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.)
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Muhammad Al-Zawahiri (Image: alarabiy.net)
On May 26, 2013, the jihadi Al-Shumoukh forum posted a communiqué by a group of Egyptian Salafi clerics, the most prominent of whom is Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, the brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The communiqué was issued following intense fighting between the Syrian rebels and forces of the Syrian regime and Hizbullah in the town of Al-Qusayr on the Syria-Lebanon border. It states that any Muslim who can bear arms must join the jihad against the Syrian regime and its allies in order to stop their attack on the town. It states further that any Muslim who cannot do this should wage jihad by means of money, i.e., donate all the funds at his disposal to the mujahideen, except for what he needs for his basic survival.
The following are the other main points of the communiqué, which was released by the "Al-Farouq Foundation for Media Productions," the media company of the Salafi-jihadis in Egypt.
According to the communiqué, the purpose of the attack on Al-Qusayr by the Syrian regime and its allies is to found a "Nusayri-'Alawite-Shi'ite mini-state" on the coast in preparation for carving up the region into four small states: Nusayri, Shi'ite, Jewish and Druze, which will besiege the Sunnis. This will enable the Twelver Shi'ites, namely Hizbullah and Iran, to create a "Shi'ite Crescent" state spanning the Gulf states, eastern Saudi Arabia, southern Iraq, Azerbaijan and South Lebanon, and thereby to take over most of the world's oil. The brutal murder and extermination of the Sunnis in Al-Qusayr are meant to scare other Sunnis and cause them to flee all the areas that these "criminal infidels" want to take over.
Spokesman For Iran-Based Jihadi Group Urges Sunni Arabs To Provide Financial, Military Support
On May 22, 2013, Khubaib Bin Auday, a prominent member of Ansar Al-Mujaheedin Arabic Forum (AMAF), published a YouTube video in which Abdul Ra'ouf Rigi, the Spokesman of the Al-Adl (Justice) Army, a jihadi group based in Iran's Baluchistan region and formerly known as Jundullah, called on Sunni Arabs to provide them with financial, military and moral support.
In the video, which was also posted on the group's Facebook page and Twitter account, the spokesman was identified as the older brother of Abdul-Malek Rigi, the founder and leader of the jihadi group Jundullah, who was executed in 2010 for waging war against Iran.
On May 21, 2013, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released an audio-recorded message by Ahmad Abu Abd Al-'Ilah, the head of its media company Al-Andalus, addressed to Tunisia's ruling party Al-Nahda. In the message, Abd Al-'Ilah expresses support for the Ansar Al-Shari'a in Tunisia (AST) group, while condemning the Tunisian government's targeting of them. Abd Al-'Ilah says AQIM is committed to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri's directives to jihadi groups not to target any post-Arab Spring countries. He also invites Al-Nahda to hold direct talks with AQIM away from the pressure of the various security apparatuses. However, Abd Al-'Ilah warns Al-Nahda against targeting AQIM's facilities and men, otherwise AQIM will be obligated to respond in self-defense.
It is worth noting that the message comes on the backdrop of increased online presence by AQIM. It has recently opened an official Twitter account, which the current message was first released through, as well as a "Muslim Africa Blog."
The accusation against Al-Nahda's masquerade as an Islamic party had been expressed by Al-Zawahiri himself in a June 2012 message.
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Following is a summary of Abd Al-'Ilah message:
Abd Al-'Ilah begins by voicing his disappointment in Al-Nahda Chairman Rached Al-Ghannouchi in regard to his current views and expressed opinions about different key issues in Islam, such as the implementation of the shari'a. Such attitudes, says Abd Al-'Ilah, present a major shift from Al-Ghannouchi's past leading role as an Islamic preacher. To further express his disappointment from Al-Ghannouchi's behavior, Abd Al-'Ilah says that those "knights on the pulpits who taught us the true meanings of Islam" – a reference to Al-Ghannouchi's past Islamic activism from the early 80's in Tunisia, now "brag about spilling our blood, and present it as an offering to the cross worshippers and their agents from among us [Muslims]."
