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 [email protected] with "Membership" in the subject line.)
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In a December 28 message, a new member of the Al-Shumoukh forum who goes by the name of "Galvanize the Believers" called on lone attackers worldwide to take an example from the fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) and target shopping centers, cafes, hotels and churches, and any other place frequented by Christians and Jews, during the Christmas season.
In the posting, the writer explains that the Christians and Jews, and their lackeys, the Arab regimes, kill and humiliate Muslims all over the world, violate the honor of their wives and daughters, and plunder their property. He adds that the Christian churches and Jewish synagogues are also fighting Islam. Hence, he says, it is time for Muslim "lone wolf attackers" to emulate the fighters of the Islamic Caliphate, who put their faith in Allah and are not afraid to die for his sake, and come out in defense of their faith and their people. He reminds potential attackers that they are very close to the enemies (i.e., the non-Muslims), and can therefore undermine their security and terrorize them in their own lands.
Saudi Cleric Fighting In Syria Calls Upon Dutch Muslims To Join The Jihad
In a video that was posted online on December 28, 2014, Saudi cleric 'Abdallah Al-Muheisni addresses Dutch Muslims and calls upon them to join the jihad in Syria. Al-Muheisni is a known opponent of the Islamic State (ISIS), and is affiliated with rival Islamist groups in Syria.
On December 30, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) - Baghdad province released a video message of Abu Abdullah Al-Hollandi, a Dutch ISIS fighter who executed a suicide attack against Iraqi police headquarters in Baghdad on November 12, 2014. Al-Hollandi urges Dutch Muslims to leave the Netherlands and join ISIS, while noting that they have no excuse to live among the unbelievers any longer. Al-Hollandi also urges ISIS fighters to carry out suicide attacks.
The video is 5:09 minutes in duration, and was released on the Jihadi Media Platform forum (alplatformmedia.com).
Ajnad Misr Response To U.S. Terror Designation: America Is The Terrorist
On December 19, 2014, the Egyptian jihad group Ajnad Misr ("Soldiers of Egypt") released a message on its Twitter account in response to the U.S. government's decision to designate it a terrorist organization. In the message, titled "We are not an American Province," the group claimed that it is America that is "terrorist," and that the designation is meant to keep Muslims from rebelling against their tyrant regimes and against the U.S.-led world order that is plundering their resources. The group vowed to continue its war against the U.S. and the world order it is leading.
On December 29, 2014 The Islamic State (ISIS) released the sixth issue of its English-language magazine, 'Dabiq'.
Below is an overview of the issue's main articles and sections.
Slamming Al-Qaeda
The feature article in the issue is titled "Al-Qa'idah of Waziristan: A Testimony from Within", authored by former Al-Qaeda fighter and defector, Abu Jarir ash-Shamali, a veteran of Waziristan who was personally acquainted with Al-Qaeda's leaders. The writer recounts at length his experience in the Waziristan arena, and speaks of his disillusionment with Al-Qaeda which led him to defect and dissociate from the organization and join ISIS. He describes Al-Qaeda's efforts to undermine ISIS and the spread of its ideology to Waziristan. He ends his account with a prayer: "O Allah, bring an end to any project waging war against the Islamic State. O Allah, tear apart any such projects and exterminate them."
ISIS English Magazine Glorifies Lone Wolf Attacks In Australia, France, Canada And The U.S.
The foreword to the new issue of Dabiq magazine released by the Islamic State (ISIS) media branch on December 29, 2014 focuses on Man Haron Monis, the December 14, 2014 Sydney hostage crisis gunman. He is described as a mujahidin of the Islamic State who answered the ISIS Sheikh Muhammad Al-'Adnani's call to carry out attacks in the West. The text defends Monis' intentions, and accuses the western media of mounting a campaign against him. It points out that his Shi'ite and problematic past is irrelevant, and that he died a martyr. The article also features two photos from the December 20, 2014 attack in France by Bertrand Nzohabonayo, and glorifies the acts of the lone wolf attackers in Australia, France, Canada and America. It concludes with the threat that similar additional attacks are forthcoming.
On December 23, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) released the first issue of Dar Al-Islam ("The Lands of Islam"), a new French-language magazine. The slickly designed 15-page issue, posted on the Twitter page of Al-Hayat, ISIS's foreign-language media company, is composed exclusively of original materials in French. It focuses on the topic of the Caliphate, its religious legitimacy and the obligation of all Muslims to immigrate to it and pledge allegiance to its leader, with many references to the Koran and to religious scholars.
The following are details:
Cover and contents page of the new magazine
The magazine features four articles which actually constitute a single four-part essay. The author is unspecified, but the uniformity of style suggests that all four parts are by the same individual.
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On December 26, 2014, the Ifriqya Information media group, identified with Islamic State (ISIS) supporters in Tunisia, released via its Twitter account (@ifrikya3) an audio message titled "Revenge, Revenge" by the Salafi Tunisian sheikh Kamal Zarouq, who has joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria. In the message, dated December 23 - presidential election day in Tunisia - Zarouq addresses the Tunisian people and urges them to revolt against their "tyrannical" rulers, headed by President-Elect Beji Caid Essebsi.
The following are excerpts from the message:
Zarouq opens by exhorting the Tunisians to adhere to Islam's command of devotion to Allah alone and to His exclusive rule, and calls upon all of them - including the families of the tyrants [tawaghit] - to consider the tyrants apostates, renounce them and revolt against them. He implores the young people of Tunisia to enlist in the cause of monotheism, and urges all Tunisians, especially the poor and those whom the security forces have abused, to attack the government, first with stones and then with weapons. He emphasizes that the Tunisian police and the National Guard are "craven and corrupt," and calls to fight them to the end.
