In the midst of fighting between a Saudi-led coalition and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been able to capitalize on the chaos and gain territory in Yemen.
The US State Department today announced a reward of up to $6 million for information leading to the whereabouts of Shabaab’s emir, Abu Ubaidah Ahmad Umar, who is loyal to al Qaeda head Ayman al Zawahiri. Five other Shabaab leaders now have rewards targeting them as well.
Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, the deputy leader of the so-called “High Council of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate,” was accused by Human Rights Watch of inciting and supporting the murder of thousands of Afghans, mostly from the minority Shiite Hazara sect, after the Taliban seized Mazar-i-Sharif in August 1998. He also sheltered Khairullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, one of five dangerous al Qaeda-linked Taliban leaders who were exchanged for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl.
Egyptian officials say that Ashraf Ali Hassanein al Gharabli, a commander in the Islamic State’s so-called Sinai ‘province,’ was killed during a shootout in Cairo. He once belonged to Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, which split into separate factions. Whereas Al Gharabli joined the Islamic State, some of his comrades remained loyal to al Qaeda.
At least 80 fighters from both sides are reported to have been killed during clashes between fighters loyal to Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour and those from Mullah Mohammad Rasul’s dissident Taliban faction in Zabul province.
Al Nusrah Front has accused the Shuhadaa Al Baydhaa brigade in the northern part of Homs province of secretly serving Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s Islamic State. The brigade denies this allegation. Al Nusrah raided villages under Shuhadaa Al Baydhaa’s control and claims to have captured “spoils.” The move may be intended to secure a supply route for Al Nusrah into Homs.
The Uighur group continues to fight alongside Al Nusrah Front, an official branch of al Qaeda, in northwestern Syria.
The Islamic State’s Aleppo “province” has released a video congratulating its brothers in the Sinai “province” for downing a Russian airliner on October 31. The video is at least the fourth time that the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the crash. The group has not provided evidence proving its culpability thus far, but Western officials say it is increasingly likely.
The predominately Chechen group also says it fighters recaptured a hill from Russian forces in the Latakia province in recent days.
Russian airstrikes targeted the Islamic State throughout Syria this past week. The self-declared “caliphate” released dozens of propaganda photos claiming that the Russians damaged bridges and buildings in Raqqa, and killed civilians in a marketplace in Al Bukamal. Civilian casualties have been confirmed by other sources. Meanwhile, Western officials say it is increasingly likely that the Islamic State’s co-called Sinai “province” downed a Russian airliner in the Sinai on October 31.
Jund al Aqsa, an al Qaeda front group, claims to have seized all or parts of Morek, a key town that sits on a major highway connecting Aleppo and Hama. In October, Jund al Aqsa broke with the Jaysh al Fateh coalition, which was co-founded by Al Nusrah Front, but the organization remains loyal to al Qaeda.
A brigadier general and a colonel from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed while fighting jihadists and rebels. Nine other IRGC members, including two lower-level officers, were also killed in Syria over the past three weeks.
The Islamic State’s so-called Sinai “province” has issued at least three official claims of responsibility in the downing of a Russian airliner. The group has not explained how it allegedly brought down the jet, however. Egyptian officials dismiss the claims as “propaganda.” America’s top intelligence official has said a terrorist attack is “unlikely,” but possible.
A new recruiting video released by Shabaab appears to feature at least two or three fighters from the UK. Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa, has a history of recruiting from Britain.
Photos released by the jihadist group show its “Third Armored Brigade” using US-made MRAPs to train in northern Iraq.
“People such as these you do not hear a sound from them, they work in silence and leave in silence,” a prominent jihadist said of Sufyan al Maghribi, al Qaeda’s former military emir for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Maghribi was also a frequent contributor to Vanguards of Khorasan, al Qaeda’s magazine, under the nom de guerre Abu Isam al Andalusi.
In a newly released audio message, Ayman al Zawahiri calls for unity to “liberate” Jerusalem. Zawahiri argues that the jihadists must strike the West and build Islamic states in the Levant and Egypt in order to achieve this goal.
The US is thought to have killed Bilal al Tayibin, an Arab al Qaeda “key leader,” in an airstrike on the evening of Oct. 29 in Darin in Kunar’s Ghaziabad district. Two of Tayibin’s Afghan bodyguards are also said to have been killed in the attack.
Shabaab continues to demonstrate that it can penetrate high-security areas in Mogadishu, even after losing many of its major urban strongholds in southern and central Somalia.
The reclusive leader of Ansar Dine, an al Qaeda group that operates in Mali, has resurfaced again to threaten the French and dismiss the latest peace deal with the Tuaregs in Mali.
The Islamic State continues to harass Iraqi troops and Shiite militias around the central city of Samarra. Jihadists recently overran several areas near Samarra and deployed foreign suicide bombers during its assault.
Jaysh al Islam is reportedly using captured civilians and fighters as human shields to deter airstrikes in the Al Ghouta region of Damascus.