Warning: The video below includes extremely graphic content. Three men, including a Catholic priest, are beheaded, and their heads are then displayed atop their corpses.

Jihadists in Syria kidnapped a Catholic priest in the Idlib area and beheaded him as scores of onlookers, including children, cheered and recorded the event on their cell phones. The Vatican reported last week that the priest was captured by fighters "linked" to the Al Nusrah Front for the People in the Levant, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

The Vatican confirmed that Father François Murad was killed on June 23 after jihadists affiliated with the Al Nusrah Front overran his monastery in Gassanieh, a town in the countryside in the northern province of Idlib.

"According to local sources, the monastery where Fr. Murad was staying was attacked by militants linked to the jihadi group Jabhat al Nusrah [the Al Nusrah Front]," said the Fides News Agency, the Vatican's official media outlet.

Video that purported to show Father Murad's execution has emerged on the LiveLeak video sharing website.

In the video, Father Murad and two other men are seen kneeling on the ground with their hands bound behind their backs. A crowd of armed men as well as young boys watch as a bearded jihadist makes a speech.

The crowd then begins to chant "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest"), and another bearded jihadist dressed in black takes out a knife and begins to behead one of the men. People in the crowd press close and scramble to take video.

The same jihadist proceeds to behead the other two men. The heads of the murdered men are then placed on top of their corpses.

The jihadists claimed that two of the slain men were linked to Syria's military establishment, according to Steven Miller, a research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Miller said that the jihadist who made the opening speech is speaking in "broken Arabic."

"I would guess that the man handing out the sentence is a foreign jihadi, though I can't tell from where," Miller said.

The man making the speech claimed that at least one of the men "had the phone numbers of Syrian military officers in Aleppo stored on his cellphone," Miller told The Long War Journal. "In addition, the foreign jihadist alleged that some of the men were stopped with weapons and ammunition issued by the Syrian military."

The Al Nusrah Front, the Islamic State in Iraq, and the Muhajireen Army are all known to have numerous foreigners in both leadership positions and in the rank and file. Idlib is considered to be a stronghold of the Al Nusrah Front.

Kidnapped archbishops still missing

Christians in Syria have increasingly been targeted by Islamists, who believe Christians are colluding with government forces in the Syrian civil war. On June 28, a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside a church in a Christian neighborhood in Damascus, killing four people. It is unclear if the bomber was targeting the church or a nearby pro-government militia.

On April 22, two senior Christian leaders in the region, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop John Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yagizi, were kidnapped near the Turkish border, and their driver was killed. They were on their way to Aleppo to arrange the release of two kidnapped priests, Fathers Michael Kayyal and Maher Mahfouz, who had been abducted on Feb. 9, the Catholic News Agency reported.

It appears likely that the two senior clerics are being held by al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, the Al Nusrah Front. According to an April 24 report in the Christian Science Monitor, Bishop Tony Yazigi, a relative of kidnapped Bishop Boulos Yazigi, said the kidnappers were believed to be Chechen fighters from the Al Nusrah Front.

On May 8, Acting Syrian National Council President George Sabra told Lebanese officials and Syriac clerics that the archbishops were being held by a "small group" of rebels in the town of Bshaqtin outside Aleppo and were in good health, according to the Daily Star. A Lebanese Syriac Orthodox bishop said at the time: "I don't know whether the Christians would leave the region because of this or stay and react to this kidnapping in a way that we do not want."

In early June, Pope Francis commented on the case, asking for the release of the captives and for prayers for the two men and for all victims of the Syrian conflict.

According to a recent report on the website of Sat-7, a Christian news outlet for the Middle East and North Africa: "An officer in the Free Syrian Army suggested that the leader of Al-Nusra Front who resides in Al-Mashhad village, known as Abu Al-Banat, is the one behind the kidnapping of the Aleppo archbishops, noting that they were held hostage at Al-Mashhad village, and one of them might have been murdered."

Afghan security forces captured a would-be suicide bomber in Jalalabad City on July 1, 2013. Photo source: Parwiz/Reuters.

The Taliban failed to conduct a multi-province terrorist assault planned for today after Afghan security forces shot and killed a suicide bomber in Kabul City, and detained another would-be suicide bomber in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. Additionally, a separate would-be suicide bomber prematurely detonated in northern Kunduz province. The attacks were supposed to have occurred simultaneously along with a massive explosion in Parwan province that rocked the neighborhood near the governor's compound in Charikar City.

"Explosive placed in a car was detonated near the governor office building in Charikar City at around 10 am local time Monday," a provincial official told China's Xinhua anonymously.

The Parwan blast was reportedly caused by a "magnetic bomb" attached by suspected militants to a fuel tanker. Three civilians were injured in the bombing, and there were no further reports of fatalities, a spokeswoman for the provincial governor told ToloNews. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

In today's abortive attack in Kunduz province, a Taliban suicide bomber was killed when the explosives-packed vest he was wearing detonated prematurely. No security forces or civilians were injured in the blast, which occurred in the restive Dasht-e-Archi district, according to district chief Sheikh Sadruddin, who spoke with Xinuha. [For recent security developments in Dasht-e-Archi, see Threat Matrix report, Taliban shadow district governor killed in Afghan security operation.]

