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.
On July 31, 2013, Al-Qaeda's media company Al-Sahab released a 21-minute audio message by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, titled “46 Years Since Al-Naksa” (the 1967 war against Israel).
In the message, dated Rajab 1434 (May/June 2013), Al-Zawahiri warns the U.S that the Muslims will avenge the crimes committed against them, including the incarceration of Muslims at Guantanamo prison, the use of drones, and any future killing of Muslims. He also speaks of Hizbullah's role as Iran’s proxy in the region and denies that Al-Qaeda is attempting to hijack the revolutions in order to appoint its own people as the Muslims' rulers.
The following are the main points of Al-Zawahiri's message:
First, Al-Zawahiri addresses what he calls two U.S. crimes: the incarceration of Muslims in Guantanamo and the use of drones. Guantanamo, he says, reveals that American protestations about human rights and freedom are nothing but empty slogans. He promises that Al-Qaeda will not rest until all Muslim prisoners are freed, and especially ‘Omar ‘Abd Al-Rahman (the Blind Sheikh), Afiyya Siddiqui and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
In a live broadcast yesterday (July 30, 2013), Ahmad Moussa, a presenter on the Egyptian Al-Tahrir TV channel, addressed US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, saying that Muhsin Al-'Azazi, who murdered the American Ambassador to Lybia Christopher Stevens in September 2012, was participating in pro-Mursi demonstrations taking place in Raba'a Al-'Adawiyya Square.
Jihadi Forum Women's Group Releases Second Issue Of Female Prisoners Magazine
On July 29, 2013, Shumoukh Al-Islam forum released the second issue of Al-Asirat ("Female Prisoners") magazine. The magazine was issued by Warshat Hafidat Safiyya, which comprises female members of Shumoukh Al-Islam. The same group has been behind campaigns on the forum, including one against drones, and another against France.
MOJWA Leader Exhorts Muslims To Join Jihad Against France's "Crusader Invasion" Of Mali
The jihadi website Shumoukh Al-Islam published a communiqué from Abu Al-Walid Al-Sahrawi, a leader of the Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad organization in West Africa (MOJWA), dated July 27, 2013, in which he accused France of invading Mali in order to neutralize shari'a rule and exhorted Muslims to sacrifice their lives on behalf of their faith.
Al-Sahrawi called upon Muslims who were collaborating with the French to desist immediately and warned them that if they would persist in their collaboration they would be treated pitilessly by the mujahideen. He added in this context that they should not rely on the French, the Algerians or upon the Front for the Liberation of Azawad in case they fell into the MOJWA's hands, for experience had shown that none of the above had attempted to free their captives who were being held by his organization.
In Video, ISIS Fighters Call Upon Muslims To Come To Jihad In Syria
On July 26, 2013, a video showing a group of mujahideen, allegedly members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), was posted on the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum. In the video, the speaker calls upon Muslim men to come to Syria in order to join the jihad there, and notes that Syria, like other Muslim countries, has fallen victim to foreign and local agendas directed against Sunni Muslims.
New Video Praises Al-Baghdadi For Keeping His Promise To Free Prisoners In Iraq
The Shumoukh Al-Islam jihadi forum released a six-minute video, titled "The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham – Sheikh Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Kept His Promise And Freed The Prisoners."
It should be noted that this is not an official ISIS release in which the organization takes responsibility for the attacks on the Abu Ghraib and Al-Hout prisons, because it intends in future to release videos from this operation on jihad websites, but a video uploaded to the YouTube channel of a media company called "Turjiman Al-Asawirti For Media Production which, from an examination of its content, appears to be a pro-jihad media company.
Unknown Group Threatens To Target UNIFIL Forces In Lebanon Following EU Decision On Hizbullah
On July 26, 2013, the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported that a group named Liwa' Jabal Amel had issued a statement calling upon the Lebanese people to boycott the UNIFIL forces stationed in southern Lebanon.
The group, which is unknown, called the recent EU decision to add Hizbullah's military wing to its terrorist blacklist a "declaration of war" against the people of southern Lebanon, and threatened to mobilize its members to "liberate the lands" where those UNIFIL forces were present if the latter did not vacate the area within one month.
Sudanese Jihadis Announce Creation Of New Jihadi Group Du'at Al-Sharia
On July 25, 2013, the Al-Hijratain media foundation, which is associated with Sudanese jihadis, released a new video showing a masked man identified as Al-Mo'tasim Billah announcing the creation of a new jihadi group named Du'at Al-Sharia – Arabic for "callers for Sharia" – which will form the basis for performing the duty of waging jihad.
The official spokesperson of the Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen -- the Somali affiliate of Al Qaeda , Sheikh 'Ali Diri, reported at a press conference on July 27, 2013 that his movement was responsible for detonating a car bomb in Mogadishu the capital of Somalia. The bombing's location was a building belonging to the Turkish Embassy in the city that's functioned as a residence for dozens of Turkish officials who work at the embassy.
In a new video posted on Facebook, a commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) vows that all infidels will be uprooted from Pakistan. The video is produced by the Umar Media, the TTP's media production house.
"Oh Pakistani apostates, remember that infidels will be uprooted from Pakistan despite this situation of helplessness and eating this dry piece of bread and cheese. Allah willing, these mujahideen will not let them rest even on mountain tops, in cities, streets, and even in any nook and corner of the world, no matter how long these infidels and their slaves and sons stay in Pakistan," says Ghazwan, the TTP's commander for Pakistan's northern Chitral district, while showing a piece of bread and cheese to camera. He speaks in Pashtu.
New Issue Of The Magazine Al-Balagh
The jihadi media company Fursan Al-Balagh has published the Fifth issue of Al-Balagh. The issue includes condolences over the death of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP)'s deputy leader, Sa’id Al-Shihri; an article by Nasser Al-Qaeda, a prominent writer on the Jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam entitled "America Is the Enemy of the Islamic Nation in Al-Sham and the Rafida [a nickname for the Shia] and Nusayriyya[a nickname for the 'Alawite community] Are Its Tools."
In an interview with a Taliban website, Al-Haj Moulavi Mohammad Iqbal, who heads the Education Commission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, discusses the commission's educational activities and the administration of orphanages for children whose fathers have died in the path of jihad.
The Islamic Emirate is the shadow government of the Taliban.
The Education Commission comprises a director general, 23 members, an administrative director, and a board of studies comprising 16 Islamic scholars. The commission has branches in all provinces of Afghanistan and an educational affairs director in the districts which are under the Taliban's control. "The number of provincial directors is 34 and the number of district in-charges is 308 persons," Iqbal says in the interview.
Urdu Jihadi Forum: 30 Mujahideen Commanders Freed During Pakistan Jailbreak
An Urdu-language jihadi internet forum reports that "all mujahideen prisoners" – including 30 commanders – were freed during Monday night's attack by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters on the central prison in the Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan.
