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.
On April 8, 2017, Al-Qaeda's Al-Sahab media company published the 14th edition of its weekly news bulletin Al-Nafir. The bulletin, posted on the Al-Sahab Telegram channel, features the organization's response to a comment made recently by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley at a March 27, 2017 AIPAC conference.
On April 10, 2017, Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese daily close to Hizbullah, published an article accusing the U.S. of using the war against ISIS as a pretext to bring its military forces back into Iraq. In the article, titled "On the 14th Anniversary of the Invasion, the Americans Are Back In Iraq," writer Nour Ayoub listed the names and locations of at least eight U.S. military bases in Iraq.
Citing an unnamed Iraqi politician, Ayoub wrote: "We couldn't believe that we had managed to expel the Americans from our country in 2011. They have left by the door and returned today through the window [pretext] of fighting ISIS." According to the article, the existence of U.S. bases in Iraq "clearly reveals that the U.S. had intended to return to Iraq under the pretext of the war on terror."
On April 9, 2017, the information office for ISIS in Ninawa Province, Iraq, published part 2 of its "Procession of Light" video series. The 56-minute long video, which was also posted on the Nashir News Agency Telegram channel, documents, commemorates, and lionizes ISIS fighters who gave their lives in martyrdom bombings targeting the Iraqi army and coalition forces. The video includes images and names of dozens of fighters who died executing car bomb attacks against the Iraqi army during recent months. The narrator and fighters themselves praise self-sacrifice and urge their friends and family members to follow in their footsteps. The video centers around elderly volunteers who decided to carry out martyrdom attacks in order to follow in the footsteps of their sons. Most of them took pride in the fact that two, or even three, of their sons carried out martyrdom attacks.
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On April 13, 2017, ISIS released issue 76 of its weekly newspaper Al-Naba'. This issue, which was also posted to the Nashir News Agency Telegram channel, features a variety of news items about the group's notable attacks and battles on the various fronts in Iraq, Syria, Sinai, the Qalamoun Mountains on the Syria-Lebanon border, Afghanistan (mainly the Nangarhar province), Yemen (mainly near the city of Kifa in Al-Bayda' Province), and more.
On April 8, 2017, pro-Islamic State Sheikh Abdullah Faisal delivered a sermon on Paltalk titled, "The U.S. Bombing Of Assad: A Muslim Perspective." The lecture, which is nearly 2 hours and 10 minutes long, focuses on President Trump's decision to launch a missile strike on the Shayrat airbase in Syria on April 6th, 2017. Sheikh Faisal condemns President Obama for not taking any action against Assad, and lauds President Trump for his actions against the Syrian president. Faisal states that according to the Koran, you are permitted to unite with the Christians to save yourself. Faisal claimed, "The battle lines are drawn, a third world war might be around the corner. If a third world war should break out between America and the unholy axis [of] Russia, Persia, and China, no Muslim country is allowed to join that axis because it enables the Shi'ites to kill us with chemical weapons. The battle lines have been drawn: America is with the Sunnis; Russia is with the Shi'ites."
On April 13, 2017, an Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) supporter on Telegram, shared links to two of his YouTube channels on a Telegram channel.
Responding on Telegram to the April 7, 2017 Ramming Attack In Stockholm, ISIS supporters welcomed the attack and noted that Sweden is part of the international coalition fighting ISIS. The following are some of the responses: A post on the pro-ISIS Telegram channel "Exclamation" featured a photo of security officers on a Stockholm street with the message: "The Khawarij terrorists have turned Sweden, the land of flowers and champagne, into a terror-filled army base. It now has more special forces on its streets than cats."
On April 9, 20917 the Islamic State (ISIS) issued an official claim of responsibility for that day's two deadly attacks on Coptic churches in Alexandria and Tanta in Egypt, and named the bombers. The message, posted on the Telegram channel Nashir News Agency, among other platforms, stated: "With the blessing of Allah alone, brother Abu Al-Bara Al-Masri, may Allah accept his soul, marched on a concentration of Crusaders in Mar Markas [St. Mark's] Church in Alexandria and detonated his explosive vest among the crowd, killing and wounding dozens of them.
ISIS News Agency A'maq: Church Attacks In Tanta, Alexandria Were Carried Out By Islamic State
The Islamic State (ISIS) news agency A'maq reports, citing "a security source," that the attacks today (April 9, 2017) on churches in Alexandria and Tanta, in which dozens were killed, were carried out by an ISIS "operations team." The report was posted on the Nashir News Agency Telegram channel and on other ISIS-affiliated platforms.
Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Emir Releases Message To Group's Fighters In Syria
On April 12, 2017, the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) released a 17-minute audio recording by the group's leader Sheikh 'Abd Al-Haq. The recording, titled "A Message to the Brothers in Al-Sham [Syria]," features extensive footage of TIP operations in Syria and some footage pertaining to China's Xingjian (East Turkestan) province.
Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Releases Second Video Showing 'The Truth About Chinese Media'
On April 8, 2016, the Uyghur jihad group Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) released the second part of a video focusing on China's media apparatus and the oppression of the ethnic Uyghurs by the Chinese in East Turkestan (Xinjiang province) in western China.
Hacking Entities Pledge Allegiance to Top Pro-ISIS Hacking Group United Cyber Caliphate (UCC)
On April 10, 2017, an announcement was circulated on a UCC Telegram channel, which announced that Anon Terror and Fighter Muslim Cyber Caliphate (FMCC) pledged allegiance to the United Cyber Caliphate (UCC).
