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Number of suicide attacks claimed by the Islamic State dipped in September
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency claims that the so-called caliphate launched 53 “martyrdom operations” in Iraq and Syria in September. This is less than any previous month in 2016. But the Islamic State has claimed 782 suicide bombings in Iraq, Syria and Libya during the first nine months of 2016, for an average of 87 per month. If accurate, this is a historically high rate.
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Qassem Soleimani: Islamic State was created to fight Iran
Two top officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF) delivered remarks commemorating the most senior IRGC commander killed in Syria last year. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC-QF, spoke about the strategic importance of Syria, and claimed that the Islamic State was established with the goal of threatening Iran.
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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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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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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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State Department adds al Qaeda front group in Syria to terror designation list
The State Department has designated Jund al Aqsa in Syria as a terrorist organization. The Long War Journal previously exposed Jund al Aqsa as an al Qaeda front group. Al Qaeda veterans have been embedded within the organization and Jund al Aqsa’s “general command” remains loyal to al Qaeda’s leaders.
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Israel prepares home front for next war with Hezbollah
Israel’s nationwide Home Front Drill, to be held next week, will simulate a worst-case-scenario war with Hezbollah, involving Iran, Syria and Hamas.
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Al Qaeda-linked foreign fighter recruiter designated by State Department
The State Department has designated Omar Diaby, who has recruited French men and women to wage jihad in Syria, as a terrorist. Diaby faked his death in 2015 so he could receive treatment for wounds he suffered. He resurfaced earlier this year. Diaby is infamous for producing a series of videos under the brand “19HH.” The videos have explicitly marketed his loyalty to al Qaeda.
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US military kills Islamic State’s ‘Minister of Information’
The US military announced today that it killed Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, the Islamic State’s “Minister of Information” and central shura member, in an airstrike near Raqqah, the jihadist group’s capital in Syria, ten days ago.
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Fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks, al Qaeda fights on
Fifteen years after 9/11, Al Qaeda remains a threat to the West despite not carrying out a large-scale attack in years. The group is waging insurgencies in several countries and is far larger than it was on 9/11.
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Soleimani’s presence in Aleppo underscores strategy of crushing rebels
Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, was spotted in southern Aleppo on September 6, inspecting the positions of Iraqi Shiite militia Harakat al Nujaba in advance of assaults.
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Jund al Aqsa uses drone to drop small bomb on Syrian regime forces
Jund al Aqsa, an al Qaeda front group, is playing a major role in the rebel offensive in Hama province. The group released a video earlier today showing one of its drones dropping a small, unguided bomb on Syrian regime forces. Jund al Aqsa has endorsed Al Nusrah Front’s relaunch as Jabhat Fath al Sham (“Conquest of the Levant Front”), saying that al Qaeda’s senior leadership must have determined that it was in the best interests of the people and the jihad in Syria.
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Islamic State says senior official killed in Aleppo province
The Islamic State issued a “martyrdom” statement today for Abu Muhammad al Adnani, who was one of the group’s top leaders and spokesman. The Defense Department subsequently confirmed that Adnani was targeted in an airstrike, but added that his status was still being assessed. The Pentagon described Adnani as the “principal architect” of the Islamic State’s “external operations,” meaning the part of the organization devoted to planning attacks in the West and elsewhere abroad.
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Two US-backed groups clash in northern Syria
Jaysh al Tahrir, a group that has received several US TOW anti-tank missiles in the past, fought with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Aleppo. The SDF is the main anti-Islamic State fighting force for the United States and has received considerable support from the West.
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Zawahiri says jihadists should prepare for guerrilla war in Iraq
In the third episode of his “Brief Messages to a Victorious Ummah” series, Ayman al Zawahiri calls on “the mujahideen of the Levant” to help the jihadists in Iraq “reorganize themselves” for a “protracted” campaign of “guerrilla war.” Zawahiri clearly expects the Islamic State’s caliphate claim to be rendered moot and he wants jihadists to follow a new strategy in Iraq going forward.
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Russian Air Force stations bombers in Iranian air base to strike in Syria
Moscow and Tehran have reportedly struck an agreement permitting the Russian Air Force to use an Iranian military base to conduct airstrikes in Syria.
