Briefs
One Country, Two Governments, Plenty of Chaos: Portraits of Libya’s Competing Prime Ministers Abdullah al-Thinni of Tobruk and Omar al-Hasi of Tripoli
Libya is experiencing a very critical phase of its post-revolutionary era. The country is engulfed by a civil war in which a number of local conflicts and fault lines overlap (Terrorism Monitor, March 20, 2015). The international community, namely the UN, has stepped up efforts... MORE
A Post-Mortem Profile of AQAP Shari’a Official Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari
On January 31, a U.S. drone strike in Shabwah, a province in south Yemen, killed Shaykh Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari, a high-ranking jihadist scholar and one of the most prominent members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (Yemen Times, February 2; al-Sharq al-Awsat, February... MORE
Zekerija Qazimi—Kosovo’s Imprisoned Imam and Ideological Mentor to Albanian Jihadists Fighting With Islamic State
Since August 2014, more than 100 individuals have been arrested or questioned by the security services in Kosovo, including a number of leading religious and political figures. These arrests stem from charges and allegations of recruiting young Albanian men and women from Kosovo to join... MORE
Islamabad’s Umme Hassan: Female Mobilizer and Jihadist Inspirer at the Red Mosque
In a video statement on November 24, 2014, burka clad students of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid-affiliated (Red Mosque) female seminary, Jamia-e-Hafsa, pledged allegiance to Islamic State amir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It was shocking, as the all-girls madrassa had long been known for supporting al-Qaeda and the... MORE
Hafiz Saeed Khan: Leading the Islamic State’s Violent Agenda in Afghanistan and Pakistan
In January 2015, the Islamic State’s chief spokesperson, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, announced the establishment of Wilayat Khurasan, covering a geographical region that roughly includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Central Asia and India. In an audio message titled “Die in Your Rage!,” al-Adnani stated that... MORE
A Portrait of Djamel Beghal: An Inspiration for Charlie Hebdo Jihadists
Investigations into the January 2015 Paris attacks have drawn fresh attention to Djamel Beghal, a shadowy 49-year-old French-Algerian veteran of Europe’s first generation of jihadists. Formerly based in the UK but now jailed in France, Beghal is believed to have inspired—and perhaps actively directed—the attacks... MORE
A Brief Glimpse of Tajik Militants Fighting in the Ranks of the Islamic State
Militants from Tajikistan have travelled to Syria and Iraq in a steady trickle to join the Islamic State. Estimates of the number of Tajiks fighting there vary widely. Even the government agencies in Tajikistan cannot agree on a figure; the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced... MORE
Shakir Wahib: The Face of the Islamic State in Anbar Province
In the hot summer of 2013, jihadists filmed themselves stopping trucks on the main road linking Iraq with Syria and Jordan. [1] Their leader, wearing a shalwar kameez and wrapped in a military vest, appeared to be interrogating the drivers. The jihadist tested the truck... MORE
February 2015 Briefs
THREE NEW COMMANDERS COALESCE TO FORM SYRIAN REBEL AL-JAYSH AL-AWAL FORMATION Nicholas A. Heras A new component of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was recently created. Al-Jaysh al-Awal (First Army) was formed in January 2015 by combining Farqa al-Hamza, al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya (1st Artillery Regiment)... MORE
Iran’s Man in Iraq – A Post-Mortem Analysis of the Career of IRGC Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi
On December 28, 2014, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced the death of Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi in Samarra, Iraq. The Islamic State has since accepted responsibility for the killing of Taqavi (AFP, December 29, 2014). Taqavi was killed while on an advisory mission... MORE