Banner of the Al Nusrah Front. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The US State Department will add Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Julani, the emir of al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in a decision to be announced formally tomorrow. The addition of al Julani to the US's list of global terrorists takes place just one month after he reaffirmed his allegiance to al Qaeda's emir, Ayman al Zawahiri, and confirmed that his group is part of the global terrorist network.

The US government added the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2012. Additionally, two senior Al Nusrah Front leaders, Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al Juburi and Anas Hasan Khattab, were added to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists the same day that the Al Nusrah Front was named as an FTO. Al Juburi and Khattab are both al Qaeda in Iraq operatives.

In the December 2012 designation of the Al Nusrah Front, the US said that the group is "a new alias" for al Qaeda in Iraq and is under operational control of AQI's emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi al Husseini al Qurshi, or Abu Dua.

Last month, a public dispute emerged between Abu Dua and al Julani after the former announced the merger of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Al Nusrah Front. The new entity, called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, was to replace all previous brands used by al Qaeda's affiliates in Iraq and Syria.

One day after Abu Dua made the announcement, al Julani rejected the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and said he had not been consulted about the official merger. Al Julani indicated that the official announcement was premature, and said his group would continue to operate under the banner of the Al Nusrah Front.

But while he rejected the formation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, al Julani noted that he was renewing both his and his fighters' allegiance to al Qaeda's emir.

"This is a pledge of allegiance from the sons of the al Nusrah Front and their supervisor general that we renew to the Sheikh of Jihad, Sheikh Ayman al Zawahiri, may Allah preserve him," al Julani said, according to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group. "We give a pledge of allegiance for obedience in good and bad in emigration and jihad and not to dispute with our superiors unless we see clear disbelief about which we have proof from Allah."

Since the public dispute between Abu Dua and al Julani, the Al Nusrah Front has not released official propaganda. The disagreement between the two emirs is said to be being mediated by al Qaeda's central leadership council.

The Al Nusrah Front was created in late 2011, and immediately began to impact the fight against the government of President Bashir al Assad. Leveraging the expertise of al Qaeda in Iraq, the group has launched suicide bombings and assaults, IED attacks, and conventional and guerrilla operations against the Syrian military and government.

Earlier this year, the US government estimated that the Al Nusrah Front has more than 10,000 fighters under its command. Since that estimate was issued, more than 3,000 fighters from the supposedly secular Free Syrian Army are said to have joined the Al Nusrah Front.

The group has overrun several major military bases and is in control of vast areas of eastern Syria, including the provincial capital of Raqqah. The Al Nusrah Front is administering sharia law in areas under its control.

The Al Nusrah Front has claimed credit for 57 of the 70 suicide attacks that have been reported in Syria since December 2011, according to a tally by The Long War Journal (note that multiple suicide bombers deployed in a single operation are counted as part of a single attack). So far this year, 17 suicide attacks have been reported in Syria; Al Nusrah has claimed credit for 14 of them.

For more information on the Al Nusrah Front, see the following LWJ reports:

US adds Al Nusrah Front, 2 leaders to terrorism list
Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al Nusrah Front emerge as rebranded single entity
Al Nusrah Front leader renews allegiance to al Qaeda, rejects new name
Free Syrian Army fighters defecting to Al Nusrah Front
Free Syrian Army commander praises Al Nusrah Front as 'brothers'

This morning in Kabul, a suicide bomber in an explosives-packed vehicle blew up a two-car American military convoy, killing at least 15 people. Six Americans died in the attack along with nine Afghan civilians, including two children. The attack also injured 42 others, of whom 39 were Afghan civilians.

The attack took place during morning rush hour near the diplomatic area of the Afghan capital, according to Dawn.

The International Security Assistance Force issued a press release which stated that "[t]wo International Security Assistance Force service members and four ISAF contracted civilians died following an improvised explosive device attack in Kabul, Afghanistan today." Afghan and ISAF officials confirmed that the ISAF members killed in the attack were American.

Today's attack, which damaged a number of residences and left some civilians so badly burnt they were unrecognizable, is the worst terror attack in Kabul since March, when a suicide bomber killed nine Afghans during a visit by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

Pajhwok Afghan News reported that the powerful blast in a Kabul residential area destroyed dozens of houses and 30 vehicles, including two belonging to foreigners.

The National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's intelligence agency, has stated that the NDS thwarts a large number of attacks on the capital every week, however.

The attack was claimed by the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, whose spokesman Haroon Zarghoun told Reuters that the group had targeted American military advisers. "We planned this attack for over a week," he said. He identified the suicide bomber as Qari Qudratullah from central Logar province, Pajhwok reported.

Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is a breakaway faction of the Hizb-i-Islami, which has joined the Afghan government. HIG is a radical Islamist group that is aligned with al Qaeda and the Taliban. It is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden in 2006 and is closely tied to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. In recent years, Hekmatyar has reached out to the Afghan government to conduct negotiations to end the fighting. [See LWJ report, Taliban, HIG infighting leads to split in Afghan insurgency in the North.]

Hizb-i-Islami, along with other terrorist groups, is known to have bases in the tribal regions of Pakistan and to support suicide bomber facilitation inside Afghanistan. On Sept. 18, 2012, a female HIG suicide bomber killed 12 people, mostly foreign workers, in an attack on a bus near Kabul International Airport. Like today's attack, that attack was claimed by Engineer Haroon Zarghoon, a spokesman for the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin faction of the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Female suicide bomber from Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin strikes in Kabul.]

On Feb. 7, ISAF reported that its forces captured a senior Taliban leader who worked closely with the militant group Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) during an operation by Afghan and Coalition forces in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. The commander is believed to facilitate suicide operations and "manages the recruitment, training and movement of insurgents to conduct attacks." He is also accused of using his "village leadership position to recruit suicide bombers and insider attack facilitators" from the local high school.

Today's attack indicates that the Taliban are back to targeting ISAF soldiers. Since the April 28 start of the group's spring offensive, 18 ISAF troops have been killed. Announcing this year's offensive, the Taliban said the campaign would focus primarily on the "foreign invaders," or Coalition forces operating under the command of the International Security Assistance Force, and stressed that suicide and insider attacks would be used. [See LWJ report, Taliban promise suicide assaults, 'insider attacks' in this year's spring offensive.]

The Department of Justice arrested an Uzbek national living in Idaho today and charged him with supporting the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and possessing an "unregistered destructive device," or bomb. Fazliddin Kurbanov faces charges in both Idaho and Utah, and is accused of conspiring to train others to purchase components to assemble a bomb.

Kurbanov is "legally present in the United States" at the time of his arrest and is currently living in Boise, Idaho, the Justice Department said in the press release that announced his arrest. He has been charged with "conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization," the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and "to terrorists," as well as "possessing an unregistered destructive device."

The Idaho indictment alleges that between August 2012 and May 2013, Kurbanov conspired with others, "both known and unknown," to provide funds and computer software to the IMU. These items were "to be used in preparation for and in carrying out an offense involving the use of a weapon of mass destruction."

Additionally, he "possessed a destructive device consisting of a combination of parts intended for use in converting any device into a destructive device could be readily assembled." Those parts included "a hollow hand grenade, hobby fuse, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and sulfur."

The Utah indictment claims that Kurbanov trained others to "make explosive devices."

Kurbanov "showed internet videos, conducted instructional shopping trips, provided written recipes and gave verbal instructions on where to obtain the necessary components to construct and use improvised explosive devices." The Justice Dept. said that the bombs were intended to be used "at a place of public use, a public transportation system or infrastructure facility; or destroying a building in interstate commerce."

It is unclear if Kurbanov was in direct contact with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan's network in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or in Central Asia.

The IMU has sought to conduct attacks in the West in the past. In 2009, a Mumbai-styled plot in Europe that was ordered by Osama bin Laden was foiled by Western Intelligence services after an IMU operative was captured in Afghanistan.

The US has heavily targeted the IMU in Afghanistan this year. So far, there have been 27 raids in 2013 against the IMU's network in the Afghan north. The IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During a raid on in Nuristan province on May 15, Afghan and Coalition special operations forces targeted a senior Taliban leader who is known to assist members of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, according to the International Security Assistance Force. The mention of al Qaeda by ISAF is the first since the end of January.

The ISAF report comes as members of Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, a group with ties to al Qaeda, conducted a suicide attack that killed six Americans in Kabul. Security forces also arrested two insurgent leaders with ties to the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan earlier in the week.

The targeted leader is the "top military official" for the Taliban in Nuristan's Waygal district, according to ISAF. He is reported to be "responsible for facilitating the movement of al Qaeda terrorists" in the district. He is also known to erect and enforce "illegal checkpoints" and to kidnap Afghan officials, in addition to directing attacks against security forces.

One insurgent was wounded during the raid; ISAF told The Long War Journal that he was an Afghan national affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Furthermore, ISAF said there are indications that he is affiliated with Arab foreign fighters. These are also likely members of al Qaeda.

Yesterday's mention of al Qaeda by ISAF is the first in its press releases since Jan. 24, when the military command announced that Wali, an al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader who coordinated the two groups' operations in the province, was killed during an operation in Dangam district in Kunar province. The day before, on Jan. 23, ISAF announced that it targeted another al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader during an operation in Ghaziabad district in Kunar.

ISAF has not explained the lack of reporting on operations against al Qaeda, and has declined a request by The Long War Journal to discuss the terror group's operations in Afghanistan.

