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: MEMRI JTTM*
Since the beginning of its civil war in 2011, Syria has become the leading producer and exporter of Captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine-type stimulant that is being trafficked throughout the Middle East and Europe.
On July 6, 2024, Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement's official Telegram channel released 20 photos and six videos showing a "complex" military exercise entitled, "The Destructive Flood Maneuver," carried out by the Houthi's Fourth Military Region.
In recent days, media outlets affiliated with Iran-backed Iraqi militias reported a series of meetings held by representatives of these militias with a "Palestinian resistance delegation," comprised of representatives from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which arrived in Iraq for this purpose. This report reviews the meetings.
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, 2024, the pro-Hizbullah Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar published an article reporting on preparations of Iraqi resistance factions for a potential Israeli operation against Lebanese Hizbullah.
On July 5, 2024, a previously unknown militia group called "Ashab Al-Haqq [Upholders of the Truth]" published a statement on its Telegram channel saying it is a "resistance" group comprised of "faithful youth" who have previously carried out operations against U.S. forces, and who strive to proceed with their anti-foreign presence line of attack in Iraq.
On July 8, 2024, the Qatari online daily Al-Arabi Al-Jadid reported that according to an unnamed Iraqi official source, Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (Houthis) had opened, that same day, a headquarters in Baghdad. The outlet also cited Iraqi news reports confirming that the Houthis inaugurated what was described as a "representation office" in the Al-Jadriya neighborhood in Baghdad.
On X, (formerly Twitter), a New Orleans-based jihadi regularly disseminates propaganda published by Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Al-Qassam Brigades.
Hizbullah Again Releases Drone Footage, This Time Of Israeli Intelligence And Military Bases
On July 9, 2024, Lebanese Hizbullah released a nine-minute video featuring footage gathered by "the air forces of the Islamic resistance" with its surveillance drones named "Al-Hudhud" (in Arabic) or "The Hoopoe."
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 9, 2024, Al-Khanadiq, a news website linked to the Lebanese Hizbullah, published a video featuring an interview with Sheikh Naim Qassem, the Deputy Secretary-General of the group.
During the first week of July 2024, Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah movement (the Houthis) claimed responsibility for five missile attacks against a series of targets, among them – according to the Houthis – those that are Israeli, American, and British, in the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
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 3, 2024, Houthi Political Bureau member Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti posted on his X account a photo of a previous-day meeting in Moscow between Houthi Spokesman Muhammad Abdulsalam and Russian President Vladimir Putin's Special Envoy to the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov.
On July 2, 2024, Brig.-Gen. Yahya Sare'e, military spokesman for Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah Movement (the Houthis), posted a cryptic message on his Telegram channel: "Three days." Later that day, Houthi Deputy Information Minister Nasr Al-Din 'Amer also posted "three days" on his X account, adding the saying, "He who has given warning has discharged his responsibility."
On July 7, 2024, in a speech marking the Muslim or Hijri new year, Abd Al-Malik Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, leader of Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah movement (the Houthis), threatened to attack strategic targets in Saudi Arabia, among them seaports, airports, and banks, in response to what he alleges are similar steps being taken by the Saudis against such targets in Yemen.
UPDATED: From June 1-7, 2024: Islamic Resistance In Iraq Claims Two Attacks Against Israel
In the week of July 1-7, 2024, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias in Iraq formed in 2003, issued two claims of responsibility for attacks that targeted Israel's southernmost city of Eilat and Haifa in the north.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Between July 7 and 8, 2024, senior officials from Yemen's Iran-backed Ansar Allah movement (the Houthis) and its official media continued to threaten Saudi Arabia and warn it against surrendering to what the Houthis claim is pressure being exerted on it by the U.S. and Israel to drag the country into a war against Yemen.
On July 2-3, 2024, the official Telegram account of Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement published three posters. The first one aimed to mobilize participation in a social media campaign protesting the Israeli military operation in Gaza.
Over the past two weeks, since June 26, 2024, Islamic State Syria Province has claimed six operations targeting tanker trucks, with the majority of these attacks targeting trucks belonging to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). These were the first ISIS claims of responsibility for attacks on an oil tanker in Syria since February 3, 2024.
