Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
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
Iraq’s Baath Party Looks to a Final Showdown with the Baghdad Government
The Baathist Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation (SCJL) has announced that it is preparing to launch the “Battle of Baghdad.” The SCJL is a coalition of at least twenty-two insurgent groups headed by Izzat al-Douri, the leader of the banned Iraqi Baath Party (Al-Quds... MORE
Reassessing the Transnational Terrorism-Criminal Link in South America’s Tri-Border Area
The international terrorist presence in Latin America is concentrated in several "hotspots" where terrorist organizations have found financial and logistic support, as well as a supporting base. Among these areas are Venezuela and its Margarita Island, Trinidad and Tobago, the Iquique area in Chile, and... MORE
AQIM’s Offensive Reveals Shift from Insurgency to Terrorist Tactics in Algeria
August was one of Algeria’s bloodiest months in recent history. In total, 12 attacks carried out across the country by jihadi terrorists – including three suicide bombings – killed 80 and injured over 140. This murderous wave of violence confirmed a major shift by al-Qaeda... MORE
Energy Security and the PKK Threat to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline
In the wake of the conflict in Georgia, the future of energy transportation from the Caspian basin and Central Asia to world markets is once again on the agenda. By looking at the attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline... MORE