Curiously, when asked by The Long War Journal about three separate operations in Nuristan province in the beginning of May, ISAF began to reveal the existence of "Arab"-linked insurgents. In one of those operations, Saleh Abd al Aziz Hamad al Luhayb, a Saudi operative, was killed in a raid in Waygal district. Luhayb was listed by Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry as one of the 47 most wanted terrorists in 2011, a strong indication that he was a member of al Qaeda. ISAF refused to assocate Luhayb and the other "Arab"-linked fighters to al Qaeda, however.

Both Nuristan and neighboring Kunar province are known hotbeds for al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan. Their border with the tribal regions of Pakistan makes them strategically situated for funneling weapons and fighters into Afghanistan. Additionally, Coalition forces have largely withdrawn from Nuristan following deadly attacks on US Army positions in the province.

Waygal district has seen some of the most intense fighting in Afghanistan. In 2011, the Taliban overran the district and expelled the Afghan government. US troops withdrew from the district in the summer of 2008 after a deadly assault by a joint force of 200-400 fighters made up from the Taliban, Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, and al Qaeda's Shadow Army assaulted a small combat outpost as it was being built. Based on a study by The Long War Journal, it appears that Afghan and Coalition forces have targeted al Qaeda-linked fighters twice in the district this year.

Raids against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

Also reported this week were two operations in Burkah district, Baghlan province in which members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al Qaeda-linked group, were arrested. Both targets, identified as Afghan nationals of Uzbek descent with ties to Uzbek foreign fighters, were detained on the same day. The first, an IMU leader, was an IED expert who constructed, distributed, and planned IED attacks, ISAF says. He also directed suicide bombing operations in the district.

The second target was identified as a "senior insurgent leader" with ties to both the Taliban and the IMU. He is reported to command a group of fighters responsible for "a wide range of insurgent activities" including kidnapping Afghan civilians for ransom, robbing local businesses, and collecting taxes to fund insurgent operations. He also facilitates the movement of weapons and suicide vests in the local area. One other insurgent was captured during the raid, but he was not identified.

Burkah district, like Waygal district in the east, has served as a stronghold for insurgents. So far this year, Afghan and Coalition special operations forces have launched 11 raids in Burkah targeting the IMU and insurgents with ties to the group. Last week, five operations were conducted against the IMU, including two in Burkah.

The IMU has been heavily targeted by Coalition and Afghan forces. So far in 2013, ISAF has reported 27 raids against the IMU's network in the Afghan north.

US drones launched the first strike in Yemen in a month, killing four "militants" in an attack on a vehicle carrying explosives in a southern town plagued by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers launched several missiles at a truck "carrying grenades and explosive belts" in the Al Mahfad area in the southern province of Abyan on Friday night, AFP reported. Four suspected members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the airstrike.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and leaders regrouped in the Al Mahfad area after being driven from cities such as Zinjibar, Jaar, Lawdar, and Shaqra during a Yemeni military offensive that began in the spring of 2012 [see Threat Matrix report, AQAP regroups in Abyan province]. AQAP controlled the cities in Abyan, as well as other cities and towns in neighboring Shabwa province after launching their own offensive in 2011.

Since losing control of large areas of Abyan and Shabwa, AQAP has spread out into the provinces of Aden, Al Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a. Of the 29 drones strikes recorded by The Long War Journal over the past 11 months, 25 of them have taken place in the provinces of Aden, Al Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a.

The US has launched nine drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. The last strike took place on April 21 in the Wadi Abida area of Marib province; two AQAP operatives were reported killed.

In 2012, the US launched 42 drone strikes in Yemen against AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia. The previous year, the US launched 10 drone and air strikes against the al Qaeda affiliate.

Although five senior AQAP operatives were killed in strikes in Yemen in 2012, the group's top leadership cadre remains intact. In January, the Yemeni government claimed that Said al Shihri, the deputy emir of AQAP, died following an attack last fall; AQAP has not confirmed his death, however, and recently released a statement that hinted he may be alive.

The US has targeted both senior AQAP operatives who pose a direct threat to the US, and low-level fighters and local commanders who are battling the Yemeni government. This trend was first identified by The Long War Journal in the spring of 2012 [see LWJ report, US drone strike kills 8 AQAP fighters, from May 10, 2012]. Obama administration officials have claimed, however, that the drones are targeting only those AQAP leaders and operatives who pose a direct threat to the US homeland, and not those fighting AQAP's local insurgency against the Yemeni government.

For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2013.

The Taliban have claimed credit for a suicide attack in northern Afghanistan that killed the head of the provincial council in Baghlan province.

The suicide bomber, who was dressed in a police uniform, attacked and killed Mohammad Rasol Mohseni as he was walking into his office today at a government compound in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital. Also killed were 13 others, including his assistant, four bodyguards, and eight civilians.

The Taliban claimed credit for the attack in a statement that was emailed to reporters.

"Today at 11 am in front of the Baghlan provincial council office, we have carried out a suicide attack and killed the head of the council," the Taliban said in the statement, which was sent by spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.

Today's bombing in Baghlan is the second major suicide attack in Afghanistan in the past five days. On May 16, a suicide bomber from the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin killed six Americans and nine Afghans in an attack in Kabul. The Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin is a Taliban and al Qaeda-linked group that fights in Afghanistan.

The Taliban had said it would continue to target both NATO forces as well as Afghan security personnel and government officials when it announced its latest 'spring offensive' at the end of April.

In the announcement, the Taliban said it would continue to infiltrate Coalition and Afghan bases to conduct "martyrdom operations," or suicide attacks.

In the announcement of "Khalid bin Waleed spring operation," the Taliban also warned Afghans to "stay away from the bases of the invaders, their residential areas or working for them in order to avoid civilian losses." Additionally, the Taliban called on "all the officials and workers of the stooge Karzai regime to break away from this decaying administration."

The Taliban and its ally, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have conducted numerous assassinations in the Afghan north over the past several years. Some of the more prominent assassinations include the killing of the top Afghan police commander in the north, General Daud Daud, and his former Shura-e-Nazar deputy, Shah Jahan Noori, on May, 28 2011; and the murder of Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar in Tahkar on Oct. 8, 2010. Both men were killed in suicide attacks.

In February 2012, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security identified the existence of a Taliban cell that specialized in assassinations in the Afghan north. The cell is led by Qari Abdul Rahim, a Taliban commander who is based in Peshawar, Pakistan, and who is linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Rahim's cell supports terrorist operations in Kunduz, Badakhshan, and Baghlan provinces.

The US launched its second drone strike in Yemen in four days, killing two members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in an area in the central part of the country.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers launched missiles at the two fighters "as they left a farm on a motorbike" in the Khobza area of Baydah province today, AFP reported.

Two members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula were killed in the airstrike. The Yemeni military identified the fighters as Abd Rabbo Mokbal Mohammed Jarallah al Zouba and Abbad Mossad Abbad Khobzi.

Al Qaeda maintains a foothold in Baydah

AQAP has increased its presence in Baydah province over the past several years, and the US has pursued the terror group with drone strikes. On May 28, 2012, the US targeted Kaid al Dhahab, AQAP's emir in the province, and his brother Nabil, who is also a senior leader in the terror group, in a strike in the town of Rada'a.

Kaid took control of AQAP in Baydah after the death of his brother Tariq, who was the top AQAP leader in Baydah before he was killed in early 2012 in a feud with another brother, Hazam, a senior tribal leader in the town. Hazam was concerned that Tariq's affiliation with AQAP would incur the wrath of the Yemeni government. Before he was killed, Tariq had seized control of Baydah, raised al Qaeda's banner, sworn allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri, and warned that "the Islamic Caliphate is coming."

Kaid and Nabil were tasked with regrouping AQAP's forces in Baydah after Tariq's death. The two leaders are also brothers-in-law of slain AQAP leader and ideologue Anwar al Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike in the fall of 2011.

In January, US drones killed Mukbel Abbad, a senior AQAP leader in the province. Abbad was a brother-in-law of Tariq al Dhahab.

US expands drone strikes in Yemen

Since losing control of large areas of Abyan and Shabwa, AQAP has spread out into the provinces of Aden, Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a. Of the 30 drones strikes recorded by The Long War Journal over the past 11 months, 26 have taken place in the provinces of Aden, Baydah, Al Jawf, Damar, Hadramout, Hodeida, Ibb, Marib, Saada, and Sana'a.

The US has launched 10 drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. The last strike took place three days ago in the province of Abyan; four AQAP operatives were reported killed.

In 2012, the US launched 42 drone strikes in Yemen against AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia. The previous year, the US launched 10 drone and air strikes against the al Qaeda affiliate.

Although five senior AQAP operatives were killed in strikes in Yemen in 2012, the group's top leadership cadre remains intact. In January, the Yemeni government claimed that Said al Shihri, the deputy emir of AQAP, died following an attack last fall; AQAP has not confirmed his death, however, and recently released a statement that hinted he may be alive.

The US has targeted both senior AQAP operatives who pose a direct threat to the US, and low-level fighters and local commanders who are battling the Yemeni government. This trend was first identified by The Long War Journal in the spring of 2012 [see LWJ report, US drone strike kills 8 AQAP fighters, from May 10, 2012]. Obama administration officials have claimed, however, that the drones are targeting only those AQAP leaders and operatives who pose a direct threat to the US homeland, and not those fighting AQAP's local insurgency against the Yemeni government.

For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2013.

