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.)
Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
By Steven Stalinsky Ph.D., R. Sosnow, A. Smith, S.Ali, K. Choukry, Matt Schierer, N. Mozes, Y. Kerman, G. Pacchiani, and Y. Kulka
In 2017, MEMRI released its seminal study, A Decade Of Jihadi Organizations' Use Of Drones – From Early Experiments By Hizbullah, Hamas, And Al-Qaeda To Emerging National Security Crisis For The West As ISIS Launches First Attack Drones. The study outlined various jihadi groups' use of drones for surveillance, reconnaissance, and attack purposes. It painted a picture of a rapidly developing threat to American and coalition forces and allies in the Middle East.
Five years later, the threat of jihadi drone use has grown exponentially. More jihadi groups have gained access to drone technology, and those examined in 2017 have improved upon existing technology and increased its use. For this report, the MEMRI Cyber And Jihad Lab (CJL) and Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) research teams built upon the previous report to show the proliferation of the jihadi drone threat – a threat which has garnered attention from U.S. government and military officials. MEMRI JTTM continues to monitor jihadi terror groups discussion and use of drones on a daily basis.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On July 2, 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces launched a military operation against what it described as "terrorist infrastructure" in the West Bank's city of Jenin. Below is a compilation of initial reactions by jihadis to the operation.
During the night of July 3, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a military operation against members of Palestinian terrorist organizations, primarily the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), in the Jenin refugee camp in the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Despite the repeated promises of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq to support the Palestinian factions in every way, including by supplying weapons and manpower, this time as well they made do with statements of condemnation of Israel's actions, and expressions of support for the Palestinians.
On July 5, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian researcher, was abducted on March 21 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. News reports said that Tsurkov, 36, who is a doctoral student at Princeton University, was kidnapped and held by the group Kata'ib Hizbullah after leaving a cafe in a middle-class neighborhood of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, in late March, according to her family and people with knowledge of her case.
On June 30, 2023, Al-Malahem, the media arm of the Yemen-based jihadi group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published the second edition of a book in which the author, senior AQAP official, Sudanese national, and former Guantanamo detainee Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Qousi a.k.a. Khubayb Al-Sudani, documents his recollections from the early days of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2022.
On June 29, 2023, a pro-Al-Qaeda outlet released a poster inciting French protesters to kill police officers and soldiers during ongoing nationwide demonstrations. France has been roiled by days-long protests and riots over the death of a French teenager, who was shot at close range by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27.
Beginning in early June 2023, supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) have engaged in a concerted effort to produce and distribute more than 50 original pro-ISIS posters on ISIS-specific forums and mainstream social media sites and communication applications.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On June 28, 2023, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, tore and burned a copy of the Quran in front of Stockholm's central mosque on the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha. The incident drew condemnation from Muslim-majority countries as well as Salafi jihadis and Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
On July 3, 2023, Al-Zallaqa, the official media outlet 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), released two statements claiming separate attacks against Russian Wagner Group forces in Mali's Macina region and Burkinabe troops in an armed ambush in Burkina Faso's Bam Province.
On June 28, 2023, the first day of the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, an Iraqi refugee, Salwan Momika, tore up a copy of the Quran and lit it on fire outside the Stockholm Central Mosque, while standing behind a police cordon. The Muslim worshippers largely ignored the incident, although a man who approached the barrier with three rocks was arrested.
On July 3, 2023, Al-Malahem, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published a 31-minute video titled "Arrows of Truth 2"—referring to AQAP's military campaign—which reviews several operations carried out against UAE-backed forces in Yemen's Abyan and Shabwa governorates.
On July 1, 2023, Al-Malahem, the media arm of the Yemen-based jihadi group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a video which includes a speech by senior AQAP official, Sudanese national, and former Guantanamo detainee Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Qousi aka Khubayb Al-Sudani, delivered on the occasion of the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday, which this year fell between June 28 and July 2.
Al-Qaeda Media Outlet Publishes Eid Al-Adha Greetings In Ten European, African, And Asian Languages
On June 28, 2023, the Al-Qaeda media outlet Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) published a poster congratulating Muslims for Eid Al-Adha.
On July 1, 2023, the Shahada News Agency, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), reported that Al-Shabab operatives had attacked a Christian-majority village in Kenya's Lamu County on the same day, causing the Christians to flee.
On July 2, 2023, Islamic State Mozambique Province claimed that its fighters attacked joint patrols of Mozambican and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces while they were trying infiltrate fighters' positions in the Macomia district of Cabo Delgado province.
On June 29, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) released issue 397 of its official weekly newsletter Al-Naba', which included an editorial titled "The Fruits Of Jihad." It argued that aside from expanding the group's territory, jihad has other benefits which fighters and supporters should be aware of. Among them, it said, is exposing the hypocrites and raising awareness among mislead Muslims of the true version of Islam.
The cover article in the latest issue of Voice of Khurasan, the English-language magazine of the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP), accuses Saudi rulers, especially Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, of diverting Saudi Muslims away from the path of Allah and jihad by launching unworkable mega-projects like Neom City.
