Commentaries

The 12 May 2003 bombings in Riyadh were dramatic evidence that al-Qaida is at work in the Saudi kingdom, the birthplace of the terror group’s founder, Osama bin Laden.

The new Iraqi Sunni resistance organization al-Jam’iya al-Salafiya al-Mujahida offers a radical Islamic platform that contains many points in common with al-Qaeda.

There are good reasons for al-Qaida to attack Turkey and its interests, and at this stage it seems that the target and the modus operandi point to bin Ladin’s global Islamist network as the main suspect. The primary motivation for targeting Turkish sites is its

The web site of Iraqi Islamic underground organization al-Jama’a al-Salafia al-Mujahada recently called on the group’s fighters to focus on propaganda acts in addition to the armed activity against allied forces in Iraq. To that end, the web site also outlined a series of objectives

The Islamic Great Eastern Raiders-Front is basically a Sunni Salafist group that advocates Islamic rule in Turkey and considers Turkey’s present secular leadership to be “illegal.” In the past it has cooperated with various opposition elements in Turkey in attempting to destabilize the Turkey’s unique

In this chronology I have attempted to list all the known terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions and individuals, outside Israel since 1968, the year when Palestinian terrorists first began their campaigns beyond the Middle East.

The result could have been what many have been predicting for some time, a civil war (fitna). But this would not have been civil war in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas. Rather, it would have been a civil war in Nablus between Fatah and Fatah.

In many cases, the mosque is the heart of the community both socially and spiritually. Any counter-terrorism activity in these places must be carefully planned. This includes not just the raid itself, but includes activities in the stages prior to and after the raid.

An odd blending of religion and politics, Hizballah was born as a movement amid the terrorism of the 1980s. By 2000, it had matured into a strategic, vital player in the Middle East, capable of influencing the region’s course for peace or war. This article

On the February 3, 2004, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, rejected a lawsuit filed by Larry Flynt, a porn publisher, which claims that preventing his reporters from freely covering the invasion of Afghanistan, contradicts his rights in accordance with

Police and military clashed with suspected terrorists, including three suicide bombers, 22 people were killed in a third day of violence started on 29 March 2004 in the Uzbek capital during a sweep to round up Islamic militants. According to Associated Press, attacks continued on

Summary of a lecture delivered by Daniel Pipes at the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism in conjunction with the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzilya, under the title “Reflections on Modern Warfare”, November 1, 2004.    

The brutal reality of this type of physical and psychological terror, relentlessly driven by radical Islamic religious fanaticism and unrestrained by the conventional “rules” of international conflicts, requires new ways of thinking and new responses to cope with and defeat the phenomenon.

As the third year since the catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001, in USA approaches completion, with much of the world sliding slowly but steadily into a torpor of denial, terrorism has once again issued multiple reminders over the past weeks that liberal democracies everywhere

Cooperation between Egyptian and Israeli rescuers following the recent simultaneous terrorist attacks in the Sinai was not worked out in advance, and after a rocky start, significantly improved in real-time in the days following the attacks. 

Since the beginning of the campaign to the Baathist regime, the city of Falluja, in the Sunni Triangle in central Iraq, has served as the stronghold for insurgents and terrorists of numerous organizations. The city is a haven for the remnants of the regime of

Hizballah emerged in Turkey’s predominantly Sunni Kurdish southeast in the 1980s and according to recent intelligence, might have established links with al-Qa’ida. Why has the organization been able to recover from the 2000 crackdown and what kind of threat does it pose to Turkey and

A recent World Social Forum gathering has addressed building stronger links between the antiglobalization movement and movements in the Arab and Muslim worlds. It also provided some indications that certain elements in the antiglobalization movement are prepared to work with Hizballah. Reprinted with permission from

Hizballah is an odd religious and political movement: it was born of terrorism in the 1980s, developed guerrilla warfare capabilities in the 1990s, and, by 2000, had matured into an important Middle East strategic player, capable of influencing the course of peace and war in

In the aftermath of the devastating attacks of 11 September 2001, governments around the world began scrambling to assess their vulnerability to terrorist groups. Security agencies now view maritime transport as a prime target for future attacks. By Ophir Falk and Yaron Schwartz

The sectarian war between Pakistan’s Shias and Sunnis is bloody and deadly. Available figures indicate that, between January 1989 and May 31, 2005 a total of 1,784 Pakistanis were killed, and another 4,279 injured in 1,866 incidents of sectarian violence and terror across the country.

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf’s June 25-26, 2005 trip to Saudi Arabia has raised many an eye brow in Islamabad-based diplomatic circles which believe the visit was meant to seek the assistance of the Kingdom to circumvent ongoing IAEA investigations.   Reprinted with permission from

So far it appears that if Al-Qaeda has a number of North African cells in Europe affiliated with the strategy of global Jihad in Iraq, we can assume that such sub-contracting groups are composed of “not so sleeping” cells on European soil, and not of

Initially, the “Qassam” rocket was perceived as a “improvised pipe” whose effectiveness was doubtful. Today, after such rockets caused four deaths and hunderds of shock-related conditions in the Israeli city of Sderot, their effectiveness, as a psychological weapon against civilians, is no longer in doubt.

