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 January 28, 2024, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that three American soldiers had been killed and multiple personnel, at least 34, were wounded in a drone attack on the Tower 22 logistical base in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border. U.S. President Joe Biden blamed "radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq" for the attack and warned that "we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing."
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 30, 2024, the Iran-backed Hizbullah Brigades in Iraq announced that it is ceasing attacks against U.S. forces and emphasized that Iran had no role in the past attacks launched by the group against U.S. bases in the region.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 25, 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs published official statements, reporting that the countries have agreed to launch the U.S.-Iraq Higher Military Commission (HMC), comprised of officials from both countries, to hold "high-level talks" to examine the future of forces of the U.S.-led Global Coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq. The Iraqi statement added that the talks aimed to formulate a "specific timetable" for the duration of the presence of the coalition's advisors in Iraq, with the aim of reducing it in a "gradual, examined manner." This report reviews reactions to the announcement by several Iran-backed Iraqi militias and affiliated media outlets.
On January 24, 2024, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement reporting that in retaliation for attacks by the Iran-backed Iraqi Kata'ib Hizbullah (Hizbullah Brigades or KH) against U.S. bases, its forces conducted unilateral airstrikes against three facilities used by the Hizbullah Brigades and other "Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq." According to the statement, the strikes targeted the group's "headquarters, storage, and training locations for rocket, missile, and one-way attack UAV capabilities."
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On January 31, 2024, Lebanese Hizbullah's Al-Ahed news website published a report about a speech delivered by Nabil Qaouk, a member of Hizbullah's Central Committee, in a ceremony to honor Islam Muhammad Zalzali aka Abu Saleh, a "martyr on the path to Jerusalem" killed on January 26 in an Israeli strike.[2] The ceremony was conducted in the village of Deir Qanoun En Nahr, in Lebanon's South governorate.
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On January 25, 2024, Al-Nur Radio's website published a report citing the Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, a member of the Hizbullah Central Committee, condemning Israel's assassinations as an "ineffective" approach and a "lost bet." The sheikh issued a threat, saying that Hizbullah would increase the pace of attacks as Israel's "aggression" on civilians increases. Qaouk also argued that the strategic achievements by the Iran-backed Shi'ite militias would enhance the status of the resistance in the region at the expense of the United States and her allies.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 27, 2024, the pro-Hizbullah Lebanese daily, Al-Akhbar, reported that Western officials, including the deputy director of German Foreign Intelligence, had met recently with a top Hizbullah leader in Beirut to attempt to stop Hizbullah attacks against Israel.
On January 31, 2024, the True Promise Legion, an Iran-backed militias in Iraq, issued a statement vowing to continue to attack U.S. forces. The statement comes one day after Hizbullah Brigades in Iraq announced it would suspend attacks against U.S. forces.
On the afternoon of January 28, 2024, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed joint operations group of Iraqi militias, issued a statement claiming that early that morning, it launched drone attacks on "four enemy bases," three U.S. bases in Syria and an Israeli base "inside our occupied Palestinian lands."
On January 31, 2024, the Lebanese Hizbullah-linked Al-Khanadeq website published a report discussing Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades' decision to cease attacks against U.S. bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria, arguing that the measure taken by the Iran-backed militia is a pause and not a total cessation of attacks, and that the drone attack on a U.S. base in Iraq's Kurdistan region is clear evidence of this.
On January 28, 2024, Telegram channels affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq discussed the drone attack that killed three American soldiers and injured a dozen more stationed at a U.S. base known as "Tower 22" in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
On January 28, 2023 the secretary general of the Iran-backed Iraqi Sayyid Al-Shuhada' Brigades, posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) commenting on the drone attack that targeted U.S. forces in northeast Jordan near the border with Syria.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
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Over the past week, Telegram channels affiliated with Salafi jihadi and Iran-backed militias in Iraq discussed the border crisis in the United States, highlighting the recent developments related to the Texas Governor Greg Abbott's decision to oppose the federal administration's authority at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the influx of migrants.
On January 25, 2024, an online group which is affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq published a poster on its official Telegram channel calling on followers to provide information about U.S. forces in Iraq.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 28, 2024, a drone attack killed three American soldiers and injured about 34 more stationed at a U.S. base known as "Tower 22" in northeast Jordan near the Syrian and Iraqi borders. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) acknowledged the attack, while no group has yet taken responsibility, although Telegram channels affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq celebrated it as another "defeat for America" and warned the U.S. not to escalate the conflict or attack Iran.
On January 31, 2024, "the armed forces" of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for firing several "appropriate naval missiles" at the American merchant ship KOI "that was heading to the ports of occupied Palestine."
In late January 2024, Israel provided information to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) about the alleged involvement of several of its employees in the attack perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. Following that disclosure, several countries (including the U.S., Britain, Italy, Australia, Canada, Finland, Holland, Swizerland, and Germany) announced that they would suspend their funding for the agency.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 31, 2024, "the armed forces" of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah movement claimed responsibility for firing several "appropriate naval missiles" at the American destroyer USS Greeley in the Red Sea. Houthi armed forces spokesman Brigadier-General Yahya Saree' declared that all American and British warships in the Red and Arabian Seas "are within the target bank of our forces."
