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.
A group of Westerners from Australia and the U.K. have appeared in a propaganda video of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). The video, produced by ISIS's subsidiary media company Al-Hayat and released online on June 19, 2014, is directed at Muslims in the West for the purpose of recruiting them to join ISIS and the jihad in Syria.
Titled "There Is No Life Without Jihad," the video features three British and two Australian ISIS members. At its conclusion, the video also announces a forthcoming message of another Western fighter named Abu Khalid Al-Cambodi ("the Cambodian"), who also hails from Australia.
To view the video, click here.
Salafis In Ma'an, Jordan Hold Pro-ISIS Rally
Hundreds of Salafi-jihadi activists held a rally in Ma'an (southern Jordan) to support the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and celebrate its recent advances in Iraq. The protesters waved black ISIS flags and held up signs saying "Ma'an – the Fallujah of Jordan – supports the Islamic State." They also cried slogans calling to cancel the "Sykes-Picot borders" and warning of "the Shi'ite danger" threatening the Sunnis.
Khaled Al-Kalaldeh, Jordan's minister of political and parliamentary affairs, told the Jordanian press that the government would not allow such protests to recur.
A group of Shia volunteers with passports (image courtesy: newindianexpress.com)
Following are excerpts from an Indian media report regarding Anjuman-e-Haideri, a Delhi-based organization of Shia Muslims in India, which has recruited more than 100,000 volunteers to fight in Iraq and is hoping to register 900,000 more:
Zeeshan Haider: "Iraq Needs Our Help Because Shias Are Being Tortured There"; "I Do Not Know What The ISIS Is"; "I Am Going There Because It Is My Religious Duty"
"A Shia organization in Delhi claims to have registered more than 100,000 youths to travel to Iraq to protect Shia shrines 'by all means legal, just and moral.' The volunteers – including builders, businessmen and executives with banks and telecom companies – speak passionately about 'thousands' being killed in Iraq where a Sunni insurgency is raging, but appear mostly unclear about who is responsible for the 'mass murders.'"
Libyan Militant Group Issues Letter Of Support To ISIS
Emblem of Majlis Shura Shabab Al-Islam
On June 22, 2014, a militant group by the name of Majlis Shoura Shabab Al-Islam (MSSI) issued a letter of support to the "lions" of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
The MSSI letter was published on the group's Twitter account. In its letter, the MSSI reiterated the duty of support that a Muslim should have to fellow Muslims. As such, the MSSI expressed its support for ISIS, which, it said, was being "wrongly [treated]," and which it said has been the target of animosity from near and far.
Jihadis Enthuse Over Gruesome ISIS Video Series 'Saleel Al-Sawarim'
A series of ISIS propaganda videos titled "Saleel Al-Sawarim" (Clash of Swords) has become a sensation among ISIS fighters and supporters on social media. The videos chronicle ISIS operations against government forces and Shi'ites in Iraq, mainly in the Anbar province, and are strikingly graphic and gory, showing extreme violence such as beheadings and shootings. The videos are a form of propaganda aimed at showcasing ISIS achievements in order to intimidate its enemies and rivals, boost the morale of its troops, and solidify support among its sympathizers.
The enthusiastic and often lighthearted reactions to these videos by ISIS members and supporters are remarkable, given the gory nature of the footage and the fact that it documents real events. This report reviews some of the online reactions to the latest installment in the series, Saleel Al-Sawarim 4.
Salil Al-Sawarim 4 – "Film Of The Year"
A frequent trend is to treat the videos as high-quality films and even compare them to Hollywood productions. Mujahid Miski, an American fighter in Somalia, tweeted: "Watch Salil Al-Sawarim 4 and you'll be Amazed. It's the Film of the year. Masha Allah."
Pakistani Men Express Support For ISIS, Its Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
As part of the ongoing online support campaign for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), two videos, supposedly emerging from Pakistan, were posted online: one shows a group of men declaring allegiance to ISIS and its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and another of a man, claiming to be a member of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who expresses willingness to execute attacks on behalf of ISIS against any target.
Below are excerpts from tributes paid by a jihadi writer to Abu Turab, a Maldivian national who carried out a recent suicide bombing in Syria.
