The State Department has designated Ibrahim al Banna as a terrorist. Al Banna has served as an al Qaeda official in Yemen since the 1990s. He originally joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and has been one of Ayman al Zawahiri’s loyalists for decades.
Ahmed Salama Mabruk, a veteran Egyptian jihadist, is now a key figure in Al Nusrah Front. Mabruk’s dossier stretches back to the early 1980s, when he was first imprisoned following the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. He reportedly oversaw Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda networks in the 1990s, before being captured in a CIA-led manhunt. He was released from an Egyptian prison following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, was released from an Egyptian prison earlier this week. He was imprisoned in Egypt in 1999, but released following the uprisings in 2011. He quickly became a prolific advocate for al Qaeda’s jihadist ideology. Along with other al Qaeda-linked jihadists, he helped orchestrate the protest outside the US Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012.
On Oct. 20, AQAP released a biography for Mustafa Ali, an Egyptian who was killed in a US drone strike in late 2013. The group says he sought “knowledge” from Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of Ayman al Zawahiri, while imprisoned in Egypt.
Mohammed al Zawahiri was arrested in Egypt. He became a well-known figure in post-Mubarak Egypt and openly advocated al Qaeda’s ideology. He has numerous reported ties to terrorists and helped incite the Sept. 11, 2012 US Embassy protest in Cairo.
The State Department said 21 US embassies and consulates will be closed on Sunday, Aug. 4, in response to a suspected threat from an al Qaeda affiliate. No specific details about the threat have been provided. Al Qaeda-linked jihadists assaulted multiple diplomatic facilities in September 2012.
A group calling itself Ansar al Sharia Egypt has announced its formation in the Sinai and has threatened violence in the wake of recent events. It is not clear if the organization is truly a new front, or simply a covert part of an already established group with the same name.
The younger brother of al Qaeda’s emir issued a statement on July 2 saying that a confrontation inside Egypt would favor the country’s jihadists. How Salafi jhadists respond to the ongoing crisis remains to be seen.
Ansar al Sharia Egypt posted a letter in June from Tariq Abu-al-Azm, a former major in the Egyptian air force who is accused of being part of the Nasr City cell. The cell has multiple ties to al Qaeda.
Mohammed al Zawahiri and two of his Egyptian jihadist allies have issued a statement criticizing the Democratic Jihad Party. “Jihad and Democracy are opposites and don’t mix,” they say.
Abu Obeida Sharif Khattab, an Egyptian who appeared in at least two videos with Mohammed al Zawahiri, died in an attack along with three other Egyptians in Mali earlier this month. Mohammed al Zawahiri is the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri.
Two Facebook posts contain messages from Ansar al Sharia Egypt leader Ahmed Ashush honoring slain al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al Libi and praising Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. The statements were first published last year but were re-posted online in recent weeks.
Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, has launched his own Facebook page.
An online banner advertising a video dedicated to Khalid Salah Abdul Hadi Jadullah, a Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem terrorist, portrays him as an al Qaeda martyr.
The Ansar al Sharia Facebook pages analyzed by The Long War Journal contain valuable information, in addition to bluster. Two Facebook pages we reported on have been taken down since our articles first appeared.
Ansar al Sharia Egypt, an al Qaeda-linked group, has called on Muslims to resist France’s intervention in Mali. In an entry on its Facebook page, the group posted an image of the Eiffel Tower being attacked and asked, “Is France unaware of who it is fighting?”
The younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri has called for jihad in Mali and threatened France, as well as other countries. He “organized” last week’s protest at the French Embassy in Cairo. Al Qaeda banners were on display during the protest.
Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda’s emir, helped stage a protest in front of the French embassy in Cairo today. The protesters denounced France’s intervention in Mali, saying the country was “at war against Islam.”
A British paper incorrectly reported that Mohammed al Zawahiri was arrested in Syria.
A video showing Ayman al Zawahiri calling on Hazem Salah Abu Ismail to restart the Egyptian revolution is circulating on Egyptian web sites. The video is actually a clip from al Qaeda’s Oct. 24 video. Zawahiri urges Abu Ismail to work toward the implementation of sharia law.
Egypt has arrested Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed), a terrorist with direct, longstanding ties to al Qaeda’s leadership. Some of the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya were trained in his camps. He is also part of the jihadist network that incited protesters in Cairo earlier that same day.
During an interview with a Cairo-based publication in late October, Ahmed Ashush repeatedly praised and defended al Qaeda. Ashush also said, “We are at war with the United States and Israel.”
Ansar al Sharia Egypt has released a statement outlining its 16 goals. In addition to working toward the implementation of sharia law, the group says it will support the mujahideen opposed to the “Zionist-Crusader” coalition. The group is headed by Ahmed Ashush, a jihadist with longstanding ties to al Qaeda.
In a message addressed to Shabaab, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, Ayman al Zawahiri cites the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, as well as the assaults on US embassies in Cairo and Sanaa, as evidence of American weakness.
Sheikh ‘Adel Shehato, a senior Egyptian jihadist who helped instigate the Sept. 11 protest in Cairo, has been arrested in Egypt. Authorities allege that he was the founder of the Nasr City terrorist cell. Members of the cell are reportedly connected to the terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.
An Egyptian media organization has posted a video purportedly showing Muhammad Jamal al Kashef, who is one of the main suspects in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Jamal has longstanding ties to Ayman al Zawahiri and his younger brother, Mohammed al Zawahiri.
A video released by Al Faroq media earlier this month shows four al Qaeda-linked jihadists inciting the US embassy protest in Cairo on Sept. 11. One of them is Rifai Ahmed Taha Musa, a Gamaa Islamiyya leader whose ties to senior al Qaeda leaders date to the 1990s.