Practically every month, Moscow boastfully announces it has killed a leader of one of the territorial branches of the Islamic underground armed resistance. However, the statistics regularly provided by Russian authorities concerning the insurgency raise doubts about the authenticity of these claims. Indeed, the number... MORE

The Khankala military base near Grozny recently hosted a gathering celebrating the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus. Among those who attended the event, which undeservedly failed to attract the attention of Russia’s media, were the... MORE

On September 15, the Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), launched a fourth siege on the Syrian city of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic), capturing dozens of villages (International Business Times, September 22, 2014). The strategic location of... MORE

On August 29, several hundred Boko Haram militants stormed the town of Gwoza in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State. Government buildings were taken over and churches destroyed, while local inhabitants were told that the town will be governed according to Shari’a (Sahara Reporters, August 12). A... MORE

On September 11, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) annual summit (Ozodi, September 11). On the sidelines of the summit, Rouhani took advantage of his first trip to the small Central Asian republic to ink ten... MORE

On September 18, the authorities in Dagestan closed down the Gimry tunnel, citing the ongoing counter-terrorist operation in Untsukul district. A counter-terrorist operation was also introduced in the adjacent Buinaksk district on September 17. Locals estimated that over 1,000 military personnel blocked the areas around... MORE

Chechens have been quite active in the ranks of the armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the past two to three years. Chechens have formed several groups that made waves in a country that is alien to them, both culturally and linguistically, as... MORE

The armed resistance in the North Caucasus is transforming and adapting to the new conditions under the Caucasus Emirate’s new emir. September 7 marked exactly one year since the death of the insurgency’s former leader, Doku Umarov (Kavkavsky Uzel, March 18). Umarov was poisoned by... MORE

Russian observers reacted quite strongly to an Internet video released by the Islamic State, the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that is operating in Iraq and Syria as well as Lebanese border areas, in which militants are threatening... MORE

Following deadly attacks in Beijing, Kunming and Urumqi over the last year, the Xinjiang government has intensified its efforts to regulate Uyghur religious activities. The provincial government has once again reinforced its ban on Ramadan fasting for Uyghur civil servants and students in 2014, as... MORE