Summary of Information on Jihadist Websites May 2019
Highlights
- During May 2019 three speeches of Al-Qaeda leader, Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri have been published: (i) the First was a memoir of sorts where he shared memories from the time he fought the U.S next to Osama Bin Laden in the Tora Bora caves in Eastern Afghanistan in 2001. Per him the Tora Bora campaign should serve as a model for present day Jihadi activists, because of Bin Laden and his cronies’ success to escape a superior enemy, the closed ranks of the Mujahidin, the support of the Islamic nation in the Mujahidin etc. He sees the Tora Bora campaign as inspiring and demonstrated that Muslims can successfully confront the crusaders and their allies; (ii) in the second speech Al-Zawahiriblessed the Islamic nation for the beginning of Ramadan and clarified that this is a month when Muslims gain many victories over their enemies. With that said, he blamed the local secular regimes for ongoing offenses against Islam and for being too westernized. In light of the above, he called upon the Islamic nation to show piety go back to their religious roots and fiercely fight the enemy; (iii) in the third speech Al-Zawahiri eulogized Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Haqqani (1939-2018), a senior leader who fought the Soviets during the 1980s and wished his son, Siraj al-Din, patience and peace.
- Sheikh Abd Al Rauf, Al-Qaeda spokesperson, publishes three chapters out of a new edition of the book “Modern Schools of Thought”, written by the Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad bin Qutb in 1983. One chapter emphasized the importance of maintaining the unity of the Islamic nation required to defeat western hegemony and another criticized the idea of democracy for being foreign to Islam.
- Sheikh Abu Obeida Youssef Al-Annabi, a senior Al-Qaeda leader in the Islamic Maghreb, gave a TV interview to France24. During the interview he expressed his support for the Algerian popular uprising and clarified that non violent protest combined with Jihad are the way to topple the Algerian regime. He also addressed the targets his organization wishes to eliminate, the relationship between his organization and Al-Qaeda leadership and between his organization and Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam and al-Muslimin, a jihadi Mali organization and his position vis a vis ISIS as well as the French prisoners of war he held captive.
- Sheikh Abu Abd al-Rahman Mahad Warsami, a senior member of al-Shabab al-Mujahidin, an Al-Qaeda extension in Somalia praised the attacks carried out by the organization’s members in Kenya in recent months and called for the continued attacks against the Somali government and its western supporters.
- ISIS published in its official publication, al-Naba, a series of articles containing advice on smart management of guerilla warfare. The articles dealt with target selection, exfiltration strategy etc. additionally, ISIS called his supporter to burn agricultural land and crops belonging to the enemy.
- Reports on the military activity of ISIS in May 2019 exposed the formation of two new provinces, Pakistan and Al-Hand.
- Abu Muhamad al-Julani, the leader of Tahrir al-Sham in Syria, addresses the latest developments in the liberated areas in northern Syria. He Threatened Russia that as long as the Russians attack civilians and support the Assad regime his organization will continue to attack Khmeimim air force base (south east Latakia) that services Russian airplanes.
This article is part of the RED-Alert project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation Programme under grant agreement No 740688.
