Summary of Information on Jihadist Websites September 2019
Highlights
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls upon the citizens not to partake on the elections claiming they are nor legitimate and asks jihadists to disrupt the election process by attacking the security forces securing the elections. Later, the Emirate praised the citizens for cooperating with the above request and stressed that because of such cooperation the elections failed.
Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda leader, calls upon jihadists, Palestinians in particular, to concentrate their efforts on breaching the Israeli siege on Gaza and perpetrate attacks on Israeli targets worldwide such as attacking Israeli embassies. Similarly, he called upon attacks on targets associated with Israeli allies such as the UK, US, France and Russia. He also justified the 9-11 attacks and condemned the US and Iranian operations against the Sunnis and clarified that the US only understands forceful language as manifested on the ground in Afghanistan thanks to the Afghani Taliban that forced the US government to come to the negotiation table.
Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS praises the organization’s members for their willingness to sacrifice their lives, being loyal to their leadership and the path it shows and for obeying Allah’s way. Staying this course, he clarified, will lead to victory as promised by Allah. In addition, al-Baghdadi encouraged them to keep up with the propaganda efforts and the fighting and focus on liberating ISIS members and their family members who are Sunni prisoner as well as exact revenge on whomever had hand in their incarceration.
Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam Wal-Muslimeen, an umbrella organization for Salafi jihadists in Mali condemned the leaders of the Sakhl (G5) for cooperating with France. The organization warned the Burkina Faso government that continued cooperation with France will lead to further attacks in its territory.
Sheikh Abu Ubaydah, the leader of al-Shabab al-Mujahidin, the al-Qaeda extension in Somalia took pride in the growing number of attacks against the Somali regime and their recent success. Further, he praised the stability in the territories under his rule and clarified that his organization wishes to implement Sharia on the entire Somali territory, establish a khalifate, drive the Christians off Muslim lands and preserve the resources of the Islamic nation. In addition, he said that his organization will oppose any International Court decision bringing Somali control in the Indian Ocean to an end.
Sheikh Abu al-Abed Ashdaa, a former senior member of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, fiercely criticized the organization’s leadership and its leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani. He accused them of financial corruption and military and political errors that caused, inter alia, to the departure of hundreds of troops and a low state of preparedness for the war with the Syrian military planning to invade Idlib. Sheikh Abd al-Mouhseini, a senior Salafi jihadist in Idlib joined Ashdaa’s criticism and called the organization’s members to depose al-Julani and appoint an honest leader in his stead. In response, senior ranking members of the organization accused Ashdaa of falsifying reality and expanding the rift and division within the organization.
ISIS fiercely criticizes in an al-Naba (its official publication) article the Nigerian (Christian) regime for persecuting Muslims in the country. In light of the above, ISIS threatened to the Nigerian government as well as other Christian regimes in western Africa that they would pay dearly for their crimes against Muslims. ISIS called upon its members in northern Nigeria to expand jihad to the entire Nigerian territory and the African Alliance member states’ territories until they will convert to Islam and failing that live under Islamic rule pay taxes to Muslims.
Abu Jandal al-Halili, a senior ISIS member, advises ISIS leadership to reexamine its decision making process and speed up the discussion over the theological debates and dilemmas it faces and reach a solution quickly as having an unresolved dilemma weakens the troops morale and unity of ranks.
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.
