The West

This week, there was an increase in ISIS’s activities around the world. The organization’s activities were concentrated in Syria and Africa. In ISIS’s activity in the desert area, nine members of the forces supporting Syria and three civilians were killed. In the rebel enclave in Idlib, exchanges of fire continued between the Syrian army and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS. An operation by the Kurdish SDF forces against ISIS in the Deir ez-Zor area killed 29 militants and 25 SDF fighters. In Iraq ISIS operatives attacked the building of a government company engaged in mining east of Rutba, in western Iraq. This is the most significant attack carried out by ISIS in Iraq in recent times. The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen (JNIM) announced that it had attacked a Burkina Faso army force near the border with Mali. According to the organization, at least 50 soldiers were killed.Al-Qaeda and ISIS marked the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by glorifying the event and inciting violence against the “infidels.” Read more...

This week, there was an increase in the scope of ISIS’s activity around the world. Syria: ISIS operatives ambushed Syrian army buses in the desert area south of Al-Mayadeen. A total of 33 Syrian soldiers were killed. Africa: Mozambique: ISIS operatives attacked a Mozambican army compound in northeastern Mozambique. Seven soldiers were killed and ten wounded. Mali: The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Sahel, announced that its operatives had attacked Malian army soldiers and Wagner Group mercenaries on the periphery of the city of Timbuktu. Dozens of soldiers from the Malian army and the Wagner Group were killed and wounded. Somalia: The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab carried out several attacks against the Somali security forces and Somali civilians, and at the same time suffered dozens of fatalities. Nigeria: Boko Haram operatives attacked civilians and military forces in the northeast. Iran: A gunman opened fire at people at the Shiite shrine of Shah-e Cheragh in the city of Shiraz. One man was killed and eight others were wounded. The perpetrator was captured. The attack was apparently carried out by ISIS. It should be noted that on October 26, 2022, an ISIS operative shot at this shrine, killing 12 people and wounding more than 20. ISIS is believed to be behind the attack. UN terrorism experts claim that ISIS still has thousands of operatives in Syria and Iraq and that the organization poses a real threat in Afghanistan. Read more...