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Al Nusrah Front raids rebel group’s headquarters in Idlib province, seizes weapons
Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, raided the 13th Division’s headquarters and seized its weapons. The 13th Division, which has received US-made TOW missiles, has long coexisted with the jihadists in northwestern Syria. But that all changed in the past 48 hours as al Qaeda’s men stormed its locations.
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Omar al Shishani was ‘badly wounded’ in US airstrike
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that Shishani “was seriously injured” and taken to a hospital in Raqqah province, where he was treated by a European doctor.
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Caucasus Emirate in Syria highlights role in Aleppo fighting
The small North Caucasian group does not play a significant role in the fighting, however, its inclusion is still important as it provides extra manpower to al Qaeda and its other allies against the regime and Kurdish forces.
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US targeted senior Islamic State military commander in airstrike in Syria
The US military claimed it targeted and possibly killed Omar al Shishani, a capable field commander for the Islamic State, in an airstrike in Shadaddi. Shishani’s death has not been confirmed.
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Turkistan Islamic Party continues to train children in Syria
While the Islamic State gets most of the attention for its training of children, several other jihadist groups in Syria, many of which foreign al Qaeda groups, also do the same.
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Islamic State’s governor for Aleppo reportedly killed in airstrike
It is unclear if the US or Russia killed Amr al Absi, the Islamic State’s governor for the Syrian province of Aleppo. The US launched an airstrike in northern Syria on March 3, where Absi is said to have been killed.
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IRGC Saberin Special Forces at work in Syria
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps mourns commandos from the “Saberin” killed in Syria. The Saberin is a unit modeled after Western special forces.
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2 Damascus-based jihadist groups swear allegiance to Al Nusrah Front
Two small jihadist groups in Damascus, Ansar al Sharia and Al Muntasir Billah, have sworn allegiance to Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria. Several organizations have joined Al Nusrah since late last year.
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Ansar al Islam battles Kurds in Aleppo
Despite being forced largely underground in Iraq, Ansar al Islam continues to operate in Syria against regime and now Kurdish forces.
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Jund al Aqsa leaders join Al Nusrah Front
According to a statement published online, twelve senior figures in Jund al Aqsa have joined Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria. Jund al Aqsa has suffered from internal disputes for months and these disagreements likely led to the leaders’ announcement. Despite operating somewhat independently from Al Nusrah, the group has long been a front for senior al Qaeda operatives.
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The IRGC’s involvement in the battle for Aleppo
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has invested significant resources to prop up Bashar al Assad’s regime. Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, who oversees all of the Shiite militias active in Syria, is directing operations in the battle of Aleppo.
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Treasury sanctions Islamic State oil and religious officials, facilitator in Gaza
The Treasury Department announced today that three Islamic State officials have been sanctioned. One is a senior official in the “caliphate’s” oil and gas division. A second was the deputy leader of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem before swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and agreeing to establish a foothold for the Islamic State in Gaza. The third is the group’s “chief religious advisor.”
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Al Nusrah Front chief proposed rebel unity plan
The head of the Al Nusrah Front, Abu Muhammad al Julani, proposed a merger with several other jihadist groups in Syria earlier this month. According to an al Qaeda member who has a popular Twitter feed, the plan fell through when some Ahrar al Sham leaders pushed for Al Nusrah to publicly disassociate itself from al Qaeda.
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Before Paris attack, Islamic State terrorists committed grisly executions
The Islamic State has released a new video (titled “Kill Them Wherever You Find Them”) featuring the terrorist team responsible for the Nov. 13, 2015 coordinated attacks in Paris. Some of the jihadists address the camera before or after committing grisly executions that were broadcast in previous videos.
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US citizen pleads guilty to supporting al Qaeda-allied group in Syria
An American citizen, Amin al Baroudi, pleaded guilty to violating US sanctions by providing “tactical equipment” to Ahrar al Sham, which is allied with al Qaeda’s arm in Syria.
