With the Arab Spring going strong in several countries, al-Qaida (in a broad sense, so including ideologues and scholars supportive of the organisation) still finds it necessary to comment on what is happening. In a series of posts, I will deal with the advice al-Qaida is giving the people of several countries, starting with Syria. [...]
Archive for the ‘Syria’ Category
Al-Qaida advises the Arab Spring: Syria
Posted: 19th November 2011 by Joas Wagemakers in AQ Central, AQ Leadership, Jihadi media, Syria, Zawahiri9
A few days ago, it was reported that Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, the radical Jordanian ideologue, had issued a fatwa supporting the revolts in Syria (see here, here and here, for instance). This struck me as odd, since al-Maqdisi has been in prison since September 2010 and has been quiet ever since, presumably because the prison [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“Fatah al-Islam between Asad al-Jihad2 and al-Maqdisi”
Posted: 8th June 2009 by Scott Sanford in Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, SyriaA post by an unknown author titled, “Fatah al-Islam between Asad al-Jihad2 and al-Maqdisi / Lessons and Considerations,” has been making its rounds through the various forums. The author offered a scathing critique of Fatah al-Islam (FI) and of recent comments by FI’s Sharia Officer, Abu Abdallah al-Maqdisi (not to be confused with the Jordanian [...]
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 [...]
So far, the Jihadi reaction to the strikes in Syria is not outrage against the U.S. but ridicule of Syria, who either colluded with the Americans (Hesbah) or is too weak to defend itself against external aggression (Faloja). I’ll let you know if I see anything else on the subject that’s interesting. Document (Arabic): 10-27-08-hesbah-two-members-think-us-and-syria-coordinated-strike-in-syria [...]
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 [...]