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Veteran jihadist served al Qaeda for 17 years, ‘martyred’ in Syria
In a video recorded prior to his death, a jihadist known as Abu Hafs al Masri explained that he served al Qaeda for 17 years and had lived with Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. Al Masri was a senior leader in Ahrar al Sham in Syria when he was “martyred” in late March.
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‘Strategy to defeat Islamic State is working,’ US Department of Defense claims
The poorly timed DoD report was issued the same day that the Islamic State took control of the government center, and two days before all of Ramadi, including the Anbar Operations Command and the large military base there, were overrun.
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Islamic State overruns Anbar Operations Command, takes full control of Ramadi
The 8th Brigade headquarters also appears to have fallen. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Iraqi forces in the Fallujah-Ramadi corridor are in complete disarray and are withdrawing from Habbaniyah and other areas.
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US drone strike kills 6 jihadists in North Waziristan
The attack, which took place the Shawal Valley, a terrorist haven, is just the sixth recorded inside Pakistan this year. The US launched 117 drone strikes in Pakistan at the peak of the campaign in 2010.
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Izzat Ibrahim al Douri emerges in new audiotape
The audio, which features Al Douri discussing recent events, refutes reports that he was killed last month in the Hamrin Mountains.
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US Special Operations Forces kill Islamic State commander in Syrian raid
US troops killed Abu Sayyaf, a military and financial leader in the Islamic State, during an attempt to capture him at the Al Omar oil field in eastern Syria. His wife, Umm Sayyaf, was captured.
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Alleged statement from Mokhtar Belmokhtar denies his group swore allegiance to the Islamic State
The statement also confirms that he and his group, the Al Mulathameen Brigade, are still loyal to Zawahiri and al Qaeda. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify the statement’s authenticity.
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Islamic State seizes government center in Ramadi
The loss of the government complex, which has been under siege since the Islamic State renewed its push to take control of Ramadi in April, is a major blow to the Iraqi military and government, which have sought to regain the initiative in Anbar after a string of losses there over the past year.
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Mali
Malian government officials will sign a proposed peace deal without the cooperation of the main Tuareg-led rebel alliance. Pro-rebel demonstrators marched against the proposed peace deal in Kidal; fighting between the military, pro-governmet militias, and rebels has killed about 55 people in the past two weeks. The jihadist Al Mourabitoune group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
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Nigeria
More than 60 people were killed during clashes between Boko Haram and the Nigerian military around Kayamula village, near Maiduguri. Maiduguri was placed under curfew after the city came under attack on May 12. A female suicide bomber detonated near a military base in the city; 11 are feared dead.
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Confusion surrounds West African jihadists’ loyalty to Islamic State
A jihadist leader known as Adnan Abu Walid al Sahrawi has declared allegiance to the Islamic State. It appears that he has pledged fealty to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi on behalf of MUJAO, a jihadist group in West Africa. There is no indication that al Qaeda loyalists, such as Mokhtar Belmokhtar, have also defected.
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Islamic State advances on ancient Syrian ruins of Palmyra
Islamic State advances on ancient Syrian ruins of Palmyra
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43 killed in attack on bus carrying Ismailis in Karachi
43 killed in attack on bus carrying Ismailis in Karachi – Pakistan
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Taliban kill 14, including 9 foreigners, in Kabul hotel attack
The Taliban claimed credit for today’s attack and said it was carried out by a single fighter. The jihadist group denounced the hotel for promoting “lasciviousness and indecency.”
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US military denies it targeted Islamic State’s deputy emir in airstrike on mosque
Iraq’s Ministry of Defense claimed that Abu Alaa al Afari and a large number of Islamic State fighters were killed in a coalition airstrike that targeted a mosque. CENTCOM denied it launched a strike on a mosque.
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US reportedly kills Ansar al Sharia official in drone strike in Yemen
A US drone strike reportedly killed Ma’moun Abdulhamid Hatem, an AQAP and Ansar al Sharia official who supported the Islamic State, yesterday in Yemen. His purported death has not been confirmed by the group.
