The West

Spotlight on Global Jihad (May 5-11, 2022)

This week, there was a downtrend in ISIS activity around the globe in light of the end of its campaign of vengeance, which began on April 17, 2022, and ended on May 2, 2022. Syria: ISIS continued its attacks against the SDF (Kurdish) forces and the Syrian army. Iraq: There was a drop in the number of attacks in the wake of the end of the campaign of vengeance. Afghanistan: Operatives of ISIS's Khorasan Province fired rockets at a Tajikistan army headquarters near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border. Africa: ISIS has announced a new province, the Mozambique Province. Speaking in a video marking the 11th anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said that since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has been in a decline and its weakness has made Ukraine easy prey for Russia. A new Al-Qaeda magazine has been issued in Sudan, encouraging readers to join its ranks.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (April 27 – May 4, 2022)

This week, ISIS continued its intensive activity around the globe as part of its campaign of vengeance that began on April 17, 2022. Syria: ISIS continued its attacks against the Kurdish forces (SDF), the Syrian army, and the forces supporting it. Iraq: There was an increase in the number of attacks, most of which took the form of IED detonation and shooting. The Sinai Peninsula: Clashes continued between ISIS and Egyptian security forces. Israel: An indictment was filed against two brothers from the village of Muawiyah (in Wadi Ara) who pledged allegiance to ISIS and planned to join it. Afghanistan: ISIS claimed responsibility for three attacks.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (April 7-13, 2022)

Syria: This past week there was relatively little activity. ISIS operatives focused on the desert region, where they attacked positions of the militias supporting the Syrian regime. Iraq: ISIS operatives abducted a number of civilians and conducted economic terrorist activity. The Sinai Peninsula: Several civilians were abducted, and it can be assumed their abductors were ISIS operatives. Africa: ISIS's West Africa Province continued activities at a relatively high level of intensity. Afghanistan: ISIS operatives continued activities against Taliban forces, but at relatively low intensity.  India: ISIS joined the protest against the government's law banning the hijab in government educational institutions. The battle for hearts and minds: The lead article in al-Nabā’, ISIS's weekly magazine, was devoted to criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood movement's positive position regarding the nascent Israeli-Turkish bilateral relations, and of Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit to Turkey.
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The British-based al-Hiwar TV provides a platform for Ibrahim al-Madhoun, a member of Hamas’ department of national relations, who operates from Turkey

On February 28, 2022, a conference was held of the "popular committee of the Palestinian dispersal" (which is affiliated with Hamas and represents the Palestinians abroad). Among the participants were Dr. Azzam al-Tamimi, a British subject from Hebron, who is director of London's al-Hiwar TV in Arabic. He exploited a stay in Turkey to broadcast a series of panel discussions from Istanbul. Ibrahim al-Madhoun, a member of Hamas' department of national relations, was a guest on several programs; al-Madhoun is close to Yahya al-Sinwar and has lived in Turkey since 2018. Al-Madhoun is known for his extremist positions, statements to media outlets and written work, all of which follow official Hamas propaganda, including the call for terrorist attacks against Israel.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (February 3-9, 2021)

The main event this week was the killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, in an operation carried out by US Special Forces on the night of February 2-3, 2022, in the village of Atmeh in the Idlib Province in northwestern Syria. Syria: The Syrian army's artillery fire continues in the Idlib region, with Russian air support. HTS detained three senior figures of Hurras al-Din, Al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, and several operatives and commanders of the Sham al-Islam organization. Iraq: This week, the downtrend in ISIS’s activity continued. Sinai: The Sinai Tribal Union, which supports the Egyptian army, operated against ISIS. In one operation, ISIS’s commander in central Sinai was killed. The battle for hearts and minds: The lead article in ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly was devoted to an analysis of the term “tabshir," which means spreading the good news of the imminent victory of Islam. According to the author, spreading the good news embodies a large number of meanings. The weekly also published a poster encouraging jihad, entitled "The Jihad of the Believers Continues."
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