On January 26, 2024, "the armed forces" of the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah Movement claimed responsibility for firing "appropriate naval missiles" for the first time at a "British ship" in the Gulf of Aden. This was only two days after Ansar Allah reportedly perpetrated a similar attack on American ships, and four days after claiming responsibility for an attack on another American ship in the same area – an attack which was denied by the U.S..
On January 29, 2024, Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a U.S. Naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden. In a post on X, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea announced: "With the help of Allah, the Yemeni Naval Forces in the Yemeni Armed forces have launched a suitable naval missile towards the US Naval Lewis B. Puller vessel in the Gulf of Aden."
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 25, 2024, Muhammad Abdulsalam, the spokesman for Iran-backed Yemen's Ansar Allah movement (Houthis), wrote on his account on X (formerly Twitter) that he met in Moscow with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail L. Bogdanov, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and African countries, to discuss the unfolding developments in the Middle East.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 28, 2024, the Islamic State (ISIS) official A'maq News Agency published a claim reporting that two of the organization's fighters perpetrated an attack on a church in the Büyükdere neighborhood of the Turkish capital, Istanbul.
On January 30, 2024, the Islamic State Pakistan Province claimed that its fighters conducted an explosives attack targeting an election rally held the same day by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) in the Baluchistan region, in southwestern Pakistan.
On January 25, 2024, the Islamic State (ISIS) released issue 427 of its official newsletter, Al-Naba'. The issue's feature article centers on the concept of truth, accusing Muslims who claim to adhere to Islamic Law and to wage jihad – but who in actuality do not – of being hypocrites.
ISIS supporters from around the world learned about a jihadi discord server from a TikTok account. While TikTok suspended the account, the Discord server remains active.
In a Pashtu-language book, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) accuses the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) of imitating the practices of apostate leaders such as the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and "unbeliever" powers, such the United States and the United Nations. It says that Taliban leaders celebrated Erdoğan's electoral victory despite elections and democracy constituting unbelief according to shari'a.
In a Pashtu-language book, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) accuses the Afghan Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Hibbatullah Akhundzada, of protecting unbelievers, saying he is loyal to non-Muslims rather than to Muslims. The book also argues that the Afghan Taliban are altering the meaning of Islam and shari'a.
In a Pashtu-language book, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) argues that the system of governance implemented by the Afghan Taliban is no different from the one established during the Republican era (2001-2021), arguing that their leader is not the emir according to shari'a, and neither are their territorial boundaries or relations with non-Muslim nations.
In the first half of January, pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlets published posters condemning Hamas for its alliance with Shi'ite Iran, and for fighting for national reasons rather than religious. Since then, these media groups have continued to release posters with similar themes. Following is a survey of some of these posters.
During the second half of January 2024, against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, several pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlets released a series of posters that focus on the Islamic conflict with Israel.
On January 26, 2024, a user of the Islamic State (ISIS)-operated Rocket.Chat server published a post warning against trusting technical and information security (infosec) guidance published by anonymous online jihadis.
On January 30, 2024, a Telegram channel affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed that the U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) conducted a raid inside the Al-Hol refugee camp where ISIS families are held. Posts said that 15 people were injured, and two were killed, including a woman and a boy.
On January 29, 2024, a propaganda outlet which is an unofficial Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) production house, released a video titled, "The State Series – Season 1." The video narrates the rise of jihad against U.S. troops in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, and highlights the considerable contribution of leader and founder Omar Bin Hadid Al-Dulaymi in initiating the insurgency against U.S. troops, which formed the nucleus of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), later rebranded as ISIS.
Issue 427 of the Islamic State's (ISIS) weekly Al-Naba', published on January 25, 2024, contained an article reporting recent activity of the Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP). This report reviews the article.
Between January 23 and 31, 2024, the Islamic State (ISIS) Central Africa Province (ISCAP) claimed that its fighters captured and beheaded dozens of Christian villagers in different villages in the Ituri and Beni provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On January 28, 2024, the pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Al-Murahafat Media Foundation released a poster designed to incite terrorist attacks in Paris, France. The pro-ISIS 'Ilam Media Foundation shared the poster on its website.
On January 30, 2024, the pro-Al-Qaeda Al-Nazi'at Foundation published a 33-page booklet, containing an Arabic translation of the 2018 fact sheet "U.S. Military Bases and Facilities in the Middle East" by Matthew Wallin of the American Security Project (ASP).
On January 29, 2024, a prolific pro-Al-Qaeda media operative released a poster titled "Make the Jews Forget the Devil's Whispers with Your Actions." The poster, which was released on Chirpwire in Arabic, English, and French, incites attacks against "Zionist-Crusader" targets: embassies, shopping malls, festivals, marches, and public transit. It also specifically calls for attacks on Jewish neighborhoods and businesses.
On January 26, 2023, operatives of Katibat Al-Ghuraba' Al-Turkestani, a predominantly Uyghur jihadi force in northwestern Syria, were pictured manning guard posts on Aleppo's western outskirts.
HTS' campaign against collaborators and spies within the group, which brought about the arrest or dismissal of some of its most senior and veteran members, began with the August 2023 arrest of Iraqi-born senior official Maysarah Al-Jubouri aka Abu Mariyah Al-Qahtani on charges of collaboration with the U.S.-led global coalition.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Launches New Militant Wing To Target Punjab Province
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban) has launched a new wing comprising highly trained and well-equipped fighters to specifically target the Punjab police and establish itself in the politically influential Pakistani province, according to a media report.
