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New Al Nusrah Front video features interview with leader, military gains in Syria
An audio recording of Abu Muhammad al Julani, the emir of the Al Nusrah Front, introduces a newly-released video produced by the group. The video highlights Al Nusrah’s purported military gains and ends with a clip of Ayman al Zawahiri calling for jihadist unity.
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Iraq
Obama sends resolution for use of force against Islamic State to Congress
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Syria
The Islamic State claims in a propaganda magazine that the widow of the gunman who attacked a Paris supermarket is now in Syria with the group. The US struggles with an “intelligence gap” while trying to track Western foreign fighters; it is believed “more than 20,000 foreign fighters from more than 90 countries have gone to Syria.” Regime forces and Hezbollah launched a major offensive in Southern Syria.
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State Department designates German rapper turned Islamic State ‘operative’
The State Department today announced that Denis Cuspert has been added to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists.
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Syria
The US-led coalition conducted three airstrikes near near Kobani, Deir al-Zor and Raqqa in the past day. Kurdish forces have recaptured more than a third of villages (“128 of some 350”) surrounding Kobane. Jordan has launched 56 airstrikes in retaliation for the death of Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh, the pilot murdered by the Islamic State. The Syrian foreign minister said the Assad regime does not need Jordan’s help to fight the jihadist group. “At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded” in a regime airstrikes near Damascus. The Islamic State has withdrawn some of its men and material from Aleppo.…
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Rebel coalition in Syria mourns al Qaeda official killed in US airstrike in Yemen
The Ansar al Din Front in Syria has released a statement mourning the death of Harith al Nadhari, a sharia official in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 31. The statement is further evidence that Ansar al Din is, at a minimum, closely allied with al Qaeda’s international network.
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Analysis: The Islamic State claims Jordanian airstrikes killed an American hostage
The Islamic State claims that an American hostage was killed during Jordanian airstrikes earlier today. However, the statement could very well be a propaganda ploy, at least in part.
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Al Qaeda jihadists celebrate release of anti-Islamic State ideologue
Jordan has reportedly released Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi. The move was celebrated by al Qaeda jihadists on social media, including those belonging to the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria.
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Iraq
Jordanian jets return after striking at Islamic State targets in Syria: sources
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Iraq
Jordan considers expanding role in Coalition to hit Islamic State in Iraq
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Syria
Rebel shelling rocks Syrian capital
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Syria
At least eight people were wounded and possibly five killed after the Islam Army, a Syrian rebel group, attacked Damascus with a barrage of rockets and mortar rounds. At least 54 rebels may have been killed after regime troops attacked their positions in the Damascus suburb of Douma, according to Xinhua via Syrian National TV. It’s been reported that the UAE stopped flying missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition after Jordan’s pilot was captured late last year; Pentagon releases seem to contradict this report. According to SOHR, the Islamic State has executed 50 people “it accused of…
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Iraq
United Arab Emirates, key US ally in Islamic State effort, disengaged in December
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Iraq
Jordan hangs two Iraqi militants in response to pilot’s death
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Islamic State
Islamic State kills 50 captives in Syria this year
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Analysis: DIA head warns al Qaeda in Syria may gain ground in 2015
Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart, the director of the DIA, testified before the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Stewart warned that al Qaeda in Syria may gain ground in 2015, the Islamic State remains capable of launching offensive operations despite the coalition’s air campaign, and the Taliban-led insurgency has fought its opposition to a stalemate in Afghanistan.
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Iraq
Jordan to execute jailed would-be bomber, jihadists
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Islamic State burns captured Jordanian pilot alive
First Lieutenant Mu’adh Yusuf al Kasasibah was burned alive in a cage by Islamic State fighters.
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Syria
The Al Nusrah Front claimed responsibility for bombing a bus of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims visiting a Syrian shrine in Damascus on Feb. 1, killing six people. The Western-backed rebel Hazzm movement has reportedly joined the Levantine Front, a coalition of other Syrian rebel groups, in a bid to strengthen itself against Al Nusrah. The Islamic State announced the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto on Feb. 1.
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Islamic State admits its forces withdrew from Kobane
Two fighters featured in an Islamic State video credited the air campaign by the US-led Coalition with forcing their retreat.
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Hezbollah
Israel, Hezbollah signal their flare-up is over
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Iraq
Islamic State purportedly sets new deadline for hostage swap
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Syria
A UN official said the organization’s aid effort is having trouble delivering supplies to 40% of the population in need. Talks between various opposition factions and the regime began in Moscow on Jan. 25. The US State Department denied assertions it has abandoned moderate rebels. Journalists entering Kobane have said the city is “a mass of rubble and gutted buildings” after the more than four months-long battle. King’s College in London estimates that over 20,000 foreigners, “including about 4,000 from Western Europe and about 3,000 from former Soviet Union countries,” are fighting in Syria. The US-led coalition conducted 13 airstrikes…
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Hezbollah kills 2 Israeli soldiers in anti-tank missile attack
Hezbollah fired five anti-tank missiles at an IDF unit patrolling near Mt Dov.
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Iraq
Jordan proposes prisoner swap, fate of Japanese Islamic State hostage unclear
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Analysis: Islamic State sleeper cells a threat to Turkey
Turkey’s lax border policies backfire as the Islamic State threatens to bite the hand that feeds.
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Islamic State
Kurdish defenders say Islamic State has retreated from Syrian border town of Kobane
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Al Nusrah Front, Western-backed rebels overrun key regime base south of Damascus
The Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham fought side-by-side with Western-backed rebels in a battle to take a key Assad regime base in southern Syria.
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Iraq
Japan condemns IS execution, demands remaining hostage release
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Lebanon
Lebanese army says three more soldiers killed in Friday’s attack
