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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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.
Following are excerpts from part 2 of a report on foreign fighters in Syria, which aired on Echorouk TV via the Internet on December 13, 2012:
Reporter: At the age of 63, he responded to the call and came to the land of Jihad, along with other Europeans who converted to Islam.
Jacques Abu Abdallah, from Marseilles: I am Abu Abdallah, a French Syrian. I came to join the Jihad for the sake of Allah. There are many European Muslims with me.
Young man: Thank you father, see you later.
Reporter: Abu Abdallah left a life of luxury in Marseilles for another life, to which he aspired.
[...]
Reporter: One of the strangest stories we heard from these foreign volunteers in Syria is the story of Mark Abu Osama, whose love story with Islam and the Muslims began following 9/11, and the American Western invasion into Afghanistan and Iraq.
On January 2, 2012, an Egyptian news website, published a lengthy audio interview with Egyptian Sheikh Hisham Al-Ashri, in which he said that the U.S. would be harmed in the near future. According to the site, in the past, Al-Ashri hand tailored suits for former U.S. president Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Colin Powell, and a number of prominent congressmen while working for a famous New York garment factory.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Hadhramaut Governorate, Yemen, has threated to kill any soldier or officer among the Yemeni security apparatuses who does not immediately desert and renounce the same. The organization published a communiqué accusing the Yemeni government of collaborating with the U.S., and called to harm U.S. interests in Yemen and to kill collaborators with the U.S. among military and political personnel, in retribution over the killing of numerous AQAP operatives in U.S. drone strikes over recent days. Likewise, the organization accused the Yemeni government of heresy for allowing the U.S. to violate Yemeni sovereignty and kill Muslims.
The Urdu-language Pakistani daily Roznama Ummat recently published two interviews with former Pakistani officer Brigadier (retired) Shaukat Qadir, and a report examining the likely revival of the U.S.-Taliban peace negotiations and the evolving positions of Iran and Pakistan on Afghanistan in the run-up to the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
In a recent interview, Pakistan-based jihadi leader Sheikh Jamilur Rehman warned that the Kashmir jihad against India would be revived in 2014, and observed that India would face a humiliating defeat in Kashmir soon after the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan. Sheikh Jamilur Rehman is the Emir of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, one of the anti-India jihadi organizations established in 1990 and operating from Pakistan. Sheikh Jamilur Rehman is also associated with the United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of Pakistan-based jihadi organizations that have fought against Indian troops during the past few decades in Jammu & Kashmir, a region divided between India and Pakistan by a Line of Control (LoC). He is based in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
AQIM Expands Operations Into Tunisia, Previously Used Only As A Route To Algeria
On January 1, 2013, the London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat reported that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was planning on expanding its operations into Tunisian territory, which the report said was now the target of terror threats more than at any time since the 2010 revolution there. The Tunisian Interior Ministry has viewed a number of recent clashes in Al-Qasrin province, Tunisia – along the Algerian border – between the Tunisian security apparatuses and armed operatives aligned with Al-Qaeda as a sign that the latter organization is no longer using Tunisia merely as a safe passage route. In the past, Al-Qaeda operatives have traveled through Tunisia en route from Libya through the Sahara, smuggling arms to Algeria and recruiting numerous Tunisia youth for AQIM along the way. Now, it would seem that they intend to settle in Tunisia, especially in the strip bordering Algeria, and to use it as a rear front.
Saudi Cleric Accuses Mursi Of Heresy For Failing To Implement Shari'a In Egypt
In an audio-recording posted on YouTube on December 28, 2012, the speaker – identified in the accompanying text as Suleiman Al-'Alwan, a Saudi cleric who was recently released from prison – criticizes the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and especially Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi for not implementing the shari'a in Egypt, and accuses Mursi of heresy.
