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: Briton From London Reportedly Killed In Syria Fighting Alongside Jabhat Al-Nusra
On November 24, 2015 the Twitter account "Live From Mogadishu" announced that "Somali-British Jihadist Abu Khalid from London Killed in Syria fighting alongside Al-Qaeda linked Jabhat-Al Nusra." The Twitter account mainly focuses on reporting information on Al-Shabaab, but sometimes tweets about other jihadi arenas.
In New Video, ISIS Promises New Attacks In France As Big As 9/11
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On November 20, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Aleppo released a new video featuring two ISIS fighters praising the November 13 Paris attacks, and calling on Muslims living in France to carry out similar operations. The video, which was titled "Paris Has Collapsed" and was posted on the ISIS-affiliated jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, showed an image of the Eiffel Tower collapsing, along with images of the attacks and an audio recording of an ISIS spokesman threatening that the group will invade France before conquering Rome.
On November 22, 2015 the media wing of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Damascus Province released a video, 8:30 minutes in duration, titled "Behold, Vengeance Has Reached You", in which two masked ISIS fighters, one of them speaking in French, address messages to the French people. Like the speakers in several other videos recently released by ISIS, they urge the French to renounce their government, which is targeting Muslims in Syria and Iraq and has declared war on the Islamic State, and threaten that, as long as French aggression persists, France will experience attacks even more painful than the recent attack in Paris.
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On November 21, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Al-Baraka [Hasaka] province, Syria, released a new video featuring a French-speaking ISIS fighter praising the November 13 attacks in Paris and stating that the "lions of the Caliphate" in all European capitals are awaiting orders to carry out operations. The ISIS fighter delivering the message in French was previously featured in an ISIS video in October 2014, threatening France of retaliation for its involvement in the anti-ISIS coalition. The video titled "Blow Up France" was posted on ISIS-affiliated leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, hosted on Archive.org and distributed via Twitter.
An 8-minute video released on November 22 by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Al-Raqqa, Syria, titled "The Failure Of the French Airstrikes," comes out against France's claims that its airstrikes have destroyed ISIS headquarters and weapons depots in the city. The video, which was posted on the Twitter hashtag Al-Raqqah Province and hosted on Archive.org, features statements from three ISIS fighters, two of them speaking in French, and testimony from three city residents. The French-speaking fighters tell the people of France that their government has been lying to them about its achievements in the city because only civilian targets have been hit, such as a medicine warehouses, but no military targets. They also promise that ISIS will take revenge on France, and on the West in general, with further terrorist attacks like the one in Paris. The other speakers reiterate the message regarding the damage to the civilian population and regarding the failure of the French to deliver significant blows to ISIS itself.
The following are details.
The video starts with soundbites from recent television reports claiming that the French and Russian airstrikes in Al-Raqqa in the last few days destroyed important ISIS targets such as the military headquarters and weapons depots, and killed dozens of ISIS fighters. Next comes a caption in French and Arabic saying: "This video will expose the truth regarding the identity of the targets bombed by the French planes in the city of Al-Raqqa."
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
On November 24, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Al-Raqqah province in released a new video featuring French-speaking ISIS fighters threatening people living in France with more attacks on their homes, schools, streets, hospitals, and public places.
In the video, titled "In the Heart of Your Countries" and posted on ISIS-affiliated leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, two ISIS fighters praised the November 13 Paris attacks, called on the coalition forces to send ground troops to fight them instead of bombing their cities, and promised more attacks soon.
On November 24, 2015, the Islamic State's (ISIS's) Al-Hayat Media released a video touting ISIS's achievements in the past year, and denigrating the U.S.-led military campaign against it. The video also challenged the U.S.-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State.
The video is mainly addressed to the U.S., with the aim of undermining any achievement of its anti-ISIS military campaign. It also uses PSYOP aimed at demoralizing U.S. servicemen.
The slickly produced video, 4:13 in duration, which was released in Arabic, English, Turkish, French, and Russian, was promoted via the Hashtag #NO_RESPITE.
