The three–day conference on terrorism that brought over 20 heads of government to Madrid on the anniversary of the March 11, 2004 train bombings by al-Qaeda that killed 191 people, excited some interest from the mujahideen. A statement attributed to Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, the "Media... MORE

News of a pending visit by Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to Tunis, invited by President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to a conference in mid March, provoked demonstration on March 5, which were broken up violently by Tunisian police. Later a strong warning appeared on the... MORE

An interesting new publication to hit the web gives insight into the thinking of an al-Qaeda strategist on the next stages of the struggle. Posted on the al-Ikhlas jihadi forum [https://ekhlas.com/forum] the work is entitled Idarat al-Tawahhush, "The Management of Barbarism," further defined as "the... MORE

With jihadist violence having made its debut in Qatar, the issue of spreading instability in the Arab Gulf region as a whole, which supplies some 60 percent of oil imports to the United States, is now a growing concern. Already the relationship of Kuwait and... MORE

Al-Rawafidh: The rejectionists, renegades An opprobrious term used by Salafists to refer to the Shi'ites. Al-Sham or Bilad al-Sham: The historical name for Greater Syria, which generally includes modern-day Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and some areas of Turkey. A group calling itself Tanzim Jund al-Sham... MORE

Two parallel, but distinct challenges to central authority underline how Yemen will take some time to shake off its reputation as a cradle of Islamist militancy. One is a resurgence of the rebellion of Shi'ite tribesmen following the cleric Badr al-Din al-Houthi, the second challenge... MORE

Talks which began on April 18 between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are being flagged as a ‘breakthrough' in the eight-year bid to put an end to decades of guerrilla warfare in the southern Philippines, but are coming at a... MORE

Perceptions as to the war on terrorism in Saudi Arabia took a knock with the news of a series of armed confrontations during the month of April. The first of these, the bloodiest in a two-year struggle between al-Qaeda and government forces, was a three... MORE

Harb al-Isabat: Guerrilla Warfare (Literally War of Gangs) — an area of military science of primary interest to the Islamist militants. Former leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin (killed in June 2004) gives a detailed treatment of this in the first... MORE