US Marine CWO-5 Jim Roussell (L) and Captain Jason Brezler stand in the crater left by a chlorine truck bomb detonated in the village of Albu Aifan south of Fallujah on March 16, 2007. Photo courtesy of Jason Brezler.

The following excerpt from the new book 'Fallujah Awakens: Marines, Sheikhs and the Battle Against al Qaeda' by Bill Ardolino reconstructs the detonation of a suicide truck bomb packed with chlorine gas that was deployed by al Qaeda in Iraq against the village of Albu Aifan on March 16, 2007.

The chemical attack was one of a dozen executed by insurgents in Baghdad, Anbar province, and Diyala province during 2007, and one of two such bombings in the Fallujah district that evening. The targeting of Albu Aifan reflected the radical insurgency's desperation to sever the strengthening alliance between leaders of the Albu Issa tribe and US Marines that had formed at the beginning of that year. The tactic was designed to cow the sheikhs into surrender or send them back into exile, but the brutality of using chlorine against civilians, and the goodwill earned by the US military's response, backfired against the insurgents. The attack was a turning point in the Third Battle of Fallujah.

If you enjoy the material, please purchase a copy of the book. All author proceeds from the first edition benefit the Semper Fi Fund for injured service members.

Cpl. Steven Levasseur had to relieve himself before he left the patrol base. His squad, led by Sgt. Kendrick Doezema and accompanied by 1st Lt. Jerome Greco, had pushed out to "FOB Dark" earlier that day to support Weapons Platoon in the area south of Albu Aifan village. After conducting an hours-long foot patrol, capturing a detainee, and encountering a fierce firefight between Iraqi combatants, the Marines had returned to the large abandoned house and staged their vehicles to leave for home; warm meals and beds awaited them at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Black.

Levasseur was sitting in the front passenger seat of his Humvee, which also held the lance corporals Jacob Dennert, Robert Bishop, and on the turret, Matt Hough. The squad had been waiting in and around their vehicles for about ten minutes while Greco conferred with their replacements. As soon as the lieutenant was finished, they would move out. If Levasseur was going to go to the bathroom, he had to do it now, so he opened the front passenger door and stepped into the dusty courtyard. It was about 6: 00 p.m. on March 16, 2007. A pre-dusk gloom had started to settle over the peninsula, and the dry air had cooled to a relatively comfortable temperature. The corporal walked about ten paces to the inside wall of the courtyard.

He soon heard the low rumble of an approaching vehicle. Levasseur glanced to his right and back. A dump truck with a blue cab and yellow trailer was moving slowly down the street that ran alongside the patrol base. It was a little unusual to see a civilian on these roads around sunset, and the truck was crawling at an oddly slow ten miles per hour. "Could that be a truck bomb?" he thought. Vehicle-borne bombs were a constant threat, an omnipresent specter in the mind of every Marine when a nonmilitary vehicle approached his position. Levasseur held on to his opened trousers with his left hand and raised his M-16/ 203 with his right. He "chickenwinged" the rifle for support, sandwiching the butt against the medical pack attached to the side of his flak vest, and then steadied his finger over the trigger and tracked the driver with the weapon's muzzle.

The truck turned left at the corner of the base, moving north on the road that ran directly in front of him and the parked Humvees behind him. Its elevated cab drew within a few meters of Levasseur, and he got a clear look at the driver over the curved stone wall that separated them. An Arab with long black hair stiffly gripped an oversized steering wheel. The man's eyes were wide and the color had drained from underneath his dark brown complexion. He looked "scared shitless," recalled the young Marine, who suspected "something wasn't right." He knew that "if that guy has a bomb and turns into our compound ... we're fucked."

As the driver passed the Marine, he furtively glanced left at the wary American before returning his gaze to the road. The vehicle moved beyond the entrance to the patrol base and continued north. Relieved, Levasseur lowered his weapon and fixed his trousers. The Iraqi had driven slowly and acted strangely, but oddness itself wasn't necessarily odd around Fallujah. Harmless locals often acted nervously around Marines. Iraqis recycled well-worn tales of trigger-happy Americans, and some feared being shot for making any kind of potentially provocative move, especially while driving. And in this case, Levasseur had been pointing his weapon at the truck. The corporal climbed back into his team's idling Humvee. The tired Marines waited for Greco. They were "pissed" that they had been forced to conduct an unexpected mission that day, so the men sat in silence. A few minutes later, the ground shook with the rumble of a huge explosion.

Through the windshield, Levasseur saw a flash of light and a massive cloud of smoke shoot straight and high into the air less than a mile away. The column of dirt morphed into a multi-story mushroom cloud, a light gray stem with a dark cap. In a neighborhood sometimes rocked by several detonations a day, this one stood out as massive. Waiting in an adjacent Humvee, Doezema, the squad leader, marveled at the size of the blast. "That was ridiculous," he thought. The Iraqi detainee they had captured earlier that day was sitting in the vehicle with him. When the explosion shook the ground, the blindfolded, flex-cuffed prisoner began shaking in fear.

"Oh my God, did you see that shit?" yelled Lance Corporal Hough from his vantage in the turret of Levasseur's Humvee.

"Yes," replied Levasseur. "Get in the house, right now." Fearing they might be the target of an attack, the Marines poured from the staged vehicles and ran for the superior cover afforded by the fortified patrol base.

The loud explosion resembled the thunderous boom of 155-mm Marine artillery rather than a garden-variety roadside bomb. Some of the Marines suspected it was a 120-mm mortar lobbed at the patrol base and that more might be headed their way. Someone had heard a gunshot right before the explosion.

"It's an IED, someone hit an IED," was one assessment.

"No, no. That was not an IED," said Levasseur.

***

Tha'er Khalid Aifan al-Issawi commanded a team of militiamen at the southernmost checkpoint guarding an entrance to the village of Albu Aifan. The sun had begun to slip below the horizon, and the haunting, electric chant of the muezzins broadcast from speakers atop the area's mosques had called the faithful to prayer. As Tha'er manned the checkpoint, most of the eight militiamen under his command knelt in worship inside the courtyard of a house next to their roadblock, which consisted of a series of large stones set in the center of the dusty street. Though the way was partially blocked, the largest boulder was not in place; the militiamen had planned only on light traffic in the hours prior to sunset, and each movement of the heavy stone required the strained effort of four men.

In the distance, Tha'er saw a twinkling set of headlights approaching his checkpoint. He squinted toward the road in the gathering gloom. At first he thought it was the Americans, but he quickly discarded that idea. There was only one vehicle, and the Americans traveled in groups. The headlights floated several feet above the road, so he realized it had to be a truck. Only minutes before, civilian traffic had almost ceased; the prayer was under way, and the peninsula's widely enforced nighttime curfew was near. Tha'er gripped his rifle and jogged south, toward the oncoming headlights. Sa'ad Salah, his twenty-two-year-old nephew, scooped up his Kalashnikov and followed. Tha'er began to make out a large yellow dump truck. No one from his village or the villages of allied subtribes owned anything like it. He and his fellow militiamen usually prepared for an attack if they didn't recognize a vehicle.

The truck moved slowly but steadily forward, seemingly weighted down by heavy cargo. The militiamen continued on to meet the vehicle until it drew within a few dozen meters. Tha'er motioned and yelled at the truck to stop. The driver paid no heed to the militiaman's commands and signals. Instead of stopping, he hit the gas. As the truck strained to accelerate under its heavy load, Tha'er and Sa'ad barely had time to scramble off the road to avoid being hit. Tha'er glimpsed the driver's face in the fading light. He recalls dark features and a "hateful expression." Purpose replaced the militiaman's scrutiny. He now knew that it was a bomb, and "if it reached the center of the village it [was] going to kill a lot of my friends and family." He had to stop the attack.

Tha'er flipped the selector switch on his AK-47 downward to fully automatic, braced the rifle, and aimed at the back of the dump truck. The trailer was where the explosives would be, and it was the only clear shot he had. The militiaman pressed and held the trigger, ripping off a seven-to-ten-round burst at the vehicle, now only about ten meters from breaching the pervious roadblock. Sa'ad's rifle barked to life beside him. "The truck is so close, I am going to die when this explodes," he later recalled thinking. Suddenly, the clatter of the two Kalashnikovs was obliterated by a massive explosion. The truck disappeared in a soaring burst of flame, which itself was snuffed quickly and replaced by billowing clouds of dust. A wave of overpressure seemed to douse the fire as a column of smoke towered several stories into the darkening sky and began to mushroom.

Tha'er doesn't recall being knocked down. He examined himself for injuries, but his probing fingertips couldn't find any major wounds to his legs or torso. He then looked around for Sa'ad, who was lying several meters away. On unsteady legs, Tha'er slowly moved toward the young man. He saw a wash of blood covering his nephew's youthful face; a piece of shrapnel had left a small gash on the top of his head. He was in a great deal of pain. Tha'er pulled him farther from the truck's mangled ruins, until the strength drained from his limbs and he had to sit down to rest.

The light had faded, and a thick, chalky haze descended around him. The air smelled odd, vaguely like chemicals or building materials burning in a house fire. Tha'er couldn't see more than three or four meters in any direction. He began to cough. His lungs burned. A row of lights danced up and down through the darkness and smoke. There were no distinguishable sounds, as if his ears were packed with cotton. He began to make out the dim outlines of his tribesmen holding flashlights. They had run to the site of the explosion and were picking through the ashy metal wreckage of the dump truck looking for bodies.

