On June 14, a U.S. drone strike in Syria’s Idlib province killed Abu al-Qassam al-Urduni, a top al-Qaeda figure who was a commander of al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din. The death of al-Urduni, a.k.a. Khalid al-Aruri, follows those of prominent al-Qaeda leaders Abu al-Khayr al-Masri and... MORE

One of the most interesting developments during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan was the decision by the Sindh High Court to overturn the death sentence of Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh for beheading the Wall Street Journal’s correspondent and South Asia bureau chief,... MORE

On June 24, the U.S. State Department announced that it was raising its reward for information on Islamic State’s mysterious leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qureshi, to $10 million (Rewards for Justice, June 24). Al-Qureshi, a.k.a. Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, is reported to be... MORE

On May 20, Iraqi authorities announced that the arrest of Abdul Nasser Qardash, one of the most prominent leaders of the Islamic State (IS) (Sky News Arabia, May 20). He was the leader of IS’ last stronghold in al-Baghuz in eastern Syria, located near the... MORE

Shaykh Musa Seka Baluku, an Islamist militant leader operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has recently taken steps to rebuild and strengthen the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Baluku has led the terrorist group for the past five years. Under his direction, ADF fighters... MORE

Tariq Saleh, the nephew of former Yemeni President Ali Abdulla Saleh, is a proverbial wild card in Yemen’s interconnected wars. The former commander of Yemen’s now defunct Presidential Guard controls one of the best organized and best armed militias in Yemen, known as the National... MORE

While Islamic State’s (IS) so-called caliphate was crumbling in Syria, the group was gaining ground in Afghanistan. IS’ self-styled “Khorasan Province,” a.k.a. Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), seized swathes of land in the country, defying the setbacks for the group elsewhere. IS-K quickly became the most... MORE

Since Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS)’s killing of four U.S. special forces members in October 2017 in northwestern Niger, the group has increasingly become defined by France and allied Sahelian governments as the “priority” regional threat for counter-terrorism operations (Diplomatie.gouv.fr, January 13). ISGS peaked... MORE

Introduction Analyzing Aguila Saleh Issa al-Obeidi’s life and career, the peculiarity of his profile compared to that of the many current protagonists of Libyan politics is striking. He is by no means a classic militant leader. He has 50 years of experience in legal issues,... MORE

Since al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)’s formation in 2007, its most important members have not only been militants, but also theologians. The latter, such as Abu Ubaydah Yusuf Annabi, have justified AQIM’s tactics, including suicide bombings, and AQIM’s targeting, including on Algerian and West... MORE