In the past two weeks, two major controversial positions appeared on Jihadi web sites and in the Arab media. These statements were made by two of the most important and influential clerics of the Jihadi-Salafi current of global Jihad. Reprinted with permission from Global Research

Are we ready to confront this threat? I would like to provoke some thinking in the direction of additional tools necessary in the fight against terrorism.

A book review of Dr. Ely Karmon’s book titled “Coalitions between Terrorist Organizations: Revolutionaries, Nationalists and Islamists”, published in  “Deciphering Islamism and Terrorism,” The Middle East Journal, Autumn 2006, Vol. 60, Iss., 4, p. 777.

Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections presents a substantial threat to the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations and even to the future of the entire Middle East. The concern over this threat can be seen in the urgent summit on January 30, 2006

Europe has been fighting domestic and international terrorism for decades. In fact, the European Union’s (EU) counter terrorism efforts predate the attacks of 9/11.

A plot to blow up an El Al plane at Geneva’s international airport has been thwarted by Swiss intelligence agencies. The authorities uncovered a terrorist cell that was plotting to strike an Israeli plane while it was taking off through an RPG rocket attack in

Hamas, in an effort to appear more pragmatic, has chosen two so-called “moderates” to fill positions in the new Palestinian government. But what makes these individuals “pragmatic” is the fact that they are willing to negotiate with Israel in the short term, while still engaging

This article will discuss the use of hijackings- from the bargaining chip of 6 September 1970 to a strategic agent of 11 September 2001.

On June 5, 2006 the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a loose coalition of eleven religious leaders led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, seized Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. After weeks of bloody fighting and 15 years of anarchy in this Horn of Africa nation, fears are being

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage characterized Hizballah as the “A-team” of terrorism, adding, “If Hizballah is the A-team, Iran is the team owner and Syria is the coach.” Nearly five years later, his remarks are coming true.

It has to follow a policy of instant and forceful retaliation against terrorists and States such as Iran and Syria using terrorism as a weapon to make its population bleed. Israel has to retaliate instantly or perish.   First published in INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR–PAPER NO.94 

On 17 July 2006 the British government announced its intention to ban the Saviour Sect and Al-Ghurabaa, the successor groups to Al Muhajiroun. The ban is enforced by parliament agreeing a Draft Order from the Home Office Minister of State seeking to amend the list

The Danish police announced on September 5, 2006, the arrest of nine suspected terrorists, during overnight raids in Odense, Denmark’s third largest city. Ms. Lene Espersen, the local Justice Minister, said it was likely they were planning an attack in Denmark. The men had been

A great deal has been written on lessons learned from the 2006 ‘Second Lebanese War’, and no doubt much more will be revealed, as there is still a lot to learn. However, an imperative lesson learned from years of LIC implemented throughout the war, was

Hezbollah of the year 2006 is a pragmatic terrorist organization that is well-armed, well-trained, and equipped with highly sophisticated weaponry. It is far more dangerous than the revolutionary Hezbollah of the 1980’s due to both the means at its disposal and the double faced policy

While there is nothing unusual about bin Laden’s periodic long spells of silence, the silence of Zawahiri is unusual. He never misses an opportunity to taunt the US over its botched-up operations. His silence on the botched-up raid on a madrasa in the Bajaur agency

While the pro-Al Qaeda jihadi terrorist elements have the capability to strike in many West European countries, a study of their propaganda and PSYWAR would underline the UK, Denmark and the Vatican as areas of particular concern during the current Christmas/New Year holiday season.

On January 14, 2007, one of the leading Jihadi-Salafi scholars, the Kuwaiti Sheikh Hamed bin Abdallah al-Ali, published a new and interesting document on his website titled “The Covenant of the Supreme Council of Jihad Groups (Mithaq al-Majles al-A`la li-Fasael al-Jihad) which was immediately circulated

Suicide attacks have clearly become the most dangerous modus operandi of modern terrorism. In a sense, the suicide attack is the terrorists’ “smart bomb”. The suicide attacker is no more then a platform that carries the explosive charge to its target. However, this platform can

Hamas’s website publishes Islamic anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli literature, as well as the newsletter “Filastin al Muslimah” in English, and other propaganda against Israel and against the Palestinian Authority.

Commentary on the terrorist attempt on by a Nigerian member of Al Qaeda to cause an explosion in a plane of the US North-West Airlines flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, 2009. Paper first published in the International Terrorism Monitor—Paper No.595

Amos Guiora of the University of Utah College of Law says that in the wake of the thwarted Christmas Day terrorist attack on a US airliner bound for Detroit, we must recognize that religious extremism poses an immediate danger and that religious extremists no longer