Exploiting ongoing unrest in Southern Yemen, al-Qaeda’s leader in Yemen released an audio statement on May 13 entitled “To Our People in the South,” in support of southern Yemeni efforts to secede from Yemen. The audiotape was released through the jihadi media outlet al-Malahim (shmo5alislam.net,... MORE

On June 4 during his trip to the Middle East President Barack Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University outlining how his administration intends to develop a new relationship with the Muslim world. Obama delineated seven interrelated issues which need to be addressed. Those included... MORE

After a gradual handover process, the Sunni fighters of the Sahwa (Awakening) Councils have come under the responsibility of Iraq’s Shi’a-led central government. From their emergence two years ago until recently, the Sahwa councils, which cooperated with Coalition forces to drive al-Qaeda out of their... MORE

In response to reports appearing in the British media, the Syrian embassy in London released a statement on May 10 regarding two British nationals who were arrested in Damascus on March 17, Maryam Kallis and Yasser Zahur Ahmed. According to the statement, “interrogations indicated that... MORE

Violence appears to be ratcheting up in yet another region of the North Caucasus - Kabardino-Balkaria. The republic's capital, Nalchik, was the scene of a large-scale rebel attack in October 2005 in which 35 law enforcement officers, 12 civilians and 92 rebels were killed, but... MORE

The scenic Swat valley is thundering with both aerial bombardments and fiery Taliban FM radio sermons. In a large-scale military operation dubbed Operation Rah-e-Raast (Operation Straight Path), the Pakistani army is hitting Taliban targets with gunship helicopters while the Taliban respond with AK-47s and their... MORE

On a December morning in 1973, an ear-splitting blast ripped through the fashionable Salamanca district of Madrid, shaking the walls of this reporter’s home. The first frenzied reports on the Spanish state-controlled media spoke of a gas main explosion.  A journalist’s instinct said this was... MORE

Urged by a senior al-Qaeda ideologue to take over Pakistan, members of jihadi internet forums have begun to examine the possibility of controlling Pakistan’s nuclear weapons (al-faloja1.com, April 24). At the same time, jihadis continue to collect information on nuclear facilities around the globe, especially... MORE

In the wake of a controversial deal that allowed the implementation of Islamic law in Pakistan’s Swat region and the establishment of what appeared to be a de facto Taliban state, Islamabad has responded with force after the Swat-based militants appeared determined to spread their... MORE

This May marks the sixth anniversary of the deadly night of suicide bombings in Casablanca. The attacks, characterized by many as Morocco’s 9/11, took the lives of 33 innocent victims, while the attackers, hailing from the slums of Sidi Moumen, lost 12 of their own. ... MORE