Afghan security forces thwart additional attacks

At around 7 a.m. local time in Kabul City, security guards at the Afghan National Directorate of Security shot and killed a suicide bomber in Sedarat Square, an area near the NDS national headquarters. The attacker was reportedly wearing an Afghan security forces uniform but was detected and engaged before he could gain access to the NDS headquarters, according to Khaama Press.

Today's failed attack against the NDS headquarters in Kabul comes one week after Taliban militants nearly succeed in an audacious assault plan against the CIA headquarters and Afghan Presidential palace. [See Long War Journal report, Taliban launch suicide assault on Presidential palace, CIA HQ in Kabul.]

Following a brief shootout in Jalalabad City in Nangarhar province this morning, NDS operatives detained a Pakistani national wearing an explosive vest. An NDS statement on the incident was made available to Khaama Press, which noted that the detained suicide bomber, Safiullah a.k.a. Shamsullah, was a resident of Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The NDS said that Safiullah had been planning to carry out an attack in Jalalabad City but was injured during clashes with Afghan security forces earlier this morning and detained.

A series of photos of Safiullah's capture were made public, including those showing a sapper disarming the suicide vest still strapped to Safiullah's chest after the shootout.

Since late May, the Taliban and their allies, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have stepped up suicide operations against the Coalition, nongovernmental organizations, and Afghan institutions. There have been 10 high-profile suicide attacks in Afghanistan since May 23.

A portion of today's attacks were prevented by Afghan security forces, especially those belonging to the NDS. For previous coverage of successful NDS operations, see the following Long War Journal and Threat Matrix reports:

Afghan intelligence thwarts major attack against Kandahar City, May 26, 2013

Afghan forces thwart unprecedented terror plot in Kabul, Mar. 16, 2013

Afghan intelligence thwarts terror plots in Kabul, Logar, and Parwan, Aug. 31, 2012

Afghan intelligence thwarts complex assault plot in Kabul; Pakistani suspect, 4 others arrested, Aug. 12, 2012

Afghan intel kills 5 members of Haqqani Network suicide cell in Kabul, Aug. 2, 2012

Afghan intelligence thwarts 3rd major terror plot in Kabul, May 3, 2012

Afghan intelligence seizes 11 tons of explosives, thwarts additional terror plots, April 21, 2012

Afghan intelligence captures 3 members of northern assassination cell, Feb. 7, 2012

Afghan intelligence operations take on significant role, Sept. 21, 2011

Afghan NDS continues crackdown on counterfeit uniforms, Sept. 5, 2011

Haqqani Network directed Kabul hotel assault by phone from Pakistan, Sept. 3, 2011

NDS dismantles Kabul Attack Network cell, Aug. 28, 2011

Elite Afghan force destroys insurgent explosives cache, Aug. 22, 2011

NDS smashes Haqqani Network plots in Kabul, July 31, 2011

The Taliban claimed credit for today's early morning suicide assault that targeted a base in eastern Kabul and killed seven people.

A small suicide assault team attacked a foreign logistics and supply facility in the Pul-i-Charkhi area of Kabul early this morning, Reuters reported. According to TOLONews, the attack took place outside a guesthouse owned by Guard Forces International, but the report has not been confirmed. Afghan press reports had originally stated that the logistics and supply base Supreme was the target of the attack.

The attack began when a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives outside the base's main gate. The other two Taliban fighters then engaged with security guards for 30 minutes before being killed, Pajhwok Afghan News reported. Four Nepalese guards, two Afghan truck drivers waiting outside the gate, and an Afghan security guard were killed during the attack.

The Taliban have launched attacks on companies in Kabul and elsewhere in the recent past. In December 2012, the Taliban launched a truck bomb that targeted Contrack International, which is also located in the Pul-i-Charkhi area of Kabul. The blast killed one Afghan and seriously damaged the compound and neighboring facilities in Kabul's industrial park.

And in October 2012, the Taliban fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at warehouses belonging to Supreme in Parwan province. The attack destroyed several warehouses.

Today's suicide attack in Kabul is the second in the capital in eight days, and the third in three weeks. On June 25, a Taliban suicide assault team attacked the Presidential palace and CIA headquarters. The suicide assault team penetrated security using fake IDs, and battled with Afghan forces for nearly two hours before being killed. And on June 11, a suicide bomber detonated outside Afghanistan's Supreme Court, killing at least 16 civilians, including many who worked at the complex.

The attack in Kabul takes place as the international community is seeking a negotiated settlement with the Taliban after the group set up a "political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban have employed the office as a de facto embassy, raising the Taliban flag and using the name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," which is what the Taliban used when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and still use to this day.

At the end of April, the Taliban said they would step up attacks against "foreign invaders," or Coalition personnel operating under the command of the International Security Assistance Force, workers from nongovernmental organizations operating in Afghanistan, and "officials and workers of the stooge Karzai regime." The Taliban stressed that suicide and insider attacks would be used, and warned Afghans to "stay away from the bases of the invaders, their residential areas or working for them in order to avoid civilian losses." [See LWJ report, Taliban promise suicide assaults, 'insider attacks' in this year's spring offensive.]