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Syria
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi to discuss Syria and other issues. The Assad regime arrested its intelligence chief over suspicions of a coup attempt. “At least 40 rebels and 32 government troops” were killed as regime forces pushed to reinforce 250 government troops besieged near Jisr al-Shughur. “At least 47 fighters have been killed over two weeks” as rebel factions have begun fighting each other near the Israeli border. The US-led coalition conducted nine airstrikes in Syria on May 10-11; six near Hasakah, one near Raqqah, and two near Kobani.
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Egypt
Four people were wounded when “suspected militants” targeted a judge who had sentenced radicals to death with three bombs placed outside his home in Cairo. Tribes in the Sinai have pledged to work with the government against extremist groups.
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Somalia
Government forces arrested 10 people during a security sweep in Mogadishu. A soldier was injured by a grenade attack in Marka town in southern Somalia. Two soldiers were killed by unidentified gunmen in Kismayo, also in the southern portion of the country.
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Taliban claims it shot down Pakistani helicopter, displays ‘SAM-7’
The Taliban’s propaganda cannot be independently verified. The Pakistani government claims the Mi-17 crash, which resulted in the death of the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and five others, was caused by a technical malfunction.
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Al Qaeda’s deputy general manager killed in US drone strike
AQAP has confirmed that Nasser bin Ali al Ansi was killed in a US drone strike. Al Ansi was a senior AQAP official, as well as al Qaeda’s deputy general manager. He was considered one of Osama bin Laden’s “special ones.”
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Tunisia
The Interior Ministry announced that a special counter-terrorism unit arrested six individuals in possession of weapons and ammunition in Monastir. The Tunisian Foreign Minister “stressed … the importance of bolstering cooperation with Turkey, particularly with regards to military and security.” Tunisian forces increased security for an annual Jewish pilgrimage in Djerba in the wake of the terrorist attack in Bardo; the event passed without incident.
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Mali
The special envoy of the President declared the Malian government “optimistic” about the recent agreement of a peace deal with Tuareg rebels. Despite the agreement, insurgents continued their attack, leading to “30 dead in recent days.”
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Fighting at Iraq’s Baiji oil refinery is ‘flowing in the wrong direction’
Iraqi and US military officers have warned that the facility is close to falling to the Islamic State. The Iraqi government and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are sending reinforcements to besieged troops.
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Somalia
US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Mogadishu on May 5. The Somali government has “banned” the use of Shabaab’s name by the country’s media, though no punishment was outlined for outlets that continue to use the term.
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Egypt
Egypt proposed blocking extremist media during an anti-Islamic State conference in Cairo. One policeman was killed and five injured in clashes with Morsi supporters in Nile Delta city.
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Syria
A new round of UN-backed peace talks has started in Geneva. The French president admitted to supplying Syrian rebels with weapons in 2012. At least two civilians were killed and dozens wounded when mortar rounds were fired into a neighborhood by “foreign-sponsored militants” in Aleppo. The Islamic State assaulted Kurdish forces in Hasakeh, killing at least 16, according to SOHR. Assad announced that he would send reinforcements to help troops besieged by Al Nusrah near Jisr al-Shughour in Idlib province. The US-led coalition has conducted one airstrike in Syria, near Al Hasakeh, since May 4.
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3 jihadist groups merge with Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan
Matiur Rehman, who has served as a senior al Qaeda leader and the operations chief for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, brought three Pakistani jihadist groups into the fold of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
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Islamic State details rout of Brigade 26 headquarters in Anbar
In the March assault on the brigade headquarters in the Thar Thar area in Anbar, the Islamic State captured a large quantity of munitions, vehicles, and weapons.
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Islamic State says ‘soldiers of the Caliphate’ responsible for Garland shooting
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the shooting in Garland, Texas on its Al Bayan radio program. The claim offered no new details about the terrorists responsible, but at least one of them was a known Islamic State supporter.
