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.
EXCLUSIVE: Facing Setbacks In Syria, ISIS Highlights Libya As New Destination For Western Youth
By: A. Agron
In recent months, Libya has become a new destination for young Western recruits seeking to join the Islamic State (ISIS). This has become clear based on the online activity of operatives and activists who have recently arrived in Libya and begun fighting for ISIS there. ISIS activists have also conducted campaigns on social media calling for volunteers to "migrate" to Libya and join ISIS. More ISIS recruits are now streaming to Libya instead of to Syria, particularly since travel to Syria has become more problematic for Westerners. Moreover, ISIS members and potential recruits are openly speaking of the setbacks the group is facing in Syria and the growing difficulty of living there, as a motive for seeking out other destinations.
Libya's attraction for new recruits has been boosted by ISIS's growing strength on the ground and by the fact that it has been gaining more prominence in the media. It was recently revealed that ISIS has major training camps located in the North African nation. Seifeddine Rezgui, who killed 38 people, including 30 British tourists, near Sousse, Tunisia on June 26, 2015, had trained at a camp in Libya, along with the men who carried out the March 18, 2015 Bardo museum attack. Prior to these attacks, on February 15, 2015, ISIS released a video showing the beheading of Coptic Christians on a Libya beach. Following the video's release, a Twitter campaign to lure foreigners to join ISIS in Libya was launched. On April 27, 2015, ISIS released a video message calling on mujahideen everywhere to travel to Libya to join the group there.
On July 30, 2015, prominent Salafi jihadi scholar Sheikh Abu Qatada Al-Falastini, who is known for his anti-Islamic State (ISIS) views, released an open letter to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi; in it, he called on him to assess the damage suffered by Muslims and the Mujahideen since his declaration of the Caliphate. In the open letter, which was posted on pro Al-Qaeda online forum Al-Fida', Abu Qatada reiterated the issues on which he disagrees with ISIS, such as ISIS's method of excommunication which is based on doubt and allegations, as well as its declaration of the Caliphate and announcement that ISIS is the only Muslim entity to which all other groups should pledge allegiance, even though they were not consulted regarding the declaration of the Islamic State.
With the release of the news about the death of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, pro-Islamic State (ISIS) elements have hastened to use it to their advantage: They are questioning the Taliban's integrity, especially in light of reports that claimed that Mullah Omar died two years ago in a hospital in Pakistan, but that since then the Taliban had been releasing statements in his name. They also attacked the Al-Qaeda leadership for claiming that it had a binding pledge of allegiance to Mullah Omar, while suggesting that it, too, knew of his supposed death.
After ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared himself caliph last year, questions arose regarding the status of Mullah Omar, as there can only be one caliph for the global Muslim community. Al-Qaeda argued in that regard that Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, as well as his predecessor Osama bin Laden, had already given a religiously binding bay'a (pledge of allegiance) to Mullah Omar.
ISIS Creed Deems Waging Jihad Against Apostates More Important Than Fighting Infidels
On July 22, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) publishing house Al-Himma Library released a pamphlet detailing the group's creed, belief, and ideology on various issues including the concept of jihad, apostasy, shari'a, secularism, excommunication and Shi'ism.
As part of its push to portray normal life in areas it controls, the Islamic State (ISIS) has been releasing semi-regular pictorial reports showing common Muslims going about their daily routines. In the same vein, ISIS has also been releasing reports depicting some of the public services it has been providing to the local populous. Both reports are geared at presenting an image of happy and satisfied "citizens" within a "state" that provides for their needs. The normalcy-oriented reports are diverse in nature, covering anything from the operation of an ice cream factory in Al-Raqqa to the selling of corn from a street vendor in Al-Mayadin city in eastern Syria. ISIS public services include various renovation and remodeling projects, and the provision of public transportation services in Al-Raqqa city.
A five-minute video titled "Penitents Repenting," released by ISIS in the Al-Furat province and posted on the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum , shows men taking a course in religion at an ISIS "repentance center" in the province. Two of the participants, a former police officer and a former soldier in the Iraqi army, both of them from Diyala, relate that they heard ISIS's appeal for people to come to these centers in order to repent and join its ranks, and decided to heed the call. A third participant, a former member of Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) in Syria, says that he decided to repent because JN does not enforce the shari'a as ISIS does.
