The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.)
Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
In a video posted on the Internet on November 15, 2014, Junes Kock, spokesman of the Scandinavian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir, said that the entire world has allied itself against the Muslims and called on the mujahideen fighting in Syria to "join ranks" and "unite in the fight against tyranny and oppression."
Following are excerpts:
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Junes Kock: "I remember when the uprising began in Syria. Many of us were excited because the courageous people of Syria rose up to remove a tyrant, and because all we heard were Islamic slogans, and all we saw were Islamic symbols. I remember staying up all night following the developments on TV and the Internet. For the first time in a long time, it seemed that there was a perceivable basis for the establishment of a Caliphate on the method of the prophet hood.
"But we Muslims were not the only ones who followed this closely. Infidel nations around the world were nervously following in despair. They tried, one time after the other, with several meetings in Geneva, and several proposals for a secular interim government, but all their plans were rejected, and the people of Syria seemed to be determined on an Islamic solution."
French ISIS Fighters Urge Muslims At Home To Carry Out Terror Attacks In France
In a 7-minute video posted on the Internet on November 19, French ISIS fighters call upon French Muslims to join them in the Caliphate and urge those who remain at home to terrorize the enemies of Allah. "Kill them, spit in their faces, and run over them with your cars," one fighter says, and another calls to poison their water and food.
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Hamayun Tariq, 38, from Dudley, England, who claims to be a bomb expert and who says he has recently joined the Islamic State (ISIS) after having fought for the Taliban for several years, posts on his Twitter account under the name Muslim-Al-Britani, where he states that he is an electrical engineer and explosives expert; formerly, he was a car mechanic in England. On November 23, 2014, he created a new Twitter account, following the suspension of his previous account after he shared instructions on how to build a bomb.
British Islamist Organization Supports ISIS On Social Media
In order to garner support and enlarge its recruiting pool in the West, the Islamic State (ISIS) uses groups of local online activists who spread its ideas and propaganda on social media. The following report will shed light on one of these groups.
InviteToIslam, a radical Islamist group based in Birmingham, UK, has been actively promoting the Islamic State (ISIS) and posting pro-ISIS messages in English on its social media accounts - Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. It is worth noting that this spring's Trojan Horse Affair in the UK, in which public schools were found to be indoctrinating pupils with radical Islamist teachings in public schools, unfolded in Birmingham.
InviteToIslam's official website, whose content is more innocuous than the content it posts on its social media and is devoid of radical themes, offers information about Islamic dogma and the basic tenets of the faith. At the time of this writing, the site claimed to have had 97,306 visitors.
Report On ISIS Fighters From Kazakhstan Shows Children Training With Weapons
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
ISIS Offers $5000 For Turning In Spies Assisting International Coalition
The Islamic State (ISIS) in the Aleppo region has been distributing leaflets offering a 5000$ reward to anyone who turns in "spies" who help the coalition identify ISIS targets .
Report On ISIS 'Media Points' In Forat Province
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Saudi Arabia Busts ISIS-Linked Cell Responsible For Attack On Shiites
On November 25, 2014, Saudi interior ministry spokesman Mansour Al-Turki announced that it had broken up the terrorist cell responsible for the November 4, 2014 attack on a Shi'ite house of worship in the kingdom's Eastern Province. According to Al-Turki, the cell followed instructions from the Islamic State (ISIS). Saudi security forces arrested 77 men connected to the cell, four of whom were foreign nationals.
On November 21, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) released the fifth issue of its English-language magazine Dabiq. The issue, which is titled "Remaining And Expanding," touts ISIS's recent expansion into Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the Sinai, Libya, and Algeria, and the title echoes ISIS's motto that it will both remain in existence and continue to expand.
On the cover is a photo of the Ka'ba, in Mecca, highlighting the fact that the organisation is setting its sights on Saudi Arabia.
The following is an overview of some of its main articles and sections.
