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 his Twitter account, user Mikaeel Ibraheem endorses the Islamic State (ISIS) along with extremist clerics such as Anjem Choudary, Abu Baraa, and Musa Jibril. Some of his tweets are dedicated to the situation of Muslims in the UK, while others promote his extremist beliefs. He follows pro-ISIS Twitter accounts, and his account is followed by leading accounts with ISIS connections, such as Abu Haleema. Mikaeel Ibraheem is alleged to be the bodyguard of extremist preacher Abu Izzadeen, and a close personal friend of Choudary.
On November 1, 2015, the Al-Kataib media wing of the Somalia Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen released the third in a series of recruitment videos showing the group's activities in the field. The video was released in both English and Arabic by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated media group Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF).
On November 3, 2015, a supporter of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Twitter, launched a hashtag urging "Soldiers of the Caliphate" to kill a female Kuwaiti writer who has been accused of blasphemy for tweeting about the Prophet Muhammad's marriage to his Jewish wife Safiyya bint Huyayy.
On November 1, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) in Sinai Province released a video titled "From Sinai to Bait Al-Maqdis [Jerusalem, also used to designate Palestine]." The video features prominent ISIS figure Abu Osama Al-Masri, and an unnamed fighter who delivers a message in Hebrew. This is the latest in a series of similar videos issued by ISIS's various provinces in response to the recent wave of Palestinian violence in Israel. Interestingly, despite the Sinai province's proximity to Israel, its video was released some two weeks after the campaign was launched.
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In a video posted on the Internet on November 3, ISIS militants are shown handing out candy to celebrate the October 31 "downing" of the Russian plane over the Sinai. A militant speaking in Russian and holding a knife addresses Putin, saying: "We will attack you in your own lands, we will crush you, we will slaughter you and finish you off."
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
ISIS In Ninawa Celebrates Downing Of Russian Jet, Threatens To Take The War To Russia
On November 3, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Ninawa province released a video celebrating last week's crash of the Russian passenger jet over Sinai, which ISIS has claimed to have caused.
ISIS Claims Responsibility For Downing Russian Passenger Jet Over Sinai
On October 31, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Sinai province published a statement claiming responsibility for downing Russian airliner KGL9268 over Sinai. The flight, which was on its way from Sharm Al-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, crashed some twenty minutes after takeoff. All 224 passengers onboard were killed.
ISIS Video Touts American-Led Prison Raid In Al-Hawija, Iraq As A Failure
On October 30, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Kirkuk province released a video in response to the October 22 joint American-Kurdish raid on an ISIS prison in Al-Hawija, Iraq. According to the U.S., the raid was aimed at releasing a number of Kurdish prisoners held there.
On November 2, 2015, supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Twitter published a video in which a group called The Supporters of the Caliphate in Turkey claimed responsibility for the beheading of two Syrian activists. The video, which shows only the body and a slit throat of Fares Hammadi, an activist in the media organization Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, which documents and report about ISIS's crimes in the city of Raqqa, threatened to behead the "apostates" wherever they are.
New ISIS Song In French: Go Forth, Kill The Soldiers Of The Devil Without Hesitation
On October 21, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) Al-Hayat Media Center disseminated online a new song in French calling on Muslim supporters to join the jihad and slaughter ISIS's enemies. The song, titled "Go Forth, Go Forth," was posted on Archive.org and distributed on Twitter and Telegram by official ISIS channels and ISIS supporters.
On November 5, 2015, the Twitter account of Abu Hudhayfah Al-Yamani announced the launch of a new channel on the secure message app Telegram for reporting "U.S. crimes in Yemen." In recent weeks, jihadis and terrorist groups have been flocking to Telegram, where they have been utilizing the platform's recently announced channels service to broadcast their message.
AQIM, AQAP Denounce ISIS In Joint Statement
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a joint video statement denouncing the Islamic State (ISIS) in response to a recent statement made by ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-'Adnani spokesman.
Al-Zawahiri Calls For Unity And For Attacks On West As Means For 'Liberating Jerusalem'
On November 1, 2015, Al-Qaeda released a new audio message from its leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, titled "Let Us Unite to Liberate Jerusalem." In it, he urges jihadis to attack American and other Western targets as a means of liberating Jerusalem, because the West is Israel's main supporter. He adds that the liberation of Palestine also requires the establishment of "Muslim governments" in Egypt and Syria, and therefore jihad groups must focus on those fronts as well, and unite in those countries in order to achieve that goal.
The second issue of Al-Risalah, the English-language magazine published by Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria, features a piece by an Australian fighter who is referred to as "Abu Tomahawk." On October 28, 2015, a popular Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) Twitter account, Khaled Al-Magrabi tweeted a link to the article as well as the information that the author was "Ahmed Shaheed." In the article, the fighter describes his close call in what he says was a Tomahawk missile attack by U.S. forces.The fighter is active on Twitter, and has posted photos of captured war booty from the U.S.-trained rebel group Division 30. Previously, the fighter had advised Americans to violently murder any Russians they come across in the West.
On October 29, 2015, an audio recording by Iyadh Ag Ghali, leader of the Malian jihad group Ansar Al-Din, was released online; in it, Ag Ghali rejects the recently signed peace agreement among rival Tuareg groups and the Malian government in Algeria, saying that the humiliating agreement is aimed at promoting a secular and anti-Islamists state.
AQIM, Ansar Al-Shari'a In Libya, Eulogize Military Commander Killed In Benghazi
On October 28, 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a statement eulogizing Mansour Al-Sha'lali (aka Haroon), a jihad veteran and military commander who was killed in Benghazi.
On November 3, 2015, a video posted on YouTube showed a group of Western hostages - two Canadians, one Norwegian, and the Filipino wife of one of the men - pleading for their governments to pay the 1 billion Philippine peso ransom (approximately $21.3 million) set for each of hostages. This is the second video showing the four hostages that were kidnapped in September by the Filipino Abu Sayyaf jihad group from a resort marina on the Island Garden City of Samal in the southern Philippines.
According to the Taliban website Voice of Jihad, Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansoor delivered a wireless radio speech to Taliban fighters on October 27 at 07:30 a.m. local time in Afghanistan. Following is the translation of Mansoor's 13-minute Pashto-language speech:
"Mujahideen Brothers! You Should Know That The Enemy's Ranks Are Dispersed And Scared; By Taking Advantage Of This Opportunity, You Should Focus On Jihadist Activities"
"[Koranic verse:] 'When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever accepting of repentance.'"
For the first time since 2001, the Taliban took over the northern Afghan city of Kunduz in a major assault on September 28, shattering the view that the Afghan government was in control across Afghanistan and the remaining U.S.-led international troops could leave the country. While the Taliban's was ultimately beat back from Kunduz, their victory there gave new momentum to the jihadist forces.
In a recent article written when the Taliban was still holding Kunduz, the Pakistani jihadist weekly Haftroza Zarb-e-Momin ("Strike of the Faithful Muslim") said that the Taliban's capture of Kunduz city shows that they are still a potent force and can beat back the Afghan government in Kabul at will. The article, "Fall of Kunduz and Afghanistan's Real Future", claimed that the people of Afghanistan still remember the Taliban's "golden rule" from 1996 to 2001.
