Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
Iran Integrates the Concept of the “Soft War” Into its Strategic Planning
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said this week that “certain countries” are waging a “Soft War” against Iran that should be countered through the establishment of closer relationships with other nations (Tehran Times, June 8). The concept of a “Soft War” is quickly becoming an... MORE
Al-Qaeda after al-Yazid: Coping with the American Drone Offensive
The death of al-Qaeda’s operational leader in Afghanistan last month is a significant but not fatal setback for the radical Islamist movement. Mustafa Ahmad Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. Shaykh Sa’id al-Masri) was apparently killed in a May 21 drone attack in Pakistan’s North Waziristan... MORE
Attacks on the Ahmadiya in Lahore Reveal Growth of the Punjabi Taliban
The multiple suicide attacks by the Punjabi Taliban on two mosques in Lahore where members of the Jamaat-i-Ahmadiya had gathered to pray on May 28 hardly came as a surprise. As hundreds of Ahmadis gathered to offer prayers in the early Friday afternoon, several suicide... MORE
100 More Terrorist Groups Banned in India: What are India’s Counterterrorism Priorities?
India, one of the most terrorism-troubled countries in the world, is finally pursuing the idea of proscribing nearly 100 terrorist entities, both regional and international. The proscription will exist in tandem with the United Nations’ consolidated list of al-Qaeda and Taliban linked groups. Many of... MORE
Europol Report Suggests Separatism Rather than Islamism Constitutes Biggest Terrorist Threat to Europe
Europol, a European Union law enforcement agency dedicated to improving the effectiveness and cooperation of member states’ security agencies, released its annual report on terrorism in Europe on April 28. [1] The report provides an overview of the current situation regarding terrorism in Europe and... MORE
Egypt and Gaza’s Islamic Jihad: A Steady Deterioration in Relations
Egypt's relations with the Palestinian factions have become remarkably cold recently, with Egyptian efforts to end the Palestinian divide hitting a dead end. Cairo no longer has direct contacts with Hamas and contacts with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement have retreated recently. According to several... MORE
The Hizbullah Trial in Egypt: A War of Words in the New Middle East Cold War
The latest exchange of blows in the ongoing feud between Egypt and Lebanon’s Hizbullah came on April 28, as the Egyptian State Security Court convicted and sentenced 26 individuals who Cairo accuses of being part of an active Hizbullah cell in Egypt. Authorities claim the... MORE
An Ominous Break from the Past in Thailand: Implications of the Red Shirt Revolt
King Chulalongkorn (Rama IV-1868-1910) is responsible for initiating the modernization process in Thailand. Enamored with European civilization of the time, especially European economic and scientific gains, King Chulalongkorn embraced European rule of law, capitalism, education, and to a limited extent, politics. The king even introduced... MORE
The Deobandi Debate Terrorist Tactics in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Muslim clerics following the Deobandi school of Islamic theology (named after the movement’s original seminary in Deoband, India) are now increasingly associated with the Taliban and other allied militant groups in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Though the parent Deobandi seminary in India has distanced itself... MORE
The Asian Tigers – The New Face of the Punjabi Taliban
The emergence in North Waziristan of the Asian Tigers, a previously unknown jihadi group, has several messages for jihad watchers. Two of them are very important. First, the Punjabi Taliban are slowly but surely growing in strength and numbers. Second, their war is primarily against... MORE