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Canada
Border agency’s Hezbollah report raises concerns about money smuggling
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Syria
Four rebel battalions in Idlib– al-Ansar, al-Naser al-Qadem, al-Naser, and al-Muntaser Billah — split from the Ahfad al-Rasoul brigade and declared they would proceed independently with “armed jihadist struggle” against the Assad regime. A suicide bomber detonated in central Damascus. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham confiscated a coal-laden truck and an excavator machine destined for displaced civilians in Deir Izzour. An American ISIS fighter was killed fighting against regime troops in eastern Hama; Islamic groups and regime forces also clashed in the Mourk area. The Al Nusrah Front, ISIS, and Islamic battalions clashed with regime forces in…
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Egypt
Authorities are reportedly probing whether former president Mohammed Morsi had conspired with jihadists in Egypt. A police assistant was shot and killed near Port Said. President Mansour is expected to approve the country’s draft constitution. Ansar Jerusalem recently released video of some of its recent attacks against Egyptian forces in North Sinai.
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Palestinian Territories
French experts ruled out the possibility that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned that if negotiations with Israel fail, the Palestinians will return to the UN. Hamas again denied allegations that it was harboring Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Gaza. The Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center issued a statement denouncing recent arrests of Salafists in the West Bank by PA security forces.
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Israel
Defense Minister Ya’alon announced that Israel was providing some humanitarian aid to civilians in Syria near the border with Israel. He also said relations with the US remain “excellent.” An IDF source said a recent attack on an IDF patrol near the border with Syria “was not stray fire.” Officials have noticed an increase in the number of test rockets fired by Hamas in recent weeks.
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Jordan
The trial of radical cleric Abu Qatada has been set for Dec. 10. Qatada was extradited from Britain in July to face terrorism charges stemming from plots against Westerners in Jordan over a decade ago. The army said over 1,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in the past 72 hours. The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood plans to try three founders of the reformist Zamzam splinter group in an internal shura council court.
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Somalia
A UN Security Council report says Shabaab may be moving closer to al Qaeda’s “global ideology and agenda.” President Mohamud has called for an end to clashes after eight people were killed in a skirmish between Puntland troops and a local militia.
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Nigeria
The government will seek foreign help in training and information-sharing, but has ruled out seeking military assistance to fight terrorism after the latest Boko Haram raid. One of Nigeria’s largest opposition parties has called for a probe into intelligence failures before the attack, and questioned how several hundred militants could strike a military facility in a large city without prior warning. The trial of 17 suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos will be held behind closed doors.
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Libya
Gunmen injured four people in an attack on protesters in Derna who were demanding security and the departure of armed militias from the city. Mahoud Al-Barasi, the Ansar al Sharia commander in Derna, claimed that the protesters did not represent the public. A member of Benghazi’s Preventative Security force was shot dead outside his house. An Ansar al Sharia clinic in Benghazi that had allegedly been treating patients affected by “black magic” was bombed. The owner of a Tripoli radio station was shot dead. King Abdullah of Jordan expressed his country’s “total and continuing” support for the Libyan people’s aspirations…
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Ansar Jerusalem
Inside Egypt’s crackdown on Sinai’s Islamic militants
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Mullah Fazlullah is in Pakistan, spokesman claims
If the Taliban spokesman’s claim is true, Fazlullah likely is operating in Dir or one of the northern districts or tribal areas, far from where the US currently conducts drone strikes.
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Ansar Jerusalem: ‘The war has yet to start’
In its latest video, Ansar Jerusalem showed footage of the Nov. 20 car bombing in North Sinai that killed 11 Egyptian security personnel. The video also video featured a clip from former al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
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Afghanistan
More than 20 Afghan soldiers and 57 Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed during fighting in Badghis over the past several days. Gunmen killed a senior tribal leader in Ghazni. ISAF denied that it halted fuel supplies to Afghan forces.
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Afghanistan
Attacks on Aid Workers Rise in Afghanistan, UN Says
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Syria
The UN Human Rights Commission said large-scale human rights abuses have been perpetrated by both sides in the Syrian conflict, and that evidence implicates the highest level of government. Fighters from the Al Nusrah Front, Kabhat Tahrir al-Qalamoun, the al-Ghuraba’ brigade, the Tahrir al-sham brigade, and the al-Umariya brigade have taken over the ancient Christian town of Maaloula in Reef Dimashq. A terrorism court in Damascus executed 12 men for “crimes against the nation.” The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, which took over the Church of Armenian Martyrs in Raqqah, has converted it into a proselytizing office. Al…
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Israel
An IDF patrol near the border with Syria came under fire. The Navy was placed on high alert to deal with a group of ships planning to break the blockade of Gaza. Israel announced plans to renew providing building material to the Gaza Strip, which had been suspended following the discovery of a Hamas terror tunnel into Israeli territory. An IDF official said there is a degree of indirect cooperation between Israel and Hamas. An Israeli Arab pled guilty to participating in the November 2012 bus bombing attempt in Tel Aviv.
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Egypt
Ansar Jerusalem announced the death of three of its fighters, including a commander. Authorities defused a car bomb on the Cairo-Suez desert road. A roadside bomb in North Sinai nearly struck a convoy of military vehicles. Security sources claimed that much of Sinai’s eastern region has been cleared of Islamist militants and that those remaining are fleeing toward the Nile Delta region.
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Ansar Jerusalem
In Egypt, ideas of a radical Islamist make comeback
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Libya
US plan for new, Western-trained Libyan force faces obstacles
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
Senior Member Of The SMC Defects To ISIS And Details Foreign Involvement In the Oppostion
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Lebanon
After the 12 people were killed and over 100 wounded in three days of clashes between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime, the government has put Tripoli under military control for a six-month period. Dai al-Islam al-Shahal, the founder of the Salafist movement in north Lebanon, denounced the move as an attack on the Sunni community. Two men were killed in clashes between Islamist militants and Fatah supporters in the country’s largest camp for Palestinian refugees, Ain al-Helweh in south Lebanon.
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Yemen
Six al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and three soldiers were killed during a clash in Hadramout. The AQAP fighters attacked a military checkpoint in the city of Sayoun.
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Pakistan
Why did Pakistan forget Malala?
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Nigeria
Boko Haram launched a major assault on an air force base in Maiduguri in Borno state. A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in the state.
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Somalia
Reports suggest that Shabaab militants attacked a Somali and AMISOM convoy in Baidoa. Prime Minister Shirdon and his cabinet have lost a vote of confidence by Somali lawmakers. Shirdon will leave office, ending his long-running dispute with President Mohamud, which may end weeks of government paralysis.
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Boko Haram
Nigeria: Why northerners feel done down
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Ansar Jerusalem announces deaths of 3 fighters, including commander
The statement is the third since July in which the group has acknowledged the deaths of jihadists in the Sinai.
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Boko Haram overruns Nigerian Air Force base
More than 20 security personnel and at least six civilians were killed as hundreds of Boko Haram fighters attacked the base on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Maiduguri.
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African Union
Africa: AU Member States’ Reluctance to Transform State Broadcaster Undermines Good Governance
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Tunisia
An army captain was killed and another soldier was injured when a landmine planted by Islamist militants exploded on Mount Chaambi. The National Constituent Assembly is considering the reintroduction of habous, a set of Islamic laws dismantled in 1956 that ensures property is not transferred outside a family but may be given to religious and charitable institutions. Authorities recently arrested El Haj Etounssi, an international weapons smuggler who has helped arm and finance al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
