Ansar al Sharia, which is now led by a jihadist known as Abu Khalid al Madani, continues to battle General Khalifa Haftar’s forces. Contrary to erroneous accounts, the group has not sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.
The jihadist group claims that a video from Chardara in Kunduz province will “expose all the lies of the Kabul regime who declared that the district was retaken from the Mujahideen.” The status of the district is uncertain, but was overrun by the Taliban one week ago.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, has released a mini-documentary on the jihadists’ quest to resurrect the caliphate. Contrary to highly dubious claims that the group was going to break from al Qaeda, Al Nusrah celebrates al Qaeda’s history, including the 9/11 attacks.
The attack is the second in June to take place near the border with Ivory Coast and the second in two days in the lower half of Mali. These attacks come after the government and the main Tuareg rebels in the north have agreed to a peace deal.
Mansur al Harbi, a Saudi who served as a senior al Qaeda military leader, trainer, and facilitator is said to have been killed by the US in an airstrike in Afghanistan over the past several days. His death has not been confirmed.
The assault comes just days after rebel Tuareg groups signed a peace deal with the Malian government.
The Islamic State again shows the use of the US anti-tank missile system, after previously doing so near Palmyra and Damascus. Other jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, have also publicized the use of TOWs in the past.
The Islamic State has issued a statement claiming responsibility for yesterday’s massacre in Sousse, Tunisia. The death toll has risen to at least 38 people and Tunisian authorities say the victims were primarily British, German, and French citizens.
More than 50 troops from Burundi are reported to have been killed. The attack comes just one week after Shabaab killed at least 60 Ethiopian troops in another attack in southern Somalia.
The simultaneous offensives follow recent Kurdish gains in Raqqah province, the proclaimed “capital” of the Islamic State.
Three terrorists attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia have killed dozens. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait.
In the video, Hezbollah Brigades, which is a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is seen operating an array of US military hardware, including M113 armored personnel carriers, HUMVEEs, and artillery.
Prior to his capture in July 2014, Maulawi Abdul Rashid Baluch was a senior Taliban member whose activities ranged from waging guerrilla warfare against NATO and Afghan forces to narcotics trafficking. Rashid also served as a liaison to al Qaeda, arranging “planning meetings” between senior Taliban leaders and al Qaeda members in Karachi, Pakistan.
The Taliban and allied groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, al Qaeda, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, and Lashkar-e-Taiba are known to have run dozens of camps inside Afghanistan even as the Coalition was present.
Kurdish forces and fighters from the Free Syrian Army have seized a military base and a town just 30 miles north of the city of Raqqa, which is the seat of the Islamic State’s so-called “caliphate.” The losses are problematic for the Islamic State, which claims that its territorial rule is “remaining and expanding.”
Continuing its offensive against Maiduguri, Boko Haram is suspected of launching two bomb attacks in the Borno state capital on Monday. Over 30 people were killed as two female suicide bombers targeted a popular market.
In a newly released audio speech, Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani calls on his group’s rivals (including other jihadists) to “repent,” recognizes a new pledge of allegiance from the Caucasus, and urges Sunnis to fight Shiites throughout the Middle East.
The United Nations Secretary General greeted ‘Abd al Wahhab al Humayqani at Geneva for peace talks in his capacity as a member of the Yemeni government in exile’s delegation. The US listed Humayqani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and described him as al Qaeda’s emir for Al Baydah province in Yemen as well as a financier, recruiter, attack planner, and ideologue.
The video, which is intended to show the hostages are still alive, shows the captives speaking to their respective governments and families.
The Pentagon said today that Ali Awni al Harzi, the first suspect publicly identified in the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, was killed in a US airstrike in Mosul, Iraq. Al Harzi and his brother have been working for the Islamic State as facilitators.
Afghan forces have been unable to contain the Taliban offensive in Kunduz; the jihadist group raised its white banner over Dasht-i-Archi district and also took control of Chardara. The Taliban have also stepped up operations in Helmand.
The Long War Journal has identified 117 training camps run by jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria. Almost half are operated by the Islamic State, while the other half are administered by the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and its allies. Some facilities are no longer operational, while other camps likely exist, but are not publicized by the jihadists.
While neither Ethiopia nor the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have commented on the attack, the released photos buttress the jihadist group’s claims.
Al Qaeda’s official branch in Somalia continues to be a threat inside Somalia and to neighboring countries, despite an ongoing African Union mission in the country that has driven the group from many of its strongholds.
AQIM denies that Mokhtar Belmokhtar was killed in US airstrikes earlier this month. The jihadists have now released five statements on the matter. Two of the statements deny Belmokhtar has been killed, while the other three imply he is alive. None of them say he is dead.
Qasim al Raymi was appointed the new top leader of AQAP following the death of his predecessor earlier this month. His younger brother has been held at Guantanamo for more than 13 years. Files written by Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) provide details concerning Qasim al Raymi’s career, including his time in pre-9/11 Afghanistan.
The suspected Boko Haram attacks in both Niger and Chad continue to demonstrate that the jihadist group is a threat to regional stability and not just Nigeria.
During yesterday’s meeting in Tehran between Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al Abadi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the former introduced the latter to Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the operations chief for the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Committee and a US-listed Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
AQAP executed two men on a beach in Mukallah after accusing them of serving as spies for the US and Saudi Arabia. According to jihadists on social media, the two men helped locate AQAP leaders killed in drone strikes this year. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify these claims.
Sa’ad Emarati, a senior jihadist commander as well as a member of the “Khorasan Shura,” was executed for leaving the Islamic State and rejoining the Taliban.