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 April 30,2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey's national intelligence organization had killed ISIS caliph Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi in Syria, after a long period of tracking him.
On April 30, 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey's National Intelligence Organization had killed ISIS caliph Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi in Syria, after tracking him "for a long time."
EXCLUSIVE: Anti-ISIS Channel Claims ISIS Caliph Wasn't Killed Because He Wasn't A Real Person
On April 30, 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey's National Intelligence Organization had killed ISIS caliph Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi in Syria, after tracking him "for a long time."
On May 2, 2023, the U.S. and Turkey designated two financial facilitators of Syria-based jihadi groups Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and Katibat Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Jihadis have long exploited social media to spread their radical ideology; jihadi media operatives understood early on that social media was a potent instrument in creating an open flow of jihadi ideology accessible in real time by a younger generation of tech savvy aspirants.
On April 27, 2023, ISIS released issue 388 of Al-Naba', its weekly newsletter. The issue's feature article, titled "Words And Standards," urged adherence to original Islamic terminology about jihad, apostasy, and unbelief, warning against the negative impact of using alternative language.
The latest issue of "Khurasan Ghag [Voice of Khurasan]," the Pashtu-language magazine published by Al-Azaim Foundation, which is the media arm of the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISKP)," criticizes international aid organizations as well as the U.S. and other non-Muslim countries for promoting Christian proselytizing in Afghanistan which, it says, is being carried out in cooperation with the Afghan Taliban.
The latest issue of the Urdu-language jihadi magazine Yalghar ("Invasion") – which describes itself as the voice of the Urdu-speaking aiders of ISIS – analyzes and rejects democracy, which is described as the refuge of the unbelievers and apostates, argues against the position that jihad is a struggle against oneself and for the idea that jihad, according to shari'a, necessarily means fighting to kill.
On May 2, 2023, a user of the ISIS-operated server, who often posts about the Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP), published a series of videos, posters, and photos highlighting the jihadi activities of ISEAP affiliates in the fight against "apostates" and the Philippines army.
On April 30, 2023, several ISIS supporters discussed in an ISIS-controlled encrypted messaging application how to contact and join Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP) in order to wage jihad in the Philippines.
On April 30, an ISIS-operated server returned to being operational after a two-week "maintenance" hiatus following alleged attempted cyberattacks.
On May 2, 2023, a new channel on an ISIS-operated server published a post discussing the possibility that jinn (invisible spirits) have been reporting conversations between jihadis to governmental intelligence agencies.
A group of female prisoners being held in Baghdad's Rusafa prison released a video on April 24, 2023 declaring a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention, the separation from their children and the charges against them, and to demand repatriation to their countries of origin.
A New Jersey-based man who is originally from Ghana is friends with numerous ISIS supporters on Facebook. On the platform, he has discussed his legal plight and revealed that his legal case has some commonalities with that of pro-ISIS Jamaican cleric Sheikh Abdullah Faisal.
On April 29, 2023, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's General Command, released a statement titled "Congratulations and Enlightenment On the Occasion of Eid Al-Fitr 1444 [Hijri Calendar]."
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On April 29, 2023, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a video titled "Allah Certainly Does Not Set Right the Work of The Corruptors" (Quran 10:81). The video includes a speech delivered in Arabic by AQAP leader Khalid Batarfi in which he relates to the recent rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia and claims that in effect it constitutes an admission of defeat by the latter in its war against the Houthi Ansar Allah movement in Yemen.
Al-Qaeda Affiliate Al-Shabab Accuses Somali Government Of Corruption And Stealing The Nation's Money
On May 1, 2023, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), reported that the group's press office issued a press release in Somali titled "The Ummah's Public Property is Not For Sale."
On April 28, 2023, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the African Sahel, Jama'at Nusrat Al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen (the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims – GSIM), published an infographic detailing the group's 15 operations results during Ramadan in Arabic, English and French.
On April 26, 2023, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the Sahel, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), released a statement claiming responsibility for two attacks in Burkina Faso.
On April 28, 2023, the Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-linked Department of Political Affairs (DPA) issued a "Statement About the Forced Deportation of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon."
On April 29, 2023, Issue 48 of a monthly magazine published by a group of independent jihadi clerics in Syria's Idlib region was released. The issue includes an editorial titled "Syrian Refugees Awaiting the Unknown."
Iran-Backed Shi'ite Militias in Iraq: Reports Of Ceasefire With U.S. Forces Are Untrue
An article that appeared in the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed daily on April 25, 2023, claims that since the establishment of the government led by Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia' Al-Sudani an undeclared ceasefire has been in effect between the Iran-backed Shi'ite resistance factions and the U.S.
On May 2, 2023, a media outlet affiliated with the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, forwarded a post by the Telegram channel "Mediterranean Man," which included photos of six documents allegedly listing the names and personally identifiable information (PII) of dozens of CIA and MI6 officers currently stationed in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.
Unknown Group Affiliated With Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Claims Attack On U.S. Convoy
On May 1, 2023, a Telegram channel linked to Iran-backed militias in Iraq issued a statement in the name of a previously unknown group. Dated April 28, 2023, the statement is a claim of responsibility for an attack on a U.S. logistics support convoy in Baghdad Governorate.
On May 1, 2023, the assistant secretary-general and spokesman of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Al-Nujaba Movement gave an interview to an Iranian newspaper, in which he declared that the "resistance" in Iraq will fight the U.S. "occupation" until it is forced to leave the country and will send weapons and even men to fight Israel and liberate Jerusalem.
On April 30, 2023, the office of the Iraqi Al-Nujaba Movement in Iran released a two-minute video clip titled, "[U.S.] Will Remain an Enemy," which includes excerpts from a filmed February 2023 speech delivered by the movement's secretary-general.
On May 2, 2023, the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Ashab Al-Kahf posted a series of messages on its Telegram channel in Arabic mobilizing Iraqi Shi'ites to confront U.S. and Israel over alleged reconnaissance activity over Iraqi skies, calling such confrontation a "religious duty" compulsory on all Iraqis.
On April 27, 2023, a Telegram channel linked to Iran-backed militias reported that Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in international waters in the Gulf of Oman.
Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Launches Anti-U.S. Twitter Campaign
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On April 27, 2023, a Telegram account associated with Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (the Houthis) published a poster calling on supporters to participate in an online campaign using English and Arabic hashtags. The call generated some noticeable traction on Twitter.
Syrian opposition media outlets reported that Iran-backed Shi'ite militias affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are bolstering security around areas in Syria's southern Homs, considered to be Lebanese Hizbullah's "military zone," and testing a new type of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in eastern Deir Al-Zour.
Hamas' 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades Announces It Will No Longer Accept Bitcoin Donations
On April 26, 2023, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, announced on its official website that it is no longer accepting donations via the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
On May 2, 2023, an Egyptian-born independent jihadi cleric posted on his Twitter account a message from an unknown source allegedly sent to Afghan Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and other Taliban leaders, and asked Allah to reward whoever sent it.
Article In Arabic-Language Taliban Magazine Al-Sumood Encourages Jihad Against Israel
On April 26, 2023, the Afghan Taliban published the 207th issue of their official Arabic-language magazine, Al-Sumood. One article was authored by a Gaza-based preacher was and titled "The Message of the Islamic Emirate's Scholars to Guardians in Jerusalem and Its Surroundings."
On April 28, 2023, the Urdu-language website of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the ruling Taliban jihadi organization) published a short article marking the Islamic Revolution of 1992 and vowing to implement the objectives of the jihad against American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
