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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The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
In the aftermath of Hamas's assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel's subsequent war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, jihadi clerics have issued numerous statements approving of the attack and instructions on means of violence in support of Palestinians.
On February 9, 2024, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed joint operations group of Iraqi militias, claimed responsibility for an attack on "a vital target of the Zionist entity on the shore of the Dead Sea." Israeli sources neither confirmed nor denied the attack. The group also issued an official call to "the brothers in jihad" to join its ranks and "take an active part in the expulsion of the occupation."
On February 8, 2024, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported that Iran-backed militias in Iraq are preparing to attack U.S. forces in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The plans reportedly come as part of a "third phase" of militia operations against U.S. interests in the region amid the Israel-Hamas War.
On February 7, 2024, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that at 9:30 p.m. (Baghdad time) its forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing an Iran-backed Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region.
On February 12, 2024, the armed forces of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for "targeting the American ship Star Iris in the Red Sea with a number of appropriate naval missiles."
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On February 13, 2024, Sabereen News, a Telegram outlet affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq, published a letter sent by the Russian Ambassador to Iraq, Elbrus Kutrashev, to Falah Al-Fayyad, the head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), offering condolences to the families of PMU fighters who were killed in the recent U.S. strikes.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On February 10, 2023, Lebanese Hizbullah's Al-Nour Radio published on its website the transcript of an interview it had conducted with Ihsan Ataya, a representative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Lebanon.
Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Ziyad Al-Nakhalah, reportedly met with Lebanese Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, although no information was provided about where or when the meeting took place.
Gaza-Based Pro-Hamas Media Outlet Continues To Solicit Cryptocurrency Donations
On February 10, 2024, a pro-Hamas outlet shared a post on its Telegram channel, in English and Arabic, which included a wallet address to donate funds using the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency and a QR code leading to the wallet address.
On February 12, 2024, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar published an article titled "American Offers of Appeasement Are Renewing: Active Saudi-Yemeni Communication." In it, the pro-Lebanese Hizbullah outlet reported that Yemen's Houthi Ansar Allah Movement remains committed to targeting U.S. and British forces in the Red Sea, despite U.S. military and political maneuvers aimed at curbing the Houthi attack campaign.
On February 9, 2024, Iran-backed Hizbullah Brigades released a statement condemning the February 7 U.S. drone attack that killed its senior commander, Abu Baqir Al-Sa'adi, in Baghdad.
On February 9, 2024, the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published a lengthy article reviewing activity of Iran-backed militias in Iraq since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza. This report is based on the article.
On February 7, 2024, an Arabic-language Telegram channel affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shared a post suggesting that the IRGC would be part of the Iraqi militias' retaliation against the U.S. drone attack, which hit Baghdad on February 7, killing Abu Baqir Al-Sa'adi, a senior commander in the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades.
On February 11, 2024, a Bahraini cyber group published a statement claiming a cyberattack on Navy MWR Bahrain, the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation program provided by the United States Navy for its forces in Bahrain.
On February 11, 2024, Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), issued an official statement following an attack it carried out the previous day on UAE-backed forces in Mogadishu in which – according to Al-Shabab reports – several senior officers were killed, among them the commander of UAE forces in central and southern Somalia.
On February 10, 2024, the Shahada News Agency, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), quoted a statement by Al-Shabab's military command concerning a same-day Al-Shabab assault on United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed forces in Mogadishu.
The February 2024 issue of Urdu-language journal Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hind ("the Voice of the Battle of India"), which is published by Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), has a series of scholarly articles that reject elections and democracy in Pakistan, and argue that jihad is the only means for establishing the law of Allah.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Three lead articles in the January 2024 issue of Urdu-language journal Nawa-i-Ghazwa-e-Hind ("the Voice of the Battle of India"), which is published by Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), discuss issues concerning the Hamas-Israel war, the supposed animosity of Jews and Hindus toward Muslims, and America's role as Israel's protector. The magazine quotes slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's statement calling for attacks against Americans worldwide.
On February 8, 2024, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, released a video titled, "Jihad for the Sake of Allah is the Solution." The nine-minute production by AQAP's media arm, Al-Malahem Media, is the second video released as part of the official re-launch of the group's English-language "Inspire" magazine.
On February 14, 2024, pro-Al-Qaeda jihadi clerics and ideologues continued to react to the death of Muhammad bin Muhammad Rabi' Al-Zawahiri, a.k.a. Abu Ayman Al-Masri, a prominent Salafi jihadi figure and younger brother of slain Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who died at home in the Egyptian city of Al-Jizah. He was 71.
Pro-Al-Qaeda Media Releases Poster Advising Muslims In Sudan On How To Perform Jihad
On February 8, 2024, a pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet released a poster featuring operational guidance for jihadis in Sudan.
Pro-Al-Qaeda Media Group Publishes Arabic Translation Of Online Guides To AI Chatbots
On February 10, 2024, a pro-Al-Qaeda media group published a 50-page book.
During February 9 and 10, 2024, Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) claimed responsibility for an attack on about 20 soldiers from the Mozambique Armed Defense Forces in the Macomia district of Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique, and for an attack on a Christian village in the same area, which included the execution of one of its residents. These occurred during the first two weeks of February, while at the same time ISMP was continuing to conduct "a preaching campaign" in Cabo Delgado Province.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On February 12, 2024, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel posted a photo and a video, reporting that a passenger bus was shot at in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, killing the driver, and that the attackers left notes for the passengers.
On February 8, 2024, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 429 of Al-Naba', the group's official weekly newsletter, featuring an editorial titled, "But They Plan, And Allah Plans. And Allah Is The Best Of Planners."
In an Urdu-language book released on the eve of the February 8, 2024, parliamentary elections in Pakistan, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) says democracy is "major unbelief," and argues that those who make and implement laws other than Allah's law are outside the fold of Islam, even if they are Islamic scholars.
An article in the latest issue of the "Voice of Khurasan," an English-language monthly magazine published by Al-Azaim Media Foundation, a media outlet linked to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which defines itself as a supporting entity for the Islamic State (ISIS), laments that Muslims of the Maldives, who publicly voiced support for the Islamic State (ISIS) after the establishment of the caliphate in 2014, are now silent about their country's direction, especially its relations with non-Muslim countries such as India and China.
The latest issue of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) Urdu-language magazine "Taliban," describes Jews as pigs and monkey and has a series of articles attacking Pakistan Army chief Gen. Asim Munir for saying that the life of a single Pakistani is more valuable than all of Afghanistan. The issue also mentions Aafiq Siddiqui, a U.S.-educated Pakistani neuroscientist, is serving an 86-year prison term for trying to kill American military personnel in Afghanistan.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP): Pakistani Military Is Sending ISIS Fighters Into Afghanistan
According to an Indian media report, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban) has stated that the Pakistani military, in a policy resembling that institution's infiltration of Kashmir, is sending Islamic State (ISIS) fighters into Afghanistan.
