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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On August 3, 2023, Al-Furqan, the media arm of the Islamic State's (ISIS) Central Command released an audio message by the group's new Spokesman, Abu Hodhayfa Al-Ansari, who announced the death of the group's fourth Caliph, Abu Al-Husayn Al-Husayni Al-Qurashi in a confrontation with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) in Idlib.
On July 31, 2023, anti-Islamicists held protests during which they burned copies of the Quran in Sweden and in Denmark. These followed a series of similar protests that took place in previous weeks in both countries, and sparked fury across the Muslim world.
On July 28, 2023, the Iran-backed Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades militia published a statement in honor of the Shi'ite holiday of Ashura. In its statement, the group related to the most recent desecrations of the Quran in the context of acts of protest – which have included burning, tearing, and stomping on the holy book in Sweden and in Denmark – and called on the Muslim peoples to take a firm stance against the countries where these incidents repeatedly take place.
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On July 28, 2023, the leader of Yemen's Ansar Allah, a.k.a. the Houthis, Abd Al-Malik Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, delivered televised remarks in which he addressed recent demonstrations involving Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark. Al-Houthi's remarks came as part of commemorations of the Ashura holy day in Yemen. Large-scale precessions were held across the country, including in Sana'a, Sa'ada, Hajjah, and elsewhere, to mark the occasion.
On July 31, 2023, 'Amaq News Agency, the official media arm of the Islamic State (ISIS) issued a statement claiming responsibility for a July 30 suicide attack that targeted the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party in Khar in Pakistan's northwestern Bajaur district, which borders Afghanistan.
On July 28, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for two attacks within three days against Shi'ites, in the Sayyidah Zaynab area, south of Damascus. Sayyidah Zaynab is considered a holy Shi'ite site because it contains the grave of Zaynab, daughter of 'Ali and Fatimah and granddaughter of Muhammad, and is a major Shi'ite pilgrimage destination in Syria.
On July 27, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 401 of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba' which included a report documenting clashes between Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and Al-Qaeda's affiliate in the Sahel region, the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which took place in Mali's Gao region.
On July 28, 2023, the Islamic State (ISIS) released issue 401 of its official weekly newsletter, Al-Naba', which included an editorial discussing the Islamic holiday of Ashura, which is recognized for different reasons by the two main sects of Islam, Sunnis and Shi'ites.
In a cover article, the latest issue of Khurasan Ghag, the Pashtu-language of the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP), criticizes Afghan Taliban emir Mullah Hibbatullah Akhundzada, calling him a "liar emir." The article, "The Liar Emir-ul-Momineen," says Mullah Akhundzada's message issued on the eve of Eid Al-Adha was full of lies and fraud.
On July 31, 2023, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel published posts urging Sunnis to be part of the "blessed" jihad in Iraq. The channel defended the group's attacks targeting the economic interests of the Iraqi government and downplayed claims that such attacks also harm the interests of Sunnis.
On August 1, 2023, " a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel published commentary criticizing the effort to contest ISIS and "wage war" on jihadis on social media, arguing that a network of ISIS adversaries, referred to as "Randists," are recruited and mobilized by American think tank Rand Corporation and receive directives from the Global Coalition Against ISIS to counter the organization's narrative.
On July 28, 2023, Akhbar Al'an, a news website and television channel in Dubai, published an article discussing the identity of Islamic State (ISIS) leader Usamah Al-Muhajir, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike on July 7, 2023.
On August 1, 2023, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for two attacks it carried out against UAE-backed forces on July 30-31, in the Mudiyah region in Yemen's Abyan governorate.
On July 30, 2023, Al-Sahab Media, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), issued a statement in Urdu and English condemning the same-day Islamic State (ISIS) suicide attack on a gathering of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam Pakistani party, in which, according to the statement, more than 50 people have been "martyred," and up to 200 injured.
On August 2, 2023, Shahada News, the media outlet of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), published a statement claiming attacks on UAE-backed forces in Mogadishu.
On August 1, 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), posted an infographic summary of its operations during the Islamic month of Dhu Al-Hijja 1444, which this year corresponded to the period between June 19, 2023 and July 18, 2023.
On July 26 and 28, 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), claimed responsibility for three attacks – including two ambushes and one suicide operation – reportedly perpetrated by the organization during the second half of July against the armies of Mali and Togo.
On July 26, 2023, a prominent Al-Qaeda supporter resurfaced on Telegram. Five days later, he published his first post on his new channel, chastising the leadership of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and inciting Muslims in Syria to take action against it.
On July 4, 2023, the Riyadh-based Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) reported that in cooperation with the Telegram platform, it has removed 7,207,810 posts with extremist content and closed 1,554 extremist channels during the second quarter of this year (April-June 2023).
A pro-Al-Qaeda Telegram channel posted commentary that the security developments in Niger are a reason for "good optimism" for jihadis across Africa, arguing that a military intervention would lead to a confrontation between EU-backed African Union forces and the Russian mercenary group Wagner (PMC) and therefore benefit the mujahideen.
On August 1, 2023, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channel published a post responding to a statement issued the previous day by Al-Qaeda In the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) condemning the July 30 suicide attack, claimed by ISIS Khorasan Province (ISKP), which targeted a gathering of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party in Khar, Pakistan.
In July 2023, independent Syrian opposition media outlet the Candle Group published an Arabic-language article titled "The Sunni Tribal Belt Project in Eastern Syria." The article assessed that the U.S. is forming a Sunni Arab tribal force in eastern Syria for the purposes of confronting Iran and Iran-backed militias in the region.
On August 2, 2023, an independent Syrian jihadi cleric issued a post on Telegram calling on Syrian opposition leaders to root out alleged spies for the Syrian Government who have infiltrated the so-called "liberated areas" of Syria, which are controlled by the opposition.
On August 1, 2023, the Houthi Ansar Allah Movement Information Center shared an official statement in which it called on supporters of the movement to boycott YouTube and other social media that "undermine the voices of the free Yemenis."
On the final two days of July 2023, senior members of the Houthi Ansar Allah movement made threatening statements about the foreign forces in the area of the Bab-Al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea, as well as the Socotra Archipelago. They warned that the foreign forces "would pay a heavy price" for their presence in the area and threatened that they would soon hold trials using new weapons which would target "several [Yemeni] islands."
A July 15, 2023 report in the leading Urdu-language Pakistani daily Dawn, titled "Why TTP Is Opening Another Front In Baluchistan," examined the increase in attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Baluchistan province, where a low-intensity secessionist insurgency has been underway since the 1970s.
On July 16, 2023, Umar Media, the official media arm of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released the first issue of its magazine for women, titled Banat-e-Khadijah [Daughters of Khadija]."
After a July 1, 2023, remark in which U.S. President Joe Biden said that the ruling Afghan Taliban are helping the United States to "end" Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, many social media users described the Afghan Taliban rulers as the Wagner group of America in Afghanistan. This point has also been stated by the Islamic State's Khurasan Province (ISKP) in its literature describing the Afghan Taliban as a "proxy militia" of the United States in Afghanistan.
