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 December 9, 2022, an Al-Qaeda associate and writer published an article on his website, arguing that a civil war will erupt in the U.S. ahead of the next elections in 2024.
On December 11, 2022, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, announced that he will travel to the Qatari capital of Doha to attend the semifinal match of the FIFA World Cup, scheduled to take place on December 14, 2022, in which France and Morocco will face off. Following the announcement, jihadi accounts on social media urged that Macron be killed in Doha.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On December 9, 2022, the pro-ISIS At-Taqwa Media Foundation released a poster titled "The Arenas of the Summits," depicting an armed ISIS fighter aiming his weapon in the air against the backdrop of the FIFA World Cup symbol.
On December 12, 2022, a Gaza-based jihadi cleric shared a post on his Telegram channel responding to news reports that French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to travel to Doha, Qatar to attend the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco.
On December 11, 2022, a pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet released Issue 27 of "Ibnat Al-Islam" (Daughter of Islam), a women's magazine for Al-Qaeda supporters.
A Telegram channel linked to Iran-backed militias in Iraq, has been sharing posters accusing the U.S. of destabilizing Iran by supporting the protesters who want to topple the regime.
Telegram channels linked to Iran-backed militias in Iraq posted content marking the third anniversary of the killing of Iranian General Qassim Soleimani and Iraqi deputy commander of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
On December 7, 2022, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the Foreign Office of Pakistan to take up the issue of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui – a Pakistani national serving an 86-year jail sentence in a Texas prison for attempted murder of American military personnel in Afghanistan – with the U.S. ambassador in Pakistan.
A Saudi-owned TV channel reported on December 8, 2022 that an Iranian privately owned airline company may be using the newly launched Tehran-Beirut route to transfer weapons and sensitive equipment to Lebanese Hizbullah.
On December 8, 2022, the ISIS released Issue 368 of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba'. The issue featured an article and "exclusive" photos documenting an attempt by the Islamic State's Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) to assassinate the Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan in Kabul on November 2, 2022.
ISIS Claims Killing Of 100 Al-Qaeda Operatives, Capture Of Six Others In Mali
On December 14, 2022, the ISIS claimed that on December 7 its fighters in Mali killed 100 Al-Qaeda operatives, wounded dozens more and captured six.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On December 12, 2022, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) announced that its operatives in Afghanistan carried out a suicide attack on the Kabul Longan Hotel.
ISIS Sahel Province Fighters Pledge Allegiance To New Caliph In Video
On December 12, 2022 the Islamic State's Sahel Province released a nine-minute video showing its fighters gathering to pledge allegiance to the new ISIS Caliph.
ISIS Releases Photos Of Fighters In Kashmir And Tunisia Pledging Allegiance To New Caliph
On December 7, 2022, the ISIS published photo sets from its India Province and from Tunisia documenting its operatives gathering to perform the bay'ah [oath of allegiance] to the new ISIS leader, known by the alias Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi.
On December 8, the ISIS released issue 368 of its weekly magazine Al-Naba'. The magazine's editorial, titled "Let Someone Show of Their Like," is a quote from the November 30 audio message by ISIS official spokesman Abu 'Umar Al-Muhajir titled "They Slay, and are Slain," announcing the death of ISIS leader Abu Al-Hassan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi and the instatement of Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni as the group's new caliph. The title of the editorial is meant to encourage ISIS supporters to display the same virtues and bravery of ISIS' slain caliphs.
The cover article in the latest issue of "Voice of Khorasan," the English-language jihadi magazine published by the publications arm of the Islamic State's Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) critiques a range of influential people, past and present, accusing them of betraying Islam and weakening the Islamic caliphate throughout the centuries by siding with the non-Islamic powers of the day.
Pro-ISIS Channel Claims Attacks On Christians In Uganda
On December 13, 2022, a pro-ISIS Telegram channel published two videos documenting attacks on Christian villages in Uganda's Ntoroko region, near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on the night between December 12 and December 13.
A channel on the ISIS-operated Rocket.Chat platform affiliated with an unofficial media outlet of the Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP), which operates in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia, shared a new video praising jihadi activities in the Philippines and stating that it is time for ISIS to return stronger.
On December 8, 2022, the ISIS published photo sets documenting its operatives in Lebanon gathering to perform the bay'ah [oath of allegiance] to the new ISIS leader, known by the alias Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi.
On December 12, 2022, supporters of the ISIS published posts on social media celebrating a reported attack on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan and speculating that it was planned and carried out by ISIS operatives in Afghanistan.
In recent days, an Australian pro-ISIS preacher has continued his preaching activities in person and on his Telegram channel.
On December 13, 2022, a pro-rebel Syrian outlet reported that ISIS operatives took advantage of foggy weather to seize control for several hours over the M20 highway running through the Syrian desert between Damascus and Deir Al-Zour.
Al-Qaeda Sahel Affiliate Releases Video Of Captured Burkinabe Soldier Pleading For His Liberation
On December 14, 2022, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the Sahel, the "Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims" (GSIM), released a 30-second video with a speech by a captured Burkinabe soldier.
On December 9, 2022 a pro-Al-Qaeda media group published a five-page "Interview with Syria's Mujahideen."
On November 30, 2022, an anonymous pro-Al-Qaeda journalist published an article on his blog reporting on alleged infighting within the Islamic State's (ISIS) rank and file over the group's handling of the death of its former caliph.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Issue 27 of the pro-Al-Qaeda women's magazine Ibnat Al-Islam [Daughter of Islam], published on December 11, 2022 by the Bayt Al-Maqdis media group, contains a four-page article titled "Most Victims of the West... Women and Children."
On December 8, 2022, a pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet shared a map of Burkina Faso that compared the activity of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the Sahel, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), to the activity of the ISIS in the West African country in 2022.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On December 10, 2022, authorities backed by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib, Syria announced that its General Security Service (GSS) seized large quantities of narcotics that were being smuggled into the city from territories controlled by the Syrian regime and Lebanese Hizbullah.
On December 13, 2022, a Syrian opposition website based in the UK whose aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria, reported that on December 10 four military experts from the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) arrived at Mezzeh Military Airport, the Syrian Air Force military airbase, in the southwest of the capital, Damascus.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
A Twitter account of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) has posted a series of photos of military vehicles that it seized after U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
In a recent article, Pakistani security analyst Zahid Hussain examined the security implications of the December 2, 2022, attack on the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul.
A recent editorial titled "Terror Attacks" in the Urdu-language daily Roznama Ummat, which is a pro-Afghan Taliban daily, expressed concern over attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban's failure to deny the TTP and the anti-Pakistan Baluchi secessionist organizations their hideouts in Afghanistan.
