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.
EXCLUSIVE: Iraqi Group Threatens U.S. Embassy In Baghdad: 'Our Eyes Are Monitoring Your Movements'
On April 2, 2020, a recently formed Iraqi group that appears to be an Iranian proxy released a video threatening the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, showing what appears to be footage of the embassy filmed from a drone.
On April 8, 2020, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper published a report, citing a "security source" as saying that Iran is providing training and weapons to the newly founded Iraqi Shi'ite group, called "The League of Revolutionaries" to target U.S. interests and harm Gulf interests.
On March 28, a Facebook user shared a selfie at work in which he held up a newspaper reporting on coronavirus cases in New Mexico.
On April 5, 2020, a Syrian opposition Facebook page known for leaking intelligence information shared photos purporting that the Iran-backed group Kata'ib Hizbullah (KH) in Iraq has been smuggling weapons and rockets into Syria in refrigerated delivery trucks.
On April 2, 2020, Kata'ib Hizbullah (KH) in Iraq issued a statement on its website responding to President Donald Trump's tweet a day earlier in which he warned Iran and its proxies not to carry out a sneak attack on U.S. troops or assets in Iraq.
On April 6, 2020, a report published in an online news outlet based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) claimed that the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), led by Kata'ib Hizbullah (KH) in Iraq are continuing to dig secret tunnels for the transportation of rockets via the Iraqi district of Qa'im to the Syrian Imam Ali military base in Al-Bukamal, which hosts fighters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and other affiliated militias.
ISIS Claims It Captured Iraqi Army Position, Seizing Weapons, Ammunition
According to an April 5, 2020 report by the Islamic State (ISIS), the organization captured an Iraqi army position in Iraq's Al-Anbar province.
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On April 2, 2020, the Islamic State (ISIS) released its weekly newspaper Al-Naba', which includes an editorial denouncing the U.S.-Taliban agreement and describes it as a "deceptive acknowledgment of defeat."
In Issue Two of Sawt Al-Hind ("the Voice of India") magazine, the Islamic State (ISIS) in Kashmir declared the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) to be an apostate force after it signed a peace deal with the U.S. on the future of Afghanistan in Doha, on February 29, 2020.
Issue 228 of the Islamic State (ISIS) weekly Al-Naba' included a report claiming that ISIS fighters had carried out two attacks on the Tunisian army in February and March 2020.
ISIS Claims Killing 70 Soldiers From The Multinational Joint Task Force In The Lake Chad Region
On April 6, 2020 the Islamic State (ISIS) Province of West Africa reported killing over 70 soldiers from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), comprising forces from Chad, Nigeria, and Niger.
On April 2, 2020, Islamic State (ISIS) published Issue 228 of the Al-Naba' weekly newspaper on the Riot.im platform, in which there is an infographic that details the group's operations in "Wasat Ifriqiyah," or Central Africa Province, from January 2020 until late March 2020.
ISIS Releases Video Featuring Attacks On Army Positions In Nigeria's Borno, Yobe
On April 5, 2020, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video featuring ISIS fighters attacking military positions in northeastern Nigeria.
Exchange Company, Designated By U.S. Treasury For Supporting ISIS, Opens 'Official' Telegram Channel
On April 1, 2020, a Forex company that was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for providing financial, material, and technological support to the Islamic State (ISIS), announced that its branches in Syria opened an official Telegram channel.
According to a report published in the Indian media on March 28, 2020, the leader of the Islamic State's Wilayah Khorasan, or Khorasan Province, is a former member of the Pakistani jihadi organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
On Rocket.Chat, Pro-ISIS Group Publishes Posters Threatening Chicago And London
On April 3, 2020, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) group on Rocket.Chat published two posters, one of which shows Chicago, while the other shows London Bridge.
Pro-ISIS Outlet Reposts Old Al-Qaeda Operational Guides In English
On April 4, 2020 a pro-ISIS outlet posted on its Telegram channel a 10-page compilation of two operational guides originally published in the October 11, 2010, in the second issue of Inspire, the English-language mouthpiece of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
On March 31, 2020, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated media outlet released a short statement titled "Coronavirus and the Takuba Cure," in response to France's March 27 announcement on the creation of Task Force Takuba, a French-led European special operation force in the Sahel.
On April 1, 2020, a pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet shared two posts on Telegram gloating over the suicides of Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister for the German state of Hesse, and an American, both of whom took their own lives due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Al-Qaeda Supporter Defends Hurras Al-Din Against Allegations That It Does Not Fight The Assad Regime
On March 20, 2020, a Syria-based Al-Qaeda supporter posted an article on his Telegram channel responding to accusations leveled against Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, Hurras Al-Din.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) has refused to begin intra-Afghan talks exclusively with a 21-member team appointed by the Afghan government.
On March 31, 2020, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) claimed that at least 109 personnel of the Afghan military joined the Taliban during the month of March 2020.
Afghan Taliban Accuse U.S. Of Violating The U.S.-Taliban Agreement
On April 5, 2020, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban organization) – which signed an agreement with the U.S. on the future of Afghanistan on February 29, 2020 – released a statement accusing the U.S. of violating the terms of the pact.