For some reason, Tha'er recalls methodically running his hand along the side of his rifle, still slung around his neck, and conscientiously flipping the selector switch up to "safe." Someone spotted him, and about a half dozen men ran over with flashlights. He couldn't hear them although they were yelling questions at him. It was irritating. Tha'er's rescuers helped him back toward the village. The chemical odor became stronger and stranger. He had never smelled anything quite like it; he felt as if he might throw up. He looked back and saw that Sa'ad was in distress. An asthmatic, his bleeding nephew was panicking and choking as tribesmen helped him toward the village. The Iraqis' lungs were on fire, but they didn't know exactly why.

***

Fallujah Awakens, which has earned a "starred review" from Publisher's Weekly, is available now. The author proceeds from the first edition benefit the Semper Fi Fund, which helps injured service members.

On May 20, the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center (ITMC), a jihadist media unit tied to the Gaza-based Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), released a video from Abu Talha al Libi, the sharia official of the Muhajireen Brigade in the Levant, to jihadist forums and their Facebook and Tumblr pages.

In the video, titled "Fear Allah, O Hamas," al Libi slams Hamas' recent campaign against Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the video. Al Libi claims that Hamas has engaged in the torture and imprisonment of Salafi jihadists.

Al Libi asks what the purpose of the campaign is. "Is it service to your interests, or is it service to Islam and Muslims? By Allah, it is not service to Islam and Muslims by arresting the mujahideen and torturing them to protect the Israeli enemy," he says. He goes on to say that Hamas' current actions are "not the way" of Hamas founders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz al Rantisi, both of whom were killed by Israel in 2004.

While al Libi laments that Hamas has "deviated from the way [of jihad]," he urges the group to "come back to your original path ... and don't abandon your rifles." Later in the video, al Libi calls on Hamas members to "[p]ut your hands in the hands of the mujahideen and become one hand against Israel."

The new video comes at an interesting moment, as public complaints from Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip against Hamas had appeared to dissipate to a certain extent over the past 10 days.

Earlier in May, Salafi jihadists were openly complaining about the Hamas-run Field Control Force, which has reportedly increased deployment in the Gaza Strip to prevent the firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza.

Tensions between Hamas and the Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip increased significantly after the targeted killing by Israel of Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, a well known jihadist, on April 30. On May 1, the ITMC released a statement to jihadist forums which seemed to suggest that the Salafi jihadists believe Masshal was set up by elements within Hamas. This matches the claim of an April 30 statement from a Facebook page for supporters of Salafi jihadists in Gaza suggesting that it appeared Masshal had been offered "on a golden platter" to Israel by Hamas.

On the same day as Masshal's death, Asharq al Awsat reported that Hamas was increasing its efforts to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. Members of Hamas' al Qassam Brigades have been "deployed in the border areas of the Gaza Strip replacing policemen with the aim of preventing the firing of rockets from Gaza," the report stated. In addition, al Qassam Brigades members have reportedly "set up fixed and mobile roadblocks" to search cars and find those firing the rockets. Another report from Al Ayyam similarly stated that Hamas has warned Salafi jihadist groups in the Gaza Strip that those who fire rockets at the current time will be arrested and that the firing rockets should not occur "without a general national consensus" on the issue.

On May 2, Hamas' Interior Ministry announced the arrest of six Salafists, four of whom were accused of stealing rockets from other terror groups in the Gaza Strip. The ITMC condemned the announcement and said those detained had been arrested only because of their beliefs. Five days later, the ITMC accused members of the Field Control Force of firing on and injuring at least one Salafi jihadist in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC) is a consolidation of a number of Salafi jihadist groups operating in the Gaza Strip including, but not limited to: Tawhid and Jihad Group in Jerusalem, and Ansar al Sunnah. Sheikh Anas Abdul Rahman, one of the group's leaders, has said that the group aims to "fight the Jews for the return of Islam's rule, not only in Palestine, but throughout the world."

Chechen jihadist holds leadership position in the Muhajireen Brigade

The Muhajireen Brigade, or Emigrants' Brigade, is a unit made up of foreign jihadists who fight in Syria, and is closely allied with the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in the country.

The Muhajireen Brigade is commanded by Abu Omar al Chechen, a jihadist from Russia's Caucasus region who is linked to the Islamic Caucasus Emirate. The group is known to fight alongside the Al Nusrah Front and has participated in overrunning several Syrian military bases.

The Muhajireen Brigade has succeeded in absorbing Syrian Islamist groups under its command. At the end of March, Abu Omar al Chechen announced that the Muhajireen Brigade had merged with several Syrian jihadist groups and formed the Muhajireen Army. Abu Omar al Chechen took command of the newly formed army.

The group has "more than 1,000 Mujahideen, Muslim volunteers from different countries, including the Caucasus Emirate," stated Kavkaz Center, a propaganda arm of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate. Fighters from Europe are known to have been killed while serving with the Muhajireen Brigade.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said today that four Americans, including Jude Mohammed, who was rumored to have been killed in a drone strike two years ago, have died in US "counterterrorism operations" since 2009. Mohammed had been arrested in Pakistan for attempting to enter the tribal areas, but evaded a trial after skipping bail.

Holder noted that Anwar al Awlaki, Samir Khan, and Anwar's son Abdul Rahman were also killed. All three are known to have died in US drone strikes in 2010. But Anwar was the only one who was "specifically targeted," according to a letter that was sent to senior Congressmen today and obtained by ABC News.

"Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of US counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one US citizen, Anwar al Awlaki," Holder said, while not identifying the "associated forces."

"The United States is further aware of three other US citizens who have been killed in such US counterterrorism operations over that same time period: Samir Khan, 'Abd al-Rahman Anwar al Awlaki and Jude Kenan Mohammed. These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States," Holder continued.

Anwar al Awlaki and Samir Khan were killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. Anwar served as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's external operations commander, recruiter, and a senior ideologue. Khan served as the editor of Inspire, AQAP's English-language magazine that incites Western Muslims to wage jihad and carry out operations on their own.

Abdul Rahman al Awlaki, Anwar's son, was killed in a drone strike just weeks after his father was killed. The strike that killed Abdul Rahman had targeted Ibrahim al Bana, AQAP's media emir. According to a Yemeni journalist who has spent time with AQAP, Abdul Rahman said just hours before he was killed that he hoped "to attain martyrdom as my father attained it."

Anwar, Khan, and Abdul Rahman were all operating in areas under direct AQAP control.

Mohammed is suspected of being a member of an eight-man cell of Muslims from North Carolina who conspired to wage jihad overseas. The seven others, who were led by Daniel Boyd, are believed to have taken a half dozen trips in an effort to engage in violent jihad abroad; each attempt ended in failure.

Mohammed was more successful in traveling overseas and joining other jihadists. He was arrested in 2008 while trying to illegally enter Pakistan's tribal areas. A Pakistani judge granted Mohammed bail, despite the fact that he was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists; the US Department of Justice said he sought "to engage in violent jihad." He promptly disappeared, never to be tried.

Friends of Mohammed said that he was last heard from in the fall of 2011. One friend told WRAL that Mohammed was killed in a drone strike in November 2011. His death was never confirmed, but he was never heard from again.

The date and location of the strike were not given. The US conducted two strikes in November 2011, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. Both strikes took place in Miramshah, the main town in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan [see LWJ reports, US Predator strike kills 3 Haqqani Network fighters in North Waziristan and US Predators strike in Miramshah].

Miramshah is administered by the Haqqani Network, a Taliban subgroup that is based in North Waziristan and fights US and Afghan forces across the border in Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network has close ties to al Qaeda and is backed by Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Pakistan has rebuffed US pressure to launch an offensive against the Haqqani Network and the plethora of terror groups, including al Qaeda, that are based in North Waziristan. The US has resorted to using drones to target key terrorist operatives, commanders, and leaders, but has failed to dislodge these groups from North and neighboring South Waziristan.

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A pair of suicide bombers from the al Qaeda-linked Movement for Tawhid [Oneness or Unity] and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) killed 19 people, including 18 soldiers, in attacks that targeted a military barracks and a French-run uranium mine in Niger. The attacks are the first of their kind in the West African country, and signal that the jihadist insurgency that is raging in the neighboring countries of Mali, Nigeria, and Algeria is spreading.

The first attack was executed by a suicide assault team against a military barracks in the town of Agadez in northwestern Niger. Five suicide bombers carried out the attack in Agadez, which killed 18 soldiers and a civilian, according to the BBC. Gunfire between the attackers and Nigerien troops was reported after the initial explosion. Four members of the assault team were killed, while the fifth is said to be holding four Nigerien soldiers hostage.

The second attack took place at the Somaïr mine in Arlit, which is just north of Agadez. A suicide bomber who was dressed as a soldier detonated his explosives near a group of workers. AREVA, the French company that runs the uranium mine, said that "13 colleagues have been injured" and were "taken into the care by local emergency services."

In early February, France deployed special forces to beef up security at the Arlit and Imouraren mining sites, a month after launching an operation against an alliance of jihadist groups who had taken control of northern Mali. France derives about 20 percent of the raw material for its nuclear reactors from Niger.

MUJAO spokesman Abu Walid Sahraoui claimed credit for the attacks and said they were carried out to punish Niger for participating in operations in Mali.

"Thanks to Allah, we have carried out two operations against the enemies of Islam in Niger," Sahraoui told AFP. He accused the Nigerien government of action in "cooperation with France in the war against Sharia," or Islamic law. By the end of 2012, MUJAO, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Ansar Dine had seized northern Mali and were seeking to impose sharia in areas under their control.

