Al Qaeda's branch in East Africa "still maintained control over large portions of the country" and "retained the ability to carry out high-profile attacks" in 2017 despite increased targeting by the US military, the African Union, and the Somali government. Read more >
The State Department has released its Country Reports on Terrorism 2017. As in past reports, State says that "Iran has allowed AQ [al Qaeda] facilitators to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran since at least 2009, enabling AQ to move funds and fighters to South Asia and Syria." Read more >
Al Qaeda released a message from its leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 hijackings. Zawahiri argues that the jihadists must view various conflicts raging around the globe as a "single war with different fronts against a united enemy." Read more >
AL Qaeda's operatives are fighting in more countries around the world today than was the case on 9/11. And its leaders still want to target the United States and its interest and allies. The war they started is far from over. Read more >
The State Department announced today that it has designated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al Qaeda's branch in Mali and West Africa, as a terrorist organization. JNIM and its leader, Iyad Ghali, are openly loyal to al Qaeda and the Taliban's emir. Read more >
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has released a new video that includes the testimony of several "spies" who have allegedly helped the Saudis and Americans hunt down the group's members. There are reasons to be skeptical of AQAP's claims, but the organization is clearly concerned that spies will do more damage to its hierarchy. Read more >
Jalaluddin fought the Soviets, served as the Minister of Frontiers during the Taliban rule of Afghanistan from 1996-2001, was a member of the Taliban's Quetta Shura, or governing body, and father of Sirajuddin Haqqani, one of the Taliban's two deputy emirs and overall military commander. Read more >
The United States has conducted a total of 34 strikes in Yemen in 2018, all of which targeted Al Qaeda barring one strike against the Islamic State in Jan. 2018. However the military is not likely to top last year's high. Read more >
The Trump administration is desperately trying to negotiate with the Taliban's senior leadership. The Obama administration did as well, with the effort ending in a diplomatic fiasco. Read more >
This is the first strike since early June, when the United States targeted both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in separate strikes in Bani Walid. Read more >
Bajauri's death is likely to be touted as a strategic blow to Khorasan province. However, the US military has killed the three previous leaders in the span of 25 months, and yet the group has expanded its operations. Read more >
Al Qaeda has released a new message from its emir, Ayman al Zawahiri, who argues that the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a core part of a new, imagined caliphate. Read more >
At a Pentagon press conference, General Nicholson again gave a Pollyannish assessment of the state of Afghanistan. He claimed the peace process is working and the Taliban's offensive is failing, and took credit for a Taliban victory over the Islamic State. Read more >
The strike is the second against Shabaab, which is al Qaeda's branch in East Africa, in Somalia that has been reported by U.S. Africa Command this month. Read more >
The death of Ibrahim al Asiri, one of the most dangerous and wanted men in the world, has yet to be confirmed. If he is confirmed to have been killed, his death will likely have minimal impact on AQAP as he has shared his expertise for well over a decade. Read more >
According to a new report published by the United Nations, al Qaeda's "alliance with the Taliban and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan remains firm," as al Qaeda and the Taliban are "closely allied." Some of the UN's Member States consider al Qaeda's global network to be a bigger long-term threat than the Islamic State. Read more >
Al Qaeda has long operated in Ghazni province, the site of a large-scale Taliban offensive in recent days. In 2010, Osama bin Laden ordered his men to relocate from northern Pakistan into Ghazni and other Afghan provinces. Bin Laden's lieutenant also wrote in mid-2010 that al Qaeda had "very strong military activity" in at least eight Afghan provinces, including Ghazni. More recently, American and Afghan forces have targeted al Qaeda operatives in the province. Read more >
The raids in Helmand and Nangarhar indicate that al Qaeda's leaders are not focused on its survival. Al Mesri was focused on manufacturing IEDs to support the Taliban's insurgency in Helmand, while Rahmatullah and his cohorts were operating in Nangarhar's provincial capital. Read more >
AFRICOM noted that Shabaab, which is al Qaeda's branch in East Africa, continues to maintain "training camps" and "safe havens throughout Somalia and the region." Read more >
In 2017, LWJ reported unprecedented levels of airstrikes in Somalia and Yemen. Thus far in 2018, the United States has sustained its high strike tempo in Somalia and improved transparency on its air campaign in Yemen. Strikes in Pakistan have leveled off, however press restrictions make tracking operations there difficult. In Libya, the U.S. has targeted jihadists sparingly. Read more >
The Red Unit, the Taliban's version of special forces that operates throughout Afghanistan and is often at the tip of the spear of assaults on district centers, military bases and outposts, is said to have initiated the fighting in Dasht-i-Archi district. At least 30 Afghan soldiers were killed during the assault. Read more >
The deadly bombing is the first major attack executed by the Taliban group since Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud assumed command of the group in late June. Read more >
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Afghanistan and Syria has long operated as part of the Taliban-al Qaeda axis. Earlier this year, however, the TIP's Syrian branch sided with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) during its battles with other rebel groups. This infighting and related events have complicated the picture with respect to the TIP in Syria. One TIP-affiliated outlet claimed earlier this year that the group's senior management had sent new leadership from Afghanistan to Syria. Read more >
