Articles and Analysis
Al-Nusra Front: Breaking al-Qaeda's Forum Monopoly
By Rita Katz and Margaret Foster
A recent move by al-Qaeda's wing in Syria, the al-Nusra Front, illustrates again the importance of social media for the global jihadi movement and its effect on the evolution in jihadi online platforms.
Read more: Al-Nusra Front: Breaking al-Qaeda’s Forum Monopoly
As Shabaab gunmen continue to besiege the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, taking dozens of hostages and killing at least 39 people and injuring 293 others, the incident marks the culmination of over two years of threats to the Kenyan government regarding the war in Somalia.
Read more: Shabaab Siege on Westgate is Culmination of Years of Threats to Kenya
Aftermath of attack in Woolwich, London / Credit: ITV
Although it is not yet clear what motivated the beheading of a man believed to be a soldier outside of the Woolwich barracks in London, the incident, which is being treated as an apparent terrorist attack, is reflective of al-Qaeda's incitement for lone-wolf strikes against soldiers in Western countries.
Read more: London Attack Echoes al-Qaeda Incitement to Target Soldiers in West
Syrian Jihad: The Weakening of al-Qaeda's Leadership
By Rita Katz and Adam Raisman
In an unexpected and unprecedented turn of events, al-Qaeda members and jihadists from all over the world who embrace the ideology of global jihad are now doubting the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and calling for his removal.
Read more: Syrian Jihad: The Weakening of al-Qaeda’s Leadership
The August 14, 2013, clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of Mohamed Morsi have reinvigorated calls amongst jihadis for the establishment of armed jihadi groups in the country.
Read more: Jihadis Look For Gains In Egypt, Call For Armed Uprising
The suspects behind the bombings during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, Chechen brothers Djohar (Dzhokhar) and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, both maintained social networking accounts, one on the microblogging website Twitter, and the other on the video sharing site YouTube.
Read more: Profiles of Djohar Tsarnaev's Twitter, Tamerlan's Alleged YouTube Channel
Al-Qaeda-Affiliates Expand Online Platform to Twitter
By Rita Katz and Adam Raisman
On December 5, 2013, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) joined the long list of al-Qaeda affiliates with a presence on Twitter.
Read more: Al-Qaeda-Affiliates Expand Online Platform to Twitter
Three days after al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri called for attacks on U.S. interests in response to its military engagements in the Muslim world and its drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen in particular, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert about the terror group potentially launching operations in the Middle East and North Africa.
Read more: U.S. Travel Alert Comes Amidst Recent Threats from al-Qaeda and its Affiliates
The al-Nusra Front reported on a clash in which its fighters and those from three other jihadi factions repelled a Syrian army advance in the Jabal al-Turkman mountains in Syria's northern Latakia province on March 3, 2013.
Similarities in Tactics in Major Attacks on Western Targets in 2013: A Look at Tigantourine and Westgate
By Rita Katz and Margaret Foster
Two of the most high-profile jihadi attacks during 2013 displayed a striking similarity in targets and tactics, raising the possibility that the attacks are on the vanguard of an emerging trend in jihadi operations.
The revelations by Edward Snowden about PRISM, a NSA-operated national security electronic surveillance program, and that the agency used it to gather data from Google, Facebook, Paltalk and other sites, came as little surprise to jihadists, who for the past decade have tried to stay two steps ahead of monitoring...
Read more: PRISM and US Government Surveillance: No News to Jihadists
{Image: UN bomber and Boko Haram member Mohammed Abdul Barra
Source: AMEF}
On August 26, 2011, a suicide bomber detonated his car bomb outside of the United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital city, Abuja. The attack destroyed several floors of the building and killed at least 23 people.
After years of threatening Hezbollah and Iranian interests in Lebanon, and solely claiming responsibility for attacks outside the country, the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam took credit for the November 19, 2013, twin suicide bombings near the Iranian embassy in Beirut.
The controversy between al-Qaeda's branches in Iraq and Syria took an unexpected turn on the night of June 14, 2013, when an audio message surfaced from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI)...
Read more: Special Report on the Power Struggle Between al-Qaeda Branches and Leadership
The arrest and recent conviction of Filiz Gelowicz in Germany once again illustrates the strong ties online jihadists have with actual jihadist groups.
The Shabaab al-Mujahideen's attack and four-day-long siege at the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya demonstrated a new trend in al-Qaeda's online media strategies, as online communication from the al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia was routed exclusively through social media sites.
Read more: The Westgate Attack: A New Trend in al-Qaeda Communication Strategies
On June 1, 2013, the eleventh issue of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP’s) English-language magazine, Inspire, was released to jihadist forums...
Read more: Marathon Bombing: Why Target The Boston Marathon?
Three days prior to the February 5 explosion near the Arish-Ashkelon gas pipeline in Egypt, the SITE Intelligence Group advised its subscribers that jihadists were discussing targeting the pipeline on the jihadist Shumukh al-Islam forum, a password-protected website affiliated with al-Qaeda.
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