Although today's bombings are the first suicide attacks recorded in Niger, MUJAO has targeted Nigerien forces at least once in neighboring Mali over the past month. On May 10, a MUJAO suicide bomber attacked Nigerien soldiers in the Malian town of Gao; no soldiers were killed in the attack. Nigerien forces are part of a multinational force attempting to secure northern Mali.

The US added MUJAO and two of its top leaders to the list of global terrorists and entities in December 2012. MUJAO was formed in late 2011 as an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the al Qaeda affiliate in North Africa, for the purpose of waging jihad in western Africa. Although MUJAO leaders are said to have leadership differences with the Algerian-dominated AQIM, MUJAO conducts joint operations with AQIM in northern Mali and other areas. At the time of its formation, MUJAO expressed affinity to al Qaeda and its founder, Osama bin Laden, and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Jihadists in West Africa have attacked energy production sites in the region in the past. In January, just after French forces invaded Mail, the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or Those who sign with Blood Brigade, launched a deadly suicide assault on the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria. The group is led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who split off from AQIM to form his own unit. He claimed the In Amenas attack under al Qaeda's banner.

In addition to the Islamist insurgencies raging to the north and west of Niger, another is underway to the south, in Nigeria. There, the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram has launched numerous deadly attacks and suicide bombings against the military, government officials, and Christian churches in the north. Last week, the Nigerian government declared martial law in the north and launched an offensive to root out Boko Haram after the terror group killed more than 200 people, including scores of security personnel, in attacks in the northeast near Lake Chad. Boko Haram is believed to use the porous borders to move between Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. On May 20, Nigeria formally requested Niger's military help in combating the Boko Haram insurgency.

Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Image from Sahara Media.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, said that its fighters participated in yesterday's double suicide attack in Niger along with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). The attack was launched to avenge the death of a senior al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb commander who was killed while fighting in Mali earlier this year, he claimed. The statement also put to rest rumors that Belmokhtar was killed in Mali by French and Chadian forces in early March.

Belmokhtar's statement was posted on jihadist forums on May 23; it was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The statement was signed by Khalid Abu al Abbas, which is one of Belmokhtar's aliases.

The May 23 suicide attacks, the first of their kind in Niger, targeted a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. The Agadez attack was executed by a five-man suicide assault team; 18 Nigerien soldiers and a civilian were killed. A MUJAO spokesman claimed credit for the attack.

Belmokhtar said the attacks in Niger were executed to avenge Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid, an AQIM commander who was killed by French and Chadian forces during a military operation to root out the terror group in northern Mali.

"We send to our dear Ummah a glad tiding of one of the epics of Islam that took place in the heart of the enemy land, and one of the invasions of al Mua'qi'oon Biddam under the name of the martyred commander, as we consider him, Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid," Belmokhtar stated.

Belmokhtar said that "a battalion from our commandos who gave a pledge of allegiance to die rose to retaliate for him [Abou Zeid], coming from different countries to sign with their blood inside the fortresses of an enemy whose army was one of the foundations of the Crusader campaign on our Muslim land."

The attack was also launched as "the first of our response to the statement of the President of Niger - from his masters in Paris - that he eliminated jihad and the mujahideen militarily."

Warning that "more operations" are being prepared, Belmokhtar said, "We will move the battle to the inside of his country [Niger] if he doesn't withdraw his mercenary army" from Mali. Belmokhtar also warned other countries who plan to provide "peacekeepers" in Mali that they will "taste the heat of death and wounds in [their] homelands and among [their] soldiers."

"The convoys of martyrdom-seekers and commandos are ready and waiting for their targets and permission," Belmokhtar concluded.

The al Mua'qi'oon Biddam fights throughout West Africa. In January, just after French forces invaded Mali to eject AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine from the north, Belmokhtar launched a large-scale suicide assault against the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria. More than 40 fighters carried out the attack. One of the assault teams was led by a Nigerien known as Abdul Rahman al Nigeri, who had led another assault on a military barracks in Mauritania in 2005. Belmokhtar claimed the attack in the name of al Qaeda.

Although Belmokhtar was reported to have been killed at the same time Abou Zeid was killed, the reports were never confirmed. The president of Chad and the military insisted that Belmokhtar was dead, but the French, who were adamant that Abu Zeid was killed, refused to speculate about the status of Belmokhtar. In early April, Hamad el Khairy, the head of MUJAO, claimed that Belmokhtar was alive.

Although Belmokhtar split with AQIM in December 2012, he still conducts joint operations with the group as well as with MUJAO. Belmokhtar reports directly to al Qaeda's central leadership, according to his spokesman. Al Qaeda central tightened its control over AQIM's hostage operations in late 2010.

The Turkistan Islamic Party, an al Qaeda-affiliated terror group, has released two videos over the past several months that glorify suicide attacks in Afghanistan. The group also identified several other fighters who were killed while fighting in Afghanistan.

Both videos were released by Islami Awazi, a propaganda arm of the Turkistan Islamic Party, and were obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The most recent video was "posted on a TIP-affiliated website on May 24, 2013," according to SITE. The video featured the suicide bomber, who was identified as Nuruddin and is is also known as Mehmet.

"Allah willing, we are planning this operation so to make the religion of Allah the Almighty supreme and predominant in the world, and to make polytheism disappear from the surface of the earth, and to make His religion the only religion on earth," Nuruddin said in Turkish, according to SITE.

Footage of Nuruddin carrying out his suicide attack is shown. The date and location of the attack were not disclosed.

The other video was released on Feb. 7 on a TIP-affiliated website, and featured a suicide bomber who is known as Muaz Kurdi and Yunus. Also featured in the Feb. 7 video is footage of TIP fighters training and conducting military operations in Afghanistan.

"Until you believe the unity of Allah, there is a great rage between you and us," Muaz Kurdi says in the video, before he carried out his suicide attack. "Until you believe in the Almighty, there will be a great rage and hatred between you and us."

Although the exact date and location of Muaz Kurdi's suicide attack were not disclosed, the TIP indicated he was killed sometime in 2011.

The video also praised "our Turkish brothers who emigrated from Turkey to the land of Khorasan and were martyred in our group."

The slain Turkish fighters were identified as Usame Turki (killed in 2007); Ebu Bekir Turki (2009); Davud Turki (2009); Usame Kurdi (2010); Ahmet Turki (2010); Ammar Kurdi (2010); and Zaza Dadullah (2012).

The Turkistan Islamic Party operates in China as well as in Central and South Asia, and is thought to have scores of fighters in Pakistan's tribal areas and in Afghanistan. In April the TIP released a video of children training at one of their camps in Pakistan's tribal areas.

TIP fighters have been targeted and killed by Coalition forces in Afghanistan and by US drone strikes in Pakistan. Abu Ubaydah Abdullah al Adam, a senior al Qaeda leader who serves as the terror group's intelligence chief, has written several biographies for TIP fighters killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Adam is thought to have been killed in a drone strike in mid-April.

The group's leaders also hold senior positions in al Qaeda. Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the slain former leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party, was a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council. And Abdul Shakoor al Turkistani, who was rumored to have been killed in a drone strike last year, is also thought to have been appointed to the Shura Majlis, in addition to being designated commander of al Qaeda forces in the tribal areas.

Prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, Abdul Haq ran a training camp for his recruits at al Qaeda's camp in Tora Bora in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province [see LWJ report, The Uighurs in their own words]. He later reestablished camps for the Turkistan Islamic Party in Pakistan's lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal areas. Twenty-two Turkistan Islamic Party operatives were ultimately captured and detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility; since then, 17 of them have been released or transferred to allied governments, and five have been approved for release but have refused resettlement in volunteer countries.

Coalition and Afghan special operations forces targeted a senior al Qaeda leader during a raid yesterday in a district in Kunar province that is known to host al Qaeda's network.

The combined special operations force killed two "insurgents" during a raid in the Watahpur district in Kunar, the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release.

The target of the raid was "a senior al Qaida leader" who serves as an operations chief, trainer, and facilitator in the east, ISAF noted.

"The senior leader is responsible for al-Qaida operations in the Waygal and Watahpur Valley," ISAF stated. "He oversees al-Qaida training in Nuristan where he provides improvised explosive device, artillery and counter-interrogation technique training to insurgents."

"He also plans and conducts IED, indirect fire and direct fire attacks against Afghan and coalition forces," ISAF continued.

ISAF would not provide further detail, including the nationality, on the al Qaeda leader.

Al Qaeda operatives are known to train members of affiliates and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These trainers provide instructions for battling security forces in local insurgencies as well as knowledge, expertise, funding, and resources to conduct local and international attacks. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army', for more information on al Qaeda's military operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.]

Yesterday's raid is the second reported by ISAF against al Qaeda's network in eastern Afghanistan in two weeks. On May 15, ISAF targeted the "top military official" for the Taliban in Nuristan's Waygal district. The Taliban commander is known to facilitate the movement of al Qaeda operatives into the region.

Today's mention of al Qaeda by ISAF is just the fourth in its press releases this year. In addition to the May 15 raid, ISAF announced on Jan. 24 that Wali, an al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader who coordinated the two groups' operations in the province, was killed during an operation in Dangam district in Kunar province. The day before, on Jan. 23, ISAF announced that it targeted another al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader during an operation in Ghaziabad district in Kunar.

ISAF has not explained the lack of reporting on operations against al Qaeda, and has declined a request by The Long War Journal to discuss the terror group's operations in Afghanistan.