The Pentagon and the US intelligence community have been consistently wrong about al Qaeda's strength in Afghanistan, and evidence of strategic ties between the two groups does indeed exist. Read more >
Hay'at Tahrir al Sham (HTS) and its jihadist rivals in the "Guardians of Religion" organization have called on all Muslims to resist the Assad regime's new offensive in southern Syria. However, severe infighting has limited the jihadists' ability to launch sustained operations against the Assad regime and its allies. Read more >
The TTP appears to be returning to its roots by selecting Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, a prominent commander from the Mehsud tribe, to lead it. The TTP also confirmed the death of Mullah Fazlullah. Read more >
The Afghan Ministry of Defense claims Mullah Fazlullah was killed in a US airstrike in Kunar on June 13. His death has not been confirmed by the US or the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Fazlullah's death, if confirmed, may not be as impactful as US, Pakistani, and Afghan officials would like to believe. Read more >
CENTCOM released the dates and general locations of the last 18 counterterrorism strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Since early 2017, the military has provided few details on the Yemen air campaign, typically only providing an aggregate number and scant information on high-value target strikes. Read more >
"Talking to impotent parties [the Afghan government] during the presence of occupying forces is pointless," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an official statement released on Voice of Jihad. Read more >
The State Department has amended the terrorist designation for Al Nusrah Front to include the "alias" Hay'at Tahrir al Sham (HTS). State's announcement indicates that the US government still considers HTS to be part of al Qaeda's network, despite the jihadists' vitriolic disputes over its formation. State didn't explain its reasoning behind the move. Read more >
Two regional combatant commands acknowledged reports of civilian casualties in recent operations. Read more >
The US military has conducted 27 counterterrorism strikes in Yemen in 2018, but has only provided complete information on two. One of the strikes hit an AQAP training camp in Hadramout. Read more >
Hazrat Abbas served as a leader for both al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. AQIS was formed to unite disparate jihadist factions to fight under the banner of the Afghan Taliban. Read more >
Al Qaeda has released a message from its leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, that is timed to coincide with the Trump administration's relocation of the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Zawahiri notes that the decision caused a "big uproar," but he reminds listeners that Tel Aviv is also supposedly Muslim land. He calls for jihad to uproot the entire international system led by the US and the UN. Read more >
Yet again, senior American officials display a stunning level of ignorance about the Islamic State and the Taliban. Elections are antithetical to jihadists' belief of religious rule. Read more >
US officials should stop debasing themselves by issuing facile calls for peace. The Taliban has no intention of joining a political process and as it has stated numerous times, its goals are the expulsion of US and foreign forces, the overthrow of the Afghan government, the re-establishment of the of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the imposition of its harsh brand of Sharia. Read more >
The video highlights the worsening security situation in the Afghan north, including Baghlan, where 12 of the province's 14 districts are contested and one is controlled by the Taliban. Read more >
JNIM claims the brazen assault was in retaliation for the death of several of its commanders and fighters in recent French raids. Read more >
The military has not produced detailed press releases for any strikes this year, continuing 2017's limited transparency. Read more >
The Islamic State's propagandists continue to take aim at rival jihadists, including al Qaeda and Hay'at Tahrir al Sham (HTS). A recent Islamic State video calls upon HTS fighters to defect to the so-called caliphate's cause. Read more >
In the past six months, US forces have thrice interdicted Shabaab car bombs and prevented imminent attacks against civilians in the Somalia capital, Mogadishu. Read more >
The United States attacked al Qaeda's branch in Somalia in the southern town of Jilib, a recurring strike location and known Shabaab safe haven. Read more >
In his latest message, Hamza bin Laden warns that Shiites are expanding throughout the Middle East and claims that the Saudi government is incapable of stopping them. Hamza calls upon Muslims to support the jihadists in Yemen. He also criticizes the relationship between the Saudis and the US. Read more >
The US military announced that it killed Musa Abu Dawud, a high-ranking al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb leader in Libya, in an airstrike last weekend. Dawud is an established jihadist who has been in the fight with the GSPC and AIQM for at least three decades. Read more >
Jihadists and Islamists in Syria have denounced the US government's decision to designate Katibat Imam al Bukhari (KIB) as a terrorist organization. The KIB's own statement on the designation includes misleading claims and some of those defending the group have their own al Qaeda links. Read more >
The latest edition of al Qaeda's Al-Nafir news bulletin addresses the jihadists' infighting in Syria. Al Qaeda has been forced to comment on the disputes multiple times over the past year. Read more >
As Sahab has released two new messages from al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri in recent days. In the first, he again criticizes Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's Islamic State, accusing it of sowing dissent in the jihadists' ranks. In the second, Zawahiri reminds jihadists and Muslims that his organization considers the US to be their "first enemy." Read more >
US forces conducted nine strikes in Somalia this year, all of which have targeted al Qaeda's affiliate in the country. Read more >
A US military spokesman also said that the military would be fine if the Taliban was operating on the Pakistani side of the border just as long as Afghanistan was secured. Read more >
The US military has launched 22 airstrikes against al Qaeda int he Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State's Yemeni branch, a spokesman told FDD's Long War Journal. Read more >