ISIS Al-Jazeera Province Threatens Paris-Style Attacks In Russia And Other Western Countries
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On November 20, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Al-Jazeera province released a five-minute video praising the November 13 attacks in Paris. Titled "As You Kill, You Shall Be Killed," the video notes that the Paris attacks were a response to France's aggressions against the Islamic State. It also threatens Russia, the U.S., and other European countries with similar attacks for their war against the Islamic State.
ISIS Infographic Touts Paris Attacks' Negative Effects On Europe
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On November 24, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) posted an infographic celebrating the November 13 attacks in Paris on leading jihadi message board Shumoukh Al-Islam. The infographic includes illustrations, statistics and unsourced reports to describe the attacks and their aftermath.
In the top left corner, the infographic features a quote by Abu Muhammad Al-'Adnani, ISIS's official spokesman and reportedly the official in charge of running the organization's foreign operations, who said: "Allah willing, we want Paris before Rome and before Andalus, [and] after that we will blacken your life and blow up your White House, Big Ben, and the Eiffel Tower."
On November 19, 2015, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Bangladesh issued a written statement in which it claimed responsibility for shooting an Italian priest and a local religious leader, as well as beheading a politician, in Kaunia, Rangpur area. According to the statement, which was posted on the ISIS-affiliated leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, the priest, who was identified as Piero Parolari, sustained serious injuries after being shot several times in city of Dinajpur.
ISIS Infographic Demonstrates Group's Extensive Media Output In The Last Year
The Islamic State (ISIS) has released an infographic showing its extensive media releases during the Islamic calendar year of 1436 (2014-2015).
The infographic notes ISIS various main media companies along with their output during that period.
ISIS In Afghanistan Releases High-Definition Images Of Fighters Undergoing Military Training
The Khorasan chapter of the Islamic State (ISIS) has released new images of its fighters undergoing military training at a training facility called Muaskar Sheikh Jalaluddin somewhere in Afghanistan.
The training camp is named for Sheikh Jalaluddin, a key ISIS commander who was killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province in October. Before joining ISIS, he had been a teacher at a madrassa in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Issue 18 Of TIP's Islamic Turkistan Magazine - An Overview
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a China-based Uyghur militant group, recently released the 18th issue of its Arabic-language magazine Islamic Turkistan. The sleekly-produced issue, which is 48 pages long and was posted on the East Turkistan Twitter page, deals mainly with TIP's jihad operations against the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang (also called East Turkistan and the Uyghur Autonomous Region) in eastern China, and in other parts of the country.
Mali-Based Jihad Group Al-Murabitoun Claims Responsibility For Radisson Hotel Attack In Bamako, Mali
According to Al-Jazeera.net, the Mali-based jihadi group Al-Murabitoun has claimed responsibility for today's attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in the Mali capital of Bamako. The details behind the attack, in which 170 people were initially taken hostages, remain unclear. According to various media reports, nearly half of the hostages are now reportedly out of danger.
The bodies of Pakistani jihadists killed in Afghanistan were brought back for funerals in Pakistan on November 20, according to various Facebook posts.
A central leader of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), which functions as the charity arm of the Pakistani jihadist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, has accused Christians and Jews of promoting the "evil" of ISIS in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Maulana Amir Hamza, a key leader of Jamaatud Dawa, while addressing a weekly Friday prayer, accused ISIS of spilling the blood of Syrian Muslims.
In a statement published on the JuD website, Maulana Amir Hamza said the West is accusing madrassas of being involved in terrorism in order to advance its own propaganda against Muslims. Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) is the new name for the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). LeT founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is currently the Emir of JuD, which also operates under the name of Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).
Report: Sayf Al-'Adl Still In Tehran
The Jordanian daily Al-Ghad reported on November 23, 2015, citing sources in the Salafi-jihadi movement in Jordan, that five senior Al-Qaeda members released by Iran in a recent prisoner-exchange are still in Tehran.
