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December 2015 Briefs

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SHAYKH MANSOUR: NORTH YEMEN’S INFLUENTIAL POWERBROKER Nicholas A. Heras Yemeni militias mobilized along tribal lines and supported by the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates-led coalition claim to be in preparations for an offensive against the capital of Sana’a. Reportedly, the anti-Houthi, anti-Saleh campaign is... MORE

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ISLAMIC STATE IN YEMEN MAY HAVE REMOTE CONTROL EXPLOSIVE DEVICES James Spencer The December 6 assassination of the recently-appointed governor of Aden, Major General Jaafar Mohammed Saad, as he drove to his office, marks the first major success by Islamic State in Yemen against the... MORE

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SOMALI ISLAMIC STATE SUPPORTERS LAUNCH REPORTED ATTACK IN PUNTLAND James Brandon Supporters of the Islamic State group reportedly carried out one of their first attacks in Somalia this month, in a potentially significant development that may presage the group spreading into other parts of East... MORE

November 2015 Briefs

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THE SYRIAN REGIME’S ANSWER TO THE ISLAMIC STATE: MAJOR GENERAL MUHAMMAD KHADDOUR Nicholas A. Heras Major General Muhammad Khaddour is currently the overall commander of the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) Eastern District, which provides him with authority over the al-Assad government’s military operations in Raqqa,... MORE

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JORDAN ‘GREEN ON BLUE’ ATTACK LIKELY SHOWS ISLAMIC STATE REACH James Brandon A Jordanian police officer, Captain Anwar Abu Zaid, shot dead two U.S. nationals, two Jordanians and one South African in an apparent “green-on-blue” attack at a police training facility to the east of... MORE

October 2015 Briefs

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THE IRGC’S IRAQI POINT MEN IN SYRIA: SHAYKH AUWS AL-KHAFAJI AND SHAYKH AMMAR AL-LAMI Nicholas A. Heras The Liwa Abu Fadhil al-Abbas network, including its affiliated organization Quwat Abu Fadhil al-Abbas, is an important component of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-coordinated militias supplementing the... MORE

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BANGLADESH ATTACKS SHOW INCREASING ISLAMIC STATE INFLUENCE James Brandon In the last six weeks, Bangladesh has been hit by a near-unprecedented series of Islamist militant attacks targeting foreigners and local Shi’a Muslims. On September 28, an Italian NGO worker, who was residing in the country,... MORE

September 2015 Briefs

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SYRIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALLIED WITH MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD POSITIONS HIS GROUP TO RECEIVE U.S. AID Nicholas A. Heras Mustapha Berro (a.k.a. Saqr Abu Qutaiba) is the overall leader of Tajammu Fastaqim Kama Umirt (Be Upright as Ordered Gathering), a leading constituent faction within Jabhat al-Shamiya committed... MORE

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EGYPTIAN ARMY’S KILLING OF TOURISTS HIGHLIGHTS WESTERN DESERT THREAT James Brandon The Egyptian military, on September 15, killed 12 civilians, including at least two Mexican tourists, in an attack on a tourist convoy in the country’s Western Desert (al-Ahram, September 14). According to reports from... MORE

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AL-SHABAAB ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS CANNOT HIDE GROUPS’ DISARRAY James Brandon The Somali Islamist militant organization al-Shabaab carried out one of its most lethal attacks in years on September 1, when it bombed a Ugandan military base in the Janale district of the lower Shabele region,... MORE