Curiously, when asked by The Long War Journal about three separate operations in Nuristan province in the beginning of May, ISAF began to reveal the existence of "Arab"-linked insurgents. In one of those operations, Saleh Abd al Aziz Hamad al Luhayb, a Saudi operative, was killed in a raid in Waygal district. Luhayb was listed by Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry as one of the 47 most wanted terrorists in 2011, a strong indication that he was a member of al Qaeda. ISAF refused to associate Luhayb and the other "Arab"-linked fighters to al Qaeda, however.

US military and intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal that the "Arab"-linked insurgents are indeed members of al Qaeda.

Both Nuristan and neighboring Kunar province are known hotbeds for al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan. Their borders with the tribal regions of Pakistan makes them strategically situated for funneling weapons and fighters into Afghanistan. Additionally, Coalition forces have largely withdrawn from Nuristan following deadly attacks on US Army positions in the province.

Kunar is a known al Qaeda haven

For years, the rugged, remote Afghan province of Kunar has served as a sanctuary for al Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and allied terror groups. The presence of al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba cells has been detected in the districts of Asmar, Asadabad, Dangam, Ghazibad, Marawana, Nari, Pech, Shaikal Shate, Sarkani, Shigal, and Watahpur; or 11 of Kunar's 15 districts, according to press releases issued by ISAF that have been compiled by The Long War Journal.

Kunar province has remained a hotbed for al Qaeda throughout the surge of Coalition forces in Afghanistan, which ended last fall. Prior to the surge in 2009, there were six reported raids in Kunar targeting insurgents who were members of al Qaeda or were affiliated with the group. The number of raids increased slightly in 2010 to seven, then decreased in 2011 to three at the height of the surge. However, the spike in 2012 to 16 presents a discouraging indication that many of the al Qaeda-linked fighters who may have sought safe haven in Pakistan are now crossing back into Afghanistan as Coalition surge forces began to draw down.

Many of these raids have taken place in the Watahpur district. In 2012, eight of the 16 raids against al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba's networks occurred in the Watahpur district alone, according to a study by The Long War Journal. Ten senior al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders or operatives were killed in the operations, including al Qaeda's second-in-command for Afghanistan, al Qaeda's leader for Kunar, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba's emir for Kunar.

Al Qaeda is known to run training camps and maintain bases in Kunar, and uses the province to direct operations in the Afghan east. ISAF has targeted several bases and camps in Kunar over the years [see LWJ report, ISAF captures al Qaeda's top Kunar commander, for more details].

Al Qaeda remains entrenched in Afghanistan and Pakistan despite the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. A document seized at bin Laden's compound suggested that the actual number of al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan is much higher than the numbers mentioned in official estimates provided by the Obama administration over the past three years, which have remained static at 300-400 members in Pakistan and 50-100 in Afghanistan. Additionally, bin Laden advised that some al Qaeda operatives and leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas move to Kunar, Nuristan, Zabul, and Ghazni provinces to avoid drone strikes that focused on North and South Waziristan. [See LWJ reports, Bin Laden advised relocation of some leaders to Afghanistan due to drone strikes in Waziristan, and Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan.]

A classified US military assessment based on prisoner interrogations that was leaked to The New York Times in February 2012 said that al Qaeda maintains "a small haven" in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan.

"Northeastern Afghanistan has become a small haven for al Qaeda. Several al Qaeda commanders, including the al Qaeda emir for Kunar and Nuristan, Farouq al Qahtani, now live and operate in Afghanistan, with permission from the Taliban, but with the direct support of TTP [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] elements," the assessment stated.
US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal that Qahtani is a Saudi citizen. Several other Saudi al Qaeda members have also held top leadership positions in Kunar [see LWJ report, Senior al Qaeda leader, facilitator killed in airstrike in Kunar].

Another senior al Qaeda leader known to operate in Kunar is Azzam Abdullah Zureik Al Maulid Al Subhi, a Saudi who is better known as Mansur al Harbi. He was added by the State Department to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist list on Aug. 7, 2012. The Saudi Interior Ministry has said that al Harbi works "at a training camp in Afghanistan and is tied to numerous senior al Qaeda leaders including Abdel Aziz Migrin and Saif al Adel." Migrin headed al Qaeda's branch in Saudi Arabia and led attacks in the kingdom before he was killed in a firefight with Saudi security forces in June 2004. Saif al Adel is al Qaeda's second in command and top military strategist, and served as the interim leader after Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May 2011.

Additionally, Qari Zia Rahman, a dual-hatted al Qaeda and Taliban leader, operates in Kunar province as well as across the border in Pakistan's tribal agencies of Mohmand and Bajaur. ISAF forces have been hunting Qari Zia for years but have failed to capture or kill him.

The US killed seven people in the first drone strike in Pakistan in six weeks. The attack took place in an area of Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, and is rumored to have killed the deputy emir for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a compound in the village of Chashma, which is just outside of Miramshah, the main town in the tribal agency, according to Reuters.

Seven people were killed in the strike and several more were wounded. It is unclear, however, if those killed were civilians or jihadists allied with the Taliban, al Qaeda, or other terrorist groups known to shelter in the area.

Unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials claimed that Waliur Rehman, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in South Waziristan and deputy to emir Hakeemullah Mehsud, was killed in the strike. Additionally, an aide known as Fakhar-ul-Islam is said to have been killed in the strike along with "two unknown Uzbek nationals," according to CNN.

The Pakistani government has not officially stated that Rehman was killed. The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has neither confirmed nor denied reports of his death.

US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm or deny that Rehman was killed, but did say they were aware of reports of his death. One official said that Rehman is on the CIA's kill list and has been targeted in the past.

The strike took place in an area of North Waziristan that is administered by the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban subgroup that operates in eastern Afghanistan and is based in North Waziristan.

The strike is the first in Pakistan since April 17, when US drones targeted a compound in the neighboring tribal agency of South Waziristan.

The program was put on hold for "political considerations," a US intelligence official involved in the strikes in Pakistan told The Long War Journal several weeks ago. Pakistan held parliamentary elections on May 11, and the chiefs of the two leading parties in the polls, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, have been vocal opponents of the US program. Both candidates have also favored negotiations with the al Qaeda-affiliated Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, one of several Taliban factions operating in Pakistan.

Today's strike is the first since President Barack Obama's speech last week that outlined a reduced US counterterrorism role in the world. Obama said that the drones, which are currently operated by the CIA, will eventually be turned over to the military, and that the pace of the strikes will be reduced. Obama claimed that al Qaeda has been sufficiently attritted, despite the fact that the terrorist organization has expanded its operations in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt, and in North and West Africa.

The US has launched 14 drone strikes in Pakistan so far this year, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The number of strikes in Pakistan has decreased since a peak in 2010, when 117 such attacks were recorded. In 2011, 64 strikes were launched in Pakistan, and in 2012 there were 46 strikes.

The US has targeted al Qaeda's top leaders and its external operations network, as well as the assortment of Taliban and Pakistani jihadist groups operating in the region. The strikes have been confined mostly to North and South Waziristan. Of the 339 strikes recorded since 2004, 322, or 95%, have taken place in the two tribal agencies.

Al Faroq Media regularly publishes Mohammed al Zawahiri's statements and propaganda. The outfit published a statement from 20 Egyptian jihadists, including al Zawahiri, calling for attacks inside Shiite-led countries.

Twenty Egyptian jihadists have issued a statement calling upon Sunnis to launch attacks in Shiite-led countries in response to the Assad regime's offensive in Qusayr, a city in western Syria near Homs. The chief signatory on the statement is Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri.

The statement was released on May 25 by Al Faroq Media, an Egyptian jihadist propaganda outfit that is openly pro-al Qaeda and regularly publishes the younger Zawahiri's messages and videos.

"We call upon the Sunnis in general in the countries that are ruled by the Shiites, and the mujahideen in particular, to target these countries and move the battle inside them, in order for them to know that their punishment is painful and they are a united group that supports each other and no one disowns the actions of anyone else," the statement reads, according to a translation prepared by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The statement is the latest sign of growing tensions over the Syrian war between al Qaeda and like-minded jihadists on one side, and the Assad regime, Iran, and Hezbollah on the other.

During a background briefing with reporters on May 21, a senior State Department official pointed to reports that Iran and Hezbollah are fighting in Qusayr. "It is the most visible effort we have seen of Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force," this official said. "We understand there are also Iranians up there. That is what the Free Syrian Army commanders are telling us."

Al Qaeda's Al Nusrah Front is fighting "under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army" in Qusayr, according to Time.

In their statement, Mohammed al Zawahiri and his Egyptian compatriots say that Hezbollah and Iran must be confronted because of their actions in Qusayr. "Hezbollah and all who participated in the attack on Qusayr and other Muslim countries must be fought," the statement reads, according to SITE.

Iran and Hezbollah seek to "divide the region into mini-states that follow" their brand of Shiism, the Egyptian jihadists say, adding that the Shiites have a "deep hatred for our Sunni people everywhere that is no longer a secret, and their ritual killing of Sunnis, and Iraq is not far from us."

In addition to calling for attacks against Shiite governments, including Iran, Zawahiri and his ilk call upon all Sunnis to wage jihad in support of the mujahideen in Syria.

Sunnis "everywhere" must "deploy, whether you are light or heavy, to support and assist our people in the Levant in order to deter the aggression from them," the statement reads. "There is no excuse for anyone" to avoid jihad, it continues.

