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.)
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On March 10, 2015, an ISIS member calling himself Omar Al-Hussein, who claims to be on his way from Britain to Syria, tweeted that prominent Britain-based jihadi preacher Anjem Choudary was collaborating with the British police and could not be trusted. According to Omar Al-Hussein, Choudary was the only one who knew that he and two other friends were planning to travel to Syria. His friends were arrested in their homes just before leaving; the only one who could have betrayed them was Choudary, Omar Al-Hussein said.
In a short video recently circulated, three French-speaking members of the Islamic State (ISIS) - a young man and two much younger boys who appear to be minors, all of them armed with rifles - sing a song in praise of jihad fighters and leaders. According to the caption of the video, one of the boys is Syrian and the other is French, and the film was shot in Raqqa. The video was posted March 3, 2015 on the Facebook page of a French-speaking ISIS activist calling himself "Khalid Sham."
The video begins with a short message in French delivered by the older fighter, who says: "This little message, this little nasheed, is for the brothers who are infiltrating Paris, may Allah reward you. We send you greetings from the brothers of the Caliphate, of the Levant."
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In a Friday sermon, Ismail Al-Wahwah, spokesman for the Australian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir, said: "The Jews are the most evil creatures of Allah. Moral corruption is linked to the Jews." He further said: "There is only one solution for that cancerous tumor: It must be uprooted and thrown back to where it came from."
Following are excerpts from the video, which was posted on the Internet on March 3 by the Hizb ut-Tahrir channel.
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
Ismail Wahwah: "Allah said [in the Quran]: 'Fight them until there is no fitna ['strife'], and religion belongs to Allah alone.' He said: 'Fitna is worse than killing.' Refraining from fighting and from waging Jihad against the Jews constitutes fitna. This fitna is worse than killing, because it means that the Israelites will rule the Muslims until Judgment Day."
EXCLUSIVE: Australian Aid Worker And Jihadi Dies Fighting In Syria
On March 11, 2015, members of the jihad community in Syria eulogized Abu Hamza Al-Sudani, an aid worker and jihad fighter who was well-known and respected in this community and who was recently killed in the Latakia area. Abu Hamza, who was apparently affiliated with Jabhat Al-Nusra, used several aliases: on his private Facebook account he called himself Yassin Ali and on his YouTube Channel he used the alias AbdulSalam Mahmoud. One user on Twitter referred to him as Abu Hamza Al-Australi, which indicates that he may have been an Australian of Sudani origin.
According to information he shared online, and his aid work among Syrian youths involved not only humanitarian activities but also religious and jihadi indoctrination. It should be noted that jihadis often use aid work as a cover for indoctrination and recruitment activities.
French ISIS Fighter Tells His Story Of Becoming Muslim, Joining Islamic State
On March 7, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) via Al-Hayat media, released a video featuring an elderly French ISIS fighter named Abu Suhayb Al-Faransi. Al-Faransi tells his story of becoming a Muslim, as well as his journey to Syria to join ISIS. The video is 15:39 in duration, and was released on a pro-ISIS Twitter account.
Talking about his journey into Islam, Al-Faransi says that he was always interested in learning about religions, and despite attending a seminary school at one point in his life, he still couldn't find "the truth" and the spiritual calmness he was after, which he says he later found in Islam.
Australian And Belgian ISIS Members Carry Out Suicide Attacks In Iraq
On March 11, 2015, Twitter accounts close to the Islamic State (ISIS) reported that two Westerners, an Australian and a Belgian, carried out separate suicide attacks in Al-Anbar, Iraq.
The attacks are part of an ISIS offensive in the province in which, according to the same source, a multi-national team of suicide bombers carried out additional attacks. Among them was a man from the Caucasus named Abu Musa Al-Qawqazi, an Uzbek named Osama bin Laden Al-Uzbeki, a Moroccan named Abu Talha Al-Maghribi, and a Syrian named Abu Hasan Al-Shami.
