With Islamic State (IS) increasingly turning to social media to spread its propaganda amid its territorial defeat, the group has utilized apps like Tik Tok, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube to recruit and radicalize youth. With social media often heralded as platforms for inspiration,... MORE

On February 16, the Taliban’s deputy leader and chief of its Qatar political office, Mullah Abdul Ghani, better known as Mullah Baradar (meaning brother), issued an “open letter” to the American public calling on “the American side to remain committed to the full implementation” of... MORE

Since Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the Kankara kidnapping in northwestern Nigeria’s Katsina State in December 2020, concern about banditry in the country has gained increasing national and international attention (see Terrorism Monitor, January 15). In the Kankara incident, the more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped... MORE

In early January 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that three foreign nationals – Muhammed Naufar (also, Naufar Moulavi), Muhammed Riskan and Ahamed Milhan – had been charged with conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State (IS), a designated foreign terrorist organization that... MORE

On November 14, the spokesman for the Pakistan Army in a joint press conference with the Pakistani foreign minister accused an Afghan national, Shaikh Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, of organizing a group of fighters affiliated with Islamic State Khurasan Province (IS-K) for the purposes of... MORE

A Kenyan-U.S. military camp in Manda Bay, Lamu County in the coastal region came under heavy attack from armed militants on January 5, 2020. Three Americans were killed in the raid, for which al-Shabaab – the Somali-based al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa – claimed responsibility.... MORE

Saif al-Adl is among a handful of remaining top al-Qaeda leaders and has been widely reported to be the one to take control of the international terrorist group if/when current chief Ayman al-Zawahiri dies. He is one of the most experienced al-Qaeda operatives and is... MORE

On September 17, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime released a public report detailing the use of hawala remittance exchanges in the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons between Yemen and Somalia. [1] The report identified nearly $3.7 million in financial transactions executed... MORE

Before the conflict in Tigray began on November 4, not many people outside of the region had heard of Debretsion Gebremichael. The 57-year-old leader of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) prefers it that way. Before his rise to prominence on the national front in... MORE

Since a wave of protests spread across the United States after George Floyd’s death in May 2020, one armed movement that has attracted significant attention is the Boogaloo Bois. A Google Trends search of “Boogaloo” indicates the name was virtually unknown until its mentions skyrocketed... MORE