ISIS Employs U.S.-Made TOW Rockets In Syria
On December 30, 2014, the Islamic State's (ISIS) Damascus province released a series of photos documenting its battles in the Qaryatain area, east of Homs and north east of Damascus, where it is fighting local militias affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and other rebel factions. The photos show ISIS fighters firing American-built TOW rockets. The organization has not revealed the source of the rockets.
ISIS In Diyala Province: We Have Downed An Iranian Drone
On December 28, 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) in Diyala province released a video of an Iranian drone allegedly downed by its fighters.
The video begins with technical explanations about the aircraft. It states that it is one of the Iranian models of spy drones, called "Shaheen" or "Mohajir" ("Emigrant"), which has a range of 150 km and can hover at an altitude of 15,000 feet, and that the particular craft shot down belongs to the AO41 series, of which several generations have been manufactured, numbered 92, 111, 108 and 112 (the footage shows that the captured drone is of the latest generation: AO41-112).
The video then mentions that Iranian AUVs have lately begun to be deployed in the war against ISIS: "As the soldiers of the Caliphate advanced, and front against the Rafidha [derogatory term for Shi'ites] widened, the Rafidha of Iraq [the Iraqi authorities] turned to their masters in the land of the Persians [Iran] and asked them to intervene directly in the current battle. The [deployment of] drones and other weapons is one of the milestones of [Iranian] intervention in the fighting. [The Iranians] entered the battle zones to a significant degree, boasting of their idols and confident in their ability to defeat the soldiers of the Caliphate, but they did not succeed. The soldiers of the Caliphate, descendents of the Prophet's contemporaries, managed to bring down many of these drones."
ISIS: We Have Downed A Bomber Near Balad, North of Baghdad, And Captured The Pilot
Al-Bayan, an Islamic State (ISIS) radio station broadcasting from Mosul, claimed yesterday (December 29, 2014) that ISIS fighters in the North Baghdad province had shot down a bomber and taken its pilot hostage. According to the report, ISIS's air defense unit in the province downed the aircraft in the Al-Khudeira region, near "Balad Station", and further details will be released soon.
ISIS Captures Tal Afar Airport, Says: 'We Are Here To Stay'
On December 24, 2014, the information office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Ninawa Province in Iraq released a two-minute film titled "Messages from Tal Afar airport", which shows ISIS fighters walking around the airport's runways. Three of them, one apparently of Kurdish origin, deliver messages to "the Shi'ites" (i.e., the Iraqi authorities) and to the Kurdish Peshmerga, saying that they intend to maintain their control of the airport and defend it with their bodies.
One of the speakers says: "We are standing in the Tal Afar airport, after we turned it into a graveyard for the infidel Shi'ites and those who collaborated with them," and vows that nobody will be able to wrest the area from the Islamic State's control.
ISIS Publishes Interview With Captured Jordanian Pilot: 'They Will Kill Me'
The sixth issue of the Islamic State's English-Language Magazine, "Dabiq", features an interview with Mu'adh Safi Yusuf al-Kasasibah, the Jordanian pilot whose plane crashed in Syria on December 24, 2014 while he was flying a mission for the anti-ISIS coalition.
A photo of Al-Kasasibah dressed in an orange cloak is attached to the interview.
Jihadi On Leading Islamic State (ISIS) Forum Promotes Hacking Class
On December 17, 2014, Qannas Al-Somal, a member of the Jihadi Media Platform forum (alplatformmedia.com), promoted a hacking class taught on the online learning platform Udemy.com.
"Glad tiding my loved ones get a penetration testing course priced at $300 for free!!! Hurry up brothers, time is limited," he wrote.
On December 24, 2014, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released issue XIII of its English-language magazine Inspire. The issue, titled "Neurotmesis" (Greek word meaning "to sever the nerves"), focuses on calls to attack the U.S. In its "Open Source Jihad" (OSJ) section, the magazine offers detailed instructions on building a hidden bomb to be used onboard commercial airlines. AQAP's call to target civilian airlines coincides with the 5th anniversary of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's Christmas Day bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on route to Detroit. The magazine also calls to target high profile American personality like Ben Shalom Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, in order to damage the U.S. economy.
Taliban In Pakistan Commander Adnan Rasheed Offers 'Amnesty' To Pakistani Soldiers If They Repent
Taliban in Pakistan offers amnesty to Pakistani soldiers if they repent in video posted on the Internet, on December 23, 2014.
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Homepage of Al-Qalam's website
Pakistani terrorist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) recently criticized the conversion of Indian Muslims to Hinduism by extremist Hindu groups led by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), which is associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The JeM is a Pakistani jihadi organization led by Maulana Masood Azhar, one of the three terrorists released by India in exchange for the passengers of an Indian plane hijacked to Kandahar in 1999. Although it is outlawed in Pakistan, the JeM continues to function from its headquarters in the town of Bahawalpur, and its activities are carried out under the banner of its charity arm Al-Rahmat Trust.
The JeM also publishes Al-Qalam, a weekly newspaper in Urdu language, in print and online. In a recent issue, Al-Qalam published a report and an editorial criticizing a series of conversions of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism by the RSS-affiliated extremist Hindu organizations, which argue that Muslims and Christians were originally Hindus.
