Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
Coalition Attack Brings an End to the Career of al-Qaeda in Iraq’s Second-in-Command
The U.S. military scored one of its biggest tactical successes against al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) on October 5 by killing Abu Qaswarah, a man identified by both the U.S. military and the rebel Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) as the organization’s commander for Northern Iraq.... MORE
Iran’s Kurdish Militants Under Pressure from Joint Turkish-Iranian Assaults
Until recently, the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (Parti Jiyani Azadi Kurdistan – PJAK), an armed Kurdish separatist group active in Iran, was beginning to emerge as a genuine military irritant to Iran’s government, killing in excess of 100 Iranian security forces per year... MORE
Latin American Narco-Dollars Financing Hezbollah’s Growing Establishment
On October 23, U.S. and Colombian law enforcement agencies announced the break-up of a drug-trafficking ring that channelled part of its profits to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The gang was reportedly involved in distributing cocaine from cartels in Colombia to markets in the United States, Europe... MORE
Persuading the Uncertain and Punishing the Recalcitrant: Al-Qaeda Seeks to Absorb Iraq’s Awakening Councils
There are indications that al-Qaeda’s struggle with Iraq’s U.S.-sponsored tribal Awakening Councils is far from over. An attack on the Baquba home of Awakening Council militia leader Shaykh Abdul Karim Hassan al-Dahlaji on October 29 left three family members dead and 14 others injured. A... MORE
Terrorism Comes to Damascus: Syria Faces its Own Islamist Threat
After a generation of internal stability Syria was struck by a terrorist attack in its capital of Damascus on September 27. According to an official Syrian source, 17 people were killed and 14 injured when a car bomb detonated in a crowded area on the... MORE
PKK Party Congress Sets Long-Term Strategy Based on Threat Perceptions
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan - PKK) was established in 1973 against the background of Cold War politics. In the formation of the PKK’s institutional culture and practices, the prevailing Marxist ideas and strategies adopted by other leftist movements of the time played... MORE
Taming the ISI: Implications for Pakistan’s Stability and the War on Terrorism
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency. As such, it has found itself at the center of a dispute between Pakistan and the United States over the prosecution of the War on Terrorism, a dispute fuelled by the two nations’ varying strategic aims. Established... MORE
Is the U.S.-Pakistan Alliance Against Terrorism Coming to an End?
Recent events in Pakistan have raised critical issues concerning the continuation of Pakistan’s support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan. Commencing with the enormous backlash in Pakistan in the aftermath of the raid by U.S. Special Forces on Angoori Ada in the tribal... MORE
Interpreting the Terrorist Threat against Lebanon’s Army in the North
On September 29, Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli witnessed its second bombing in a month against members of the Lebanese Army (LA). The attack, which targeted LA personnel traveling through the city towards Beirut, came after a similar bus bombing on August 13 in... MORE
The Impact of the Ergenekon Investigation on Turkish Counterterrorism Operations
The judicial investigation into a shadowy ultranationalist group known to the Turkish media as Ergenekon has become increasingly characterized by a mixture of incompetence, paranoia, politicization and willful disinformation. Supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi - AKP) in the... MORE