Mohammed al Zawahiri and the other Egyptians also call on "jihadi groups in the Levant that are based on the correct and clear creed" to "unite and remove differences and disputes among each other ... so that others who are not qualified will not pick the fruit of their jihad."

Mohammed al Zawahiri served under his brother as a top Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) commander in the 1990s. The younger Zawahiri routinely expresses his admiration for al Qaeda's leaders and defends the organization against ideological attacks. Other signatories on the statement include Murjan Salem, another former EIJ official, and Dawoud Khairat, an extremist who has spoken at Ansar al Sharia events in Egypt alongside Mohammed al Zawahiri. Khairat's Facebook page frequently includes posts praising al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Iran and al Qaeda

Since mid-2011, the Obama administration has pointed to collusion between the Iranian regime and al Qaeda on a number of occasions.

In July 2011, the Treasury Department exposed Iran's formerly "secret deal" with al Qaeda. This "agreement" allows al Qaeda operatives to shuttle money and fighters through Iran to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

At the end of 2011, the State Department announced a reward of $10 million for information leading to the capture of Yasin al Suri, the head of al Qaeda's Iran-based network.

Two months later, in February 2012, the Treasury Dept. designated Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) for supporting al Qaeda, among other offenses.

The State Dept.'s Country Reports on Terrorism for 2011, which was released in July 2012, noted that Iran "allowed AQ members to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iranian territory, enabling AQ to carry funds and move facilitators and operatives to South Asia and elsewhere."

And in November 2012, the Treasury Dept. designated the deputy head of al Qaeda's Iran-based network and "further expose[d]" how the agreement between the Iranian regime and al Qaeda works. Treasury also named the new head of the network, Muhsin al Fadhli, a Kuwaiti who has long been a key al Qaeda operative. The State Dept. also announced rewards for al Fadhli and his deputy.

The million dollar question is: How, exactly, will al Qaeda's relationship with Iran be affected by the Syrian war, which pits the two on opposite sides?

The statement by Mohammed al Zawahiri and his fellow jihadists did not come from al Qaeda proper, but the ties between these Egyptians and al Qaeda cannot be easily dismissed. Mohammed al Zawahiri is especially ostentatious about his adherence to al Qaeda's ideology. And the statement certainly represents a growing body of thought within al Qaeda's sphere of influence.

In April, Ayman al Zawahiri himself said that "the true faces of Iran and Hezbollah have been exposed, and their ugly reality has appeared in the field of holy war in Syria."

Ironically, the Assad regime sponsored al Qaeda's pipeline through Syria into Iraq during the fight against the US-led coalition. Al Qaeda in Iraq turned that pipeline against the Syrian government in late 2011, forming the Al Nusrah Front to fight the regime and its allies, which include Iran and Hezbollah.

On May 29, Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor who investigated the 1994 AMIA bombing, issued a 500-page indictment that accused Iran of establishing terror networks throughout Latin America since the 1980s. The Iranian regime infiltrated "several South American countries by building local clandestine intelligence stations designed to sponsor, foster and execute terrorist attacks, within the principles to export the Islamic revolution," a two-page summary of the report obtained by The Long War Journal stated.

In a 31-page summary report obtained by The Long War Journal, Nisman said that Iran's "clandestine intelligence stations and operative agents ... are used to execute terrorist attacks when the Iranian regime decides so, both directly or through its proxy, the terrorist organization Hezbollah." Nisman also warned that Iran could seek to use sleeper cells. While presenting the indictment on May 29, Nisman reportedly said that members of the sleeper cells "[s]ometimes ... die having never received the order to attack."

Iran has set up intelligence bases in a number of South American countries, according to Nisman, including, but not limited to: Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. Nisman, the summary stated, plans to send his indictment "to the pertinent judicial authorities" in the various countries. A copy of the indictment is also being sent to US authorities.

In addition to revealing the extent of Iran's infiltration in South America, Nisman reportedly succeeded "to corroborate and strengthen with new evidence" that shows that the Iranian regime was responsible for the AMIA bombing in 1994, which killed 85 people. According to Nisman, the terror attack was "not an isolated incident," but rather must "be investigated and understood as a segment in a larger sequence."

Nisman charges that this "larger sequence" can be seen from the comments of former IRGC commander, Javad Mansouri, during a conference in 1982 in Tehran. During that conference, which Nisman contends was the "turning point for the regime's method to export the [Islamic] Revolution," Mansouri declared, "Our revolution can only be exported with grenades and explosives." According to Nisman, "it was concluded [during the conference] that the regime would use violence and terrorism to reach its expansionist objectives. And that is why Javad Mansouri called to turn each Iranian embassy into an intelligence center and a base to export the revolution."

With regard to the AMIA bombing, Nisman said that Samuel Salman el Reda, who is wanted by Argentine authorities in connection with the terror attack, "used a false Colombian identity and citizenship to enter Argentina several years before" the attack. According to Nisman, el Reda receives "cover and protection in Lebanon" from Hezbollah today.

Nisman also said that "front companies" enabled those behind the AMIA bombing to carry out the attack. Such activities continue, Nisman asserted. "The repetition of violent actions is not a coincidence. It is the manifestation of a radical policy which is characterized by the dual use of diplomatic offices, cultural or charity associations and even mosques, as coverage to hide illegal activities," the summary of the indictment stated.

Besides shedding light on Iran's intelligence operations and its ties to the AMIA terror attack, Nisman also revealed details on how Abdul Kadir, "the most important Iranian agent" in Guyana, who was convicted in 2010 in a plot to bomb John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, was led by Mohsen Rabbani, Iran's former cultural attache in Buenos Aires.

During his trial, prosecutors charged that Kadir had "repeatedly communicated" with Rabbani, who is wanted in connection with the AMIA bombing. Kadir, during cross-examination, admitted that he had previously "drafted reports about Guyana's economy, foreign policy and military for the Iranian ambassador to Venezuela [Morteza Tavasoli], which included details like the low morale in the army," the New York Times reported.

There were "common patterns between the activities performed by Kadir in Guyana and those developed by Rabbani in Argentina," according to Nisman. "It became evident that in the Caribbean nation had been settled the same Iranian intelligence infiltration system as it was in Argentina, consisting of many stages, interactive and complex links," the summary continued.

Hakeemullah and Waliur Rehman Mehsud, before the Pakistani Army launched the South Waziristan offensive.

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan's top spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan, confirmed today that Waliur Rehman, the group's deputy leader and emir in South Waziristan, was killed in a US drone strike yesterday. The Taliban vowed to avenge his death and also withdrew the prospects of peace talks with the newly elected Pakistani government.

Rehman, his deputy Fakhar-ul-Islam, and two Uzbeks were among seven people killed in yesterday's strike at a compound in the village of Chashma just outside Miramshah in North Waziristan. The attack took place in an area administered by the Haqqani Network, the Pakistani Taliban subgroup that is backed by Pakistan's military and Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and is closely allied with al Qaeda and other terror groups in the region. While the Haqqani Network is not officially part of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, it closely works with the group and shelters its leaders and fighters in North Waziristan.

The strike was the first in Pakistan in six weeks, and the first since Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz political party came out on top in Pakistan's parliamentary election on May 11. Sharif has indicated he wished to negotiate with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan to end years of fighting in Pakistan's tribal areas and the greater northwest.

Ihsan confirmed Rehman's death during an interview with Dawn, and noted that any chance of talks with the government have died along with Rehman.

"We are suspending all kinds of contacts and revoke the peace talks offer with the government, soon we shall be responding with full force," Ihsan said.

"On one hand the Pakistani government is advocating the mantra of peace talks, and on the other it is colluding with the United States and killing the Taliban leadership," he continued.

While Pakistani news outlets have reported that a commander known as Khan Said and Sajana Mehsud succeeded Rehman, Ihsan told Dawn that a replacement has not yet been named as the group's shura, or executive council, must meet before a decision is made.

"No I can not confirm yet, who will be taking over, the Taliban shura has not decided about it yet," Ihsan told Dawn.

For years, Rehman, an influential and respected leader in the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, served as both the deputy to Hakeemullah Mehsud and the group's emir in the tribal agency. He has been involved in multiple terror attacks inside Pakistan and in neighboring Afghanistan, including the suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman at the end of December 2009 that killed seven CIA personnel, as well as in the failed Times Square car bombing in New York City on May 1, 2010.

The US Treasury Department added Rehman and Hakeemullah to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in September 2010, the same time that the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan was named as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The US also put out a $5 million reward for information leading to their capture and prosecution.

The Pakistani government placed an estimated $600,000 bounty out for Hakeemullah and Waliur in the fall of 2009. Both men are wanted for terrorist attacks against the military, police, the government, and civilians inside Pakistan. Despite the bounties for Hakeemullah and Waliur, and 18 other Taliban leaders, only one has been killed and another has been captured.

In recent years, the Pakistani government routinely claimed that Rehman and Hakeemullah were at odds, and sometimes violently so. For instance, government officials alleged that the two Taliban emirs tried to kill each other during a meeting to name the successor to Baitullah Mehsud, the emir who was killed in a US drone strike in August 2009. The two Taliban leaders denied the clash ever took place, and have appeared in Taliban propaganda seated side-by-side in an effort to dispel the government claims.

The US has killed two senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas this year. In January, the drones killed Mullah Nazir, who led the Taliban faction in the Wazir areas of South Waziristan. He identified himself as an al Qaeda leader and waged jihad in Afghanistan. Although he was not a member of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, Nazir, like the Haqqanis, has provided shelter and support for the group.

