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.
Platform: Facebook
Platform: YouTube
Additional Information: A YouTube channel called, created on April 14, 2018, has 290 subscribers and over 20,000 views. The channel has shared English-language videos by leading figures of jihadi and Islamist thought in the West including: late Yemeni-American sheikh and Al-Qaeda leader Anwar Al-'Awlaki; Michigan-based Islamist preacher Ahmad Musa Jibril; Jamaican pro-Islamic State (ISIS) cleric Abdullah Al-Faisal; London-based extremist preacher Abu Haleema; convicted Australian pro-ISIS preacher Musa Cerantonio; and Syrian-born radical Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, founder of the London branch of Hizb Al-Tahrir. Abu Haleema regularly posts videos of himself that link to the YouTube channel on Facebook. These sheikhs have been associated with numerous terror cases in the West and many are still active on social media. YouTube has a mixed record of dealing with such content on their platform.
This report will review one example of a YouTube channel with a variety of Islamist and jihadi videos. The channel is likely one of many such channels on YouTube.
On March 6, 2019, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet published a poster reiterating ISIS's recent call to wage war on China.
In the last few weeks, the Islamic State (ISIS) has published dozens of gruesome execution photos and videos on its official Nasher News Telegram channel of men whom it accuses of spying, working for the Iraqi or the Syrian government, or being members of anti-ISIS armed groups such as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU), and the Sunni tribal forces.
In a Friday sermon and a speech, radical Pakistani cleric Maulana Mujahid Abbas attributed the February 14, 2019 suicide bombing that killed more than 40 Indian security personnel in Pulwama, Kashmir to the work of God.
In a Friday sermon, Pakistani cleric Maulana Ilyas Qasmi urged Muslims to use Koranic teachings to understand the importance of jihad and to join jihadi groups.
In a Friday sermon at the Markaz An-Nur mosque at Mendeki Goraya in Pakistan, radical Pakistani cleric Maulana Muhammad Umair said: "The existence of unbelievers is a sign of the survival of jihad."
Speaking at a "martyrs' remembrance congregation" in the town of Mardan in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, radical Islamic cleric Maulana Qamruzzaman said: "After Afghanistan, victory soon in Kashmir." The event was organized under the aegis of Al-Rehmat Trust, the charity arm of Pakistani jihadi group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).
EXCLUSIVE: Hurras Al-Din Lauds Attacks In Afghanistan And Somalia
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On March 9, 2019, a pro-Al-Qaeda Telegram channel released a statement from Hurras Al-Din, the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda, lauding the successful attacks on the Mecca Hotel in Mogadishu and the Camp Bastion army base in Helmand, Afghanistan, by Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen and the Taliban, respectively.
EXCLUSIVE: Al-Shabab Publishes Photos Of Belongings Of Alleged U.S. Special Forces Commander
On March 12, 2019, after claiming to have foiled a raid by U.S. Special Forces, the Somali group Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen, released photographs of what it alleges are the military gear and personal belongings of the commander of the raid. Previously, Al-Shabab announced that the commander had been killed.
On March 12, 2019, Shahada, the news agency of the Somalia-based jihadi group Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (HSM), reported that HSM fighters had killed a U.S. special operations forces commander and foiled a joint U.S.-Somali raid in the town of Dar es Salaam in Lower Shabelle province on the night of March 11, 2019.
On March 11, 2019, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a video featuring the group's senior commander Khaled Batarfi condemning Arab and Gulf governments and accusing them of hastening to normalize relations with Israel. In the video, which was published on AQAP's official Telegram channel, Batarfi called on Muslims to confront their governments militarily and intellectually.
On March 10, 2019, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released an audio message in Arabic from the head of the group's shura council, Sheikh Abu 'Ubayda Yousef Al-'Annabi, titled "Algeria... and the Exit from the Dark Tunnel."
Pro-Al-Qaeda Al-Falah Magazine Launches Website
On March 2, 2019, the pro-Al-Qaeda Arabic-language Al-Falah magazine announced the launch of a website. The new website houses all issues of the magazine in addition to various articles and commentary, including those by prominent Al-Qaeda-affiliated clerics such as Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi and Abu Qatada Al-Filistini.
