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 December 3, 2019, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media group shared on its Telegram channel posters threatening Telegram founder Pavel Durov and urging ISIS followers to share content on other social media platforms following the massive purge of ISIS accounts, channels, and groups from the messaging app.
EXCLUSIVE: Official ISIS Media Seeks New Online Distribution Channels
Following the wave of suspensions of Telegram accounts belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS), which commenced on November 22, 2019, ISIS media operatives are attempting to find new platforms from which to maintain online distribution channels.
EXCLUSIVE: ISIS Supporters Share Poster Calling For Attacks Against Christians During Holidays
On November 30, 2019, Islamic State (ISIS) supporters on TamTam shared a poster showing a time bomb tied to a Christmas tree and a young man standing in front of a stage with a fingerprint to his left and text that says: "Just Terror."
In response to the burning of the Iranian consulate by protesters in the Iraqi city of Najaf on November 27, 2019, the Hizbullah Brigades, which is a member of Al-Hashd Al-Sha'abi (Popular Mobilization Units, PMU), warned that the protests, in which it claims "infiltrator elements" are involved, are likely to degenerate into civil war.
On December 4, 2019, two pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media groups released posters threatening the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Falastin Al-Youm (Palestine Today) TV channel is a media outfit affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
SDF Releases More ISIS Families From Al- Hawl Camp After 'Tribal Sponsorship'
On December 1, 2019, STEP News Agency reported the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AA) released more of Islamic State's (ISIS) women and children who were held as detainees at the Al-Hawl camp in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern part of Syria.
ISIS Claims Capture Of Christians And Nigerian Army Soldiers In Northeast Nigeria
On December 4, 2019, the official ISIS media outlet published a statement on its Telegram channel saying that ISIS operatives had laid an ambush on the road connecting between the town of Maiduguri and the town of Mainok in the Borno area in northeast Nigeria.
ISIS Claims Responsibility For London Bridge Attack
On November 30, 2019, the news agency of the Islamic State released a statement claiming that the man who attacked London Bridge yesterday was a member of ISIS.
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In a November 28, 2019 statement, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed that the collision of two helicopters during a French military operation in Mali, which resulted in the death of 13 soldiers, occurred as the helicopters were responding to an ISIS attack on a French military convoy.
On December 2, 2019, the official Islamic State (ISIS) new channel released a statement on TamTam saying that its fighters in Diyala, Iraq killed and wounded more than 23 fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in a series of attacks that occurred in Naft Khana, southwest of the city of Khanaqin.
On December 5, 2019, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a statement saying that on December 2 ISIS fighters "killed and injured six members of the Iraqi Federal Police and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)" in the Yathrib area of Salah Al-Din province.
ISIS Claims Responsibility For Series Of Attacks in Nigeria And Mali
On December 1, 2019, the official Islamic State (ISIS) news agency published a set of photographs on Telegram depicting an ambush laid by the organization's fighters for a Malian Armed Forces convoy on the border with Niger.
On December 4, 2019, the Islamic State's (ISIS) Wilayat Libya ["Libya Province"] released a video titled "Expel Them From Wherever They Have Expelled You," documenting several attacks carried out by the group's fighters in central and southern Libya.
ISIS Says Fighters Set Fire To 30 Government Buildings In Northern Nigeria
On December 5, 2019, Islamic State (ISIS) released a statement via its official news agency saying that its fighters attacked two towns in northern Nigeria on Tuesday (December 4).
Iraq Arrests Prominent ISIS Leader
On December 3, 2019, Iraqi authorities announced the arrest of Hamid Shaker Al-Saba’ Al-Badri, a senior leader of the Islamic State (ISIS).
ISIS Releases Photos Showing Fighters In Azerbaijan Pledging Allegiance To New Leader Al-Qurashi
On November 29, 2019, the Islamic State (ISIS) published photos on Telegram showing fighters from Azerbaijan swearing allegiance to the recently announced ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi.
Pro-ISIS Media Outlet Deems London Bridge Attack Act Of 'Revenge' For UK's War Against Islamic State
On December 2, 2019, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) outlet shared a poster on Telegram that shows London Bridge attacker Usman Khan holding a knife.
Pro-ISIS Media Outlet Urges Supporters To Carry Out Vehicular Attacks Using Bulldozers
On December 2, 2019, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) outlet released a poster in Arabic urging ISIS supporters to use what it called "the machine of horror," referring to bulldozers, to carry out "run-over" (i.e., vehicular) attacks.
Al-Qaeda Affiliate Al-Shabab Releases Video Documenting Attack On Somali Military Camp In Daynunay
On November 27, 2019, the media arm of the Somalia-based and Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadi group Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen, or simply Al-Shabab, released the 15th episode of a video series, titled "Disperse With Them Those Who Follow Them" (Quran 8:57), documenting an attack by Al-Shabab fighters on a Somali military camp in the village of Daynunay in "the Islamic Bay and Bakool wilayat [province]."
On November 20, 2019, a pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet published an editorial written by "Ibn Al-Gharib," who is introduced as the son of a former member of Al-Qaeda's shura ("council") under Osama bin Laden.
On November 30, 2019, the Al-Fath Al-Mubin operations room announced the start of a new offensive against the Assad regime in the countryside southeast of Idlib, named "And Do Not Be Weak."
Idlib-Based Military Trainer Killed In Drone Strike Ascribed To U.S. Coalition
On December 3, 2019, several Syrian rebel sources reported that an Algerian national known as Abu Ahmad Al-Jaza'iri or Abu Ahmad Al-Muhajir was killed in a drone strike targeting his vehicle in the village of Atmah, northwest of Idlib, adjacent to the Turkish border.
On December 3, 2019, Ebaa, the official Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) news agency, published declarations made by HTS military spokesman Abu Khalid Al-Shami, promising that the battle against the Syrian regime forces and Russia will continue until the Syrian revolution is victorious, the regime falls, and the Russian forces are ousted from Syria.
HTS Weekly Warns Against "Security Breaches" On WhatsApp, Recommends Riot, Wire, And Signal Instead
An article which appeared on November 26, 2019, in the Ebaa weekly newspaper, which is published by the Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-affiliated Ebaa News Agency, cautions readers against using the WhatsApp instant messaging application, listing five security vulnerabilities.
Profile Of Australian Jihadi Social Media Preacher Arrested On Terror Charges
An Australian jihadi social media preacher and Islamic State (ISIS) supporter was arrested on December 4, 2019, following a six-month counterterrorism investigation.
Syria's National Liberation Front Releases Video Showing Snipers Ambushing 'Russian Special Forces'
On November 27, 2019, the Turkey-backed National Liberation Front (NLF) released a video with text that reads: "For the first-time footage of our snipers ambushing a group of Russian special forces during their attempt to infiltrate A'jaz, in the eastern Idlib countryside."
National Liberation Front Announces Formation Of Special Forces
On December 2, 2019, a pro-National Liberation Front (NLF) media outlet reported about a "fierce" assault that was launched by the NLF against Russian forces on November 30, 2019, in the southeastern countryside of Idlib.
According to an Indian media report that was published on November 28, 2019, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Bindu Sampath, a Hindu woman, identified her daughter Nimisha (aka Fathima), as being part of an Islamic State (ISIS) cadre that had recently surrendered in Afghanistan.
On November 26, 2019, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) published a video on one of its websites. The video, titled "The Seminary Of Preparation," shows Taliban fighters training somewhere in Afghanistan.