The State Department released its Country Reports on Terrorism 2012 yesterday. The year 2012 witnessed a "marked resurgence of Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), its Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and Tehran's ally Hezballah," State concluded. "Iran and Hezbollah's terrorist activity has reached a tempo unseen since the 1990s, with attacks plotted in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa."

Several specific plots are cited in the report, including a July 2012 bombing in Bulgaria that killed six people (five Israelis and one Bulgarian) and injured more than 30 others. The Bulgarian government blames Hezbollah for the bombing.

The report highlights other plots and attacks in Cyprus, Georgia, India, Kenya, and Thailand as evidence of Iran's worldwide campaign of terror in 2012.

In addition, the report reads, "both Iran and Hezbollah are providing a broad range of critical support to the Assad regime, as it continues its brutal crackdown against the Syrian people." Iranian support for Assad's forces has included "weapons, funds, and training to assist" in the "brutal crackdown that has resulted in the death of more than 70,000 civilians."

Al Qaeda and Iran

With respect to Syria, there is an interesting twist in the State Department's report. The al Qaeda network inside Iran, which operates as part of an agreement between al Qaeda and the Iranian regime, is sending fighters to Syria. It is not clear why Iran has allowed al Qaeda to facilitate these fighters' travel to Syria, where al Qaeda's Al Nusrah Front opposes the Assad regime, Iran, and Hezbollah.

"Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior al Qaeda (AQ) members it continued to detain, and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody," the report reads. While some al Qaeda operatives are in detention, others are allowed to continue their work.

Muhsin al Fadhli, who is al Qaeda's leader inside Iran.

The report continues: "Iran allowed AQ facilitators Muhsin al Fadhli and Adel Radi Saqr al Wahabi al Harbi to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran, enabling AQ to move funds and fighters to South Asia and to Syria."

"Al Fadhli is a veteran AQ operative who has been active for years," State explains, and "began working with the Iran-based AQ facilitation network in 2009 and was later arrested by Iranian authorities." Al Fadhli "was released in 2011 and assumed leadership of the Iran-based AQ facilitation network."

Al Fadhli replaced an al Qaeda operative known as Yasin al Suri as the head of the Iran-based network. Al Suri was designated by the Treasury Department in July 2011 and the State Department issued a reward of $10 million for information leading to his capture in December 2011. [See LWJ reports, Treasury targets Iran's 'secret deal' with al Qaeda and US offers $10 million reward for Iran-based al Qaeda financier.]

Then, in October 2012, the Treasury Department designated Adel Radi Saqr al Wahabi al Harbi, noting that he served as the deputy leader of the Iran-based network. In the same designation, Treasury reported that al Fadhli had assumed the leadership role. [See LWJ report, Treasury 'further exposes' Iran-al Qaeda relationship.]

Adel Radi Saker al Wahabi al Harbi, Muhsin al Fadhli's deputy.

Treasury said at the time that al Fadhli's network provides "funding for al Qaeda activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan", and moves "fighters and money through Turkey to support al Qaeda-affiliated elements in Syria."

Thus, the State Department's new report is at least the second time in less than one year that the Obama administration has said that al Qaeda's Iran-based network aids the fight in Syria.

In Syria today, al Qaeda is increasingly at odds with Iran and Hezbollah. For example, the two sides have clashed in Qusayr, a city in western Syria near Homs. The fighting prompted a call by Mohammed al Zawahiri, the brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, and other Egyptian jihadists for attacks inside Shiite-led countries, including Iran. [See LWJ report, Egyptian jihadists call for attacks in Shiite countries.]

And, in April, Ayman al Zawahiri himself said that "the true faces of Iran and Hezbollah have been exposed, and their ugly reality has appeared in the field of holy war in Syria."

It is not immediately obvious, therefore, why Iran would allow an al Qaeda network on Iranian soil to support al Qaeda's efforts inside Syria. Iranian duplicity is a common feature of its dealings in the terrorist underworld, however.

In February 2012, for instance, the Treasury Department designated Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) for supporting al Qaeda in Iraq, among other nefarious activities. The MOIS's support includes providing "money and weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)," as well as negotiating "prisoner releases of AQI operatives." [See LWJ report, Treasury: Iranian intelligence supporting al Qaeda.]

The MOIS provided this support to AQI even though al Qaeda has indiscriminately slaughtered Shiites throughout Iraq. And the Iranians have provided crucial support to Shiite militias.

In Iraq, however, it is evident that al Qaeda and Iran have had common enemies, including the US military until late 2011. This is not the case today in Syria.

Iranian support for other groups

As in past years, the State Department's report once again notes that the IRGC-Qods Force "trained Taliban elements on small unit tactics, small arms, explosives, and indirect fire weapons, such as mortars, artillery, and rockets."

"Since 2006," the report continues, "Iran has arranged arms shipments to select Taliban members, including small arms and associated ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, 107mm rockets, and plastic explosives." The same language has appeared in previous editions of the State Department's report. [See LWJ report, State Department: Iran supports Taliban, Iraqi militants.]

Iran has also "shipped a large number of weapons to Kandahar, Afghanistan, aiming to increase its influence in this key province," this year's report notes.

Finally, the State Department has formally recognized the relationship between the Iranians and Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. For years, the Yemeni government has insisted that Iran is backing the Houthis, but US officials have regularly downplayed this allegation. Leaked State Department cables show that US officials continually pressed the Yemeni government for evidence regarding Iran's collusion with the Houthis.

"Iran actively supported members of the Houthi tribe in northern Yemen, including activities intended to build military capabilities, which could pose a greater threat to security and stability in Yemen and the surrounding region," the State Department reports. "In July 2012, the Yemeni Interior Ministry arrested members of an alleged Iranian spy ring, headed by a former member of the IRGC."

The State Department's report confirms, once again, that Iran sponsors terrorists and militants throughout the world.

Hanzala and Nusratullah, two members of the joint Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Taliban suicide assault team in Panjshir. Images from SITE Intelligence Group.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al Qaeda and Taliban-linked group that operates in Afghanistan, claimed it executed the May 29 suicide assault on the governor's compound in Panjshir in concert with the Taliban. The IMU announced that the attack was part of the Taliban's 2013 spring offensive.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan released the statement announcing its participation in the attack in Panjshir, one of the most secured provinces in Afghanistan and the bastion of the former Northern Alliance. The statement was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The IMU admitted that the attack was executed under the banner of the Taliban's Khalid bin Waleed spring offensive, which was announced at the end of April. In that statement, the Taliban said it would conduct suicide assaults on Coalition and Afghan facilities. The IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban in the Afghan north; the two groups conduct joint attacks, and IMU leaders serve in the Taliban's shadow government in some areas.

"This attack is the continuation of series of attacks which bear the name of Khalid bin Waleed' announced by Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the spring of 2013," the IMU said.

The IMU said that the six members of the suicide assault team "were equipped with light and heavy weaponry, hand grenades" and "were wearing explosive filled martyrdom costumes" and "suits of policemen."

Three of the fighters were from Afghanistan, two were from Uzbekistan, and one was from Kyrgyzstan.

"Those six mujahids comprised of three from Mawarounnahr [Transoxiana, the historic name for the area of Central Asia consisting of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and southwest Kazakhstan] and the other three from Afghanistan, all of whom were on the fidai list (the waiting list of martyrdom-seeking mujahids) impatiently waiting for their turn," the statement said, according to SITE.

The IMU named the fighters as Muhammad Yasin and Kamil from Qashqadary in Uzbekistan; Ammar from Kyrgyzstan; Hanzal from Kunduz, Afghanistan; Khadim from Baghlan, Afghanistan; and Nusratullah from Sar-i-Pul, Afghanistan.

Three of the six names in the IMU's statement directly match those named by the Taliban as executing the attack. The Taliban identified the attackers as Ahmad, Ammar, Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Yasin, Syed Kamil, and Zia-ud-Din.

The IMU showed pictures of the six members of the suicide assault team, as well as the damage caused by the attack. The IMU then stated that it will continue to fight in the "Khorasan" as well as in the "Mawarounnahr region" [Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan].

"IMU is continuing its jihadi activities in the Khorasan region which started 12 years ago," the group concluded. "And we hope from Allah that the opening of Khorasan is very near following future conquests in Mawarounnahr region."

The Khorasan is a region that encompasses large areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. The Khorasan is considered by jihadists to be the place where they will inflict the first defeat against their enemies in the Muslim version of Armageddon. The final battle is to take place in the Levant -- Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. Mentions of the Khorasan have begun to increase in al Qaeda's propaganda. After al Qaeda suffered a major blow in Iraq during the surge in 2007-2008, the group began shifting its rhetoric from promoting Iraq as the central front in its jihad and has placed the focus on the Khorasan.

IMU executed previous suicide assault in Panjshir

Panjshir province is the most secure in Afghanistan; attacks there are a rarity. The jihadist alliance in Afghanistan has conducted just one suicide attack in Panjshir since the war began in 2001. That attack took place in October 2011, when another suicide assault team hit the US-run Provincial Reconstruction Team headquarters in the Rakha district.

That attack was claimed by the al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which released a video documenting the attack, and showed pictures of the fighters and the team's commander.

The province is the home of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the famed Northern Alliance commander who was assassinated in a suicide attack in Takhar province just two days prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Under Massoud's leadership the Panjshir Valley held out against both the Soviets and the Taliban.