Al-Shabab Shares Images Of Tribal Leaders Pledging Allegiance In Somalia
On March 10, 2019, Al-Shabab, the Al-Qaeda-aligned group in East Africa, released a set of photographs via its news agency Shahadah News, allegedly showing 40 tribal leaders in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia pledging allegiance to the group's emir Abu Ubaidah a.k.a Ahmed Umar.
ISIS Releases Defiant Video From Inside Besieged Syrian City Of Baghouz
On March 11, 2019, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video titled "The Meanings of Perseverance," sending a defiant message to its enemies that its men remain determined to fight. The 14-minute video was posted and disseminated by ISIS on Telegram.
ISIS Claims Killing Of Three U.S. Soldiers In A Suicide Attack In Syria
On March 9, 2019, the Islamic State (ISIS) published a statement claiming the killing of three U.S. soldiers in a suicide attack that targeted a PKK convoy on the road between Manbij and Al-Bab cities in Aleppo governorate, Syria.
Director Of Media Translation Group Discusses Its Activities In Pro-ISIS Magazine
On March 9, 2019, the sixth issue of the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Youth of the Caliphate magazine published an exclusive interview with Abu Muhammad Al-Muhajir, the director of a new pro-ISIS media project called Al-Mutarjim (The Translator) Foundation. This media group has taken it upon itself to translate and disseminate official ISIS statements and publications, inter alia, into English, French, Spanish, and Filipino.
On March 11, 2019, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) tech group released a statement directing the group's online supporters to expand their operations beyond the confinement of Telegram, urging them to "break the media siege" around them and to continue opening social media accounts despite suspensions.
ISIS Operative Calls For Jihad, Threatens Attacks In Bangladesh
The sixth and most recent issue of the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Youth of the Caliphate magazine, released on Telegram on March 9, 2019, features an article in English by ISIS operative Abu Muhammad Al-Bengali threatening attacks, and urging Muslims to heed the ISIS call to jihad and to perpetrate attacks by any means against "enemies of Allah" in Bangladesh.
On March 7, 2019, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a statement saying the group had attacked an event attended by former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and Afghan government officials and members of parliament, using dozens of mortar rounds and rockets to kill and wound more than 30 people.
Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Video Documents Jihadi Group's Daily Life In Syria
On March 10, 2019, the Syrian branch of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) released the fifteenth issue of its video series Album of Rare Photos, on Telegram. The 13-minute film features a collection of photographs edited into a video with a nasheed (Islamic religious chant) playing in the background. The title screen bears the date February 2019.
Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Documents Rocket, Artillery Strikes On Syrian Regime Forces
On March 6, 2019, the Syrian branch of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) released a set of images and a short video clip showing their forces firing artillery and rockets at Syrian regime positions in northern Syria.
According to a report in an Urdu-language jihadi weekly, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) rejected a request from India that the Taliban protect Indian investments in Afghanistan, presumably when they take power as a result of the U.S.-Taliban talks.
On March 5, 2019, the government of Pakistan added Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) to its list of banned terror groups. The two organizations are new names for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which Pakistan banned on January 14, 2002. The UN Security Council listed Lashkar-e-Taiba, sometimes misspelled as Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba, as an Al-Qaeda ally on May 2, 2005.
Pakistani jihadi organization Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) has begun a new session of its 15-day course called "Daura-e-Asasia" ("Foundational Course"), in which participants learn about jihadi and Islamic teachings. JeM charity arm Al-Rehmat Trust organized the course.
In a March 3, 2019 statement, Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization), claimed that 137 American troops and 260 Afghan security personnel were killed in the 46-hour attack on Shorab airbase in Helmand province of Afghanistan that began on the night of February 28. The Taliban spokesman also released the names of the nine suicide bombers who took part in the operation. The statement differs from mainstream news reports, which say that about two dozen Afghan security personnel were killed in the attack.
Afghan Taliban Deputy Leader Meets With Uzbek Foreign Minister In Qatar
On the night of March 3, 2019, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, the deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization), met in Doha, Qatar, with Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdul Aziz Kamolov and Uzbek Special Envoy to Afghanistan Ismatullah Irgashev.
