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Yemeni Houthis fire at ship with Iranian-supplied missile
On Saturday, Yemeni Houthi rebels fired projectiles against an Emirati military vessel in the strategic Mandeb Strait. The U.S. Navy has dispatched three warships to the area. U.S. officials say Iran supplied “shoulder-fired rockets.” [Update: military experts say this claim is inconsistent with footage from the video and damage to the vessel]
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‘Tomorrow we take the White House,’ Taliban fighter in Kunduz threatens
“I say to Obama, today we take Kunduz, tomorrow … we will take the White House,” a Taliban fighter at a checkpoint in Kunduz threatened. The US military claimed Kunduz was cleared three days ago.
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Islamic State claims it killed US soldier in Afghanistan
Achin district in Nangarhar remains a hub for the Islamic State’s Khorasan province. US and Afghan forces, as well as the Taliban, have fought to wrest areas of Nangarhar from Islamic State control.
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Ansar Dine claims series of attacks in northern Mali
The Tuareg al Qaeda front claimed a coordinated assault on UN troops yesterday in northern Mali, which included two separate incidents of shelling and IED attacks.
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Resolute Support claims Nawa district is ‘under government control’
Like in Kunduz, Resolute Support’s claim that Nawa district is under government control does not match press reporting from Afghanistan.
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Press reports contradict Resolute Support’s claim that Kunduz is under ‘ANDSF control’
Resolute Support appears to be putting the best possible spin on the Taliban’s latest incursion into Kunduz City. Accounts from the city indicate that half of it is still occupied by the Taliban.
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US airstrike targets Egyptian al Qaeda veteran in Syria
Jabhat Fath al Sham, al Qaeda’s rebranded branch in Syria, announced earlier today that Ahmed Salama Mabrouk has been killed in an airstrike in Idlib. Mabrouk was an Egyptian al Qaeda veteran and served on Jabhat Fath al Sham’s elite shura council.
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Taliban forces enter Kunduz city center
Taliban forces have entered the city of Kunduz once again. In late September 2015, the Taliban and its jihadist allies captured the city and briefly held it before being forced to retreat to the surrounding areas.
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Taliban overruns another district in Helmand
Taliban forces killed Nawa’s police chief while seizing the district center. The Taliban now controls six of Helmand’s 14 districts and heavily contest another seven.
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AFRICOM masks military operations in Somalia as ‘self defense strikes’
The US military continues to classify combat operations against Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia, as “self-defense strikes,” even though many of the incidents reported, such as the targeting of training camps and raids in Shabaab-held territory, are clearly offensive in nature.
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IRGC Special Forces officer’s death highlights involvement in Syria
The death of a senior IRGC special forces officer indicates the pivotal role of the IRGC-GF in training militias, planning operations, and leading forces in combat. The IRGC-GF augments the Qods Force, the IRGC’s extraterritorial operations branch.
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Emir of the Islamic State in Iran reportedly killed
An Iranian media outlet citing unnamed sources has claimed that security forces have killed the designated emir of the Islamic State in Iran. The narrative matches some of the accounts of an operation confirmed by authorities last month. Iranian officials and major news outlets, however, have not commented on the latest claims.
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UNAMA ‘condemns killing of at least 15 civilians’ in Coalition airstrike
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, issued a strongly-worded statement that “condemns” a US airstrike on Sept. 28 which targeted Islamic State fighters in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. United States Forces – Afghanistan is investigating reports that an airstrike in the Taliban controlled district of Achin in Nangarhar killed 15 civilians. From the UNAMA statement: An airstrike targeting Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Daesh, was conducted yesterday in the eastern district of Achin. In the process civilian casualties were incurred. UNAMA condemns the killing of at least 15 civilian men…
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US-led coalition targets Islamic State’s leadership in Mosul ahead of ground offensive
The US-led coalition has killed 13 Islamic State leaders in and around Mosul, Iraq in the past month. Three of them were Chechens, highlighting the important role that foreign fighters play in the group’s chain of command. According to Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Colonel John Dorrian, another fallen jihadist was responsible for manufacturing chemical weapons to be used in the defense of Mosul.
