On January 20, Tunisian security forces killed Bilel al-Kobi, an Algerian terrorist affiliated with the Tunisian offshoot of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Oqba bin Nafaa (OBN). Al-Kobi was considered to be one of the closest aides of Abdelmalek Drukdel, the emir of AQIM.... MORE

On January 31, the U.S. Department of State designated the Gaza-based Palestinian organization Harakat al-Sabireen Nasiran li-Filasteen (HISN-Movement of the Patient Ones for Palestinian Victory) as a terrorist organization (U.S. Department of State, January 31). HISN is a controversial organization that is believed to be... MORE

Over the last two months, a spate of terrorist attacks has struck the Afghan capital of Kabul. Islamist insurgents carried out at least five strikes in Kabul in January and, in December 2017, a suicide bomb attack at a cultural center in the Afghan capital... MORE

The Hashd Sha'abi (PMU-Popular Mobilization Units) continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq's southwestern desert border areas with Syria (al-Hurra [Baghdad], January 30). One of the PMU organizations participating in these operations against the remnants of the IS is Liwa 33... MORE

On December 17, 2017, Mohamed Eshtewi, the mayor of Misrata, was kidnapped and killed on his way home from the Misrata airport after returning from an official trip to Istanbul. In the incident, his brother Ahmed, who was in the car with him, was also... MORE

On December 9, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi declared that the Islamic State (IS) organization was defeated in Iraq (al-Hurra [Baghdad], December 30; al-Arabiyya [Dubai], December 9). Despite Prime Minister al-Abadi's declaration, during the month of December, Iraqi security forces, including constituent groups within the... MORE

Shaykh Ahmed Iman Ali, a middle level commander within al-Shabaab of Kenyan origin, has fallen out with the top leaders of the Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa. Shaykh Ali is reportedly on the run after a dispute with Shaykh Abu Ubaidah (a.k.a. Ahmed Diyire),... MORE

The forces loyal to the al-Assad government continue to conduct major combat operations in and around the Syrian capital city of Damascus. In particular, they have imposed a siege on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, which is the last major opposition stronghold near the... MORE

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the historical key leaders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the broader Northern African jihadism, has been sentenced to death in absentia by the Criminal Court in Oran, Algeria. Officially, the court found him guilty of forming and leading... MORE