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.
On February 14, 2024, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, also known as the "GUR MOU," published. on its website, Facebook page and Telegram channel,lists of what it claimed to be Syrian nationals who were recruited by Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine.
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 20, 2023, Jihad Al-Samiteen, a Telegram channel affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq, shared three photos allegedly showing Russian soldiers in Ukraine, posing with pictures of slain Iranian General Qasim Soleimani.
On February 20, 2024, Telegram channel "Military Encyclopedia of the Iraqi Resistance Factions," which supports the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, posted remarks of Russian security officer Yevgeny Goncharov praising slain Quds Force commander General Qasim Soleimani. The two met in Syria's desert area, Goncharov said.
On February 19, 2024, the European Union (EU) announced the launch of Operation ASPIDES (Greek for "shields"), "a defensive maritime security operation," whose purpose is "to restore and safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf."
On February 21, 2024, a media outlet affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq accused a former French consul in Erbil, Iraq of engaging in illicit sex acts and corruption.
On February 20, 2024, Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement claimed responsibility for several military operations targeting American and Israeli warships in the Red Sea. The claim came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for similar attacks on American ships in the Gulf of Aden.
On February 17, 2024, the armed forces of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for a "targeting operation against a British oil ship (the MT Pollux) in the Red Sea, with a large number of appropriate naval missiles." The statement was issued only two days after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on another British ship in the Gulf of Aden.
Pro-Lebanese Hizbullah Daily: Al-Houthis' New Rules of Engagement Include Sinking Ships In Red Sea
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 20, 2024, the pro-Lebanese Hizbullah daily, Al-Akhabr, published a report citing unnamed informed sources as saying that Yemen's Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis, would be escalating attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, aiming to sink the ships.
On February 19, 2024, the armed forces of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for "targeting a British ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Rubymar, with a number of appropriate naval missiles," and for downing an American (MQ9) drone in the Al-Hudaydah Governorate in Yemen.
Yemen's Houthis Claimed Missile Attack On British Ship In The Gulf Of Aden
On February 15, 2024, Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement claimed responsibility for attacking a British ship in the Gulf of Aden.
On February 19, 2024, the armed forces of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for attacks on the same day with "appropriate naval missiles" on American ships in the Gulf of Aden – the Sea Champion and the Navis Fortuna.
Yemen's Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Condemns X For Suspension Of Group's Account
On February 17, 2024, the management of the official website of Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (the Houthis) published a series of statements on Telegram condemning the suspension of the group's account on X. According to reports, X suspended accounts affiliated with the group, coinciding with the enforcement of the U.S. decision to restore the group's terrorist designation.
Hizbullah-Allied Amal Movement Announces 'Martyrs' In Israeli Strikes In Southern Lebanon
On February 11, 2024, the Lebanese Shi'ite Amal Movement published statements announcing that two of its operatives were "martyred while fulfilling their national and jihadi duty in defense of Lebanon and the south."
On February 15, 2024, the Syrian pro-opposition Naher Media website reported that in recent days, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested about 50 of its local operatives in Deir Al-Zour city, Al-Mayadin, and Al-'Asharah in eastern Syria, most of whom belong to IRGC's special forces regiment.
On February 15, 2024, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed joint operations group of Iraqi militias, published a statement claiming responsibility for a February 12 drone attack against a "military target" in Israel's Golan Heights.
On February 21, 2024, London-based Qatari Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed news outlet reported that the Al-Nujaba Movement, which is an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, agreed to suspend attacks on U.S. bases in the region. The report said, the "unannounced conditional truce," came in response to demands by Iraqi officials who want to negotiate a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq.
On February 20, 2024, the media office of Qais Al-Khazali, the Secretary-General of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Asa'ib Ahl Al-Haq (AHH) issued a statement highlighting a same day meeting between him and Elbrus Kutrashev, the Russian Ambassador to Iraq.
On February 20, the Al-Zallaqa Media Foundation, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the African Sahel, Jama'at Nusrat Al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen (the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims – GSIM), published a statement claiming that on February 12, a GSIM company assaulted soldiers of the Russian state-backed Wagner Group private military company (PMC) who were riding motorcycles on the road connecting Serma and Boni in Mali's Mopti region, causing deaths and injuries and destroying several motorcycles.
On February 9-15, 2024, Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the African Sahel, Jama'at Nusrat Al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen (the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims – GSIM), claimed attacks against armed forces in Burkina Faso, and Malian forces and operatives of the Russian state-backed private military company (PMC), the Wagner Group.
On February 17, 2024, the press office of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), published a statement in English claiming that on February 15, two Cuban prisoners held by the group were killed in American drone strikes in the city of Jilib, in Somalia's Juba province.
On February 21, 2024, Somalia and Turkey signed an agreement according to which the latter country will build, train and equip the Somali navy, now virtually inactive. The agreement comes after Somalia's breakaway Somaliland region signed a January 1 memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ethiopia, leasing landlocked Ethiopia about 20 kilometers of coastline along the Gulf of Aden in return for Ethiopian recognition of Somaliland's independence.
On February 20, 2024, Al-Sahab, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), published a two-page statement in Urdu, English, and Arabic, urging Muslims to take action to stop the demolition of mosques in India. This report reviews the statement.
In a Dari-language video, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) warns Jews and criticizes the Afghan Taliban for refraining from acting against Israel to avenge the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.
On February 18, 2024, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) released a video narrated in Pashto and subtitled into Arabic, titled "And Fight the Polytheists Together" (Quran 9:36). The 55-minute video highlights ISKP attacks – many of which occurred a year or more ago – against the Afghan Taliban, Shi'ites and other religious minorities, and other enemies, justifying them at length by listing the group's grievances against the Taliban and the reasons it considers it an apostate enemy group.
ISIS Weekly Editorial Emphasizes Importance of Steadfastness In Jihad
On February 15, 2024, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 430 of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba'. The issue's feature article praises the resolve of ISIS fighters and emphasizes the importance of remaining steadfast in jihad.
In recent days, the Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) has claimed a series of attacks against Christian villages in northern Mozambique.
On February 20, 2024, a user of the Islamic State (ISIS)-operated Rocket Chat server shared a statement in English, translated by the Al-Aan Foundation for Media Productions, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic State's East Asia Province (ISEAP). The statement and the photos highlighted a recent attack conducted by ISEAP against the Filipino Army in Lanao Del Norte 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 14, 2024, the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Bariqah News Agency posted a 16-page essay by the pro-ISIS Bunat Al-Amjad Foundation, titled "The Ottoman Empire in the Scales of Islam." The essay was originally published on August 7, 2019, and Bariqah has republished it multiple times since. Written under the pseudonym 'Ayn Al-Haqiqah (Eye of Truth), the essay argues that the Ottoman Empire was un-Islamic from its inception and claims that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Muslim Brotherhood have followed in the footsteps of the Ottomans.
On February 15, 2024, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel shared a post calling on fighters and supporters to assassinate an Iraq-based correspondent who works for the Saudi-funded Al-Arabyia News.
