Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
Former Pakistan Army Chief Reveals Intelligence Bureau Harbored Bin Laden in Abbottabad
In spite of denials by the Pakistani military, evidence is emerging that elements within the Pakistani military harbored Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former army chief General Pervez Musharraf and possibly current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Former Pakistani... MORE
The Turn to Armed Rebellion in Syria: The Rise of the Free Syrian Army
Tensions in the Levant remain at a fever pitch as the uprising against the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad presses ahead into its ninth month in the face of a relentless government crackdown and a rising body count Occurring on the back of the... MORE
Bringing London’s “Christmas Bombers” to Trial
Almost a year after their arrests just before Christmas 2010, a group of young British Muslims denied charges of “conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life or damage property” (BBC, December 2, 2011). The men, described as being of South Asian origin, are alleged... MORE
BRIEFS
TALIBAN SPOKESMAN SAYS LOYA JIRGA REVEALS THE INVADERS’ “SINISTER OBJECTIVE” TO OCCUPY AFGHANISTAN In a recent interview with a Taliban-run news agency, Afghan Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi provided an official response to the recent Kabul Loya Jirga (Grand Council) that approved a continued American... MORE
Jund al-Khilafa Operations Expand in Kazakhstan
Jund al-Khilafa (JaK) has carried out a string of deadly attacks within Kazakhstan since October. While JaK has come no closer to achieving its goal of bringing down the government of Nursultan Nazarbayev and creating an Islamic state, it has rattled Kazakhstan in a way... MORE
Jihadists and Saudi Arabia in the Shadow of the Arab Spring
In the 1980s the Saudi Arabia-United States alliance supported the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in their battle against the Soviet Union. Hostility has since grown between al-Qaeda, which formed later and the Saudi regime. Hostilities started after the 1991 Gulf War when the Islamic opposition became... MORE
The Impossible Dream: Tehran Rethinks its Commitment to an Iranian-Built Aircraft Carrier
In late September, the Iranian navy announced it would build an aircraft carrier with the capacity to engage in defensive military operations in the Persian Gulf (Press TV September 28; Fars News, September 28), The statement came as the Iranian navy also announced the near... MORE
Islamist Reaction to the NATO Airstrike on the Pakistani Border
Following the November 26 incident in which two Pakistani Army check posts in the Salala area of the Mohmand tribal agency were hit by a NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Islamist religious parties and banned militant organizations have joined Pakistani authorities in... MORE
BRIEFS
SOMALIA’S AL-SHABAAB EXPLAINS ITS BAN ON FOREIGN AID ORGANIZATIONS Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants have provided a detailed justification of their recent and controversial decision to halt the work of 16 foreign aid organizations in areas under al-Shabaab control in drought and famine-stricken southern Somalia. The statement,... MORE
Hezbollah Risks Regional Credibility by Its Support for the Syrian Regime
In Syria, like no other country in the Middle East, the mass protest movement widely known as “the Arab Spring” could change the entire regional order if it resulted in toppling the regime. This possibility appears even clearer in the context of Syrian-Lebanese relations. For... MORE