Violence and Security

IS Announces New Caliph in Signal of Durability and Threat

April 04, 2022

The Islamic State's (IS) announcement this month of a new caliph-leader in the aftermath of the US strike in northern Syria earlier this year signals the durability and adaptability of the Islamist terror group and its continuing commitment to the establishment of an Islamic caliphate rooted in the Near East and with global scope, with IS' ability to withstand top leadership disruption underscoring the sustained security and ideological threat presented by the group's geographical spread, local support, and transnationalized bureaucratic structures.
Haqqani Terrorists Emerge as Kingmakers in Afghan Taliban Regime

April 04, 2022

Afghanistan's Minister of the Interior Sirajuddin Haqqani, listed on both US and UN most-wanted terrorists lists, is both a key official in the Taliban Islamist regime ruling Afghanistan and in the international Islamist terror grou, and his recent public appearance at a police trainee parade signals that the Haqqani network, with its close links to al-Qaeda, is emerging as kingmakers in the Afghan regime and its geopolitical networks across the region of South Asia.
US Court Trial of IS Beatles Reveals Brutality Inflicted on American Hostages

April 04, 2022

The US federal trial of British IS fighters known by the moniker of "the Beatles" heard testimony about the brutal, punitive treatment inflicted by the IS militants on American hostages, including being forced to engage in extended fighting with each other, waterboarding and forms of torture and humiliation.
US CENTCOM Commande Warns Afghanistan A Platform for Islamist Terror Groups

March 29, 2022

This week's testimony by Gen. Kenneth McKenize, Commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM) to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed that Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has evolved into an operational space for competing jihadi groups such as IS and al-Qaeda as well as a base for diverse Islamist groups to potentially launch attacks on the United States.
VOA: Jihadists Wreak Havoc in West Africa with Latest Attack in Niger

March 23, 2022

The security environment in the West African region at the intersection of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria continues to be threatened by active violence from a range of jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, evidenced in the latest lethal attack against a civilian bus in the impoverished country of Niger.
Nigeria Experience Shows Challenges with Reintegration of Former Islamist Fighters

March 23, 2022

A pilot program by the Nigerian government called “Operation Safe Corridor,” designed to rehabilitate and reintegrate deradicalized combatants from Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), is being met with significant resistance from those traumatized by Islamist kidnappings, rapes, and property destruction which, according to the United Nations, has displaced over two million people in the last decade
Turkey's Grand Imam Minimizes Femicide & Quotes Quran on Gender Equality

March 13, 2022

The grand imam appointed by Turkey's state leadership to preside over the Hagia Sophia after its conversion from a Byzantine Orthodox Cathedral into a mosque has condemned the term femicide as a media propaganda tool and points to the Quran, rather the human rights law, as the best explanation for the continuing increases in documented femicides and suspicious murders of women in Turkey.
Global Terrorism Index Shows Globalized Islamist Networks, IS as Deadliest Terror Group

March 08, 2022

The 2022 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) produced by internationally-respected, Australia-based think tank, Institute for Economics and Peace, reports on comprehensive empirical evidence that illustrates the reality of globalized Islamist violence, the consolidation of IS and its global franchises as the world's deadliest Islamic terror group, and noted expanding Islamist terror activity in Africa and South Asia given the concentration of weak and failed states in those regions.
Al Shabaab Continues to Destabilize Horn of Africa With Jihadist Violence

March 08, 2022

Somali jihadist, Al Qaeda-affiliated, Al Shabaab continues to demonstrate threats to stability and security in the geopolitically crucial Horn of Africa region, with the US carrying out drone strikes to reduce the transnational threat of the terrorist group, which increased its violence against the Somali government.
IS Militants Join Turkey-Backed Syrian National Army Fighting Syria's Assad Regime

March 08, 2022

Former IS militants are joining the ranks of the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) that continues to fight to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, using the SNA umbrella to avoid capture by al-Qaeda-related competitor groups and to remain in the regional locales of family and tribal connections, yet underscoring the vitality of IS as a threat to security in the Eastern Mediterranean.