The attack on October 7th, 2023, surprised and shocked many when Palestinian militants from the Al-Qassam Brigades, a group linked to Hamas, stormed Israeli barriers. However, the impact of this attack went beyond shaking Israeli security; it was also reshaping security in the region.The attack has had a significant effect on the security landscape, making […]
About 25km (16 miles) east of the Jordanian capital, Amman, lies the city of Zarqa, a stronghold of the country’s shadowy Salafi-jihadist movement. It was the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in a US air strike in 2006. One of its current residents is a jihadist […]
In the last week of September, the As-Sahab Foundation, which disseminates al-Qaeda messages and propaganda, released a video clip showing a group of militants launching mortar attacks on Pakistani army sites. The attacks, the video clip said, were “in support of” of Aafia Siddiqui. Siddiqui, 38, is a neuroscientist who had studied at the Massachusetts […]
In less than a month, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, Baqaa, has witnessed two funerals for jihadists killed in Syria. They were among dozens who flocked into Syria to fight against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Since the Syrian armed uprising began – after months of peaceful protest – jihadists aiming to establish an Islamic […]
Jihadists see violent struggle as necessary to eradicate obstacles to restoring God’s rule on Earth and defending the Muslim community, or umma. Here, BBC Arabic’s Murad Batal al-Shishani looks at the evolution of the jihadist movement over the past four decades. 1970s: Revolutionaries The modern jihadist movement emerged in the late 1970s, when several groups […]
If al-Qaeda comes under more pressure, it will switch strategies again, which will then make drones irrelevant. Speaking to Americans linked to counter-terrorism policy, I sense an excitement about what they consider a remarkable success against al-Qaeda and affiliated groups located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, that is, targeting their leaders with drone […]
