
Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles

Can the Lebanese Military Ensure Domestic Security After the Battle at Abra?
The Lebanese Armed Forces’ recent battle against the Salafist Free Resistance Brigades in the Abra district of the southern coastal city of Sidon has increased scrutiny of the military’s ability to maintain stability in Lebanon in the context of heightened political and sectarian tensions caused... MORE

Kurdish Rebels Look to Form Transitional Government in Syria
It has recently become clear that the Kurdish nationalist Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat (PYD - Democratic Union Party) wants to form an interim government in the Kurdish regions of Syria on the basis of imprisoned Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK – Kurdistan Workers’ Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan’s... MORE

Sinai Insurgency Exploits Political Crisis in Egypt
The growing confidence of Islamist militants operating in the volatile Sinai region of Egypt was displayed on July 10, when gunmen made an audacious attempt to assassinate General Ahmad Wasfy, the commander of Egypt’s Second Field Army, which is responsible for the Sinai (Ahram Online... MORE

China Claims Uyghur Militants Trained in Syria
The Chinese government has claimed since 2012 that Uyghur militants from Xinjiang are fighting with the rebels in Syria against the government of Bashar al-Assad (Global Times [Beijing], October 29, 2012). On July 1, China said that a Uyghur militant who studied in Istanbul and... MORE

Turkey’s Counterterrorism Response to the Syrian Crisis
Turkey has faced a relatively limited but consistent threat from jihadist militants linked to al-Qaeda dating back to the 1980s/90s, particularly following the return of Turkish fighters from Afghanistan (Hurriyet, October, 2001). The 2003 Istanbul bombings that resulted in over 60 fatalities triggered a major... MORE

The Tribal Factor in Syria’s Rebellion: A Survey of Armed Tribal Groups in Syria
Tribalism remains a primary form of communal identity among Arab Sunnis across Syria, regardless of whether they live in rural or urban areas. As a powerful source of socio-political mobilization, Syrian Arab tribalism has shaped the conflict since the first demonstrations against the al-Assad government... MORE

Punjab Government Financing Front Group for Lashkar-e-Taiba Terrorists
With the change in the political guard in Pakistan following the May 11 general election, apprehensions have grown in India regarding the strategy of the newly-crowned government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to fight Kashmir-centric militant groups, especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its various incarnations.... MORE

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Makes Inroads in Southern Yemen but Reveals Limits to Its Operational Capabilities
The recent operations carried out by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and allied Ansar al-Shari’a militants seem to confirm that South Yemen has finally become the battleground on which both groups are testing the Yemeni Army’s ability to contain the insurgents’ ambitions. While AQAP... MORE

Shiite Enclaves North of Aleppo Becoming Staging Grounds for Hezbollah’s Next Offensive
The question of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war has become more intense following the recent capture of the strategic, central-western Syrian border city of al-Qusayr in Homs governorate to Syrian military and Hezbollah forces. After al-Qusayr fell, mass media reports emerged that Hezbollah... MORE

Tunisia’s Elusive Jihadist Network
Over the last month, Tunisia has seen an escalation of the violence and tensions between security forces and the Islamist movements that emerged after the fall of President Zine al-Abdin bin Ali in January, 2011. Attention focused primarily on the violent May 19 clashes in... MORE