ISIS

Spotlight on Global Jihad (October 22-28, 2020)

In the Idlib region, two airstrikes were carried out last week by Syria and Russia: Russian fighter jets attacked a training camp of the Turkish-sponsored rebel organization Faylaq al-Sham (dozens killed, more than 100 wounded). The reason for this is unclear. ISIS has announced a new campaign of attacks, entitled Raids of Response to the Call (i.e., response to the call of ISIS’s spokesman last week). To date, ISIS has carried out over 50 attacks as part of the campaign, most of them in Iraq (27), but the two most noteworthy attacks were carried out in Afghanistan.
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Analysis of the new statement of ISIS spokesman following the normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain

On October 18, 2020, ISIS’s Al-Furqan Media Foundation released an audiotape of the organization’s spokesman Abu Hamza Al-Qurashi. The title of the tape is a verse from the Quran – “So narrate to them stories of the past, so perhaps they will reflect ”. In the 32-minute tape, the spokesman calls for the overthrow of the “tyrannical” rulers in Arab countries, following the normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (October 15-21, 2020)

In the Idlib region, exchanges of artillery fire continued between the Syrian army and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), albeit at a somewhat lower intensity. In Iraq, Syria and the Sinai Peninsula, ISIS has continued its routine activity. ISIS Spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurashi released an audiotape in which he calls, inter alia, for the overthrow of the “tyrannical” Arab rulers, against the backdrop of the normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
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ISIS gaining in strength in the Iraqi arena

Following the collapse of the Islamic caliphate, ISIS is undergoing a process of change, being transformed from a state-like entity, which in its heyday (2014) controlled vast territories in Iraq and Syria, to a terrorist and guerrilla organization. In the ITIC's assessment, about 5,000-6,000 operatives are active in ISIS’s Iraq Province furthering processes of rehabilitation and reorganization (which are still ongoing).
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New Hamas Fundraising Campaign: Hamas’ military wing began a new fundraising campaign about a month after the United States thwarted digital coin campaigns of Hamas, al-Qaeda and ISIS

On September 13, 2020, al-Jazeera TV broadcast an investigative report in its program "More Than Meets the Eye." The program dealt with the military buildup of the Izz al-Din Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, and its improved fighting capabilities. After the broadcast, and in the wake of the normalization of Israel's relations with the UAE and Bahrain, a campaign was launched on the social networks (in Arabic) called "#support_the_resistance."
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 10-16, 2020)

Syria: ISIS operatives ambushed an Al-Quds Brigade force carrying out searches in the desert region west of Deir ez-Zor. Many casualties were reported. Iraq: This is the second week that there has been a decrease in ISIS’s activity and an increase in the Iraqi security forces’ counterterrorist measures. Northern Sinai: ISIS continues its intensive activity against the Egyptian security forces in northern Sinai.
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