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Islamic State launches suicide assault in Indonesia’s capital
Indonesian police have linked the attack to a jihadist based in Syria. Two jihadists factions in Indonesia, Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid and Mujahidin Indonesian Timur, have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State.
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Al Qaeda releases 3 new messages from Ayman al Zawahiri
Al Qaeda has released two audio messages and a written statement from Ayman al Zawahiri in the past day. Two of the messages contain condemnations of Saudi Arabia. The third focuses on Southeast Asia.
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Hezbollah responds to Israeli assassination of commander
Despite the exchange of threats between Israel and Hezbollah, the latest attack in the Shebaa Farms does not indicate a large-scale confrontation is on the horizon.
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YPG claims to have killed nearly 6,000 enemy fighters in 2015
The Kurdish YPG (or People’s Defense Units) has released a summary of its operations for 2015. The YPG claims to have killed nearly 6,000 “enemy” fighters, most of whom likely belonged to the Islamic State, while losing just 680 of its own members in combat. The statistics provided by the YPG imply a kill ratio of nearly 9 to 1, which obviously seems high.
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US-led coalition targets Islamic State’s ‘external attack planners’ in airstrikes
A US military spokesman said earlier today that five members of the Islamic State’s external operations arm were killed in recent airstrikes. Some of the jihadists are believed to have ties to the terrorist cell that struck Paris on Nov. 13.
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Iraqi military retakes center of Ramadi from Islamic State
The loss of Ramadi is a major blow to the Islamic State, which seized the provincial capital and raised its flag over the government center on May 15 after launching a coordinated assault on Iraqi units stationed in the city.
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Turkistan Islamic Party claims using US-made anti-tank missile in northwest Syria
If confirmed, the Turkistan Islamic Party is not the only jihadist group to have used the US-made anti-tank missiles. The Islamic State, Al Nusrah Front, and the Caucasus Emirate in Syria have all released propaganda showing its forces using the TOW missiles.
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Israeli Air Force kills notorious Hezbollah commander in Syria
Israel carried out the assassination of Samir Quntar, a man who had become a symbol in Hezbollah for killing Israelis and was acting as one of its commanders in Syria.
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US military fails to ‘decimate’ Islamic State leadership despite thousands of airstrikes
A US military spokesman touted the strikes that killed the three Islamic State leaders as “an example of how we’re able to decimate networks.”
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Al Nusrah Front announces press conference with its leader
Abu Muhammad al Julani will appear at a press conference “soon,” according to Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria. The timing of his appearance was likely influenced by the Syrian opposition’s meeting in Saudi Arabia this week. Al Nusrah is not represented at the gathering.
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New Al Nusrah Front video shows moments before mass execution of Syrian soldiers
After overrunning the Abu Duhour airbase in Idlib province in September, Al Nusrah Front executed dozens of Syrian soldiers. A new video posted online by Al Nusrah highlights the dramatic tension just beforehand.
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Qods Force commander spotted with US-designated terrorist in Aleppo
Harakat al Nujaba leader Akram al Kaabi met with Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Qods Force, in Aleppo, Syria, according to the Iraqi Shiite militia.
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Al Nusrah Front shows captured Humvees in Aleppo
The photos mark one of the first times a Humvee has been captured by a jihadist group in Syria, and indicate that Iraqi militias have transported US-made military hardware from Iraq to Syria.
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US airstrikes target Islamic State leaders in Libya and Syria
The strikes that targeted “Jihadi John” and Abu Nabil should serve as a reminder that 14 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, the military and intelligence establishment remain hyper focused on targeting individuals in the hopes of causing the collapse of jihadist groups.
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Assad regime, allies break Islamic State’s siege of air base in Aleppo
With the help of Russian airstrikes, Bashar al Assad’s military and paramilitary allies have broken the Islamic State’s siege of the Kweiris air base in Aleppo province. Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militant organizations supported the Syrian military’s offensive.
