Category: Franchises

Best Articles of the Past Week – 6/12-6/18

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Sunday June 13:
“Lashkar-i-Taiba: Roots, Logistics, Partnerships, and the Fallacy of Subservient Proxies” – Ryan Clarke, Terrorism and Political Violence, Volume 22 Issue 3, July 2010, 395-418: https://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a922884886~frm=titlelink
Monday June 14:
“Jihad Is Not the Medicine for Every Disease” – Mark Stout, On War and Words: https://onwarandwords.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/jihad-is-not-the-medicine-for-every-disease/
“AfPak Behind the Lines: Taliban reconciliation” – Interview with Thomas Ruttig, The AfPak Channel: https://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/14/afpak_behind_the_lines_thomas_ruttig
“Barack Obama face au spectre Al-Qaida” – Jean-Pierre Filiu, Le Monde: https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2010/06/14/barack-obama-face-au-spectre-al-qaida_1372437_3232.html
Tuesday June 15:
“Catherine Zara Raymond — Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK- The group behind the ban” – Catherine Zara Raymond, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, May 2010:  https://icsr.info/publications/papers/1276697989CatherineZaraRaymondICSRPaper.pdf
Wednesday June 16:
“Afghanistan: Graveyard of Assumptions?” – Andrew Exum, Abu Muqawama Blog: https://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2010/06/afghanistan-graveyard-assumptions.html
Thursday June 17:
“World Cup Fatwa” – Mathilde Aarseth, Jihadica: https://www.jihadica.com/world-cup-fatwa/
“Coddling Pakistan’s Islamists” – Rania Abouzeid, The AfPak Channel: https://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/17/coddling_pakistans_islamists
“The Hollow Arab Core” – Marc Lynch, The Middle East Channel: https://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/17/the_hollow_arab_core
“Terrorists Versus Soccer” – Adam Serwer, The American Prospect: https://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=terrorists_v_soccer
“English Translation of Abū Walīd’s Response to Charles Cameron” – al-Maktabah Blog: https://azelin.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/english-translation-of-abu-walids-response-to-charles-cameron/
“The Legal War on Terror for the week of 6/11-6/17” – Andrew Lebovich, Foreign Policy: https://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/17/the_lwot_grand_jury_returns_shahzad_indictment_supreme_court_rejects_rendition_lawsuit
“Pak intelligence pulls Taliban strings: New report gives an inside view of our ally’s double game” – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, The Washington Times: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/17/pak-intelligence-pulls-taliban-strings/
Friday June 18:
“Could the Taliban Take Over Pakistan’s Punjab Province?” – Ahmad Majidyar, The American Enterprise Institute: https://www.aei.org/docLib/02-MEO-June-2010-g.pdf

al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a new statement: "On the killing of women and Destruction of Homes and Mosques in Valley Ubaida"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: al-Qā’idah (AQ) has been in Yemen since the late 1990s. As is well known AQ operatives struck the USS Cole in October of 2000. Following that attack and 9/11, the United States and Yemen worked together to suppress and eliminate al-Qā’idah in Yemen or al-Qā’idah in Southern Arabia as they were called then. This mission was successful and by November 2003 that generation of al-Qā’idah members was for all intents and purposes eliminated.
Following the above successes, though, the United States, along with Yemen, took their eyes off preventing a rise in a new generation of al-Qā’idah activists in Yemen. Consequently, in February 2006, twenty-three al-Qā’idah terrorists, including the mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing, escaped from a Yemeni prison.  National security experts have claimed this event as the date when al-Qā’idah’s presence in Yemen started to rise again. Within months of the escape al-Qā’idah was responsible for attacks on oil and gas facilities and culminated in September of 2008 with its attempt to bomb the US Embassy.
Along with the prison escape another important factor behind al-Qā’idah’s reemergence in Yemen is due to the successful counterterrorism efforts by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a result, many Saudi al-Qā’idah members fled to Yemen. This led in January of 2009 for the two groups, al-Qā’idah in Yemen and al-Qā’idah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to merge into what it is now referred to as al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). AQAP has shown it is a force to be reckoned with by its attempted assassination of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Muḥammad bin Nāyef as well as attempts to smuggle weapons into KSA dressed as women and assassinating key local leaders in southern Yemen. Furthermore, AQAP has been linked to the failed Christmas Day attack attempted by ‘Umar Fārūk ‘Abd  al-Muṭallab. AQAP claims they went forth with this attack as a response to the US’ cruise missile attacks against AQ assets on December 17 and 24.
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al-Qā’idah in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a new statement- “On the killing of women and Destruction of Homes and Mosques in Valley Ubaida”
[scribd id=33225219 key=key-zzlk7kye0kpvnhcel85 mode=list]

