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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A mosque in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, affiliated with a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) preacher uploaded a 22-minute video to YouTube featuring that day's Friday sermon on the topic of Christmas.
On December 27, 2022, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel published a post calling on Muslims to carry out car-ramming attacks as a show of commitment to their beliefs and expression of support to "oppressed" fellow Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kashmir.
On December 23, 2022, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 370 of its weekly Al-Naba' newsletter, which includes an editorial about the Pentagon's announcement related to naming a new warship "USS Fallujah."
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On December 27, 2022, Israel's Shin Bet security agency and police announced that the perpetrator of a November 23 double bombing in Jerusalem which killed two Israeli civilians and injured more than twenty had been arrested on November 29, and named him as Eslam Froukh, a 26-year-old mechanical engineer from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kafr 'Aqab.
On December 26, 2022, the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria announced that its fighters had carried out a "surprise attack" on an SDF base in Raqqa in the north of the country, killing and wounding some 16 SDF soldiers.
Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) Video Shows Fighters Pledging Allegiance To New Caliph
On December 22, 2022, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) released a ten-minute video documenting its operatives gathering to pledge allegiance to the new ISIS leader, known by the alias Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi.
Issue 18 of the "Voice of Khurasan," an English-language monthly magazine published by Al-Azaim Foundation, the media arm of the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), develops a critique of the ruling Afghan Taliban, especially accusing them of betraying Islam, working as part of the U.S.-led plot against the Islamic world, and protecting grave-worshippers such as Sufis and Shi'ites.
Issue 13 of Khurasan Ghag ("Voice of Khurasan"), a Pashtu-language magazine published by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), slams the Afghan Taliban for their growing relations with Iran and notes that Iran has been supporting the Taliban so that they can protect Iranian interests from Islamic State attacks in and outside Afghanistan.
Pro-ISIS Video Highlights Pledges Of Allegiance To New ISIS Caliph, Group's Continued Strength
On December 21, 2022, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) outlet released a six-minute video highlighting ISIS operatives pledging their allegiance to the new ISIS caliph, Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni.
On December 22, 2022, the admin of a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) channel on the ISIS-operated Rocket.Chat server shared an eight-page PDF file of an English-language publication.
On December 27, 2022, Al-Qaeda in The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for three separate attacks against UAE-backed forces.
On December 28, 2022, Al-Sahab, the media arm of Al-Qaeda Central Command released the first episode of a new video series. The episode featured a narration by slain Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri eulogizing the founder of Ansar Al-Shari'a in Tunisia, Abu Ayyad Al-Tunisi, who was killed in a French airstrike in Mali in 2019.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
An article in the October-November 2022 issue of a monthly Urdu-language magazine published by Al-Qaeda In The Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), questions Qatar's "service" to Islam during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and accuses the Qatari government of hosting unbelievers and polytheists and governing by a secular, capitalist kingdom in violation of shari'a.
On December 23, 2022, Al-Sahab, the media arm of Al-Qaeda, released part one of a new video series.
Al-Shabab Releases Photos Showing Ethiopian Armored Vehicle Destroyed In Attack In Somalia
On December 16, 2022, Shahada News Agency, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab) claimed ambushing an Ethiopian military convoy on the road between Baidoa and the town of Daynunay in Bay state, southwestern Somalia, and detonating explosives on it.
In December 2022, the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), backed by Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), launched an initiative aimed at providing heating equipment to residents in the HTS-controlled areas of northwest Syria.
Syrian Opposition Website: Lebanese Hizbullah Runs Operations Room To Smuggle Captagon Into Jordan
On December 25, 2022, a website identified with the Syrian opposition and reports on southern Syria, claimed that Lebanese Hizbullah and local Iran-backed militias have been smuggling narcotics into Jordan.
On January 3, 2020, the U.S assassinated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani, and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) commander, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, in a drone strike in Baghdad. Since then, Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have threatened to avenge their deaths.
On December 22, 2022, Telegram channel linked to Iran-backed militias in Iraq, reacted to files posted on December 20 by the investigative reporter Lee Fang.
On December 28, 2022, a media outlet affiliated with the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, published a Telegram post calling for Iraqis to use the rallies commemorating the upcoming second death anniversary of Iranian IRGC Qods Force Commander General Qasem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) deputy leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis as a launchpad for an armed popular uprising against the U.S., which assassinated the two leaders in a January 3, 2020 airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.
After a series of recent high-profile terror attacks by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), the Afghan Taliban's Urdu-language website published an article arguing that external powers seek to damage Afghanistan's relations with its neighbors.