Jihadi News Agency Accuses Hamas Of Hacking Leading Al-Qaeda Affiliated Forums
The Islamic News Agency Haq, a jihadi news website, has accused Hamas of hacking Shumoukh Al-Islam, Fida', Ansar Al-Mujahideen, and Hanein - leading Al-Qaeda affiliated forums which have been experiencing service interruptions since last week.
According to Haq, which holds membership in these forums, the hackers are affiliated with Hamas and its 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. The attacks were launched, Haq said, in objection to the forums offering platforms to Gaza Salafis, whose leaders have constantly complained of being targeted, harassed, tortured, interrogated and imprisoned by Hamas security forces.
Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh
Lashkar-e-Islam, a key ally of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has ordered local people in parts of Pakistan's Khyber Agency to follow a strict sharia code in their daily life, including keeping a beard, offering the five daily prayers, and wearing a cap for men and veil for women.
Lashkar-e-Islam, which is led by commander Mangal Bagh, has been engaged in a continuing fight against Pakistani security forces in Khyber Agency in recent years. According to a report on Dawn.com, a leading Pakistani website, Lashkar-e-Islam also ordered that each family must send one of its members to join the jihadi group.
The following are excerpts from the report:
"Lashkar-e-Islam has made obligatory the offering of five-time prayers, keeping a beard, and wearing a cap for men and veil (burqa) for women in the areas [of Khyber Agency] under its control. Declaring the new fatwa (edict) on behalf of LI chief Mangal Bagh, the local commanders at Baaz Garha – a town of around 300 families located 15 kilometers west of Bara Bazaar – told an assembly of around 200 terrified residents that anyone violating any of these restrictions would be fined 1,000 [Pakistani Rupees]…."
TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan
In a new video, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban) has urged the Baluchi rebels to join with the Taliban. Baluchi rebels, who are mostly secular, are fighting for the independence of Baluchistan province from Pakistan.
The video, titled "Eye On The Target," was released through a jihadi internet forum and was also posted on YouTube. In addition, it renews a threat to assassinate former Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.
"Brave Pakistani Muslims," TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan says on the video, "the greatest dictator ever in human history is again out to deceive you on the slogan of 'Pakistan first.' Pervez Musharraf put the country at the feet of America in a single phone call [after the 9/11 attacks, agreeing to ally with the U.S.]; from Baluchistan to Waziristan, he pushed the country into fire and bloodbath; he martyred thousands of students of Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa [mosque and madrassa of Islamabad in a 2007 military operation] for their sacred demand of sharia, and sold hundreds of Arab mujahideen, including Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, to America for a few dollars."
The Malakand chapter of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has released a new video showing militants loyal to Maulana Fazlullah, a top commander known for launching a series of attacks on Pakistani military from his hideout in bordering Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan.
The TTP militants under Maulana Fazlullah have attacked Pakistani security forces with light and heavy weapons in the mountainous Upper Dir district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in recent years. Fazlullah escaped to Afghanistan after the Pakistani army launched a security operation in Swat in April 2009. Early this year, Fazlullah was thought to have been arrested in Afghanistan.
The video, titled "Ghazwa-e-Hind 3," begins with a verse from the Koran: "And do not incline towards those who do wrong lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped." (Chapter Hud, Verse 113)
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Khan, Emir of TTP for Orakzai Agency
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has released an hour-long video showing Taliban militants targeting Pakistani security forces with sniper rifles, and small and heavy weapons in various areas of Orakzai Agency, a hotbed of jihadi militancy.
Orakzai Agency is the only tribal district of Pakistan which does not share a border with Afghanistan.
The video, produced by the TTP's Umar Media, begins with a Koranic verse: "Fight against them. Allah will torment them at your hands and will humiliate them, and will help you against them, and will heal the breasts of the Muslims [Chapter Al-Tawbah, Verse 14]."
The video, titled "Orakzai 2," shows militants belonging to the TTP's Orakzai Agency branch slaughtering Pakistani security personnel, and capturing one alive in an attack on a security post in Dabori area. An unseen man is heard directing the fighters via walkie-talkie to not harm the captured soldier, while Pakistani aircraft are shown bombing mountainous areas and local people and animals are shown running for shelter.
