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June 26, 2015 JTTM Weekly No. 166

Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Weekend Summary

June 26, 2015
JTTM Weekly No. 166

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 [email protected] 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.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Al-Qaeda's 'Resurgence' Magazine Features Posthumously Released In-Depth Interview With Al-Qaeda Media Operative Adam Gadhan

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

On June 25, 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) published a special edition of its English-language magazine, Resurgence, featuring a lengthy interview with Adam Gadhan, the American Al-Qaeda operative who played a leading role in its media apparatus.

In the interview, which stretches over 80 pages, Gadhan touches on his youth and conversion to Islam, his radicalization and turn to militancy, his experiences as a new recruit in Al-Qaeda's training camps, and on a wide range of issues concerning the global jihad movement, such as the attitude toward the Islamic State (ISIS).

 

ISIS Takes Responsibility For Attack On Shi'ite Mosque In Kuwait

On June 26, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Najd province released a statement taking responsibility for the attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Kuwait City that day in which dozens were killed and wounded. According to ISIS, the attack, on the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in the Al-Sabiri district in the city, was carried out by Abu Suleiman Al-Muwahid.

 

Member Of Jihadi Forum Posts Photos Of ISIS Gold Coins

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

On June 23, 2015, a member of the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum posted several images of gold coins minted by the Islamic State (ISIS), and claimed the new currency would soon be in circulation in ISIS-controlled areas. He wrote: "Glad tiding to the believers... soon Islamic State currency [will be] in the hands of the Caliphate State citizens in all the areas ruled by Allah's shari'a..." The images show the one-dinar and five-dinar coins.

 

English-Speaking Woman Brings ISIS Message To Western Audiences

In its intensive efforts to recruit Muslims from Western countries, the Islamic State (ISIS) utilizes media operatives and online recruiters who have a command of both Arabic and English and can thus relay its messages to an English-speaking audience. The following is a profile of one of these activists, a female media operative, apparently American, who goes by several nicknames, including "Radical Girl" and AishaNews.

 

Warning: Extremely Graphic - ISIS Video Shows Execution Of Spies By Drowning, Incineration Inside Car, Detonating Explosives Around Their Necks

On June 23, 2015, the Islamic State's (ISIS) Ninawa province released a video showing the horrific execution of a group of spies. The executions are presented as revenge for coalition airstrikes against Muslims in Mosul.

The video opens with scenes of the destruction and carnage that resulted from the coalition airstrikes.  

Next, several men convicted of spying are interviewed. One man says he was tasked with forming a cell to assassinate prominent ISIS figures, and another says that he was tasked with pinpointing targets inside Mosul to be bombed later on.  

The first execution scene shows four men in the familiar orange jumpsuits being dragged into a car. One of the men notes that the car is the same one given them by their handler to photograph ISIS locations. An ISIS member with an RPG launcher takes aim at the car with the men inside from a nearby hill, and fires, killing them. The car is seen engulfed in flames.  

 

ISIS Offers Female Slaves As Top Prizes For Koran Competition

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

According to an image that was circulated on Twitter today, the Islamic State (ISIS) is supposedly offering female slaves as top prizes in an upcoming Koran memorization competition in Syria.

The statement, whose authenticity couldn't be verified, was issued by the Da'wa and Mosques Department in Al-Baraka (Al-Hasaka) province in Syria.

It begins with congratulations to ISIS soldiers and departments in the province upon the beginning of the month of Ramadan. It then announces the upcoming Koran memorization competition, at which it says participants will be tested and given prizes accordingly.

 

Man Involved In Kidnapping, Killing Of Italian Activist In Gaza In 2011 Reportedly Joins ISIS

According to a report on the news website Al-Quds, Mahmoud Al-Salfiti, one of the men who were involved in the 2011 kidnapping and killing of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza, had reportedly traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS).

 

Mujahideen From The Caucasus Pledge Allegiance To ISIS

On June 21, 2015, online sources associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) distributed an audio recording by a group of mujahideen from the Caucasus who swore an oath of fealty (bay'a) to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

 In recent months there has been a series announcements from jihadi operatives in the Caucasus defecting from the Caucasus Emirate and swearing oaths of fealty to Al-Baghdadi. However, this is the first time that such an announcement comes from ISIS itself, under the name "The Caucasus Province," indicating that ISIS has decided to officially incorporate the Caucasus region as part of its caliphate.

 

ISIS Decorates Streets With Anti-Musical Instruments Ads

On June 22, 2015, the press office of ISIS's Tigris (Dijla) Province in Iraq published three pictures of public billboards. The first one warns against use of musical instruments and includes a Hadith which states: "Some groups from my nation will regard musical instrument as permissible." The second picture features a billboard with an ISIS flag, and the third one shows a rifle and the Koran next to a statement which reads "the basis of the religion with a book that guides and a sword that gives victory."

 

ISIS Destroys Palmyra (Tadmur) Landmarks

On Jun 23, 2015 the Islamic State (ISIS) media group in Syria's Homs district published a second set of pictures documenting the organization's systematic destruction of ancient Palmyra [Tadmur in Arabic] landmarks that ISIS claims were formerly sites of polytheistic worship in the city. The series of pictures titled "Removal of Polytheistic Symbols in the City of Palmyra" show ISIS militants fitting explosives and then detonating what appear to be ancient tombs or shrines. The document was distributed via Twitter.


