Syria

ISIS’s activity around the world continued to be relatively low this week. Most of it focused on Africa.The Iranian Revolutionary Guards branch in Syria and representatives of the Syrian army are working to recruit fighters trained by the Russian Wagner Group for operations against ISIS. Militants, apparently Al-Qaeda or ISIS operatives, attacked a convoy of Nigerien security forces close to the Niger-Mali-Burkina Faso tri-border area. A police officer and four civilians were killed and 19 people were wounded. The Somali government has declared an all-out war on the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab. The British Home Secretary warned that ISIS and Al-Qaeda were planning attacks in the kingdom. Following the burning of the Quran in Sweden, elements affiliated with ISIS and Al-Qaeda call for attacking Christians in Europe. Elements affiliated with Al-Qaeda call on Muslims in Israel to attack civilians and soldiers. Read more...

This week, ISIS’s activity around the world continued to be relatively limited and focused on Africa. A senior ISIS operative was killed in Syria in a US drone attack in the Aleppo region. Russian fighter jets disrupted the activity of US drones operating against ISIS in several different incidents. A video from the Al-Hol camp documents training of the children of ISIS operatives. In Nigeria ISIS operatives killed around 50 Boko Haram operatives and their families. In Kenya Thirty operatives of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab were killed in exchanges of fire with Kenyan police Special Forces. The editorial of ISIS’s weekly Al-Naba refers to the burning of the Quran in Sweden by an Iraqi immigrant and calls for jihad against the “infidels” and for applying Islamic law (Sharia). According to a new study, Islamic terrorist organizations in Africa are transferring their social media activity to encrypted applications. Read more...

This week, there was a further decline in ISIS’s activity around the world. The organization’s activity focused on Africa.ISA Director Ronen Bar revealed that since the beginning of 2022, the ISA has dealt with over 600 ISIS-related cases in Israel and that some of the operatives were just about to launch an attack. In Mozambique: ISIS operative attacked joint patrols of the Mozambican army and Southern African Development Community (SADC). In Somalia Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab held a parade attended by hundreds of its fighters. The forces of the African Coalition reduced their presence in the country.The battle for hearts and minds: The editorial of Al-Naba, ISIS’s weekly, deals with a jihad fighter’s reward. It stresses that the jihad fighter is rewarded both in this world and in the next. A senior leader in Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) calls on Muslims in “Palestine” to continue the jihad against the Jews. He also calls on Al-Qaeda operatives in North Africa and the Sahel to continue fighting against ISIS and on Al-Shabaab operatives to continue fighting against their enemies, i.e., in Somalia and its neighboring countries Read more...