Last year witnessed the outbreak of a major feud between two of the most prominent and active ideologues in the jihadi movement: the Syrian Abu Basir al-Tartusi and the Mauritanian Abu al-Mundhir al-Shinqiti. As Joas Wagemakers wrote in June and July of last year, the quarrel emerged in May 2012 following two perceived provocations by [...]
Archive for the ‘al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula’ Category
Jihadism’s Widening Internal Divide: Intellectual Infighting Heats Up
Posted: 29th January 2013 by Cole Bunzel in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, AQ in Iraq, Syria1
Al-Qaida Advises the Arab Spring: Yemen
Posted: 5th June 2012 by Joas Wagemakers in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, Suicide bombings, YemenUh-oh. Several jihadi scholars are engaged in some ideological infighting again and it’s not pretty. As long-time readers of Jihadica know only too well, several jihadi ideologues have participated in quite heated debates about jihad, violence and suicide bombings with the people who are supposedly their brothers in arms. The best-known among these are the [...]
English-Speaking Jihadis Lose Principal Propagandists
Posted: 30th September 2011 by Will McCants in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, propagandaAccording to U.S. and Yemeni officials, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan have been killed in an airstrike. Awlaki was the spiritual leader of the English-speaking jihadi community and Samir Khan was its chief propagandist. Both men joined al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula over the past few years and have been responsible for producing al-Qaeda’s English-language [...]
Decade of Fear
Posted: 11th September 2011 by Will McCants in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, AQ Central, AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Pakistan, RecruitmentAs is the case for many others, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has made me reflect on their impact over the past decade. To this end, Michelle Shephard‘s Decade of Fear has been indispensable. A very personal account of her journalistic efforts to chronicle the war on terrorism over the past decade, Michelle weaves the weft [...]
Al-Qaeda Is Making a Cartoon
Posted: 18th July 2011 by Will McCants in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, propaganda, RecruitmentAccording to a member of the Shmukh jihadi forum, the media wing of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is making a cartoon. I haven’t seen anything like this before and I am very skeptical that it is a real product. But if it’s legit and anywhere near like the purported screen shots and promotional banner [...]
The Case for Chasing al-Awlaqi
Posted: 24th November 2010 by Thomas Hegghammer in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, YemenI don’t often disagree with my friend and former colleague Greg Johnsen, but I think al-Awlaqi is more important than he suggests. In a new piece on ForeignPolicy.com, I explain why.
Un-Inspired
Posted: 6th July 2010 by Thomas Hegghammer in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, propaganda, Western Analysts, YemenInternational media have been in a frenzy recently over the publication of an English-language jihadi magazine entitled Inspire. The magazine – available here (beware of possible virus) – appears to be the work of the Yemen-based group al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The magazine features the logo of the “al-Malahim foundation”, AQAP’s media arm, [...]
AQ Claims Bin Nayif Attack
Posted: 29th August 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, SyriaThis Saturday evening, Al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement claiming the assassination attempt on Muhammad Bin Nayif (hat tip: Evan). See here for an automatic translation. By the way, Michael Dunn has a good roundup of Saudi media reports on the attack. The statement identified the attacker as “Abu al-Khayr” alias Abdallah Hasan [...]