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Iraq
More than 70 people were killed in a series of bombings and attacks in Baghdad, Bayji, Mosul, Tikrit, and Jisr Diyala. In Bayji, a suicide assault team killed eight policemen in an attack on a police station. In Tikrit, another suicide assault team killed two civilians in an attempt to storm the city council building.
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Syria
US Ambassador Robert Ford is said to be meeting with the Islamic Front tomorrow. The Assad regime complained to the UN that the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front killed over 100 Syrians in the Damascus suburb of Adra last week. Rebel fighters are seeking to lift the siege of Eastern Ghouta. Recent regime airstrikes in rebel-held areas of Aleppo have reportedly killed over 100 people. Russia told the UN Security Council that the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in Ghouta was a provocation “staged” by the Syrian opposition; on Dec. 13, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said whoever perpetrated…
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Turkey
A Turkish news outlet reported that Turkey has shipped 47 tonnes of weapons to Syrian rebels since June, including 29 tonnes in September. Last month the Interior Ministry said hundreds of Turkish jihadists were fighting alongside al Qaeda forces in Syria. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu denied the weapons claims; another official said only shotguns and ammunition were sent, not heavier weapons.
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ISIS launches 2 more suicide assaults in Iraq
Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham has conducted eight suicide attacks, including six suicide assaults, inside Iraq so far this month.
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Saudi Arabia
Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani and Hamood Abdulla Hamood, two ex-Guantanamo detainees who were suspected of membership in al Qaeda, were transferred to Saudi Arabia. Former intelligence chief Prince Turki al Faisal accused the US of being indecisive in the Middle East and failing to adequately support the Syrian rebels. A Saudi court sentenced Omar al Saeed, a political activist who has criticized the ruling family’s human rights record, to 300 lashes and four years in jail for calling for a constitutional monarchy.
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Egypt
Egyptian forces reportedly intensified their campaign to find Ansar Bayt al Maqdis and al Furqan Brigades members in the Ismailia area. Army operations in North Sinai also continued. Defense Minister el Sisi reiterated his call for tribes in Sinai and Upper Egypt to hand over their weaponry. Supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi said they will boycott the country’s constitutional referendum. Security forces thwarted a plan to free 40 inmates from Borg al Arab prison.
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Somalia
Somali forces arrested 600 suspects in door-to-door sweeps in Baidoa following a Shabaab attack. At least seven people were killed in a Shabaab attack on a military base in Mogadishu. Shabaab briefly returned to Twitter nearly three months after the Westgate Mall assault.
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South Sudan
Heavy gunfire was reported last night in Juba. President Salva Kiir has accused troops loyal to rival Riek Machar of unsuccessfully attempting a coup.
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Nigeria
Reports suggest a Boko Haram attack on Arboko village in Borno left four dead. According to the UN, more than 1,200 people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks since May.
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Shabaab
Inside a Shabaab training camp
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CIA
Iran nabbed CIA asset Levinson, says witness
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2 Guantanamo detainees transferred to Saudi Arabia
Both detainees were approved for transfer “subject to appropriate security measures” by President Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force. Previously, Joint Task Force Guantanamo deemed both detainees “high” risks to the US and its allies and recommended that they be retained in US custody.
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Ahfad al Rasoul
Syrian fighter defects to Qaeda-linked group
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Tunisia
Mehdi Jomaa, the industry minister, was named the new prime minister of Tunisia’s caretaker government, replacing Prime Minister Lareyedh. Ansar al Sharia called for its male supporters to join in protests tomorrow in Tunis on the third anniversary of the self-immolation of a street vendor that marked the beginning of the Tunisian revolution.
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Shabaab returns to Twitter nearly 3 months after Westgate
The account said it will seek “to create awareness of the Mujahideen’s struggle, further the cause of Jihad and promote the goals & visions of global Jihad.”
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Pakistan
Frustrated with government, Pakistani man turns to Taliban for help
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Al Qaeda
Political administration not prepared to replace army in Pakistan’s tribal agencies
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Russia
Authorities claimed to have killed four members of an Islamist militant cell, including leader Arsen Khandokhov, during a raid near Mount Elberus in Kabardino-Balkaria. Four security force members were killed in a shootout with militants in Dagestan. Apti Alaudinov, Chechnya’s First Deputy Interior Minister, told municipal authorities that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has given him virtually unbridled powers, including the use of summary executions and planted evidence, to crack down on Islamist extremists. Russia deployed short-range ballistic Iskander missiles in the western Kaliningrad area.
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United Kingdom
Prime Minister Cameron said the UK’s military mission in Afghanistan has been accomplished; the British troop level there has dropped from 9,000 to about 5,200, and there are no plans to have British combat troops in the country after 2014. British military officials said they expect insurgent activity to pick up in Afghanistan as UK troops withdraw.
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Syria
Syrian refugees’ hardship worsens with snow, cold
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Al Nusrah Front
Rise of Islamic Front a disaster for Syria
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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al-Qaeda’s Africa wing dreams globally but acts locally
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Spain
Jihadists from Spain in Syria: facts and figures
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Afghanistan
The Taliban killed eight civilians in IED attacks in Kunar and Nangarhar, and wounded three Afghan intelligence officials in a suicide bombing in Nangarhar. The military claimed it killed 23 Taliban fighters in operations throughout the country.
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Iraq
Insurgents killed 20 people in attacks throughout the country. Among those killed were a female reporter in a shooting in Mosul and a government employee and his family in a home invasion in Sadiyah.
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Syria
The UN asked for more humanitarian assistance for Syria, where four million Syrian children are in need. The Syrian army is said to be preparing an offensive on Yabroud near the Lebanese border. A new sharia council, formed by the unification of several armed battalions into “The gathering of Mujahidi al-Qa’qa,” took over the oilfields of Deir Azzour. The Al Nusrah Front and other Islamist factions killed at least 32 civilians, mainly Alawites, in Reef Dimashq. At least 22 civilians were killed by explosive barrels dropped by regime forces in Aleppo. Al Nusrah, the Islamic State of Iraq and the…
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Yemen
Yemen’s parliament passed a non-binding bill to ban US drone strikes inside the country. A Japanese diplomat was stabbed during a failed kidnapping attempt in the capital of Sana’a.
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Israel
An IDF soldier was shot and killed by a sniper in the Lebanese army. The IDF said it believes the sniper carried out the attack on “his own accord.” White House officials recently briefed their Israeli counterparts regarding the nuclear deal reached with Iran last month.
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Egypt
The army said security forces killed another terrorist who was involved in recent attacks in North Sinai. Overnight an explosion was heard in the Rafah area. Two students were wounded after gunmen opened fire on an army vehicle near a school in Sheikh Zuweid. Authorities thwarted an attempt to detonate a bomb near a police station in Port Said. Security sources claimed that the recent Ismailia bombing was carried out by Ansar Jerusalem.
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Palestinian Territories
Gaza fighters head to Syria as refugees flow in
