A key question in the Stockholm investigation is whether Taymour Abdalwahhab was acting on behalf of the al-Qaida linked group “Islamic State in Iraq”. The question matters because if he was, then ISI is targeting Europe and can be expected to send more bombers. First, let me stress that “acting on behalf of” means someting more [...]
Archive for the ‘Iraq’ Category
The Iraq Connection
Posted: 15th December 2010 by Thomas Hegghammer in Europe, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Suicide bombings, Sweden, training, U.K.6
Stockholm (2)
Posted: 14th December 2010 by Thomas Hegghammer in Europe, Iraq, Suicide bombings, Sweden, U.K.Forum readers woke up this morning to find Taimour’s picture on the top banner of Shumukh (the main jihadi forum). The banner advertises a poem by a certain “Sha’ir al-Ansar” (Poet of the Ansar) praising Taimour Abdalwahab. At first sight this might seem like the work of an accomplice, but the poet explicitly states that he [...]
Shishani on Salafi-Jihadism in the Levant
Posted: 2nd July 2009 by Scott Sanford in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, SyriaOn 29 June 2009, the Jordanian journalist Murad Batal al-Shishani published an article in al-Hayat titled “Salafi–Jihadism: A New Face in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria’s Palestinian Camps.” The article talks about the new generation of “neo-Zarqawis” and the increasing radicalization of Palestinian refugees. This radicalisation, he argues, stems from the failure to resolve the Arab-Israeli [...]
Al-Baghdadi Speaks
Posted: 12th May 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of IraqA quick addendum to Truls’s post about Abu Umar al-Baghdadi: The Islamic State in Iraq has now broken the silence over al-Baghadi’s alleged capture. It released a brief statement this morning dismissing the reported arrest and denying any knowledge of the man depicted on the photograph circulating in the media. Shortly afterwards, Furqan media released [...]
Falluja Analytics
Posted: 11th May 2009 by Scott Sanford in Better Know a Forum, Iraq, Jihadi media, Recruitment, technology[Editor's note: I am pleased to introduce another new contributor, Scott Sanford, who is a graduate student at George Washington University specialising in jihadism in the levant. Scott has guest blogged for Jihadica in the past, but now he is joining us on a more regular basis.] “What is the Secret of the Falluja [...]
Emirate of Confusion
Posted: 8th May 2009 by Truls Tønnessen in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of IraqEditor’s note: I am delighted to introduce a new contributor, Truls Tønnessen, who is a FFI research fellow as well as a PhD candidate in History at the University of Oslo. He works on jihadism in Iraq and will be covering Iraq for Jihadica. The alleged arrest of the emir of al-Qaida led Islamic [...]
The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 12
Posted: 1st December 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Egypt, Iraq, ZawahiriTags: Sayyid Imam, Zawahiri
Sayyid Imam has some surprising things to say about Sayyid Qutb and some interesting speculation on Zawahiri’s tenuous position in al-Qaeda. He also observes that Libyan and Mauritanian students serve as Zawahiri’s primary research assistants. I don’t know about their nationalities, but there’s no doubt Zawahiri has research assistants (as do many productive academics). [...]
The Denudation Of The Exoneration: Part 8
Posted: 28th November 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Egypt, Hamas, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, WMD, ZawahiriTags: Bin Laden, Sayyid Imam, Zawahiri
In part 8, Sayyid Imam continues to hammer al-Qaeda for bringing disaster to the Middle East and for the hypocrisy of its leaders. He puts forward the odd claim that AQ lied to the U.S. about WMD in Iraq and about AQ ties with Iraq to push the U.S. to invade observes that Iran and [...]
Zawahiri the XO
Posted: 11th September 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Jihadi media, Recruitment, tactics, ZawahiriTags: Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Qaeda Central, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Bin Laden, Islamic State of Iraq, Zawahiri
The US military has given CNN letters that Zawahiri wrote in March 2008 to senior al-Qaeda commanders in Iraq (hat tip SK). Much of the content has been filtered through an MNFI spokesman so it’s hard to use CNN’s summary to assess al-Qaeda’s fortunes in Iraq. Nevertheless, since the summary fits with the bleak picture [...]