Recently, it was reported that several American websites were hacked by one Abu Ubayda Al-Masri ("Abu Ubayda the Egyptian"). The message he left on the websites, which appear to have been chosen at random, stated that the attack marked the anniversary of the December 30, 2009 suicide bombing by Humam Al-Balawi, aka Abu Dujana Al-Khurasani, against CIA and Jordanian intelligence personnel near Khost, Afghanistan. Al-Masri's cyberattacks were praised on leading jihadi forums. In a post on Ansar Al-Mujahideen Arabic Forum (AMAF), one Abu Jafar welcomed the attacks on the "American Crusader" websites.
On January 2, 2012, jihadis on Twitter debated what is the appropriate response to comic book on the Prophet Muhammad that has been published by the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Among the suggestions made were to kill French ambassadors, just as the "manly" Libyan fighters killed the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi; carry out operations similar to the 9/11 attacks or the London or Madrid bombings, because only such attacks would deter the "crusaders" and defeat them; carry out assassinations; perpetrate suicide bombings outside the French information ministry building; and hold demonstrations outside French embassies, especially in Egypt, since it has been proven that the Egyptian public can sway the entire Arab public.
MOJWA Establishes New Brigade And Four New Battalions, Threatens Neighboring Countries
According to a January 3, 2012 report in the Mauritanian website Sahara News, the Salafi-jihadi organization the Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad Movement in West Africa (MOJWA) has announced the establishment of a new brigade called Ansar Al-Sunna, manned by locals and especially by members of the Songhai tribe. The group, which controls the region's capital Gao, also threatened to operate against the countries bordering Azawad, whom it accused of plotting to attack the region. The website noted that the announcement regarding the new brigade came one day after an announcement by the Salah Al-Din Brigade, which was among the founders of the MOJWA, that it was leaving this organization and joining the rival Salafi group Ansar Al-Din. The latter group controls extensive areas of Azawad, including Timbuktu and Kidal.
Former 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Commander Killed In Syria
According to a December 29, 2012 report by the Islamic news agency Haqq (dawaalhaq.wordpress.com), Muhammad Ahmad Qanita, a Palestinian mujahid who was formerly a commander of the 'Izz Al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, was killed in Idlib on December 28 "while fighting against the infidel 'Alawite [Syrian] regime."
Senior Jabhat Al-Nusra Commander Appointed Chief Of Rebels In Idlib Area
On December 29, 2012, the oppositionist Islamic website sooryoon.net cited "knowledgeable sources" as saying that over 150 field commanders in the Idlib area met and swore allegiance to a top commander in Jabhat Al-Nusra known as Ya'qoub Al-'Umar.
Jabhat Al-Nusra Threatening Air Traffic At Aleppo Airport
On December 30, 2012, the Syrian website aksalser.com reported, citing sources in Aleppo airport, that a plane was fired at while landing at the airport, apparently by Jabhat Al-Nusra. The sources added that the lower part of the aircraft was hit, and that several additional incidents occurred in the last few days, including one in which an ATR aircraft was hit in its right engine during landing, and another in which an Airbus A320 aircraft was rerouted to a different airport.
In a December 30, 2012 report, the FSA website (syrianarmyfree.com) presented statements by Khaled Al-Hamoud, a lieutenant-colonel in one of its forces, in which he praises the jihad group Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) and attacks the U.S. Al-Hamoud states that the U.S. wants to establish Sahwa groups in Syria, like those it established in Iraq. He claims further that the U.S. sent intelligence agents to Syria disguised as reporters, and they informed it that JN is the strongest force on the ground, and that it is capable of toppling the Assad regime thanks to the dedication of its men, their faith, their operational capabilities and their thinking and planning abilities. Hence, since America is not interested in the rapid elimination of the Syrian regime, it decided to designate JN a terrorist organization.
FSA: We Will Use Chemical Weapons Against The Assad Regime If It Uses Them First
According to Free Syrian Army (FSA) political adviser Bassam Al-Dada, the Syrian rebels are capable of manufacturing chemical weapons and using them to deter the enemy. In a statement to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, Al-Dada said that the FSA had been provided both the raw materials and know-how needed for the manufacture of chemical weapons from Syrian army defectors.
