Periodical Review: Summary from the Jihadi Forums – The Second Half of November 2013
This report summarizes notable events discussed on jihadist Web forums during the secondhalf of November 2013. Following are the main points covered in the report:
- Adam Yahiye Gadahn al-Amriki, a senior member of Al-Qaeda, criticized the United States for kidnapping Abu Anas al-Libi, an Al-Qaeda activist responsible for the terrorist attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Al-Amriki called on Muslims in general, and Libyans in particular, to respond to this act of American aggression by harming American interests in the Middle East and the rest of the world.
- Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a senior member of the Salafi-jihadist movement in Jordan, and Abu Qatada al-Filistini, a former senior leader in Al-Qaeda, sent letters to jihad activists in Syria calling on them to exercise discretion in pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.
- The Shura Council of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, a Salafi-jihadist group composed of foreign fighters battling Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, announced the appointment of a new leader named Salah al-Din al-Shishani. The appointment followed Abu Omar al-Shishani’s announcement that he was leaving the organization’s leadership and swearing allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, which served as further evidence of the rift between the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham and the Al-Nusra Front.
- Sirajuddin Zurayqat, a senior leader in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack against the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon and demanded that the Lebanese government free members of the organization from its prisons.
- Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, a Salafi-jihadist movement in the Sinai Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the assassination of Muhammad Mabruk, a senior Egyptian security official, and threatened to harm officials in the Egyptian Ministry of Interior and national security department if they do not release all Muslim women from prison.
