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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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, 2023, the Houthi Ansar Allah movement's armed forces claimed responsibility for firing a "naval missile" at the Norwegian commercial tanker STRINDA, which, they said, was en route to Israel. The statement also claims that, in the last few days, the Houthis have prevented the passage of several other vessels which "heeded the warnings of the Yemeni navy" and refrained from continuing their journey to Israel.
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, 2023, the Houthi Ansar Allah movement's armed forces claimed responsibility for firing a "naval missile" at the Norwegian commercial tanker STRINDA, which, they said, was en route to Israel.
On December 6, 2023, Houthi Defense Minister Major General Muhammad Nasser Al-'Atifi declared, during his visit to the Galaxy Leader commercial ship that was hijacked by the Houthis on November 19, 2023, that the Red Sea is now "forbidden to the Zionist entity" and that his forces "are ready to inflict the harshest strikes" on every Israeli target.
On December 8, 2023, there were 11 attacks carried out on U.S. bases in Iraq and in Syria, for which responsibility was claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization which includes the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades, the Al-Nujaba Movement, the Sayyid Al-Shuhada Brigades, and Ansar Allah Al-Awfiya – all of which are Iran-backed, Iraqi Shi'ite militias.
On December 11, 2023, a prolific Al-Qaeda supporter published a poster titled "A Call to Break the Borders and Exterminate the Jews." The poster depicts a keffiyeh-wearing militant breaking through a brick wall to advance toward the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, with the caption: "Do not wait for permission to cross, but break the borders yourself!"
On December 6, 2023, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet released a video titled: "Messages to Our People in Jerusalem: Strike the Jews With Iron."
On December 11, 2023, Hashim Safi Al-Din, chairman of Lebanese Hizbullah's Executive Council, delivered a speech at a memorial ceremony held at Al-Zaareer village in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in honor of a Hizbullah "martyr" who was killed fighting Israel in the south of the country. In his speech, Safi Al-Din asserted that Hizbullah has two options: To resist or to be "slaves in the service of America."
Issue 420 of Islamic State (ISIS) weekly magazine Al-Naba', which was published on December 7, 2023, contains an "exclusive" report detailing a December 3 double attack by the Islamic State Sahel Province in Mali.
On December 7, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) released issue 420 of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba'. The publication featured an editorial arguing that the Philippines is a land of jihad and one of the battlegrounds for the ISIS fight against Christian-governments and foreign powers aiming to change the demographics of the southern Philippines and to fight Islam there.
On December 11, 2023, the Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP) claimed responsibility for a December 8 attack on Moro militias in southern Philippines. The group also released a photoset documenting the attack. This is the sixth attack claimed by ISEAP since November 12.
On December 7, 2023, the Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) claimed that on December 6 its operatives attacked a concentration of the "Crusader" Mozambican army in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, using light and medium weapons.
A key article in the latest issue of the "Voice of Khurasan," an English-language monthly magazine published by Al-Azaim Media Foundation, a media outlet linked to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which defines itself as a supporting entity for the Islamic State (ISIS), published after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, criticizes the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the ruling Taliban jihadi organization) for not allowing the mujahideen to wage jihad outside Afghanistan.
A major article in the latest issue of the "Voice of Khurasan," an English-language monthly magazine published by Al-Azaim Media Foundation, a media outlet linked to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which defines itself as a supporting entity for the Islamic State (ISIS), celebrates the life of 13th-century sultan of Egypt and Syria Al-Malik Al-Zahir Rukn Al-Din Baybars Al-Bunduqdari for his role in fighting Christians, defeating the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France, stopping the Mongol advance, and killing the Knights Templar who had surrendered after being trapped.
On December 13, 2023, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet published commentary by prominent female ISIS supporter, poet, and writer lambasting Hamas leaders' positions on the war in Gaza, international reactions, and U.S. President Joe Biden's recent remarks about Israel and the conflict.
On December 2, 2023, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel published a post commenting on recent ISIS attacks in Iraq, describing them as a "series of violent operations the likes of which we have not seen for many days."
On December 12, 2023, pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlets launched a campaign titled, "Know the Truth of the Armies," which consists of a series of posters critical of the armies in the Middle East. Specific posters question their militaries' combat priorities in light of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, as well as in previous conflicts, such as the war on ISIS in Sinai.
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, 2023, Al-Zallaqa, 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 a video message from the group leader Iyad Ag Ghaly, also known as Abu Al-Faḍl.
On December 3, 2023, an Al-Qaeda associate and writer, published an article on his website, arguing that Israel was likely the "architect" of the October 7 attack, undertaken to allegedly secure Israel's "Jewish national security," and produce a new political leadership in Gaza, as happened with Egypt's president Anwar El-Sadat after the 1973 war.
On December 11, 2023, the HTS-backed Syrian Salvation Government's Ministry of Development and Humanitarian Affairs released a statement criticizing a decision by the United Nations World Food Program to end its main assistance program in Syria.
On December 12, 2023, an unofficial outlet supporting Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) released a series of seven posters discrediting Lebanese Hizbullah and its professed support for Palestine, alleging that many of the slain members of the Iran-backed group allegedly killed fighting Israel in southern Lebanon were actually killed in Syria fighting rebel forces.
On December 9, 2023, Katibat Al-Ghuraba' Al-Turkestani (The Turkestani Battalion of Strangers, or KGT), a group of Uyghur fighters under the command of the 'Umar Bin Al-Khattab Brigade of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), issued a statement denying involvement in a shooting operation targeting the Al-Hamra Mall in Idlib.
On November 26, 2023, several Arabic media outlets reported that a group of young Jordanian plan to launch a social media platform to break the alleged ban imposed by social media companies on pro-Palestinians posts.
On December 7, 2023, Saraya Al-Quds, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), eulogized two of its fighters who allegedly were killed in south Lebanon in a combat against Israel.
Pro-Hamas Cyber Group Claims It Hacked Israeli Servers, Passed Database To 'Mujahedeen'
Since December 1, 2023, a pro Hamas hacking group have claimed a series of cyber-attacks on Israeli sites, including some sites affiliated with the Israeli government.
On December 13-14, 2023, several officials in Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi Ansar Allah Movement published statements referring to the situation in the Red Sea in light of the Israel-Hamas war. This report reviews the statements.
In the wake of the Houthi Ansar Allah movement's attack on the Norwegian commercial tanker STRINDA, and the group's announcement that it would close the Red Sea to any vessel sailing to Israel, senior Houthi officials continued to issue statements threatening to escalate military operations as long as the siege on Gaza continues. The movement added that Yemen's armed forces operations represent a response to the U.S. veto, at the United Nations, on the resolutions calling for a cease fire in Gaza.
On December 8, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization consisting of several Iran-backed militias in Iraq, claimed two attacks on U.S. bases in the region. Further, Telegram channels linked to the group reported three more attacks which the group has not yet claimed.
On December 11, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed joint operations group of Iraqi militias, published a statement on Telegram claiming a second drone attack in one day against the U.S. Ayn Al Asad airbase in Iraq's Al-Anbar governorate.
On December 8, 2023, Lebanese Hizbullah released three posters eulogizing three recently-killed "martyrs on the path to Jerusalem."
The current issue of the Urdu-language jihadi journal Al-Malhama, which was released after the October 7, Hamas attack in Israel, praises the mujahideen of Gaza for teaching the Islamic world by their attack that Muslims do not need to wait for others to give them resources or to match their resources to those of the non-Islamic nations before launching jihad.