Dabiq: The ISIS Flag Will ÔÇ£Expand Until It Covers The Earth, From East To West"
The Forward section stresses ISIS's victory over its enemies, and its recent penetration into Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Libya and Algeria. It especially emphasizes that the ISIS flag will fly over Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest sites, and also over Jerusalem, bringing about "the end of the Jewish state." Eventually, it says, ISIS will expand to the West and to the world at large, even if the infidels do not like it:
Islamic State Releases Sixth Installment In Video Series Featuring British Hostage John Cantlie
On November 21, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) released the sixth installment in its series of videos titled "Lend Me Your Ears" featuring British hostage John Cantlie. In this latest installment, Cantlie discusses the botched U.S. rescue attempt in July 2014 to release Western hostages held by ISIS. Cantlie criticizes the U.S. and U.K. governments for not negotiating with ISIS to bring about the hostages' release, and notes that the war against ISIS has little to do with humanitarian issues or national security, but is "all about oil, business, money, and political games and selfish individuals and parties."
On November 21, 2014, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a video message by one of its leading clerics, Harith Al-Nadhari, rejecting the June 2014 Islamic State (ISIS) declaration of a caliphate, and the appointment of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as caliph. Al-Nadhari says, among other things, that Al-Baghdadi's appointment was made without proper consultation. He also accuses ISIS of dividing and weakening the mujahideen by establishing the caliphate, particularly in light of ISIS's calls for the mujahideen of other jihad groups to leave their groups and join it.
On November 21, Al-Malahem, the media branch of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), tweeted from its official account a link to an audio recording by senior AQAP official Abu Hurayra Qasem Al-Rimi about the "American-Houthi coalition in Yemen." Speaking primarily about the crimes of the Houthis, Al-Rimi threatened that accounts would very soon be settled with them. He stated that the Houthis had in essence been handed the administration of affairs in Yemen from the hands of the Yemeni government, under American instructions and under (Iranian) oversight. He called on all Sunni Muslims not to watch from the sidelines but to aid and immediately join the struggle against the Houthis.
Al-Shabab Magazine Dedicated To Muslims In Central African Republic (CAR) And Kenya
On November 24, 2014, the Somali Al-Qaeda-affiliate Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen published the fifth issue of its Swahili magazine Gaidi Mtaani. The special edition, per Al-Shabab, is dedicated to the Muslims of the Central African Republic (CAR) and Kenya.
The previous issue of Gaidi Mtaani was released over a year ago on November 12, 2013.
The current issue is 16-pages long and is presented in Swahili and English.
The magazine is a rehash of Al-Shabab leader Mukhtar Abu Zubayr's message from May, where he spoke about the grim situation of Muslims in Bangui, CAR, and Mombasa, Kenya, and inciting Muslims there to take up arms to defend themselves. Abu Zubayr also touched on the infighting among jihadi groups in Syria and offered his condolences for the death of Dokka Umarov, emir of the Caucasus Emirate, in the same address.
Maulana Fazlullah, first non-Mehsud emir of TTP, faces challenges to his leadership from factions led by Mehsud militants
Below are excerpts from a Pakistani media report that examined the recent splits in Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a re-alignment of some of the factions with the Pakistani military, and the threat they pose to the region around Pakistan:
"The Main Reason Behind The Split [In TTP] In The Beginning Was The Dominance Of Mehsud Militants In The Organizational Structure And Policy-Making Of The TTP [And Against The Non-Mehsud Leader Maulana Fazlullah]"
"Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country's largest alliance of Taliban militant groups, has been suffering a split in its ranks as several key commanders have formally announced to form their own factions or abandon the coalition in recent months. Analysts take it to mean that the organization is weakening."
Below are excerpts from a Pakistani media report that examined the emergence of Jundallah, one of the militant groups that claimed responsibility for the November 2 suicide bombing at Wagah, the Pakistani side of the Pakistan-India border:
"The Karachi-Based Jundallah Is A Separate Group; Its Creation Is In Fact A Prime Example Of Al-Qaeda's Changing Face In Pakistan"
"Police have found an organization named Jundallah responsible for a terrorist attack on a Muharram procession [mourning by Shia Muslims] in Karachi that killed more than 45 people. The name Jundallah had previously been linked to: a) a similar organization based in [Pakistani province of] Baluchistan that had carried out attacks in Iranian Baluchistan, b) a third organization that carried out attacks in Indonesia and was an off-shoot of Jemaah Islamiyah, and c) a group in Waziristan. It is unclear how they are linked to each other."