ISIS Calls Upon Turkestani Muslims To Immigrate To It, Promises To Liberate Their Prisoners
On July 27, 2015, the Aleppo province of the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video titled "A Message to the Turkestani [Muslims]." The video calls upon Muslims of Turkic descent, who inhabit parts of Central Asia, including western China, to immigrate to the Islamic State and to pledge allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The video also promises that ISIS will liberate Turkestani prisoners as well. The region of Turkestan encompasses parts of Central Asia, including Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and western China's Xinjiang province (East Turkestan).
ISIS Media Operations: Khilafah Archives - Website Distributing Material In French
The website Khilafah-archives.com was created in July 2015 and acts as a platform for the daily distribution of Islamic State (ISIS) material in French. As a reaction to the increasing censorship of ISIS media efforts on mainstream social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, media operatives and ISIS supporters are relying on alternate ways to distribute the daily flow of data streaming out of ISIS held territories in Syria and Iraq. While the website does not claim official ISIS ties, it appears to be operated by activists with close ties to the ISIS official media apparatus.
Report: ISIS Plans To Bomb Arab Embassies In Lebanon
On July 29, 2015, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai reported that the Islamic State (ISIS) is planning on bombing Arab embassies in the Lebanon's capital city of Beirut using sleeper cells based in the country. The report, which cited unidentified sources, noted that the Kuwaiti, Saudi, and UAE embassies are ISIS's main targets.
ISIS-Linked Twitter Account Hints At Intention To Attack New Suez Canal
The new Suez Canal
A Twitter account associated with the Islamic State's Sinai province posted a tweet indicating at the organization's intention to target the new Suez Canal or use the August 6 opening ceremony as an opportunity to carry out attacks. The account, Misr Al-Youm regularly tweets news and updates from the Islamic State's media outlets as well as propaganda in support of the Sinai province and against the Egyptian government.
Following are excerpts from a Pakistani media report examining the recent influx of Taliban militants to the Islamic State (ISIS) in the Pakistani tribal region:
Taliban commander Omar Khalid Khorasani (center) has favored ISIS-like butchery in Pakistan
"Ten kilograms of explosives were seized from outside a Shia mosque in the Tank district of Dera Ismail Khan on July 17 - the second day of Eid-ul-Fitr in parts of [the Pakistani province of] Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the adjacent tribal areas. In a 'warning note' left with the bomb, Zulfiqar Khanjri - who calls himself a commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) - threatened to kill women who go shopping unaccompanied by male relatives."
Female Pakistani University Professor Arrested For Involvement In Karachi Terror Attack
Following are excerpts from an English-language report on the arrest of university professor Sadia Jalal for her involvement in a May 2015 terror attack, and examining the role of women in jihadi attacks in Pakistan in recent years:
Professor Sadia Jalal
"Sadia Jalal, a university teacher, was arrested earlier in July for her role in the Safoora terrorist attack in which 43 Shia Ismaili passengers of a bus were shot and killed one by one [in the Safoora Goth area of Karachi on May 13, 2015]. Sadia was a professor at a private university, and is the third wife of Jalal, a leader of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, who is accused of 'facilitating the suspects of the Safoora carnage.' An investigation team that questioned the suspects said the woman 'had been brainwashing students for [the purpose of] recruiting them in a terrorist outfit..."
Osama Bin Laden (Voice): "First of all, I advise myself and my brothers that we should be mindful of Allah, both in public and private. Be patient, for indeed you are upon the truth. Our aim is to live under the shade of Islam or die a noble death. Remain steadfast, may Allah have mercy upon you, and prepare yourselves for an extensive war against the International systems of disbelief and their proxies. The path is difficult and its supporters are few, therefore, do not let Islam be attacked from your flank. You have raised the highest banners in defiance of Allah's religion. Your motto being the Tawheed of Allah and Allahu Akbar. Fearlessly immersing in the sea of death. And the one who does not fear death has nothing to worry about. Your bath is rough and difficult to tread. A path of sacrifices and many implications. A path towards the better of two endings. A path of conquest and overwhelming victory. Or death in defense of religion, honor and sanctity. And the one who dies in search of glory is exempt from shame."
