Articles and Analysis

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.

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.

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.

AQAP leader Abu Baseer al-Wuhayshi

Reports circulated in the media point to an intercepted communication between al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Abu Baseer al-Wuhayshi as causing the U.S. government to issue a travel alert and temporarily close its embassies.

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.

The Facebook page “Hezbollah” is dedicated to the Lebanese militant group of the same name. 

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.

Explosives manuals involving pressure cookers such as those reportedly used in the bombings in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 15, 2013, have been distributed on jihadist forums in the past years and most recently appeared in an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)-produced compilation called the "Lone Mujahid Pocketbook".

In light of the twin bombings in the American city of Boston during the marathon race on April 15, 2013, while it is still early to identify the attacks as jihadi terrorism, such an operation was recommended by al-Qaeda strategist Abu Musab al-Suri, and his remarks about hitting sporting events were translated and published in the previously-released ninth issue of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) English-language magazine, "Inspire".