Banner used on Twitter to distribute the series of pictures titled "Removal of Polytheistic Symbols in the City of Palmyra"

On May 21, 2015, following a week's battle, the Islamic State captured the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. The oasis city is located 215 km northeast of Damascus in the Syrian Desert and hosts a UNESCO world heritage site containing the ancient city's unique monumental ruins. When ISIS militants took over the city, they posted a video that provided a virtual tour of the heritage site. ISIS then pledged that it would not destroy the site itself, but would confine itself to destroying the shrines, statues and tombs. According to ISIS doctrine, as polytheistic worship sites they had to be destroyed, just as the Prophet Muhammad and his followers had destroyed the icons and idols worshiped in their era.

 

Islamist Rebels In Southern Syria Attempt To Replicate Success Of Their Colleagues In Northern Syria

In recent weeks, Islamist rebel organizations in southern Syria have been operating on several fronts to ramp up the pressure on the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. They have set up umbrella organizations at two centers in order to combine their activity. One of these centers is the Hermon Army, which is operating in the region southwest of Damascus, and the other is Jaysh Al-Fath ("Army of Conquest"), operating in the Daraa area.

The strongest and most influential elements in both of these organizations are Ahrar Al-Sham and Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN). Aharar Al-Sham's outlook is rigidly Salafi, while JN is Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

Along with their fight against the Assad regime, these two organizations are recently fighting obstinately against other bodies that have sworn loyalty to the Islamic State (ISIS), which is fighting, so far unsuccessfully, to gain a foothold in northern Syria.

Below are details about the two new umbrella organizations in southern Syria, Hermon Army and Jaysh Al-Fath.

The Hermon Army: A Federation Of Islamist Rebels Southwest Of Damascus

On June 16, 2015, the new umbrella organization Hermon Army released a communiqu├® announcing the unification of several factions operating in the western suburbs of Damascus. The Hermon Army's founding communiqu├® states, inter alia: "We, the factions operating in the Hermon Association in the Rif of Western Damascus... hereby announce the establishment of a unified military coalition called the Hermon Army, and we promise the Islamic ummah that we will operate as one, dedicating our intentions to Allah, until the complete removal of this criminal regime and of those who follow it."

 

AQIM Leader Eulogizes Nasser Al-Wuhashi: We Will Not Rest Until The Very Last American Is Removed From Islamic Lands

On June 21, 2015, the Al-Andalus media company identified with AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) released an 8 ┬¢ minute long audiotape containing a eulogy by the organization's leader Abu Mus'ab 'Abd Al-Wadoud for Nasir Al-Wuhaishi, the leader of AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), who was recently killed by an American airstrike in Yemen. In the audio that was disseminated by the jihadi forum Al-Fida' and elsewhere, 'Abd Al-Wadoud effusively praises Nasir Al-Wuhaishi and pledges that he and his comrades will not rest until the very last American soldier is removed from Islamic lands.

 

Jabhat Al-Nusra Remains Firmly In Al-Qaeda: Its Leader Eulogizes Slain AQAP Leader Al-Wuhaishi

In a new audio recording, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) leader Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani eulogizes Nasser Al-Wuhaishi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), who was killed in a recent U.S. airstrike. Al-Joulani praises Al-Wuhaishi and sends a message of encouragement to his successor, Qassem Al-Rimi (aka Abu Huraira). The audio message indicates that Al-Joulani and his organization remain loyal to Al-Qaeda and maintain ties with its affiliates around the globe, thus dispelling rumors that JN intends to leave Al-Qaeda.

The following are the main points of the message, which was released by JN's media company Al-Manara Al-Baida and posted June 23, 2015 on JN's official Twitter account.

 

Swedish, South African AQIM Hostages Plea To Families, Governments

Johan Gustafsson, a Swede, and Stephen McGown, a South African, who are held hostage by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), have appeared in a new video to plead with their families and governments.


 McGown (right) and Gustafsson

McGown and Gustafsson, along with Dutch national Sjaak Rijke, were abducted in November 2011 from a restaurant in Timbuktu, Mali. Shortly thereafter, AQIM released a statement confirming the kidnapping of the trio as well as two Frenchmen: Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic. Lazarevic was released in December 2014 in a prisoner swap.

 

Profile Of Syria-Based Jihad Group 'Battalion Of Muhammad's Army' Based On Its French-Language Twitter Account

The Battalion of Muhammad's Army [henceforth BMA, Arabic: Katibat Jaish Muhammad] is a small independent jihad group of some 150 fighters operating in northwestern Syria. On June 10, 2015, the group launched a Twitter account in French, apparently operated by a French fighter, which imparts information about the group's activities and policies and also answers questions from the public. The choice to communicate in French - rather than Arabic or English - is interesting, especially since about 20 of the group's fighters are French, and more may be French-speaking. (The group does have an Arabic Twitter account as well, but it is inactive).

 

Hacker Entity Hacks Russian Website, Dedicates Attack To Muslims In The Caucasus

On June 20, 2015, the Electronic Jihad Base (Qaedat Al-Jihad Al-Electroniyya) claimed it hacked a major Russian tourism website. The entity dedicated the attack to Muslims living in the Caucasus.

The entity threatened Russia with further attacks if the latter continued its persecution of Muslims in the Caucuses: "We inform the Russians [that] if you want us to stop the invasion and bombardment of your websites, and the striking against your economy  you must end the war against Muslims [living] in the Islamic Caucasus, and to withdraw from it."

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