Briefs
June 2014 Briefs
ISIS’ NEMESIS IN ALEPPO: KHALID HAYANI AND ITIHAD LIWA SHUHADA BADR Nicholas A. Heras In spite of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) success in Iraq, it is worth remembering that it is battling against a number of armed groups in Syria, not... MORE
Rais Mingaleev: A Post-Mortem Sketch on the Mysterious Leader of Tatar Jihadists
Rais Rinatovich Mingaleev was the first official leader of the Tatar jihadists. Based on a personal admission of carrying out attacks against Russian authorities and their policies in Tatarstan. He was accused of masterminding terrorist attacks and murder, which would have carried a life sentence... MORE
Keeping It in the Family: A Profile of Jibril Ibrahim, Leader of Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement
Recent reports of military operations carried out in South Sudan’s northern borderlands by Darfur’s ?arakat al-Adl wa’l-Musawah (Justice and Equality Movement – JEM) have reinforced the movement’s reputation for mobility and political prowess. Despite the loss of movement founder Khalil Ibrahim to an air attack... MORE
Boko Haram Leader Abubakar Shekau: Dead, Deposed or Duplicated?
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau made international headlines on May 5, when he appeared in a video threatening to “sell as slaves in the market” more than 250 schoolgirls that Boko Haram kidnapped (Vanguard [Lagos], May 6). Although this video gave Shekau notoriety around the... MORE
Haji Najibullah: A Brief Glimpse of the Leader of Afghan Taliban Splinter Group Feda’i Mahaz
A clandestine Taliban splinter group claimed the killing of British-Swedish journalist Nils Horner in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul in March. With this act, Islami Tehrik Fedai Mahaz, led by Haji Najibullah, achieved the international notoriety that the group with its media propaganda has been working toward.... MORE
Jasim Uddin Rahmani: A Portrait of the Spiritual Leader of Bangladesh’s Ansarulla Bangla Team
Of late, Bangladesh has witnessed a renewed surge of Islamic radicalism, which has led to intermittent confrontations between liberal-progressive forces and Islamic hardliners. The Shahabag protests of early 2013 remain sketched in public memory as a bloody example of this ideological conflict which not only... MORE
May 2014 Briefs
SKETCHES OF SHAYKH SHA'BAN MAD'OUD KHALIFA HADIA AND UTHMAN MLIQTA, RIVAL LIBYAN MILITIA COMMANDERS Nicholas A. Heras Militias operating under the name of the Libyan National Army, and loyal to the Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, moved into Tripoli on May 18. These militias are trying... MORE
The ‘Pir’ of Terror: A Brief Sketch of Syed Salahuddin of Kashmir Jihad
Syed Salahuddin (a.k.a. Muhammad Yusuf Saha), heads the most dreaded Kashmir-centric militant organization, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM – Party of Holy Warriors). He has led a proxy war against India since the early 1990s. The organization has worked hand in glove with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the... MORE
The New People’s Army of the Philippines’ Husband and Wife Duo: A Profile of Wilma and Benito Tiamzon
On March 22 a joint operation between the Philippine military, federal and local police in Barangay Aloguinsan, Carcar City, resulted in the arrest of seven members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Central Committee two days before the Party’s 45th anniversary. An informant... MORE
Juan Ibrahim: Head of the Kurdish Security Forces in Northeastern Syria
The Asayish is the largest and most sophisticated armed group in the Kurdish-controlled areas of north and northeastern Syria. The group is under the direct command of the Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat (PYD – Democratic Union Party), which is affiliated with the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK... MORE