How will the events in Egypt and Tunisia affect al-Qaida? This piece by CNN’s Paul Cruickshank is easily the best analysis so far on the matter. Although the headline expresses the optimism found elsewhere, the body of the article clearly shows that experts are divided on how al-Qaida will emerge from the ashes of Tahrir Square. Basically there are two schools of thought [...]
Archive for the ‘Egypt’ Category
Jihadis Debate Egypt (3)
Posted: 7th February 2011 by Brynjar Lia in Egypt, Palestinian Territories, UncategorizedTwo other pieces may deserve some attention. Both of them have been flagged as very important on Shumukh. Yesterday, “the Mas’adat al-Mujahidin in Palestine”, a jihadi media outlet claiming to speak on behalf of Palestinian jihadis, issued a statement on Shumukh in support of “the Brothers of Monotheism in Egypt”. It calls upon them to [...]
Al-Qaida’s senior leadership (AQSL) is full of Egyptians, but they have yet to produce an official communiqué about events in their home country. Yesterday, a short message was published by a leading Egyptian jihadi figure. It is not from AQSL, however, but from someone we haven’t heard from for many years. The London-based Al Maqreze Center [...]
Jihadis Debate Egypt (1)
Posted: 4th February 2011 by Brynjar Lia in AQ Leadership, Egypt, UncategorizedWith Tunisia’s President Bin Ali tucked away in Jedda and the world’s attention fixated on the popular uprising in Egypt, al-Qaida may be about to lose one of its main ideological selling points: that only armed struggle can bring down the regimes in the region. Not surprisingly, the jihadi online community is captivated by the uprising, [...]
‘Abbud al-Zumar, one-time military intelligence colonel in the Egyptian army who was implicated in the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat, has recently released a co-authored document with his cousin and brother-in-law Tariq from prison. The document, al-Badil al-Thalith bayna al-Istibdad wa-al-Istislam (The Third Alternative between Despotism and Surrender) was published by the Egyptian newspaper al-Shuruq in [...]
Jihadi reactions to Obama
Posted: 4th June 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Arab media, Dreams, Egypt, Jihadi media, propaganda, Saudi Arabia, tactics, UncategorizedWe have heard Bin Ladin and Zawahiri’s comments, and Marc Lynch and others will tell us how the Arab mainstream reacted. But what are the grassroot jihadis saying about Obama’s Mideast tour in general and his Cairo speech in particular? Let me begin by lowering your expectations. For a start, we should not expect to [...]
Prêt à porter terrorism
Posted: 2nd March 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Better Know a Forum, Egypt, Operational Material, Saudi Arabia, tactics, YemenAs most Jihadica readers probably know, the jihadi internet is used for many things, but not for operational planning. I have yet to come across online discussions or instructions for concrete operations by professional militants. However, once in a while you see amateurs proposing specific operations – “prêt a porter plots” – for others to [...]
Asad al-Jihad2, who some claim is senior AQ member Hukayma, is taking questions on Gaza. The Q&A session, modeled on that of Zawahiri, is open for four days of questions; AJ2 will give his answers soon after. Individuals are allowed to ask five question and news orgs can ask ten. One has to be careful [...]
New Zawahiri Statement: Obama Is Killing Muslims In Gaza
Posted: 6th January 2009 by Will McCants in Egypt, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Uncategorized, ZawahiriTags: Gaza, Zawahiri
An audio statement by Zawahiri was just posted to the forums. Here’s a summary: Bin Laden swore he would keep fighting until Palestine and Muslim lands are free of foreign occupiers. The Israeli attacks are Obama’s “gift” to the Palestinians before he takes office. President Mubarak of Egypt is an accomplice in this slaughter since [...]
Hussam Tammam On Sayyid Imam
Posted: 22nd December 2008 by Will McCants in Egypt, UncategorizedTags: Sayyid Imam
Several days ago, Marc Lynch linked to a very a thoughtful article by Hussam Tammam on the significance of the revisions by the Islamic Group and by Sayyid Imam. Today, Rob at the Shack has cited the article as one more piece of incontrovertible evidence for his Imam-doesn’t-matter argument. I won’t rehash all of that [...]