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 August 31, 2022, a pro Al-Qaeda anonymous journalist tweeted what was described as a "rare" photo of Sayf 'Al-Adl, a high-ranking veteran member of Al-Qaeda's senior leadership council and head of the organization's military committee, who is a likely candidate for leading Al-Qaeda following the death of Ayman Al-Zawahiri in a targeted U.S. drone strike in Kabul on July 31.
EXCLUSIVE: New Mexico ISIS Supporter Is Arrested; Described Air Force Base As Potential Target
A convert to Islam from New Mexico was arrested on August 26, 2022 for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
By Y. Kerman
Following is the final part of a five-part report focusing on Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP) activity in the Philippines over the past year, since August 2021. Using the data available, it suggests how the ISIS branch in the Philippines might be expected to develop and what the official and unofficial media produced by this branch can tell us about its trajectory.
EXCLUSIVE: U.S.-Based Pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Preacher Shown Lecturing Kindergarten Children
On August 31, 2022, an unofficial Twitter account affiliated with a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) preacher based in the U.S. shared a poster.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On August 26, 2022, the official media arm of Al-Qaeda, released the seventh issue of its magazine. The issue's feature article forecast that Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Al-Shabab, will soon take control of the East African country just as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
During November 2020, a now defunct pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet, released a series of 16 posters titled "Sheikhs of the Ummah [Islamic Nation]," depicting various leaders, commanders, and clerics associated with Al-Qaeda, some who were alive at the time and some who were already deceased.
On August 28, 2022, a Twitter account affiliated with a U.S.-based pro-ISIS preacher published a post claiming that the recent FBI raid on Donald Trump's residence was "Allah's retaliation" for Trump's treatment of him in 2017.
Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) Claims Capturing A Red Cross Vehicle In Niger
On August 29, 2022, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) reported: "With success granted by Allah, caliphate soldiers managed yesterday to capture a vehicle belonging to the Red Cross organization [...] in the Diffa region."
On August 25, 2022, the Islamic State (ISIS) released issue 353 of its weekly Al-Naba' newsletter, which included an editorial titled "Turkey and the March of Interests," disparaging the Turkish government's "interest-driven" policies and denigrating Syrian rebel factions for fighting on behalf of Turkey's interests and pursuing "illusory" goals.
An article, titled "What Our Enemies Are Thinking," in Issue 12 of "Voice of Khurasan," which is published by the media arm of the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), quotes Western military leaders, experts, and think tanks on their assessment of the threat from the Islamic State.
An article published in Issue Seven of "Khurasan Ghag," the Pashtu-language magazine published by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), says that slain Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri had been moved from Pakistan to Kabul where he was killed in a U.S. drone strike carried out with the help of the Afghan Taliban and on the orders of the Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is known as the main supporter of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the ruling Taliban jihadi organization), especially its Haqqani Network.
An article in the latest issue of "Voice of Khurasan," which is published by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K) – eulogizes an Afghan fighter who rose in the ranks of ISIS to become a leading commander for several cities.
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An article in the latest issue of "Voice of Khurasan," which is published by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), has published the profile of an Indian Christian who converted to Islam somewhere in the Gulf and later carried out a martyrdom-seeking attack in Libya.
An article in the latest issue of "Voice of Khurasan," which is published by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), explaining the Islamic concept of Tawheed Ar-Rububiyyah (i.e., unity of Allah's Lordship) to the followers of the Islamic State.
On August 25, 2022, Al-Qaeda's official media outlet released a statement condemning the July 27 Jeddah summit, attended by President Biden, the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq, as a "Crusader-Zionist" scheme aimed at eradicating Islam from the Arab Peninsula.
On August 28, 2022, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a video titled "Enlightening Insight on the Apostasy of Algerian Rulers," which features an audio message by a senior AQIM operative who asserts that Muslims in Algeria are required to support jihadis to fight the "tyrant" ruling elite in the country.
On August 25, the media arm of the Mali-based Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), or the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), issued a claim of responsibility in Arabic and French for "multiple operations" against the Russia-backed Wagner group and the Malian army in the past few days, resulting in a number of casualties.
Following an August 15 post by a senior Iraqi-born religious official in the Idlib-based jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) – which severed its ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016 – in which he advised Al-Qaeda branches to dissolve the organization, reconsider their jihadi agenda and focus on fighting Iran, two unknown Al-Qaeda supporters published posts criticizing the cleric's advice.
On August 27, 2022, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a 26-minute video containing an audio message titled "To Our People in Yemen," featuring a commander discussing recent events in the country's Shabwah governorate. In early August, the provincial governor dismissed a senior official belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned Al-Islah party, leading to bloody clashes between party supporters and UAE-backed forces.
