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Syria
A rebel sniper killed senior Syrian general Jama’a Jama’a in a battle in Deir Azzour with fighters that included al Qaeda forces. He was head of military intelligence in Deir Azzour, and had been blacklisted by the US in 2006. A Canadian lawyer who worked for the UN observer force along Syria’s Golan Heights border and who was kidnapped in February managed to escape from his rebel captors. The humanitarian evacuation of residents from rebel-held Moadhamiya has been impeded by both rebels and regime forces. Security concerns caused OPCW inspectors to be turned back from one site.
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Al Qaeda
Insight Into How Insurgents Fought in Iraq
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Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a video that detailed the Sept. 20 suicide assaults that targeted three military camps in Shabwa. AQAP gunned down a police officer in Hadramout; two security guards were shot and killed in Lahj on Oct. 15.
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AQAP video details suicide assaults against Yemeni bases in Shabwa
The video details the raids that targeted three Yemeni military bases in Shabwa province on Sept. 20.
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Israel
Responding to allegations that Turkey blew the cover of a number of Mossad contacts in Iran, former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said the move, if true, was an act of betrayal. US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said the recently discovered terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel were “simply shocking.” A Palestinian who tried to infiltrate an IDF base with a tractor was shot and killed.
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Egypt
Six Islamist militants were killed as security forces thwarted their plot to target an airport in el Arish. The Muslim Brotherhood called for new protests on Friday. The Justice Ministry is reportedly looking to draft an anti-terrorism law with the potential penalty of execution.
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Senior al Qaeda leader and former US detainee killed in drone strike in 2012
Hassan Ghul served as Osama bin Laden’s emissary to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, and later disclosed key information that led to the killing of bin Laden. The US captured Ghul in Iraq in 2004 and transferred him to Pakistan in 2006, where he was freed one year later, only to rejoin al Qaeda.
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European Union
Behind the Smiles in Geneva, No Concrete Progress in Iran Negotiations
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Uganda
Ugandan authorities beefed up security after receiving warnings that Shabaab may try to execute a Westgate Mall-type attack in Kampala. The US Embassy in Kampala issued a warning on Oct. 15 about the plot. Ugandan police warned on Oct. 2 that wanted Shabaab terrorist Andreas Martin Mueller a.k.a. Ahmed Khaled traveled to Kampala from Limulu, Kenya on Oct. 1. Authorities had looked for Mueller, who is of German origin, when he entered the country in January 2012 along with another Shabaab operative, Emrah Erdogan a.k.a. Imraan Al-Kurdy a.k.a. Salahaddin Al-Kurdy; the two men went to Tanzania, where Erdogan was arrested.
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Egypt
Amid new attacks, Egypt’s Copts preserve heritage
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Free Syrian Army continues to fracture as more units defect
Sixty-six units in the south split from the FSA and the Syrian National Coalition. One of the brigades has fought with the Al Nusrah Front in the past.
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Kenya
Investigators recovered four AK-47s and a human skull from the Westgate Mall site. Newly released CCTV footage shows attackers using their cell phones during the siege. Police are said to be holding three prime suspects, who are to be arraigned next week; over 60 suspects have been arrested, interrogated, and released. The US donated bomb disposal equipment to the Criminal Investigations Department.
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Tunisia
Armed Salafists from a group currently being pursued in the mountains attacked a checkpoint in Beja, about 45 miles west of Tunis, killing two National Guardsmen and injuring a third. Another attack was reported yesterday at a post in Jenduba near the Algerian border.
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Libya
A local army commander was assassinated in Derna, considered one of the most dangerous places in Libya. A Benghazi Joint Operations Room spokesman claimed that an explosion near a police station actually targeted a plant nursery. A recent explosion that killed four Ansar al Sharia militants at a camp in Sirte is rumored to have been the result of a US drone attack.
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Mali
The UN’s Mali envoy asked the Security Council to provide more troops and equipment for the MINUSMA peacekeeping force, which faces “severe” challenges. Of the 12,600 troops mandated for the mission, only about 5,200 are on the ground. Mali’s military chief for the northern region said sleeper cells exist in the area with jihadists from Sudan, Boko Haram, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). France plans to reduce its troop level in Mali from 3,200 to about 1,000; the US is not providing assistance to the Malian army but…
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Nigeria
An Adamawa state official said that over 3,000 residents of the Gwoza and Bama areas of Borno state have fled to Adamawa to escape fighting between Boko Haram and government forces. The governor of Ebonyi state called on Nigerians to rise up against Boko Haram. Amnesty International urged investigation into the alleged deaths of hundreds of Boko Haram militants in Nigerian detention; the Interior Minister dismissed the allegation as “not true.”
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Afghanistan
Pakistan releases seven low-ranking Afghan Taliban prisoners
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NSA
Documents reveal NSA’s extensive involvement in targeted killing program
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Iran
Turkey blows Israel’s cover for Iranian spy ring
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Afghanistan
The National Directorate of Security said that the bomb that killed the governor of Logar was planted in a Koran. Police gunned down a suicide bomber in Uruzgan before he could detonate his vest.
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Iraq
Al Qaeda in Iraq killed three children in an IED attack in Hamdaniyah and two soldiers in a mortar attack on a military base in Mosul. Security forces killed three al Qaeda fighters in a raid in Siniyah. Prime Minister Maliki will meet with President Obama on Nov. 1.
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Morocco
Moroccans demand more from mosques
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Central African Republic
Central African Republic forces attacking civilians, agencies say
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Afghanistan
How Afghanistan Has Changed the Bundeswehr German Military
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France
France agrees to shelter 500 Syrian refugees, UN says
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Denmark
Denmark – Homegrown imam programme proposed
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Pakistan
Pakistan – Booksellers take Taliban threat seriously
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Iran
Ansar Iran, a Sunni jihadist group, released a video threatening retaliation in the event of Iranian attempts to dismantle the group’s camps. EU head Catherine Ashton said the next round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program will begin in November. Talks today ended with no breakthrough, despite Iran’s offer to allow unannounced IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities.
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Turkey
Turkey – Cleric asks for Hagia Sophia to be used as a mosque
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Turkey
The military said it fired four artillery rounds at fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham near Azaz inside the Syrian border, claiming it was retaliating for a shell fired from the area that landed near a Turkish military post. The military’s statement marks the first time that it has fired at ISIS. The US has expressed concerns to Turkey about the flow of extremists through its borders into Syria.