As-Saḥāb released a new video of Abū Yaḥyā al-Lībī mourning the death of the Islamic State of Iraq's former senior leaders: "Blood of our Commanders, Fuel of our Battle"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: As-Saḥāb (“The Clouds”) Foundation for Islamic Media Publication released a new video of Abū Yaḥyā al-Lībī mourning the death of the Islamic State of Iraq’s former senior leaders: “Blood of our Commanders, Fuel of our Battle.” Abū Yaḥyā al-Lībī is considered one of the top leaders within the al-Qā’idah organization (AQSL). He has also been touted as a possible replacement to ‘Usāmah Bin Lāden. Al-Lībī started to gain notoriety and respect within thejihādī community after he broke out of the Bagram Airbase prison facility in 2005. It was also reported this past December that a drone killed al-Lībī, but it ended up being Ṣāleḥ al-Ṣūmālī instead.
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[wpvideo q5E4bf7l]

Best Articles of the Past Week – 6/5-6/11

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Saturday June 5:
“Abu Walid al Masri responds to Charles Cameron” – Leah Farrall, All Things Counter Terrorism: https://allthingsct.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/abu-walid-al-masri-responds-to-charles-cameron/
“Rhetoric and Reality: Countering Terrorism in the Age of Obama” – Marc Lynch, Center for a New American Security: https://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_Rhetoric%20and%20Reality_Lynch.pdf
Monday June 7:


“Does al Qaeda Threaten the World Cup? Assessment, Context, and Implications for Understanding of the al Qaeda Network” – Charlie Szrom, Critical Threats Project: https://www.criticalthreats.org/africa/does-al-qaeda-threaten-world-cup-assessment-context-june-7-2010
Tuesday June 8:
“Exploiting Grievances: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” – Alistair Harris, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: https://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/exploiting_grievances.pdf
“Counterterrorism and democracy promotion in the Sahel under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from September 11, 2001, to the Nigerien Coup of February 2010” – Alex Thurston, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars, ACAS Bulletin No. 85: https://concernedafricascholars.org/docs/bulletin85thurston.pdf
“From GSPC to AQIM: The evolution of an Algerian islamist terrorist group into an Al-Qa‘ida Affiliate and its implications for the Sahara-Sahel region” – Stephen Harmon, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars, ACAS Bulletin No. 85: https://concernedafricascholars.org/docs/bulletin85harmon.pdf
Wednesday June 9:
“Militants Seize Mecca” – Marissa Allison, al-Maktabah Blog: https://azelin.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/guest-post-juhayman-al-utaybi-and-the-siege-of-the-grand-mosque-in-mecca/
Thursday June 10:
“Could Al-Qaeda Turn African in the Sahel?” – Jean-Pierre Filiu, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Papers No. 112: https://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/al_qaeda_sahel.pdf
“Jihād & the Battle of Uncertainty” – Abū Yaḥyā al-Lībī, Al-Fajr Media Center: https://jihadology.net/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2010/06/al-fajr-media-center-presents-a-new-book-by-abu-yahya-al-libi-jihad-the-battle-of-uncertainty.pdf
“Pakistan’s New Networks of Terror” – Imtiaz Gul, Foreign Policy: https://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/10/pakistans_new_networks_of_terror
Friday June 11:
“Muddying the ‘Taliban'” – Brian Fishman, The AfPak Channel: https://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/06/11/muddying_the_taliban