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Iraqi militia parades in southern Aleppo
The Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia militia has shown off a considerable troop deployment to the frontlines of Aleppo just days after Iranian media reported the move.
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Analysis: Al Nusrah Front rebrands itself as Jabhat Fath Al Sham
Abu Muhammad al Julani announced that Al Nusrah Front has been rebranded as Jabhat Fath Al Sham. Many have read into Julani’s statement as a formal disassociation with al Qaeda. But Julani didn’t actually say that, as his language was intentionally ambiguous. While sitting next to a longtime al Qaeda veteran from Egypt, Julani did not explicitly say that his group has broken from al Qaeda.
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Ex-Gitmo detainee, Islamic State’s leader in Chechnya designated by State Department
The State Department has added a former Guantanamo detainee, Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov, to the US government’s list of designated terrorists. According to press reports, Vakhitov was recently arrested in connection with the terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Also designated today is Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, who leads the Islamic State’s forces in Chechnya.
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Foreign jihadists advertise role in Latakia fighting
The foreign jihadists are operating within Jaysh al Fateh’s renewed offensive in Latakia, in which several Free Syrian Army groups are also taking part.
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Islamic State claims nearly 600 suicide attacks in first six months of 2016
According to statistics provided by Amaq News Agency, which is part of the Islamic State’s propaganda machine, the so-called caliphate deployed 589 suicide bombers in Iraq, Syria and Libya during the first six months of 2016. The figures published by Amaq cannot be independently verified and other sources indicate the figure may be lower. But Amaq’s aggregate statistics are generally consistent with the scale of the Islamic State’s fighting.
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Ohio man conspired with Islamic State recruiter, Justice Department says
The Department of Justice announced today that Munir Abdulkader, a 21 year-old man living in Ohio, has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Abdulkader was in contact with Junaid Hussein, an Islamic State recruiter who encouraged him to carry out attacks in the US. Hussein established ties to a number of Islamic State suspects in the West prior to his demise in an August 2015 American airstrike in Raqqa, Syria.
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US government releases data on ‘counterterrorism strikes outside areas of active hostilities’
ODNI released some information on counterterrorism raids as part of an effort to provide more transparency on these operations. US intelligence claims that between 2,372 to 2,581 combatants and between 64 to 116 civilians were killed in 473 strikes in areas outside of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria since President Obama took office.
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Jihadists and other rebels attack Syrian regime positions in Latakia province
Jaysh al Fateh, a jihadist-led coalition that includes al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and various groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army have launched a new offensive on government-held positions in the Latakia province. The assault has been named the “Battle of Yarmouk.”
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Islamic State claims 3 Russian soldiers killed in Syria
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency claims that three Russian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Syria. The claim could not be immediately verified. In recent days, the Russian-Syrian-Iranian axis has suffered setbacks along the same road where the Russians were allegedly killed. [Update: A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman subsequently denied Amaq’s claim.]
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Qods Force general vows to fight in Iraq and Syria until the last jihadist is killed
A senior advisor to the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – Qods Force vowed that Iranian forces would continue to fight in Iraq and Syria until the last Islamic State and “takfiri” fighters are killed. The statement signals the entrenchment of Iranian military assets in Iraq and Syria and the two countries continue to be mired in civil wars.
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Foreign fighter group pledges allegiance to Al Nusrah Front
Jaish Muhammad is the latest foreign fighter group to join the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria.
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Turkistan Islamic Party leader criticizes the Islamic State’s ‘illegitimate’ caliphate
The Turkistan Islamic Party released an audio message from its leader, Abdul Haq, on May 30. The message is the latest indication that Abdul Haq survived a US drone strike in 2010. The man identified as Haq blasts the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in 2015. Haq claims the IMU has “disappeared” since.
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The Islamic State’s prolific ‘martyrdom’ machine
Amaq News Agency claims that the Islamic State has carried out 489 “martyrdom operations” in Iraq, Syria and Libya during the first five months of 2016, with 119 in May alone. If Amaq’s figures are accurate, then the Islamic State is executing more suicide attacks per month in 2016 than all terrorist organizations combined in 2015.
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Uzbek groups part of new offensive in southern Aleppo
The two Uzbek groups are fighting with the Jaysh al Fateh coalition as part of its renewed offensive in southern Aleppo.
