Latest Terrorism Monitor Articles
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood: Political Islam Without al-Qaeda
The September 11, 2001 attacks inspired an unprecedented upsurge of interest in Middle East and Islamic studies within academic, policymaking and security circles in the United States. Now, more than ever, Americans are seeking to understand the circumstances that culminated in the worst terrorist attacks... MORE
Strategic Implications for Northern Iraq’s Kurdish Oil Industry
Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Region seems straightforward enough: “The Regional Government shall, together with the Federal Government, jointly manage Petroleum Operations … according to the provisions of the Federal Constitution” [1]. The law seems clear until... MORE
PJAK Faces Turkish-Iranian Storm
The last year has seen steadily increasing violence between Turkey and the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). On October 21, 2007 a group of PKK fighters killed 12 Turkish soldiers and captured eight others in an attack in southeastern Turkey. Since then Turkey has called on... MORE
UN/African Union Peacekeepers in Darfur Unlikely to Succeed
Despite optimistic predictions, the expected deployment of the “hybrid” United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) is in peril. It now seems there will be no peace to keep and no mandate capable of imposing it. Sudan is insisting that African troops comprise most... MORE
Uzbek Terror Networks: Germany, Jamoat and the IJU
Three months after the arrests of three men in Germany, little is known about the network involved or the reasons behind a plot to use “massive bomb attacks” against targets in Germany. Reports immediately after the arrests pointed toward a U.S. airbase, nightclubs and the... MORE
Foreign Jihadis Face Deportation in Bosnia-Herzegovina
After roughly 15 years of neglect, Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) politicians and the country's Islamic community, each for its own reasons, have nearly simultaneously adopted a harsher approach toward former Islamic fighters who fought on the Bosnian side during the 1992-1995 war. Since the end of... MORE
Pakistan’s Radical Red Mosque Returns
The reopening of Pakistan's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad in October after a government siege in July is a direct threat to the country and to the world community fighting religious extremists and international terrorist networks. Three months after clashes between homegrown militants and... MORE
Current Trends in Jihadi Networks in Europe
The terrorist related events that took place during the summer in Europe—the doctors' plot in Great Britain, the dismantling of various cells in Italy, Austria and Spain, and, finally, the September arrests in Germany and Denmark—have confirmed that Europe is a key staging ground for... MORE
Recasting Jihad in the Maghreb
It has been a little over one year since Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the official merger between al-Qaeda and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), and since that time the jihad in the Maghreb has passed through a tumultuous and dynamic period. On the... MORE
The Hakim-Sadr Pact: A New Era in Shiite Politics?
The recent "pact of honor" made by two of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics, Moqtada al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim—aimed at preventing violence and helping to maintain the "Islamic and national interest" of Iraq—appears to signal a significant shift toward stability in Iraq. The two... MORE