On June 24, 2014, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) published images of the Al-Farouq Institute for Shari'a Studies, a religious institute that JN runs in Aleppo, Syria.
According to JN's Aleppo Twitter account, the institute offers religious courses for Muslims in general, and for JN members in particular. During their studies, students go through three levels, each lasting around 45 days. The report added that following graduation, students are sent to a military course in order for them to "carry the weapon and [declare] jihad..."
Abdallah 'Azzam Brigades Call On Lebanon Sunnis To Attack Hizbullah
In the recent days, Jihadi organizations have renewed their attacks on targets associated with Hizbullah in Lebanon. Simultaneously, Sunni jihadi elements called upon Lebanese Sunnis to rise up against Hizbullah and its supporters. Siraj Al-Din Zureiqat, one of the heads of the Al-Qaeda-linked 'Abdallah 'Azzam Brigades, issued several messages to this effect. The following are details.
'Abdallah 'Azzam Brigades To Hizbullah: You Will Not Be Safe Until Sunnis Are Secure
Following the June 23 suicide bombing, Siraj Al-Din Zureiqat wrote on his Twitter account: "Hizb-Iran [a play on the name Hizbullah] is disregarding its aggression against the Sunnis in Syria and Lebanon, and the fact that this aggression has prompted the Sunnis to rise up against it."
Sheikh Abu Sa'd Al-'Amili To Lebanese Sunnis: Start Your Revolution, This Is Your Chance
On June 24, the 'Aisha Media Center released an "Urgent Call" by Abu Sa'd Al-'Amili, a prominent Salafi-jihadi sheikh who writes frequently on jihadi websites. In his message he urges the Sunnis in Lebanon not to put up with their ongoing humiliation but rather break the barrier of fear and rise up, like their brothers in Syria, in order to free themselves of Western hegemony and establish Islamic rule.
The Indian Subcontinent chapter of As-Sahab, the media production house of Al-Qaeda, has released a video documentary about the life of an Al-Qaeda fighter.
The 14-minute video was shot in Orgune district of Afghanistan's southeastern Paktika province – one of the strongholds of Haqqani Network of the Afghan Taliban – bordering Pakistan's lawless tribal district of Waziristan. The well-shot video, titled Hum Akhirat Kay Rahi (We Are The Travelers Of Hereafter), was produced in April 2014 and is based on the diary of a fighter who spent time amongst the Afghan fighters.
Khalifa Omar Mansoor
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has released a video featuring jihadi fighters undergoing terror training at a makeshift facility somewhere in the Pakistan-Afghan region, and a militant commander gives away AK-47s to the fighters upon completion of their training.
The video was released by the TTP's Darra Adamkhel chapter. This is the second video that TTP's Darra Adamkhel chapter posted on Facebook in a month. In mid-May, it released a video in which TTP emir Mullah Fazlullah asked his bombers to be ready for attacks on Pakistani security forces. Darra Adamkhel is famous for illegal manufacturing of all kinds of weapons in Pakistan.
On June 23, 2014, the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), a jihad organization of Uyghur Muslims from East Turkestan (Xinjiang) in western China, released a collage of images showing the lives of its members in Syria. The images featured many TIP fighters, shown during military training and fighting, but also conducting normal life activities. The images feature as well some of TIP's "martyrs" who were killed in Syria. Featured in several images as well is Abu Al-Rida Al-Turkestani, a Syrian instructor, who recently appeared in another TIP propaganda video that shed light on the TIP unit in Syria.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is a terrorist group based in Pakistan and associated with Al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). A number of Pakistani media reports blamed IMU following the June 8-9 terror attack on the Jinnah International Airport of Karachi.
Below are excerpts from an article written by Pakistani blogger Aamir Mughal which traces IMU's origin and development. Mughal says that groups like IMU were promoted as strategic assets by the Pakistani government to fight against the USSR initially, and later evolved into their own.
File photo (Pajhwok.com)
Ahead of the U.S. and NATO troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of this year, the Taliban militants have launched a massive attack on the country's southern province of Helmand. According to various Afghan media reports, hundreds of Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militants launched coordinated attacks on the province's Sangin district. The fighting has continued over five days and there are fears that the some districts of the province might fall to the Taliban.
