President Mohamud wants the current UN arms embargo freeze extended, as Somali troops still need equipment to fight insurgents, and said increased operations against Shabaab are imminent. In Lower Shabelle, infighting between two clans within the Somali army killed at least 18 people, including two civilians. In Kismayu, locals demonstrated against the relocation of Kenyan […]
The war in Syria has increasingly become a battle of competing perceptions and narratives.
The army said security forces foiled a pair of car bomb plots in North Sinai by Ansar Jerusalem, and that forces had killed seven terrorists, including one involved in the August 2012 attack in Rafah. The car of a senior prosecutor was blown up in the city of Minya.
Hezbollah expanding drone use to Syria and Lebanon
Al Qaeda groups in Syria want to attack US
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide assault team killed 17 people in the Ministry of Transportation before Iraqi security forces killed them.
Russian authorities identified Asker Samedov and Suleyman Magomedov, who were members of a militant Islamist group in Dagestan, as the two suicide bombers who detonated in separate attacks in Volgograd last month. Two accomplices, brothers Magomednabi and Tagir Batirov, were arrested yesterday in Dagestan.
The son of Benghazi’s special forces commander was kidnapped in Benghazi. Following the kidnapping, clashes broke out in the city, including at a checkpoint in Gwarsha controlled by Ansar al Sharia. France has denied reports that it plans to intervene militarily in southern Libya. Regional militias secured Sebha airport.
The Dec. 13 airstrike in Nangarhar killed two al Qaeda commanders who were associated with slain al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri.
Pakistan PM Scotches Speculation of Taliban Offensive
The Dawn of the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham
Obama Calls for Limited Strikes Against al Qaeda
US intel sees uptick in Olympic threat reports
National Intelligence Director James Clapper warned in the agency’s 2014 threat assessment that “Syria has become a significant location for independent or al Qaeda-aligned groups to recruit, train, and equip a growing number of extremists, some of whom might conduct external attacks,” and said elements of Syria’s biological warfare program might be capable of production […]
Bitterness of Syrian war on display at talks
A suicide bomber killed two policemen and two soldiers in an attack in Ghazni. Government officials claimed 21 Taliban fighters were killed in Ghazni. The Taliban killed two soldiers in an IED attack in Helmand. The NDS said 15 members of a suicide attack cell were captured in Kandahar.
Two suspected al Qaeda operatives who sought to conduct bombings in Israel were indicted. Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian who had opened fire on Israeli authorities and civilians. Defense Minister Ya’alon said Hezbollah now possesses 100,000 rockets and missiles. The head of IDF intelligence said there are now at least 30,000 jihadists in […]
After firing at security forces in North Sinai, three terrorists were killed in clashes. The army used Apache helicopters to bomb sites linked to terrorists in North Sinai. The army claimed to have killed two terrorists in the bombings, though security officials said eight were killed, including a senior Ansar Jerusalem member. Authorities levied formal […]
US intelligence estimates that over 7,000 foreign fighters from 50 countries are now fighting the Assad regime in Syria. Regime forces dropped barrel bombs on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, killing 13 people. Turkish forces attacked an Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham convoy in Syria near the border after ISIS opened fire on a […]
The military prosecutor charged 13 al Qaeda-linked suspects with planning terror attacks in Lebanon; among those charged is Jamal Daftardar, a.k.a. Mohammad Ahmad al-Masri, a top Abdullah Azzam Brigades leader accused of recruiting, training, and facilitating the transfer of dozens of jihadists to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen. The son of a former Lebanese Forces […]
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed four civilians in Baghdad, four policemen in Tikrit, a soldier and a policeman in Mosul, and an Awakening official in Baqubah. The military killed an ISIS military leader and nine fighters in Anbar, and three more fighters in Abu Ghraib. The Anbar tribal council said it […]
Africa a ‘hothouse’ for extremist groups: US
A Somali special forces unit called ‘Alpha Group‘ has begun operations to detain suspected Shabaab members. An angry mob formed yesterday in Mogadishu when an AMISOM convoy failed to stop after it hit and killed a local man. Shabaab urged Somalis to take up arms and help the group kill AMISOM soldiers for failing to […]
Syrian Opposition in Geneva Tries to Polish Image, Project Unity
‘Nobody thinks I’d dare show my face here’ – inside a Nigerian sharia court
Israel’s head of military intelligence said al Qaeda maintains bases in Turkey, reportedly in the provinces of Karaman, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, and warned that foreign jihadists enter Syria weekly but “do not stay there.” Prime Minister Erdogan visited Tehran in an effort to improve relations and secure a discount for the purchase of natural gas, […]
Turkey’s Syria policy needs to be recalibrated
Hassan Abboud, a top official in Ahrar al Sham and the Islamic Front, has issued a stinging rebuke of ISIS emir Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Earlier this week, ISIS rejected a reconciliation effort that would have put an end to the infighting between jihadist groups in Syria.
Rebels in Syria Claim Control of Resources
A Nigerian bishop has detailed how parishioners were killed in this weekend’s attack on a church in Waga Chakawa village. President Jonathan said he fired his defense staff because of rivalries between top staff members that helped enable Boko Haram to carry out its attack on the Air Force base in Maiduguri.