In recent days, 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), has issued several statements claiming assaults on armed forces in Burkina Faso.
In recent days, 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), has issued several statements claiming assaults on armed forces in Burkina Faso and Wagner Group in neighboring Mali.
On July 9, 2024, the 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), released four statements and more than 10 photos on the group's account on Chirpwire, claiming responsibility for attacks targeting military bases in Burkina Faso and Mali.
On July 8, 2024, pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram channels published posts celebrating the departure of peacekeeping forces from African countries where ISIS affiliates are active, as well as the displacement of Christians due to these affiliates' attacks.
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 5, 2024, the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry issued an order in advance of the month of Muharram – which began on July 7 – during which Shi'ites commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn son of 'Ali and his family at the Battle of Karbala.
On July 10, 2024, the Iraqi judiciary announced that a court in Baghdad had sentenced the widow of Islamic State (ISIS) slain Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi to death, in accordance with Iraqi Anti-Terrorism Laws. She faced charges of kidnapping Yazidi women during the group's invasion of Mosel in 2014.
On July 9, 2024, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media foundation released a poster titled, "What Remains in Your Quiver, America?" The image warns Washington against continuing its counterterrorism war.
On June 28, 2024, Al-Sahab Subcontinent, the official media outlet of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS or AQS), released a video in Urdu, Arabic, English, Pashto, and Bengali versions titled "The Aqsa Storm Part 1: From the Founding of Israel... To the Al Aqsa Storm."
On June 30, 2024, the Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian Islamist militant group once linked to al-Qaeda, has publicly disbanded, marking a potential turning point in the counterterrorism campaign in Indonesia.
On July 9, 2024, the Shahada News Agency, the official Arabic-language media outlet of Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), published a "Notice of Expanding News Coverage" declaring that Shahada will begin publishing news reports "including all countries of the Islamic world, and from now on will not be limited to Somalia and East Africa, as it always had."
An Egyptian-born pro-Al-Qaeda cleric residing in Canada, has been attacking Hamas vociferously since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and even before.
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 5, 2024, Jaysh Al-Muhajireen Wal-Ansar (JMA), a group of mujahideen from the Caucasus affiliated with Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), released an eight-minute, 13-second video in Russian titled: "Reward of Ribat [Guarding Sentries] An Ever-Flowing Charity."
On July 5, 2024, armed assailants attacked the police station belonging to the Interior Ministry of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), linked to Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), in the town of Binnish, on the northern outskirts of Idlib city, smashing and burning several police vehicles and shooting at the official in charge of the Binnish sector.
On July 2, 2024, a Telegram channel which is affiliated with Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) released a photoset and a video showing the group's special forces graduating a training course in northern Latakia.
On July 10, 2024, Al-Askari Media, an unofficial outlet supporting Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), released a series of six infographic posters titled, "The Weapon of Terror and Nightmare of the Criminals," tallying sniper operations by the Al-Fath Al-Mubin operations room during the first half of 2024, from January 1 to June 30.
On July 7, 2024, Bariqah News Agency, a pro-Islamic State (ISIS) outlet on Telegram, reported that a Syrian Arab fighter affiliated with a Turkey-backed faction had been killed in Niger.
On July 4, 2024, the Islamic State (ISIS) released Issue 450 of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba', which featured an editorial titled, "They Are of Us and We Are of Them" referring to the preparators of recent lone wolf attacks in European cities.
On June 28, 2024, prominent HTS opponents posted commentary on Telegram discussing details in the aftermath of the dismissal of the head of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) military wing, Murhaf Abu Qusrah aka Abu Al-Hasan Al-Hamawi.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Recently, Pakistani journalist Ghazala Azizn wrote about how she found a copy of a jihadi magazine, Hittin, in which she read an article by Palestinian jihadi commander Sheikh Abdullah Azzam. Azzam had been killed in Peshawar in 1989, near the end of the 1980s jihad against Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
In a Dari-language report, the Afghan media group Paigah News recently revealed that a Turkish charity is involved in providing financial aid to the families of Afghan Taliban suicide bombers who fought against the U.S. and NATO forces during the 20 years of jihad (2001-2021).
In an Urdu-language video, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has accused the Pakistani military of committing atrocities against civilians in Pakistan, especially in the Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