Islamic State Praises Efforts Of Its Online Supporters, Urges Them To Intensify Their Work
The Islamic State (ISIS) has released a video acknowledging the important role of its online supporters in achieving victories on the media front. ISIS boasted about the work of its supporters online, while noting that such work had considerable benefits for its operations on the ground. ISIS urged its supporters to continue their work online, which, it said, was a form of jihad.
ISIS's video, which is titled "Messages to the Media Knights," featured several ISIS men who speak about the topic.
The video draws on various Western media reports as well, which note ISIS's victories on the media front, including showing segments from Fox News.
Pro-ISIS Facebook-Style Website Launches, Shuts Down Shortly Thereafter
A new pro-Islamic State (ISIS) social media website called Khilafa-Book was announced several days ago. The website is supposedly designed to function like the social media platform Facebook, but caters specifically to ISIS supporters.
Jihadi Advises ISIS Supporters On Keeping Their Twitter Accounts From Being Shut Down
As Twitter continues to shut down Islamic State (ISIS) Twitter accounts, a pro-ISIS account today tweeted advice on how to keep such accounts active.
"Learn how Anonymous hunts down [ISIS accounts], and how to warn your [ISIS] supporting brothers about this," it tweeted on March 10, 2015.
Boko Haram Pledges Allegiance To ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
On March 7, 2015, Abu Bakr Shekau, leader of the Nigerian jihad group Jama'at Ahl Al-Sunna lil-Da'wa Wal-Jihad (known as Boko Haram), delivered a message in which he pledged allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
Shekau, whose Arabic message lasts slightly over eight minutes, addresses Al-Baghdadi as the "Caliph of Muslims."
Quoting a Koranic verse and a hadith pertaining to the importance of unity among Muslims, and the obligation upon Muslims to pledge allegiance to a leader during their lifetime, Shekau recites the pledge of allegiance in which he announces Boko Haram's obedience to Al-Baghdadi. Shekau also calls upon Muslims in general to follow in his footsteps.
Deaf Mute Islamic State Fighters Call Upon Muslims To Join The Jihad
On March 8, 2015 the Islamic State's (ISIS) official media branch in the Ninwa (Ninveh) region released a video showing two hearing-impaired fighters who urge Muslims to migrate to the Caliphate and join the jihad, and threaten the anti-ISIS coalition.
The following are details:
The video, some 5 minutes long and filmed in the Mosul area, was distributed on Twitter and hosted on platforms such as Archive.org and Nasher.me. It is titled "Message from Those Who Are Excused to Those Who Are Not Excused," referring to the fact that, in Islam, disabled individuals are exempt from the religious duty of waging jihad. The title is meant to emphasize that, if these deaf men have volunteered to wage jihad, men who are not disabled certainly do not have any excuse to shirk this duty. The video shows them engaging in various fighting and policing activities, such as directing traffic in the city and firing rockets.
Islamic State (ISIS) Beheads Two Homosexuals In Iraq
On March 10, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a collection of images showing cases of enforcement of Koranic punishment (hudud) in Ninawa, Iraq. The images show the beheading of three men, two of whom it had convicted of homosexuality; the third man was convicted of blasphemy.
On March 8, 2015, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) responded to a report published by Reuters on March 4, which claimed that the organization might to cut ties with Al-Qaeda and establish a new entity under Qatari sponsorship. The JN communique, released by the organization's official media branch Al-Manara Al-Baida, and posted on the jihadi forum Al-Fida, among other platforms, said that the Reuters report was false and unfounded. At the same time, it failed to reassert the organization's loyalty to Al-Qaeda or its leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. It should also be noted that senior Jabhat Al-Nusra member Abu Maria Al-Qahtani likewise hinted recently that JN might leave Al-Qaeda and accept assistance from other sources.
