[Scott Sanford] Abu Kandahar (أبو قندهار) reported on Ekhlaas that coalition forces, “crusaders,” killed Ekhlaas member Abu Hurayra 2 (أبو هريرة 2), a major contributor to Ekhlaas, in northern Iraq’s Ninawa province on 21 August 2008. Abu Kandahar is a main contributor to Ekhlaas and Ekhlaas has given him the title of “distinguished pen (قلم [...]
Archive for the ‘AQ in Iraq’ Category
Major Contributor to Ekhlaas Killed in Iraq
Posted: 24th August 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq3
The Chameleon Strategy
Posted: 21st August 2008 by Will McCants in Afghanistan, AQ in Iraq, Islamic State of IraqTags: Afghanistan, Islamic State of Iraq, Taliban
Muhami al-Dawla (“Defender of the State”) has written an essay on Ekhlaas titled, “The Connection between the State of Islam and the Taliban is the Strategy of the ‘Chameleon.’” His argument is that the Taliban’s recent successful surge in Afghanistan is the result of using “chameleon cells,” which are small, well-organized, armed bands that 1) [...]
The Adventures of Sinam
Posted: 15th August 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Travel RoutesTags: al-Qaeda in, Haditha, Haqlaniya, Islamic State of Iraq, martyrdom
On August 9, a member of the Islamic State of Iraq announced–via an intermediary on the Ekhlaas forum–the death of Sinam al-Ramadi. Sinam was an al-Qaeda member who operated in Ramadi and who participated on a number of forums, including Faloja. On the day of the announcement, an Ekhlaas member named Halima posted an eyewitness [...]
Spinning the Failure of the Islamic State of Iraq
Posted: 13th August 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of IraqTags: Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq
More evidence that the failure of the Islamic State of Iraq is severely demoralizing Jihadis, at least in the Arabic-speaking world. Asad al-Jihad2, a popular commentator, has written a new booklet, “The State of Islam Remains Defiant.” In it, he seeks to assuage growing doubts about the viability of the Islamic State of Iraq: Upon [...]
Jihadis Apprehensive About the Future
Posted: 7th August 2008 by Will McCants in Afghanistan, AQ in Iraq, Iraq, MotivationsTags: Afghanistan, Iraq, morale
Jihadica reader Jallen asks some good questions about the pessimism of Jihadis regarding Iraq: How long have forum members been pessimistic over Iraq? Is the pessimism widespread or just a few members in one forum? Is pessimism over Iraq matched by increased optimism over Afghanistan or are these independent? It depends which forum you read. [...]
Iraq a Sinking Ship for al-Qaeda, Afghanistan the Lifeboat
Posted: 31st July 2008 by Will McCants in Afghanistan, AQ in Iraq, AQ Leadership, Iran, Islamic State of Iraq, SyriaTags: Afghanistan, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Syria
Earlier this week, I noted that members of the Hesbah forum are increasingly pessimistic about Iraq. And in May I wrote about the death of Sulayman al-`Utaybi, an al-Qaeda leader in Iraq who had left for Afghanistan after his dismissal from his post. Here’s what I wrote at the time: That he headed straight for [...]
Jihadis Despair of Iraq
Posted: 26th July 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, Islamic State of IraqTags: Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq
Yaman Mukhaddab, a popular contributor to al-Hesbah (the most exclusive Jihadi forum), wrote an essay on July 21 in which he expressed alarm at the low morale and pessimism of some of his fellow forum members on account of al-Qaeda setbacks in Iraq. One brother, he notes, said that the jihad in Iraq is ending [...]
25 Kuwaitis Fighting for al-Qaeda in Diyala Province
Posted: 16th July 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, KuwaitTags: al-Qaeda, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Kuwait
That’s the claim of Abu Islam al-`Iraqi, one of the leaders of the “popular committees” in Diyala Province. 25 seems high, but it dovetails with what I wrote about the Harbi group last week.
Leaderless Jihad in Iraq? Not So Much
Posted: 11th June 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in IraqTags: al-Qaeda in Iraq
The U.S. military has just released a large number of captured al-Qaeda documents from Iraq to CNN. It seems that most (all?) of the documents are from the headquarters of the security commander for Anbar province, Faris Abu Azzam (killed 18 months ago). There are no links to the original documents, so we’re left with [...]