In the span of just eighteen months, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has emerged from obscurity to eclipse Osama bin Laden as public enemy number one in the Bush administration's war on terror. Less gifted than bin Laden in nearly every way, Zarqawi rose to become the... MORE

The latest attempted bombing of the Interior Ministry building and the Special Emergency Forces headquarters training unit at Riyadh on December 29, appears to spell out more evidence of al-Qaeda's decline in the Peninsula. The bombings and related clashes with Islamist militants accounted for a... MORE

High ranking officers in the Kuwaiti army have been arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist acts against American military and residential areas in the emirate. The news provides more evidence of growing radicalism in Kuwait, and of fallout from the conflict in Iraq. A report... MORE

As expected, the days approaching the January 30 election date are witnessing an intensification of insurgent activity, which is making the security situation on the ground appear desperate. However, amid the carnage the tone of the mujahideen is appearing similarly desperate. On January 16 the... MORE

The developments in Kuwait reported in the last issue of Terrorism Focus have accelerated. Following the arrest of high ranking officers in the Kuwaiti army on suspicion of planning terrorist acts against American targets, two policemen were shot dead in the Hawalli suburb of Kuwait... MORE

As the landmark Iraqi elections loom closer, the fate of a controversial and often misunderstood Iranian opposition group hangs in the balance. The formerly armed Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) has been based in Iraq for twenty years with regime change as its exclusive cause. Not... MORE

A group of suspected extremists were arrested in Oman over a period of several days on charges of planning bomb attacks at the Muscat festival which, this year, coincided with the Eid al-Adha holiday that began on January 21. The arrests were apparently triggered by... MORE

More police raids on militant hideouts in Kuwait and the strength of the militants' armed response demonstrate the extremists' continuing vigor. They also illustrate how the broader jihadist wave — irrespective of an al-Qaeda connection — is spreading in the Gulf. On January 30 Kuwaiti... MORE

In October 2004, three explosions rocked Egypt's red sea resorts killing 33 people, mostly Israeli tourists. Despite an official Egyptian denial, Israel and other Western governments were quick in blaming these attacks on al-Qaeda. They associated the attacks with an audio tape broadcast on al-Jazeera... MORE

On January 14, 2004, the Arab television station Al-Jazeera broadcast a report about the death of Mamoun El Hodeiby, the “spiritual leader” of the influential Egyptian fundamentalist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimoon). The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is often regarded as the forerunner of many... MORE