A lead article in the latest issue of Voice of Khurasan – the English-language magazine of the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) – says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan misled Muslims to win elections while aiding unbelievers and Rafidhas ("rejectionists," a pejorative term for Shi'ites), notably Azerbaijan's Shi'ite President Ilham Aliyev in the war against Armenia.
On July 5, 2023, an Islamic State (ISIS) supporter in the ISIS-operated Rocket.Chat server posted a Tagalog-language statement which announced the death of Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP) Emir Abu Zacharia and his replacement by Abu Torayfe.
In a Dari-language book, the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) says that Afghan Taliban's agreements, including the U.S.-Taliban Doha Accord of 2020, and relations with non-Muslim countries are against Islam because "it is against Islam to enter into a contract with non-Muslims."
A 75-page Dari-language book describes the characteristics of the Khawarij in the light of shari'a principles and, assessing whether the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISKP) mujahideen or the Afghan Taliban are Khawarij, declares that the Taliban are Khawarij. The Khawarij, or Kharijites (literally, "those who come out"), were an early Islamic sect that advocated excommunicating Muslims for even minor sins and was proclaimed heretical by the mainstream Sunna. Today, the term is used to brand Muslim groups as extremist.
Jihadi groups across the world have celebrated the arrival of Eid Al-Adha, which began in most of the Muslim world on June 28, 2023. Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) in Syria and in Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia Al-Shabab, marked the holiday with statements and events meant to project power and show solidarity with citizens and fighters on the front lines.
On June 28, 2023, the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), a Uyghur jihadi group active in Afghanistan and Syria, uploaded to its website photos titled "The Joy and Blessings of Eid Al-Adha, and of Syria," documenting fighters on the fronts and the group's community in Syria celebrating Eid Al-Adha.
On June 29, 2023, an administrator on an Al-Qaeda-run Rocket.Chat server published photos of its members celebrating the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha. Text below the image suggests that the pictures were taken the same day.
In June and early July 2023, several Syrian opposition websites reported on, "A military show of force," the first of its kind to be held by Iran-backed militias in Syria in the city of Al-Mayadin in the east of the country. According to the reports, several dozen masked operatives, alongside senior local and foreign officials participated in the demonstration, in which military vehicles, rocket launchers, and anti-aircraft weapons were displayed.
On June 28-29, 2023, Sabereen News and affiliated Telegram channels advertised an all-expense paid trip available to Russian nationals with significant social media followings to cover the Arbaeen pilgrimage, a Shi'ite religious rite in Iraq which will be held in early September 2023.
On the morning of June 29, 2023, Sheikh Qais Al-Khaz'ali, secretary-general of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Asa'ib Ahl Al-Haq, led Eid Al-Adha prayers in Baghdad, delivering a sermon as part of the rituals. In his sermon, excerpts of which were published by sources supporting Iran-backed militias in Iraq, Al-Khaz'ali praised the decision by the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee (IRCC) to declare a temporary moratorium on attacking U.S. forces in the country, crediting it with bringing stability and enabling the formation of a government which strives to increase Iraq's sovereignty.
On July 5, 2023, a Telegram channel that supports the Iran-backed militias in Iraq published a recruitment notice in which it called on all those interested in joining the "popular recruitment (the Iraqi Basij)" to send a message to the channel's bot stating their full name and telephone number.
Following the burning of a Quran outside a mosque in Sweden by an Iraqi refugee, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlet called on Muslims to take revenge. On July 4, 2023, the pro-ISIS outlet released a poster titled "Where are the lovers of Paradise? The gates have opened."
On July 3, 2023, pro-Al-Qaeda media outlets and jihadi clerics released statements and posters discussing the ongoing demonstrations in France. A Saudi-born jihadi cleric posted online saying he hopes the situation will escalate and target other European governments, while a prolific media outlet acknowledged the involvement of jihadis in the days-long riots in France.
On July 3, 2023, a three-minute, 38-second video of an Egyptian man stomping on the Quran and pouring wine over it went viral. In the video, the Egyptian man, who lives in Saudi Arabia, claims that the Quran "destroyed our society and it belongs to the terroristic ISIS," adding that the place of the Quran is under his shoes.
On June 19, 2023, the pro-Al-Qaeda Bayt Al-Maqdis platform, released issue 29 of its women's magazine, Ibnat Al-Islam [Daughter of Islam].[1] The issue includes a three-page article by Kifah Al-Maqdisiyah titled, "The Connection Between Feminism And [Homosexual] Deviance." The article attempts to justify its thesis that feminism and homosexuality are "two sides of the same coin," and that both are part of a Western plot to rule the world and corrupt morality.
On July 1, 2023, a British pro-Islamic State (ISIS) cleric published a blog post titled "Violating The Sanctity Of The Quran Is Not Isolated To Sweden."
Issue No. 16 of the Urdu-language magazine Taliban, published by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said that the violent protest rallies and attacks on Pakistani military installations that were triggered by the May 9, 2023 arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan proved that the people of Pakistan were aware of the "heinous deeds" of the Pakistan army.
