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.
Over the past week, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media group has published a series of posters encouraging biological attacks on Western targets.
On July 28, 2018, a group of Al-Qaeda-aligned mostly French-speaking foreign fighters in Syria released a new video in French presented as the first episode of a series titled "In the Skin of a Mujahid."
EXCLUSIVE: A Telegram Channel Operated By Swedish Jihad Fighters
A Telegram channel is, according to its profile, operated by Swedish jihadis in Syria.
On July 31, 2018, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet posted three new posters on its Telegram channel aimed at dissuading ISIS foreign fighters from leaving the last bastions of ISIS-held territory.
On July 31, 2018, a media group associated with jihadi groups in Syria released a video condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting the regime in Syria in its fight against the mujahideen and threatened to go to Russia if the Russians do not come fight the jihadi groups in Idlib.
On July 27, 2018, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group For Supporting Islam And Muslims (GSIM) released a nine-minute video of its leader Iyad Ag Ghali in which he says that France has failed to achieve its goals in Mali.
On July 30, 2018, Al-Zallaqah, the media arm of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group For Supporting Islam And Muslims (GSIM), released a statement on Telegram claiming that its fighters bombed a military based used by France and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on July 29, 2018.
In a document dated June 22, 2018, and shared on Justpaste.it, Al-Qaeda In The Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) paid tribute to the "martyrdom" of Maulana Fazlullah, former emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who was killed in a U.S. drone strike on June 13, 2018.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
On July 27, 2018, Al-Badr, a media foundation affiliated with Al-Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released an article in which the writer accused ISIS in Yemen of provoking AQAP and stressed that the ongoing fighting will continue until the 13 AQAP fighters who were captured by ISIS are released.
Syria: Images Of An Italian And A Japanese Hostage Held By Masked Gunmen Released Online
On August 1, 2018, Syrian Telegram channels posted screenshots from a video of two hostages, one Italian and one Japanese.
Al-Shabab Video Documents Raids On Pro-Somali Government Militias
On August 1, 2018, the Somali-Al-Qaeda branch of Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (HSM) released the third installment in its video series "And Be Harsh Against Them," documenting various HSM operations against "apostate militias," i.e. pro-Somali government militias, in the country.
Pro-ISIS Poster Features Trump As Prisoner
On July 31, 2018, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet released a digitally created poster on Telegram featuring U.S. President Donald Trump wearing an orange jumpsuit and apparently kneeling next to an ISIS flag.
ISIS Claims Responsibility For Attack On USAID Center In Jalalabad
On July 29, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the previous day's attack on a USAID facility in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
ISIS Claims Its Soldiers Killed Four Cyclists In Tajikistan Including Two Americans
On July 30, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a statement claiming responsibility for the same-day attack that killed four cyclists in Tajikistan, of whom two were American citizens, one was a Swiss citizen, and one was a Dutch citizen.
ISIS Video Shows Tajikistan Attackers Swearing Allegiance To ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
On July 31, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) A'maq News Agency released a two-minute video allegedly showing the perpetrators of the previous day's attack on Western cyclists in Tajikistan swearing allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, prior to the attack.
On July 27, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) French-language media outlet An-Nur Media published a document in French penned by a media operative in France named Abu Talha Al-Faransi, titled "Support for the Islamic State from the Land of Disbelief."
ISIS Claims Suicide Attack Carried Out By Moroccan In Southern Philippines
On July 31, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) in East Asia claimed responsibility for a suicide attack targeting Philippine soldiers on Basilan Island in the southern Philippines.
On July 19, 2016, the Islamic State's A'maq Agency published, via its official Telegram channel, a claim of responsibility for the ax attack on the train in Wurzburg, Germany.
ISIS Weekly Al-Naba' Publishes Biographical Essay On Slain Somali Fighter
On July 25, 2018, Islamic State's (ISIS) Al-Naba' newsletter published a biography on Abu 'Abd Al-Ghaffar Al-Maqdishawi, a slain ISIS fighter of Somali descent.
On August 1, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a statement saying that two of its fighters had carried out a deep-strike operation on a government building in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, killing or wounding 85 people, including Westerners.
Article In ISIS Weekly Al-Naba' Praises Benefits Of Jihad
Issue 139 of ISIS weekly newsletter Al-Naba', released on July 12, 2018, featured an article praising the "chosen few" who have embarked on jihad to fight the "kuffar [unbelievers] tide," according to it, reaping the benefits of jihad in the process. These benefits include establishing Allah's law on earth, the purification of the Islamic faith, exposing false ideology, applying Quranic concepts, the elimination of polytheism and idolatry, and the true knowledge of al-walaa wal-baraa ("loyalty to Muslims and rejection of non-Muslims").
On July 28, 2018, the Islamic State (ISIS) media office in Iraq released a 19-minute video titled "Swords of Jihad" portraying the group's activity in the North-Baghdad area.
ISIS Supporter Recommends Using PayPal Credit For Wiring Money
On July 27, 2018, a Telegram user on a pro-ISIS Telegram channel recommended that jihadis use PayPal Credit service to send money, warning them that "everything [else] is monitored," and that if they wire money or donations by other means, they would "basically [be] buying your ticket to prison."
The following information is based on a general overview of a WhatsApp account demonstrating terror-related activity / sympathies
Platform: WhatsApp
Additional Information:
It is a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) WhatsApp group for Pashto and Urdu speakers that was opened on June 23, 2018.
Pro-ISIS Al-Battar Media Releases 'Jihadi Media' Recruiting Poster
On July 31, 2018, the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Al-Battar Media Foundation published an announcement, directed at men only, on its Telegram channel calling on people with technical skills to join its jihadi media efforts.
Photos Released On Twitter Show Afghan Taliban Fighters Training On Horseback
On July 25 and 28, 2018, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization), released photos on Twitter of Taliban fighters training and riding horses in the Afghan provinces of Takhar and Baghlan.