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Indian commandos strike terrorists inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
India said it killed “up to 38 terrorists and Pakistani soldiers” in cross-border strikes against seven different targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. India claimed it recorded the raids via drones. Pakistan denied Indian troops entered its territory.
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Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria shows more ‘little jihadists’
The Turkistan Islamic Party, a Uighur jihadist group connected to al Qaeda, continues its long tradition of showing children trained for jihad.
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2 AQAP leaders reported killed in latest US strikes in Yemen
CENTCOM announced the two strikes in Yemen, and noted that al Qaeda remains “a significant threat.” Press reports indicate that a “regional commander” known as Abdallah al Sanaani and a local commander known as Abu Khaled al Sanaani were among the AQAP operatives killed.
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US lists Italian rapper turned Islamic State jihadist as global terrorist
Anas El Abboubi was briefly in Italian custody in June 2013, and fled to Syria after he was released. He is one of more than 50 Italians thought to be waging jihad in Syria.
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Pro-government Palestinian militia fights in Aleppo
The Quds Brigade, known as Liwa al Quds or the Syrian Arab Army Fedayeen, is a Palestinian paramilitary group fighting on the side of Bashar al Assad in Aleppo.
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US launches ‘self-defense strike’ against Shabaab in southern Somalia
The Obama administration and US military leaders continue to attempt to hide direct combat operations behind the mission of advising and assisting the “counterterrorism operations” of foreign governments and militaries.
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Libya’s Terrorist Descent: Causes and Solutions
Thomas Joscelyn testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade. The hearing is titled, “Libya’s Terrorist Descent: Causes and Solutions.”
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Commander: IRGC supplies intelligence to Russia for airstrikes in Syria
A top IRGC commander said the Guard, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Syrian Arab Army provide intelligence to Russia for airstrikes in Syria.
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Iraqi Shiite militia commander close to Qassem Soleimani killed in Aleppo
A senior commander in the Iraqi Asa’ib Ahl al Haq militia who was close to IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani has been killed in Aleppo, Syria.
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US military hits another Islamic State chemical weapons facility in Iraq
US warplanes bombed an Islamic State chemical weapons factory near the town of Qayyarah. US forces based at Qayyarah Airfiled West, or Q-West, have been recently targeted with a shell containing a mustard agent.
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Pakistani Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda operatives targeted in eastern Afghanistan
US and Afghan forces struck a group of leaders and operatives from the Pakistan-based Movement of the Taliban in South Waziristan, the Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda in the province of Paktika, according to reports from the region. At least one senior leader, known as Azam Tariq, is thought to have been killed in the strike.
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Ansar Dine shows spoils taken in central Mali
The video shows the aftermath of an ambush on Malian troops in central Mali last month. The jihadist group’s two battalions that operate in central and southern Mali continue to threaten the region.
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Shabaab claims pro-government militias surrender in central Somalia
This comes just days after Shabaab recaptured towns in the same region after Ethiopian troops withdrew.
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Terror plots in Germany, France were ‘remote-controlled’ by Islamic State operatives
On July 18, an Afghan refugee named Riaz Khan (also known as “Muhammad Riyad”) assaulted passengers on a train in Würzburg, Germany with an ax and a knife. Nearly one week later, on July 24, a Syrian refugee identified as Mohammad Daleel blew himself up outside of a music festival in the German city of Ansbach. Approximately 20 people were wounded in the incidents. Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the Islamic State, quickly issued claims of responsibility for the operations. Amaq also released videos from Khan and Daleel in which they swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.…
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US military is hunting al Qaeda in at least 7 Afghanistan provinces
General John W. Nicholson Jr., who leads NATO’s Resolute Support and US Forces Afghanistan, said yesterday that the US is hunting al Qaeda in Afghanistan’s Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika, Ghazni, Kunar, Nuristan and Nangarhar provinces. His comments are just the latest indication that al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan has been underestimated.
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US commander in Afghanistan downplays Taliban control of 10 percent of population
General John Nicholson said that while the Taliban control 10 percent of the Afghan population and contest another 20 percent, “the enemy is primarily in more rural areas that have less impact on the future of the country.”