Jabhat Al-Nusra Figure Hints Group Might Leave Al-Qaeda, Begin Receiving Aid From Foreign States
On March 4, Reuters reported that Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN), the official Al-Qaeda branch in Syria, was considering splitting from Al-Qaeda in order to establish a non-Al-Qaeda-affiliated and "purely Syrian" force to combat both the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the Islamic State (ISIS). The proposed entity, the report said, would also receive funds from some Gulf States, namely Qatar.
The pressure on JN to leave Al-Qaeda appears to have come from other directions as well, among them other rebel groups in Syria and the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
In the past year, JN has fallen behind in fighting ISIS and the Syrian regime. Thus, this move is aimed, inter alia, at reenergizing the group's efforts on both fronts.
In a series of recent tweets, JN shari'a figure Abu Maria Al-Qahtani commented on the latest media reports concerning JN's split from Al-Qaeda. Notably, he neither confirms nor denies the reports, but his comments hint that such a move by JN might be forthcoming at some point.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihad group Al-Murabitun, led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, which operates in southern Algeria and northern Mali, has taken responsibility for the March 7, 2015 attack on the La Terrasse nightclub in Mali's capital Bamako, and for several other operations in the country.
In 1.5-minute audio message, published by the Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar, a spokesman on behalf of the group states that the attack on the nightclub, in which five people were killed (three Malians, a French national and a Belgian national), was revenge for the killing of Al-Murabitun fighter Ahmad Al-Talmasi by French forces in Mali in December 2014, and was also retaliation against the West for its invective against the Prophet Muhammad. "The valiant knights of Al-Murabitun carried out [this attack] in order to avenge the Prophet Muhammad, Allah's prayers and blessings upon him, [and punish] the infidel West that curses and mocks the Prophet. It was also vengeance for brother Ahmad Al-Talmasi 'Abd Al-Rahman Ould Amer, who was killed by the French army. We will later update you with further details [about the attack]."
Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Releases Video Commemorating Its Fighters Who Fell In Syria
On March 3, 2015, the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), a jihad organization of Uyghur Muslims from East Turkestan (Xinjiang) in western China, released a video commemorating some of its fighters who fell in Syria.
Abdul Qayyum Hilal, center, being interviewed
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the umbrella organization of Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Mohammad Omar) has released a jihadi video featuring Taliban fighters massing on the outskirts of Qalat, capital of Afghanistan's Zabul province, as well as interviews with militant commanders conducted by a masked militant reporter.
The Pashtu-language video, 29 minutes in duration, is titled "The Battle Report," and produced by Al-Emarah Jihadi Studio, one of the several media arms of the Taliban working under the Information and Culture Commission of the Islamic Emirate.
In order to prove that the militants are very close to the Afghan security forces, the cameraman attempts to show a checkpost of Afghan security forces located on a mountain top near an area captured by the Taliban in Shah Joyee district of Zabul province. A large number of fighters ÔÇösome of them masked and carrying walkie-talkies and others carrying various kinds of weapons ÔÇö are seen. The video claims that nearly all areas of Zabul province except the provincial center and a few district headquarters are in Taliban control.
Video On Facebook Page Of Pakistani Taliban Group Shows Children In Jihad
On March 3, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar (TTPJA), which is led by high-ranking Taliban commander Omar Khalid Khorasani, posted a video on its Facebook page showing clips of children participating in a jihadi song.
The video is a response in song by the TTPJA to the Pakistani army, accusing it of fighting for American dollars. It was posted first on a jihadi Facebook page - /WeareWithHaq - and shared on another Facebook page - /Ummat313 - on March 3. It taunts the Pakistani army: "[You] fight for dollars!" The children featured in the video could be based in the Pakistan tribal region.
A leading Urdu-language newspaper reports that more than 5,000 madrassas (Islamic seminaries) in Pakistan have been put on a national watch list for their role in spreading Islamic extremism and Sunni-Shia conflict in the country.
Roznama Ummat, an Urdu-language daily which carried the report, also noted that the government is likely to initiate action against these madrassas after March 23. Madrassas that receive foreign funds are also being watched, the report said.