New statement from al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM): "Surrender of the two brothers is a lie (Abū al-'Abbās and Abū Nu'mān)"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: al-Qā’idah in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), based in Algeria, but conducts activities in other countries such as Mali, Mauritania and Morocco, has released a new statement in reply to the news that two members of AQIM (Abū al-‘Abbās and Abū Nu’mān) have surrendered to Algerian authorities. The below statement is unedited in its original Arabic version.
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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم تنظم القاعدة ببلاد المغرب الإسلامي ———————————-
تكذيب استسلام الأخوين:أبي العباس و أبي النعمان
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 الحمد لله ربِّ العالمين و العاقبة للمتقين،و لا عدوان إلاّ على الظالمين،و الصلاة و السلام على سيدنا محمد و على آله و صحبه الأخيار الطّاهرين،أمّا بعد: يقول الله عزّ و جلّ: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَهْدِي مَنْ هُوَ مُسْرِفٌ كَذَّابٌ﴾(غافر: من الآية28). و قال سبحانه: ﴿إِنَّمَا يَفْتَرِي الْكَذِبَ الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِآياتِ اللَّهِ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَاذِبُونَ﴾(النحل:105). لقد عوّدنا المرتدون في الجزائر على الترويج للكذب الصراح و التشويه المتكرر للمجاهدين عبر وسائل إعلامهم و من خلال أحذيتهم و عملائهم المأجورين في بعض الصحف و من آخر ذلك الخبر المكذوب عن استسلام الأخوين أبي العباس عثمان قاضي منطقة الوسط و الأخ أبي النعمان عضو الهيئة الطبية لمنطقة الوسط. و قد تناقلت الصحف هذا الخبر الكاذب يوم الثلاثاء 18 جمادى الثانية 1431هـ دون تثبت و لا تحقق كالعادة…و لا عجب في ذلك والله!… فقد أصبح اهتمام الصحافة الجزائرية منحصراً فقط في التضليل و التلبيس اليومي و الترقيع لأبناء فرنسا قدر المستطاع و التفنن في تخدير الجماهير و إلهائها بمباريات كرة القدم عن قضايا الأمة و همومها …أما تسليط الضوء مثلاً على خيانة المرتدين لقضية فلسطين بل وشنهم مؤخراً حملة اعتقالات كبيرة مسّت كل من تظاهر فقط ضد اليهود فتلك قضايا لا تجرؤ جواري القصر و لا أذناب المخابرات على التطرق لها و التعاطي معها بمهنية و موضوعية…و لا نستثني من ذلك إلا بعض الأقلام المنصفة و قليل ما هم. و نحن سعيا منا لتوضيح الحقائق و قطع الطريق على هذه الأقلام المأجورة فقد ارتأينا أن نرد على بعض الأكاذيب بين الفينة و الأخرى رغم أنه من العبث التصدي و الانشغال بالكذب و التضليل اليومي ،و عليه: فإننا نكذب خبر استسلام الأخوين أبي العباس عثمان و أبي النعمان و نؤكد أنهما أُسرا في عمليتين استخباريتين متباعدتين زمانا و مكانا…فنسأل الله أن يخفف عنهما وطأة التعذيب و يفرج عنهما كربتهما. و نقول للمرتدين و أسيادهم الصليبيين: إنّ تكراركم لهذه المسرحيات الركيكة الإخراج و تعلقكم بالأماني الكاذبة و اضطراركم في كل مرّة لتلفيق حكايات غبيّة الحبك لهو دليل على فشل مشاريعكم و علامة واضحة على هزيمتكم بحمد الله. و والله لن تجدوا منّا إلاّ السيف و الاستماتة في مقارعتكم بإذن الله حتى يظهرنا الله أو نهلك دون ذلك،﴿رَبَّنَا افْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْفَاتِحِينَ﴾.

تنظيمُ القَاعِدَةِ ببلادِ المَغْرِبِ الإسْلامِي
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‏السبت‏، 22جمادى الثانية‏، 1431هـ الموافق ل:‏05‏/06‏/2010‏م
مؤسّسة الأندلس للإنتاج الإعلامي
المصدر : ( مركز الفجر للإعلام )