Qasim al Raymi, the new head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), reaffirms his allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri in a newly-released audio message. It is al Raymi’s first message as AQAP’s emir.
AQIM has issued a pair of statements backing the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) in Derna against its rivals in the Islamic State. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s men picked a fight with the MSC last month, but have sustained significant losses since then.
Supporters of the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, think that the hand of Allah can be seen in footage of a recent suicide bombing. Jihadists have marketed supposedly divine miracles for decades. Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden’s mentor, was an early innovator in this genre of propaganda.
The Al Nusrah Front claims to control “several buildings” in a key neighborhood in Aleppo after a “martyrdom operation” cleared the path for its fighters. Separately, the US-led coalition struck a group of seasoned al Qaeda operatives near Aleppo.
The Islamic Caucasus Emirate (ICE) publicly recognized Muhammad Abu Usman as its new emir earlier this month. The ICE, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, has suffered a string of defections to the Islamic State since last year.
Ansar al Din, an al Qaeda-linked group that is part of the Ansar al Sharia coalition, has posted images from the early fighting in the new offensive against Bashar al Assad’s forces in Aleppo.
Jihadist groups have announced the creation of Ansar al Sharia, a new alliance for the battle of Aleppo. Ansar al Sharia is the latest of several coalitions formed by the Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham this year.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
AQAP has confirmed that its emir, Nasir al Wuhayshi, was killed in a US drone strike earlier this month. The group’s new leader is Qasim al Raymi, who previously served as AQAP’s military commander.
Reports of the death of Nasir al Wuhayshi, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s emir and al Qaeda’s general manager, are unconfirmed. The US launched a drone strike in Hadramout province last week.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, has issued a statement disavowing the massacre of Druze civilians in Idlib last week. The group doesn’t deny that its fighters are responsible for the slaughter, but claims that the jihadists disobeyed specific “directives” banning such acts.
US intelligence agencies thought that Abdul Haq al Turkistani, a member of al Qaeda’s executive council, was killed in a drone strike in February 2010. But according to a jihadist media outlet, he was badly wounded but recovered and assumed command of the Turkistan Islamic Party in 2014.
The Islamic State’s fighters in Libya say they have taken control of a power plant outside of the city of Sirte. The group has repeatedly targeted locations in Sirte since the beginning of the year, taking over significant parts of the city in the process.
Five of the eight strikes that have taken place in Pakistan so far this year have targeted jihadists operating in the Shawal Valley, which spans both North and South Waziristan.
Al Jazeera aired the second part of its interview with Abu Muhammad al Julani earlier this week. Julani again made it clear that Al Nusrah is a part of al Qaeda and referenced Ayman al Zawahiri’s “directives” following the beginning of the Arab revolutions in late 2010 and early 2011.
In late May, the Islamic State’s so-called “Khorasan province” released a video threatening the Taliban. Multiple press reports say the two sides have repeatedly fought one another since the beginning of the year. Still, the Islamic State’s presence in the region is likely much smaller than the network operated by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and their allies.
Several al Qaeda ideologues have issued a fatwa saying it is “compulsory” to fight the Islamic State in Aleppo. The edict was issued after the Islamic State seized towns and villages from other rebel groups in the province.
The Islamic State has seized towns and villages in Aleppo province, provoking a counterattack from several rebel organizations. The “caliphate’s” move may have been timed to disrupt its jihadist rivals’ advances in northern Syria.
Earlier this week, Al Jazeera aired the first part of its interview with Abu Muhammed al Julani, who is the emir of the Al Nusrah Front. Julani stressed that his organization is “committed” to Ayman al Zawahiri’s “orders,” thereby dispelling erroneous reports that his group was going to “break” with al Qaeda.
Jihadists, including al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, have claimed victory in the battle for the town of Ariha. The town was one of the last regime-controlled areas in the province of Idlib.
Said Arif, an al Qaeda veteran, has reportedly been killed in an airstrike in Syria. Jihadists on social media have identified Arif as a senior figure in Jund al Aqsa, an al Qaeda front group.
The Pakistani Taliban has released a lengthy statement rejecting Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s claim to be the new caliph. The group praises Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, as well as deceased al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his successor, Ayman al Zawahiri.
A newly-released file recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound shows that the Taliban offered its condolences on the death of a senior al Qaeda leader in May 2010. Other documents reveal that Mullah Omar’s representative corresponded with bin Laden’s chief lieutenant even as he negotiated with the State Department.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, claims that 14 fighters were killed in recent coalition air strikes in Syria.