BEATING ON ASSAD’S DOOR: SYRIAN MILITIA FIGHTER ABD AL-NASR SHMEIR Nicholas A. Heras Damascus’ suburban region of eastern Ghouta is a site of ongoing and vicious conflict between the Syrian military and several rebel factions. Inter-rebel fighting is common there, particularly between the Islamic State... MORE

Though far from a household name, Abu Humam al-Suri (birth name: Samir Hijazi) is a critical Syrian jihadist leader, important to both Jabhat al-Nusra and the broader al-Qaeda organization. Abu Humam is an al-Qaeda veteran and also Jabhat al-Nusra’s masul al-askari al-amm (general military official).... MORE

On September 24, 2014, the U.S. Department of State listed Harakat Sham al-Islam (HSI) as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” (U.S. Department of State, September 24, 2014). The listing described HSI, which was formed in August 2013, as a “Moroccan-led terrorist organization operating in Syria principally... MORE

In an Arabic-language statement issued over Twitter on April 23, the Iranian hardline Sunni Baloch militant organization Ansar al-Furqan announced the death of its leader, Abu Hafs al-Balochi (Twitter, April 23). The statement said al-Balochi had been killed the previous day after “a long confrontation”... MORE

Abdul Malik al-Houthi is the most wanted man in Yemen. He is also the most powerful man in Yemen, at least for now. The reclusive and enigmatic leader of Yemen’s Houthis, a predominately Zaydi Shi’a movement, was thrust onto the world stage when Saudi Arabia,... MORE

In June 2011, Militant Leadership Monitor profiled the Malaysian-born and U.S. educated veteran of the 1990s civil war in Afghanistan, Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. Marwan). In 2011, he was considered to be the highest-ranking of the estimated 20-30 Jemaah Islamiya (JI) fighters in the Philippines.... MORE

While al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) continues to make inroads in south Yemen in the midst of a worsening civil war and the Saudi-led military campaign in support of beleaguered President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the group suffered another blow with the death of... MORE

An attack on South Sudan’s military in a relatively peaceful part of the country in January of this year propelled a hitherto unknown army officer, Major Losuba Wongo, into the limelight in Africa’s newest state. Six soldiers were allegedly killed in the attack and several... MORE

In a televised speech, Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesperson Major Gen Hani Abdel Latif announced on April 5 that the jihadist leader of Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), Hamam Mohamed Ahmad Ali Attiya (a.k.a. Majid al-Din al-Masri), was shot to death during an exchange of fire... MORE