On August 26, 2022 the official media arm of Al-Qaeda Central Command, released the seventh issue of its magazine.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
The March-April 2022 issue of an Urdu-language Al-Qaeda magazine is centered on a theme articulated as "From Aqsa To Kashmir – One Ummah, One War," seeking to project the jihadi conflicts from Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to the Kashmir Valley as a single global war against the non-Islamic world.
On August 26, 2022, the media arm of Al-Qaeda Central, released the seventh issue of its magazine, which included the second installment of a series titled "Restraining the Vile People of the Media."
Al-Shabab Claims At Least 19 Casualties In Multiple Attacks Across Somalia
Between August 25-29, 2022, the Shahada News Agency, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), reported nine new claims of attacks by Al-Shabab operatives against Somali police and military targets across several provinces.
On August 26, 2022 Al-Kata'ib Foundation, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's Somali affiliate Al-Shabab, released a 12-minute video in Somali titled "Relief Campaign for Those Affected By Drought in The Islamic States – Part Three."
On August 24, 2022 Al-Kata'ib Foundation, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's Somali affiliate Al-Shabab, released a video in Somali titled "Relief Campaign for Those Affected By Drought in The Islamic States – Part Two."
On August 24, 2022, a pro-Al-Shabab news outlet published a report in Somali covering a meeting that Al-Shabab held with local residents to announce the rebuilding of the hospital in the town of Kunyo Barrow in Lower Shabelle Province. The report included telephone and bank account numbers where donors can send contributions.
On August 27, 2022, the media arm of the Somali-based Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab released a two-page press release on the recent Kenyan elections, titled "Kenya at a Crossroads," calling on Muslim Kenyans to pressure the new government to withdraw its military mission in Somalia, and threatening new attacks on Kenyan forces in Somalia and inside Kenya.
On August 30, 2022, an anti-Islamic State (ISIS) channel on the Al-Qaeda-operated Rocket.Chat server posted what it said was script notes from a 2017 ISIS video production called "Army of Reinforcement," which was released by the ISIS branch in Yemen.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
The Kuwaiti Al-Qabas daily and the Syrian opposition website Horan Free League recently published lengthy articles describing the "increasing tension in southern Syria," in light of Iran's moves to exploit Russia's preoccupation with the war in Ukraine, to entrench its control over Syria's Daraa Governorate by deploying forces of the militias it supports, headed by the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade, along the border with Jordan.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
In a recent editorial, Afghan daily Hasht-e-Subh examined the ideology of Hizbut Tahrir, noting that "during the Iran Revolution, it referred to and suggested Imam Khomeini take the leadership of the Islamic caliphate. At the same time, it referred to [Libya's Muammar] Mohammad Gaddafi to declare the Islamic caliphate; and two decades after that it entered into negotiations about a deal on caliphate declaration with [Afghan Taliban founder] Mullah Mohammad Omar."
On August 30, the official Telegram bot of a predominantly Kurdish Salafi-jihadi militant group that operates in northern Iraq and Syria released a four-minute video clip on the ongoing conflict between the group and the Assad regime.
Idlib-Based Albanian Jihadi Group Promotes Use Of Weaponry On Twitter
A jihadi militant group comprised of ethnic Albanians operating in the Syrian city of Idlib and its surrounding areas released a range of promotional content on Telegram documenting the activities of its fighters.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Between August 23-25, 2022, there was a further escalation of the tensions between the U.S. forces and Iran-backed forces in Syria. According to U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Dr. Colin Kahl, on August 23, U.S. planes bombed "several infrastructure facilities used by militia groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC]."
On August 26, 2022, a media outlet affiliated with Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr shared a statement released by a pro-Sadr hacking team that claimed responsibility for a series of cyber attacks against websites belonging to several Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Lebanon.
On August 29, 2022, the official website of the defense ministry of the Yemen-based Houthi Ansar Allah movement published an editorial in its weekly magazine warning Israel not to take "a stupid step" and attack the Houthis in Yemen, stating that if it does, Yemen "won't hesitate to inflict harsh and painful blows upon it."
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban) has released a new video featuring its fighters undergoing military training somewhere along the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
In an interview with an Indian website, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, emir of the Pakistani jihadi organization Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has rejected the possibility of TTP surrendering its arms or joining the political system of Pakistan as a result of the TTP-Pakistan talks in Afghanistan under Afghan Taliban mediation.
Two leading Pakistan dailies recently published editorials expressing concern over Pakistan's negotiations with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the rising violence in the Swat and Dir districts of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the Islamist Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party is in power.
Following the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in a U.S. drone strike on July 31 in Kabul, Afghan Taliban Defense Minister Mawlavi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid accused Pakistan at an August 28, 2022 press conference in Kabul of allowing the use of its airspace by U.S. unmanned aircraft to enter Afghanistan.
