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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By: S. Ali
In September 2019, Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China to develop economic and trade ties between the two countries. The "Oil for Reconstruction" memorandum proposed several massive projects included building the Grand Port of Al Faw in Basra, creating a shorter transportation corridor between the Middle East and Europe, and bypassing the Suez Canal through the expansion of a national rail network.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
A Telegram channel linked to jihadi factions fighting against the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria took aim at two U.S. Members of Congress for voting to lift the U.S. sanctions on the Syrian regime.
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 20, 2023, it emerged that Sweden had once again granted permission to Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian seeking asylum in the country, to burn a copy of the Quran and an Iraqi flag outside the Iraqi Embassy. The fact that Sweden allowed Momika to desecrate a Quran a second time in less than a month sparked a wave of protest and anger across the Arab world directed at the Swedish government.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On several occasions in June and July 2023, in Sweden and in Denmark, copies of the Quran were desecrated in public. As on similar occasions in the past, these incidents ignited a wave of protests, some violent, across the Arab and Islamic world, as well as in Muslim communities in the West.
On July 23, 2023, an Islamic State (ISIS) supporter called on lone wolf operatives in the West to carry out attacks against "far-right extremists, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists" to deter possible attacks against Muslims.
On July 22, 2023, an unofficial outlet that supports the Islamic State East Asia Province (ISEAP) published a photo showing the newly appointed Emir of ISEAP in the Philippines.
On July 24, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed that on July 22, fighters from its Syria province detonated an IED against a bus carrying operatives of the Syrian military and pro-government militias, in the eastern Homs desert, destroying the bus, killing at least five operatives and wounding around 10 others.
ISIS Weekly Stresses Importance Of Migrating To Lands Of Islam
On July 20, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 400 of its weekly newsletter Al-Naba'. The issue's feature article, titled "Hijra is an Ongoing Act of Worship," stressed the continued necessity and importance of making hijra to the lands of Islam today.
ISIS Infographic Chronicles 'Major Operations' During Previous Islamic Year
On July 20, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 400 of its weekly Al-Naba' newsletter. The issue featured an infographic detailing the group's most prominent operations of the previous hijri calendar year, which ran from July 30, 2022 to July 18, 2023.
On July 20, 2023, an unofficial media outlet supportive of the Islamic State in East Asia Province (ISEAP) published a video showing leader Abu Turaife and affiliates of ISEAP in the Philippines pledge allegiance to ISIS.
British pro-Islamic State (ISIS) preacher Anjem Choudary was arrested by authorities on suspicion of terrorism offenses during a police raid on his home in East London, UK. Another man, 28-year-old Canadian national Khaled Hussein, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London upon arrival from Canada in connection to the case.
On July 25, 2023, Hizb ut-Tahrir Al-Islami (Hizb ut-Tahrir) in Britain published on its YouTube channel a 21-minute video of a lecture by its official, which was delivered at a recent Hizb ut-Tahrir conference in the UK. The English-language lecture was titled "The Mission to Make Islam Dominant."
On July 21, 2023, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for a July 20 mortar attack on a position of the UAE-backed forces, in Al-Qana'ah, in the Al-Musayni'ah area of Shabwah governorate. AQAP released three photos documenting the attack.
On July 24, 2023, the Shahada News Agency, the media arm of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), reported that an Al-Shabab operative carried out a suicide operation against the headquarters of the general command of Infantry Forces near the Ministry of Defense headquarters in the capital, Mogadishu, killing more than 73 soldiers and injuring 124.
On July 24, 2023, the Shahada News Agency, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), posted an article on its official website summarizing a series of attacks perpetrated by the group during the two previous days.
On July 21, 2023, a senior Iraqi-born religious official in Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) made a series of Telegram posts discussing an alleged rapprochement between Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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 24, 2023, the Al-Zallaqa Media Foundation, 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), reported that GSIM fighters carried out a suicide operation in Mali, against a site belonging to the Russian mercenary Wagner Group in the Niono area of the Ségou region.
In August 2022, a senior Iraqi-born religious official in Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), publicly called on branches of Al-Qaeda to break with the organization, as HTS had done in 2016. He reiterated his call in a May 14, 2023 Telegram post, and elaborated on parts of his arguments in a series of July 21 Telegram posts.
On July 19, 2023, a pro-Al-Qaeda Telegram channel shared a poster featuring a quote from a lecture by slain Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri published on November 23, 2021, criticizing the United Nations. The poster used a hashtag acknowledging Al-Zawahiri's death.
On July 19, 2023, a pro-Al-Qaeda media group shared a post featuring an excerpt from a November 2021 address by slain Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, in which he levies severe criticism at the UN and its institutions and claims that they operate against Islam and contravene the laws of Islam and thus there can be no cooperation with them.
On July 21, 2023, a senior Iraqi-born religious official in Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) made a series of Telegram posts discussing an alleged rapprochement between Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He argued that the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda affiliate has become a tool in the hand of IRGC since the group's military chief, Sayf Al-'Adl, took control of the organization following the death of Ayman Al-Zawahiri on July 31, 2022.
Issue 51 of the Balagh monthly magazine, published by a group of independent jihadi clerics based in Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib area on July 26, 2023, contained an article titled: "Is the U.S. Serious In Recruiting Collaborators?"
On July 25, 2023, the Saraya Dir' Al-Thawrah (SDT) group, which claims to belong to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), published a two-and-a-half-minute-long video on Telegram highlighting the third "high-quality operation" carried out by the group.
On July 20, 2023, reports surfaced online that Swedish police had granted permission for Salwan Momika, an Iraqi asylum seeker living in Sweden, to burn the Quran and the Iraqi flag outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. Momika also announced on Tiktok prior to the planned demonstration that he intended to burn photos of Iraqi cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr and Iranian Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In June and July 2023, Syrian opposition elements published a series of reports about the activities of the Iran-backed militias in northeastern Syria that target the local children and youth. These elements claim that the militias aim to create an affinity for the Shia culture and tradition among the children, so that when they are older, they will support "the agendas of the Iran-backed militias" in the region.
On July 24, 2023, the Iran-backed Ashab Al-Kahf group claimed responsibility for an attack on the same day against U.S. forces in Iraq, that reportedly caused the deaths of 24 people.
On July 21 and 22, 2023, the Iran-backed Ashab Al-Kahf militia, which often claims responsibility for attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq, shared a series of posts in which it threatened attacks in the coming days on "all those who are attacking Iraq," first and foremost the US.
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 25, 2023, Al-Faqaar, a Telegram channel linked to the Iraqi militia Zulfiqar Forces backed by Iran, released a poster depicting Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis in military uniforms, standing over the U.S. Capitol Building in flames.
On July 25, 2023, a Telegram channel which is affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq accused the U.S. of orchestrating recent demonstrations involving Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark in order to distract Iraqis from protesting over the U.S. presence in the country.
