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CIA
CIA’s resolve to track weapons complicates push to arm Syria rebels
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United States
The State Department’s latest annual Country Reports on Terrorism said a growing number of terrorist groups are threatening the US, and noted a 43% increase in the number of terrorist attacks worldwide in 2013 from 2012. A Pentagon report said the number of high-profile insurgent attacks in Afghanistan rose by 43% between October 2013 and March 2014.
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Syria
The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Idlib; Hama; Latakia, where they were joined by Ahrar al Sham, Sham al Islam, Ansar al Sham, and rebels; Reef Dimashq; and Aleppo. Al Nusrah claimed two car bombings in Homs that killed 51 people and injured 71, and threatened more attacks on Alawites. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham clashed with regime forces in Raqqah, where it imposed a tax on stores; battled Al Nusrah and Islamic fighters in Deir Izzour; and fought against Kurdish YPG forces in Aleppo. The Islamic Front and rebels, including…
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Lebanon
A group of gunmen ambushed a Lebanese army patrol on the outskirts of Arsal, sparking a clash in which five soldiers were injured. Security forces mounted a search for the gunmen, who escaped. A Lebanese group called Liwaa Ahrar Al-Sunna claimed the attack.
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Jordan
Jordan opens new Syrian refugee camp
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Brunei
The Sultan of Brunei announced that the first phase of the implementation of sharia law in Brunei will begin tomorrow. The new penal code, which will be adopted in three phases by the end of next year, will provide for punishments including stoning, flogging, and amputation of limbs.
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Mali
Military sources said French special forces killed Haroun Said, a deputy of Ansar Dine head Iyad Ag Ghaly, during operations in north Mali last week in which a number of insurgents, including two child soldiers, were arrested. One report said he and two of his children were killed by an airstrike on his vehicle. Armed groups in northern Mali, including the MNLA, HCUA, CPA, and MAA, rejected the government’s latest reconciliation offer.
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Libya
A Benghazi security officer was severely injured by a car bomb. Security forces in Tobruk clashed with armed smugglers near the Egyptian border, who fled into Egypt. The Abu Saleem Brigade, an Islamist militia, is building a wall at a Derna university to segregate the sexes, and has agreed to provide security so long as the wall is built and female students wear the abeya and the hijab.
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Afghan, ISAF forces repel Haqqani Network assault on base
Afghan officials claimed that scores of Haqqani Network fighters and five Afghan soldiers were killed in Paktika province.
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Al Nusrah Front
Editorial: Support for radical Islamism on the rise in Turkey
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Mauritania
Authorities released Sidi Ould Sidi High, a Malian suspected of belonging to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He was arrested last year on charges of selling explosives to armed groups.
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Yemen expands southern offensive against AQAP
The Yemeni military has expanded its offensive against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to include Abyan, Shabwa, Baydha, and Sana’a provinces, and announced today that 72 militants have been killed.
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Al Nusrah Front
Pro-Assad Areas Are Attacked in Syria, Pointing to Election Trouble
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Turkey
The day after reports emerged that Prime Minister Erdogan was seeking to extradite influential Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen from the US, sources in the Ankara Prosecutor’s office said no investigation has yet been launched against Gulen; his activities may be investigated, however, in relation to the leak of a conversation of top Turkish officials discussing a false-flag operation in Syria. The government ruled out the possibility of house arrest for PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.
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China
State media said three people were killed and 79 injured by an explosion at a train station in Urumqi in the restive Xinjiang region. Police cordoned off the station, but it has since reopened. Railway stations in China were busy due to the start of a four-day holiday. President Xi had been concluding a four-day visit to Xinjiang, and it is not clear if he was in the region at the time of the blast. While there, he said that Kashgar is in the front line of the battle against terrorism and the situation is “grim and complicated.”
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Inter-Services Intelligence Agency
Why ISI spy posters are all over Islamabad
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US Military
How to build a memorial for a ‘never-ending war’?
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Abu Qatada provides jihadists with ideological guidance from a Jordanian prison
Prior to 9/11, Abu Qatada inspired numerous al Qaeda operatives. Now imprisoned in Jordan, he is providing ideological guidance to jihadists in Syria and North Africa.
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Social Media Jihad: Abu Qatada’s letter to Ansar al Sharia Tunisia
Ansar al Sharia Tunisia regularly promotes Abu Qatada’s advice and guidance on its Twitter feed.
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Afghanistan
Mystery surrounds move of Afghan ‘torturer in chief’ to US amid allegations of agency abuse
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United States
The US offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Li Fangwei a.k.a. Karl Lee, who is accused of providing missile parts to Iran, and sanctioned eight of his companies. He faces charges of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering, wire fraud, and conspiracy.
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Canada
The government added the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN), based in Mississauga, Ont., to its list of terrorist organizations for sending millions of dollars to Hamas-linked groups. Canada recently warned its citizens against travel to Nigeria due to the risk of terrorism, violence, and kidnapping. Members of Canada’s elite special operations force, CSOR, are providing counterterrorism training to the Nigerien military.
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Islamic Group
Head of Lebanon’s Islamic Group opposes any intervention in Syria
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Syria
Two suicide car bombs in Alawite neighborhoods in Zahraa in Homs killed at least 51 civilians and injured more than 70. The Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front battled regime forces in Reef Dimashq; in Latakia, where they were joined by Ahrar al Sham, Sham Al Islam, and rebels; in Hama; and in Aleppo, where they were joined by the Jaysh al Muhajireen wal Ansar. The Islamic Front also fired missiles at the Russian gas company in al Forklos in Homs, and clashed with regime forces in Damascus and Deraa. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham is…
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Bosnia-Herzegovina
The government adopted law providing for jail terms of up to 10 years for any citizen who fights in foreign conflicts or recruits for them. Some 150 Bosnians are thought to have traveled to Syria to fight last year, and 15 of them are known to have been killed there.
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Egypt
The army said three members of Ansar Jerusalem were killed and three more militants were arrested in operations in North Sinai; officials said two of those arrested were related to an Ansar Jerusalem founder who died last month. A Muslim Brotherhood leader said mass death sentences will pave the way for the downfall of Cairo’s current regime.
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Libya
Gunmen from Benghazi with heavy weapons attacked Congress, sending lawmakers fleeing out a back door; several people were injured during the attack, which resulted in a postponement of the voting for a new prime minister. A suicide car bomber attacked the Saiqa special forces base in Benghazi, killing two special forces members and injuring two other people. A security official was found dead at Tripoli’s Mitiga airbase. Employees and security officials protested the continued closure of Sebha airport. On April 27, Ansar al Sharia in Libya released photos of an April 5 practice raid in Benghazi showing fighters waving the…
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Hamas
Palestinian deal will not make Hamas change: veteran leader
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Israel
Israeli intelligence: Assad concealing chemical capability
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Tunisia
Tunisian military forces have launched an intensified campaign, backed up by air power, against Islamist militants in the Mount Chaambi region; the army spokesman said the operation is the largest in the army’s history, and will not cease until the army has taken control of the mountain range. Police arrested two wanted “religious extremists” during a raid in Bizerte. Ennahda denounced the death sentences handed down in Egypt to 638 Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
