TAJIKISTAN CONFIRMS DEATH OF NOTORIOUS MILITANT LEADER MULLO ABDULLO On April 15, Tajikistan state television reported that its most wanted militant leader and warlord, Mullo Abdullo, was killed in an operation carried out by security forces in the troubled Rasht district east of Dushanbe (Channel... MORE

GROWING DISSATISFACTION IN REBEL CAMP WITH NATO’S CAMPAIGN IN LIBYASince NATO air operations over Libya began on March 19, there have been increasing expectations on the part of rebel forces that NATO warplanes will act as a proxy air force for the rebel campaign to... MORE

TURKISH INTELLIGENCE SAYS AL-QAEDA PLANNED ROCKET ATTACK ON U.S. AIR BASETurkish security services claim to have learned of an al-Qaeda plot to use rockets to attack U.S. military aircraft at the Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey. According to intelligence collected by the National Intelligence... MORE

NEW NIGER PRESIDENT SAYS TRAINING, WEAPONS AND INTELLIGENCE NEEDED IN FIGHT AGAINST AL-QAEDAMahamadou Issoufou, the newly elected president of Niger, laid out his vision of a more active and cooperative military response to the threat posed to regional security by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb... MORE

SENIOR LIBYAN AL-QAEDA LEADER CALLS FOR ISLAMIC STATE AFTER QADDAFIAn al-Qaeda media front has released a statement from a senior member of the core command regarding the goals of the Libyan revolt. Shaykh Jamal Ibrahim Ishtawi al-Misrata (a.k.a. Atiyyatullah) delivered a sharp critique of Mu’ammar... MORE

SYRIAN REGIME DEPLOYS MILITARY IN NAVAL PORT OF LATAKIAFor the first time in his 11 years as ruler of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has deployed elements of the Syrian military against a domestic target – the protesters that had taken to the streets of the... MORE

COUSIN OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT WARNS WINDOW FOR REFORM IS CLOSING AS REGIME LOSES GRIP Ribal al-Assad, the cousin of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, calls for significant change in Syria from his self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom. Al-Assad is the director of a group calling... MORE

PENINSULA SHIELD FORCE INTERVENES IN BAHRAIN Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has announced a “foreign plot” against his country was thwarted by the military intervention of forces under the command of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Global Arab Network, March 21; VOA, March 21).... MORE

LIBYAN AL-QAEDA LEADER SAYS JIHAD IS THE ONLY SOLUTION FOR LIBYAA Libyan al-Qaeda spokesman has released a 31-minute video claiming al-Qaeda created the conditions that allowed for revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired the ongoing rebellion in Libya (Ansar1.info, March 12). Produced by al-Sahab... MORE

LIBYAN LOYALISTS AND DISSIDENTS VIE FOR TUAREG FIGHTERSWith the fate of Libya in the balance, both sides in the struggle to determine its future are appealing to North Africa’s indigenous Tuareg warriors for military help. Libya’s own Tuareg population of roughly 50,000 has been simultaneously... MORE