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Afghanistan
White House weighs adjusting Afghan exit plan to slow withdrawal of troops
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Houthis
Yemen rebels seize US Embassy vehicles as diplomats flee
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Al Qaeda
‘You cannot defeat an enemy you do not admit exists’ – General Flynn
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Afghanistan
China ready to support Kabul-Taliban reconciliation
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Boko Haram
Thousands flee Niger town after Boko Haram attacks
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Iraq
Obama sends resolution for use of force against Islamic State to Congress
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Syria
The Islamic State claims in a propaganda magazine that the widow of the gunman who attacked a Paris supermarket is now in Syria with the group. The US struggles with an “intelligence gap” while trying to track Western foreign fighters; it is believed “more than 20,000 foreign fighters from more than 90 countries have gone to Syria.” Regime forces and Hezbollah launched a major offensive in Southern Syria.
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Somalia
At least 10 members of Shabaab were killed and scores more injured in a clash with AMISOM forces in Barawe town. The US will be providing 20 MRAPs to African Union peacekeepers in Somalia. A military court executed Ahmed Ismail Ali, “a senior Al Shabaab leader in Gedo region.” The Somali National Army claims to have “taken new areas” from Shabaab in the in Bakol region.
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Ansar al Sharia Libya leader met with Osama bin Laden, followed his ‘methodology’
Before his own death on Jan. 31, Harith al Nadhari, a senior AQAP sharia official, recorded an audio eulogy for the leader of Ansar al Sharia Libya, Mohammed al Zahawi. Nadhari noted that Zahawi had met with Osama bin Laden in the mid-1990s.
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US military confirms it killed Islamic State, Shabaab leaders in airstrikes
Mullah Khadim was the Islamic State’s deputy emir for Khorasan province while Yusu Dheeq was the head of Shabaab’s Amniyat. The US continues to rely on airstrikes as the core of its effort to defeat jihadist groups worldwide.
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Pentagon spokesman portrays Guantanamo recidivism as a good thing
The death of Mullah Khadim, who was released from Guantanamo eight years ago, is “another great example” of jihadists who “return to the battlefield and to the fight at their own peril,” according to Admiral Kirby.
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Libya
Libya reopened the Hariga oil port after the end of a strike by security forces. Libyan Special Forces recaptured a key military base in Benghazi from Islamist militias. Islamic State-allied jihadists staged a parade in Noufliya, which is “some 60km from the eastern oil port of Sidra.” Libya is on track to exhaust its wheat reserves in two to three months.
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Tunisia
Tunisia arrested 32 Islamists for “planning terror attacks against buildings belonging to the country’s Ministry of Interior, security posts and civilian targets.” A general strike was declared at the country’s two main border crossings with Libya in protest of excessive force by police.
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Algeria
Algeria announced the founding of a “national monitoring board” to combat religious extremism. Algeria reportedly declined to join the US-led coalition against the Islamic State after requests from the US and France.
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Nigeria
The Nigerian National Security Adviser promises that there will not be another election postponement due to security issues. A report states that Boko Haram has gathered fighters to attack again Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
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Iyad Ag Ghaly reportedly in the Kidal region of Mali
Iyad Ag Ghaly, the reclusive leader of the Malian jihadist group Ansar Dine, is purported to be living freely in the Kidal region of Mali. A journalist for the German publication Der Spiegel met with the jihadist leader and his lieutenants.
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Islamic State al-Khans’aa Brigade publishes manifesto for women
The document, which is broken into three parts and was recently translated by the Quilliam Foundation, is a piece of propaganda claiming to describe life under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s ‘caliphate,’ while also trying to recruit female supporters.
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AQAP releases audio message featuring Ibrahim al-Rubaysh
In a recently released audio message, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ideologue Ibrahim al-Rubaysh addresses demonstrations against the Charlie Hebdo attack and calls for more attacks against the West.
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State Department designates German rapper turned Islamic State ‘operative’
The State Department today announced that Denis Cuspert has been added to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists.
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Syria
The US-led coalition conducted three airstrikes near near Kobani, Deir al-Zor and Raqqa in the past day. Kurdish forces have recaptured more than a third of villages (“128 of some 350”) surrounding Kobane. Jordan has launched 56 airstrikes in retaliation for the death of Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh, the pilot murdered by the Islamic State. The Syrian foreign minister said the Assad regime does not need Jordan’s help to fight the jihadist group. “At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded” in a regime airstrikes near Damascus. The Islamic State has withdrawn some of its men and material from Aleppo.…
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Somalia
Members of Shabaab shot and killed a member of Somalia’s Federal Parliament in Mogadishu. Jihadists attacked a police station in Bossaso in Puntland; at least two of the attackers were killed and three others captured. A land mine targeting Turkish workers in Mogadishu killed one person.
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Libya
Pro-government forces launched a new offensive to take Benghazi from Islamist militias; more than 40 people have been killed and dozens injured. The country’s warring parties will resume UN-sponsored peace talks on Feb. 10. A strike by security personnel has closed Libya’s last onshore oil export terminal.
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Rebel coalition in Syria mourns al Qaeda official killed in US airstrike in Yemen
The Ansar al Din Front in Syria has released a statement mourning the death of Harith al Nadhari, a sharia official in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 31. The statement is further evidence that Ansar al Din is, at a minimum, closely allied with al Qaeda’s international network.
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US kills Islamic State’s deputy emir for ‘Khorasan province’ in airstrike: report
Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim was a senior Taliban leader before joining the Islamic State and being appointed the deputy emir of Khorasan province.
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Tunisia
The Interior Ministry announced that it arrested 32 extremists who were plotting spectacular attacks on “civilian and military sites around the country.” Operations to apprehend more suspects remain ongoing in Kasserine, near the Algerian border.
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Nigeria
Nigeria is postponing upcoming elections for six weeks to focus on an offensive against Boko Haram. Nigeria, along with Benin, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad have jointly pledged to deploy an additional 8,700 troops in the fight against the jihadist group.
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Niger
Nigerien forces repelled attacks by Boko Haram on the border towns of Bosso and Diffa; 109 jihadists and four soldiers were killed, and 17 soldiers were wounded. Shortly afterward, a young boy blew himself up in Diffa’s market, killing five.
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Boko Haram brings war to Niger, senior Chadian general wounded
Boko Haram has attacked Niger for the first time. Fierce counterattacks by Chadian and Nigerian forces reportedly killed over 100 Boko Haram fighters. A Chadian general was also wounded in the battle.
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Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Houthi rebels in Yemen say they intend to form a new government
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Iraq
UAE to resume airstrikes against the Islamic State, U.S. officials say
