalah, an English-language magazine promoting Al-Qaeda and its Syrian affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN).

 

Second Issue Of Al-Qaeda's Magazine 'Al-Risalah' Praises The Role Of Uyghur Fighters In Syria

The second edition of Al Risalah, the English-language magazine published by Al-Qaeda (AQ) affiliates in Syria, features an unsigned two part article praising the efforts of the Turkestan fighters and particularly the Uyghurs who have immigrated to Syria to join the anti-Assad jihad at the side of other Islamic groups like Jabhat Al-Nusra. Several thousand Turkestani fighters are now in Syria, and the majority of them are Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) fighters.

 

TIP Posts Second Video Of Uighur Fighters Combating Syrian Army In Ghab Plain

 

On October 25, 2015, the Turkmenistan Islamic Party (TIP), a Uighur jihad group, released a second video documenting its recent battles against the Syrian army in the Ghab plain, northwest of Hama. The six-minute video, which, like the first one, was posted on the Twitter page of the group's media center.

 

Mosul-Based Activist Group Releases Photos Of Children's Textbooks Used In ISIS Educational System

Mosul Eye, A Facebook page run by a group of activists who report on ISIS activity in Mosul, posted 23 images of children's textbook covers in an October 25 post. The entry reads: "[These] are the curricula that ISIL is teaching to children in Mosul. Indoctrination to violence, killing and destruction. We are posting the covers of those books only for now and will post those books in their entirety after we upload them onto the web."

 

Warning - Graphic: ISIS In Aleppo Province Stones Two Men For Homosexuality

The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

 

On October 25, 2015 the ISIS-Aleppo Province posted a series of photos showing the stoning to death of two young men convicted of engaging in homosexual relations. The message, published under the Twitter hashtag "Aleppo Province," cites Muslim religious texts justifying the execution of homosexuals, such as a hadith according to which the Prophet said, "You must kill anyone when it becomes clear that he engaged in homosexual relations, irrespective of whether he was the active or the passive [partner]". The photos show the two men being stoned in front of a crowd of onlookers, including children.

 

ISIS Launches 'Media Point' Near Al-Falluja, Iraq

On October 28, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) posted several images showing the construction and operation of a new media point in the area of Amiriyat Al-Falluja, south of the city of Al-Falluja.

ISIS media points are information booths in areas controlled by the group, in which it displays its propaganda and religious materials and distributes them to the public. (For a review of ISIS's use of those media points, see MEMRI's Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1190, The Islamic State (ISIS) Establishes 'Media Points' In Syria, Iraq, Libya To Indoctrinate Caliphate Citizens And Enhance Its Cyber Activities On The Ground: A One-Year Review, October 1, 2015).

 

ISIS Video Shows Alleged Ruins Of Prison Targeted In Kurdish-American Raid

The media group A'maq, which is affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), published a 2-minute video allegedly showing the aftermath of the raid on Hawija prison in northern Iraq.

 

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Bombing Of Ismaili Mosque In Najran, Saudi Arabia

On October 27, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Hejaz, Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility for a suicide attack against a mosque belonging to the Ismaili sect in the city of Najran, in the south of the country. The statement, which was posted on the pro-ISIS online jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, said that the bomber was "Abu Ishaq Al-Hijazi," and included a photo of him in a suicide vest.

 

In His Last Will And Testament, Najran Mosque Bomber Threatens Ismailis And Saudi Soldiers, Criticizes Scholars Affiliated With Saudi Government

On October 28, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Hejaz, Saudi Arabia, released an audio statement by the bomber of a Shi'ite mosque in Najran in which he warned that ISIS will target the "rejectionist Ismailis and the tyrant's soldiers" and harshly criticized scholars associated with the Saudi government.

 

Pro-ISIS Online Group 'Islamic Cyber Army' Incites Terror Against French Interests, Citizens

On October 25, 2015, a group of five pro-ISIS online activists who have claimed responsibility for many cyber attacks launched an incitement campaign on Twitter and Telegram with the hashtag "France under Hacks."

 

Images: Taliban Suicide Bombers Undergoing Military Training In Afghanistan

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban shadow organization) has released a video featuring Taliban suicide bombers undergoing going intensive military training somewhere in the Pakistan-Afghan border region. The suicide bombers belong to the Haqqani Network of the Taliban.

 

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