Shaykh Bilal al-Masri is an increasingly important leader within Tripoli’s Salafist community. Born and raised on Syria Street, the thoroughfare that is the front-line between the impoverished and restive northern Tripoli neighborhoods of Sunni-majority Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawite-majority Jebel Mohsen, Shaykh Bilal has emerged as... MORE

Former Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Habib defected from the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on September 4 and turned himself over to the rebel backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) along the Turkish-Syrian border (al-Sharq al-Awsat [London], September 5). General Habib (a.k.a. Ali Habib... MORE

The Syrian government has routinely harassed, repressed and discriminated against the Syrian Kurds for decades. Since the Arab Spring arrived in Syria, the country’s government forces have abandoned many Kurdish populated areas, allowing the Syrian Kurds to fill the power vacuum in those areas. Most... MORE

The president of the Central African Republic (CAR), Michel Djotodia, announced on Friday, September 13 that he had ordered the dissolution of the Séléka Coalition. In a presidential statement broadcast on the state-owned Radio Centrafrique, Djotodia, formerly the leader of the Séléka Coalition, warned that "Any individual or... MORE

Maulana Masood Azhar is one of the most dreaded Pakistani jihad leaders within the Indian political and security establishments. Formerly associated with the Harkat troika (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami [HujI], Harkat-ul-Mujahideen [HuM], Harkat-ul-Ansar [HuA]—HujI-HuM-HuA), Masood Azhar and his Kashmiri militant brethren brought the government of Indian Prime Minister... MORE

Like many of the former and current Egyptian leaders of jihadi organizations, Aboud al-Zomor is a well-educated professional and, in this case, the product of a wealthy family in Egypt’s Giza governorate. Al-Zomor’s career has followed a trajectory that has taken him from senior army... MORE

Thousands of Yemeni Shi’a Muslims attended the funeral of Husayn Badr al-Din Houthi on June 5 in the northern Yemeni city of Sada’a. Husayn was the founder and ideologue of the Houthi movement and was killed in 2004 in fighting with government forces (Yemen Post,... MORE

Tunisia is in the middle of a political transition but the internal debate is still monopolized by the quarrel between Islamists and secularists. The stalemate is presenting an opportunity for the Salafist movement Ansar al-Shari’a Tunisia (AST) to enter directly into the political fray. Confrontation... MORE

Osama Sayeh Juneidi (a.k.a. Abu Sayeh) is the general military commander of the Syrian Islamist armed opposition group, the Farouq brigade (Kata’ib al-Farouq). He also serves on the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (SMC-FSA), a major Syrian armed opposition command organization, for... MORE