Over the past five weeks, the Taliban and their allies, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have stepped up suicide operations against the Coalition, NGOs, and Afghan institutions. There have been 11 high-profile suicide attacks, including the attack today in Kabul, since May 23.

Today the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced the arrest of two Canadian-born citizens, John Stuart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody, in a terror plot targeting a public gathering at the British Columbia Legislature in Victoria on Canada Day, July 1.

According to online court records, Nuttall and Korody appeared at the Surrey Provincial Court this morning. The two suspects face charges that include "conspiring to place an explosive in or against a place of public use, a government or public facility, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, for the benefit of, at the direction or in association with a terrorist group," according to an RCMP press release.

According to Canadian officials, the investigation into Nuttall and Korody began in February 2013 following a tip from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said in a prepared statement that although Nuttall and Korody were "inspired by Al Qaeda ideology," it was "a domestic threat, without international linkages." Additionally, officials said that there was no evidence that Nuttall and Korody had support from or were acting at the direction of a specific terrorist group.

Both Nuttal and Korody had engaged in "self-radicaliz[ing] behavior," according to authorities. In addition, the two "discussed a wide variety of targets and techniques" prior to their arrest. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Rideout said Nuttall and Korody's "self-radicalized behaviour was intended to create maximum impact and harm to Canadian citizens at the BC Legislature on a National holiday. They took steps to educate themselves and produced explosive devices designed to cause injury and death."

During today's press conference, authorities showed photos of three pressure cookers, which Nuttal and Korody intended to use as improvised explosive devices. Photos released by the RCMP show that the pressure cookers had a variety of contents, including nuts, bolts, rusty nails, and washers.

Authorities stressed that the devices were "inert" and that they "were completely under our control." The devices, authorities said, were "secured and seized" outside the BC Legislature.

When questioned during the press conference, RCMP officials said there is currently no evidence to suggest that the plot is linked to the Boston Marathon bombings, which also involved pressure cooker devices.

Today's announcement comes just over two months after authorities in Canada announced the arrests of Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jasser. The two, according to Canadian officials, had plotted to destroy a passenger train as it traveled between the United States and Canada. Esseghaier and Jasser had received "support from al Qaeda elements located in Iran" in the form of "direction and guidance," said RCMP Assistant Commissioner James Malizia. And May 9, US authorities announced the arrest of Tunisian national Ahmed Abassi for links to the train terror plot.

The US targeted the Haqqani Network, a Taliban subgroup that is closely tied to al Qaeda, in the first strike in Pakistan in more than three weeks.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired four missiles at a compound in the village of Danday Darpa Khel near Miramshah in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, The Associated Press reported.

Pakistani officials told the news agency that four Haqqani Network members were killed and two more were wounded. Reuters later reported that 17 people, most of whom were Haqqani Network fighters, were killed in the airstrike.

The target of the strike has not been disclosed, and no senior Haqqani, Taliban, or al Qaeda commanders are reported to have been killed at this time. Haji Shahrifullah, a senior Haqqani network commander in the area, was not killed in the attack, according to Dawn.

Danday Darpa Khel is a known hub of the Haqqani Network. Two of the group's top leaders have been killed in US drone strikes in the village over the past several years. On Oct. 13, 2011, a strike killed Jan Baz Zadran, a top-level coordinator for the Haqqani Network who has been described as the organization's third in command. Jan Baz was a key deputy to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational commander of the terror network.

On Feb. 18, 2010, US drones killed Mohammed Haqqani, one of the 12 sons of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the patriarch of the family. Mohammed served as a military commander for the Haqqani Network.

The Haqqani Network is a powerful Taliban faction that operates in eastern, central, and northern Afghanistan, and is based in North Waziristan in Pakistan. The terror group has close links with al Qaeda, and is supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). Siraj leads the Miramshah Shura, one of four major Taliban regional councils. Siraj is also a member of al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.

Since 2008, nine top Haqqani Network leaders, including Sirajuddin, have been placed on the US list of terrorists; six of them were designated in 2011. All of them have ties to al Qaeda. Jalaluddin has not been added to the list. For more information on the Haqqani Network, see LWJ report, US adds Haqqani Network to list of terror groups.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network or Hafiz Gul Bahadar, another powerful Taliban leader who operates in the tribal agency. The Haqqanis and Bahadar and are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

Today's strike is just the second since President Barack Obama's speech at the end of May outlining 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 weakened, 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 strike today in North Waziristan is the first by the US inside Pakistan in 25 days. The last US strike took place on June 7, when US drones killed six terrorists in a strike in North Waziristan. A "high value target" was reported to have been killed, but was never named. The previous strike, on May 29, killed Waliur Rehman, the top Taliban commander in South Waziristan who was closely allied with al Qaeda.

The US has launched 16 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 340 strikes recorded since 2004, 323, or 95%, have taken place in the two tribal agencies.

The US government has added Abd Al-Ra'Ouf Abu Zaid Mohamed Hamza, an al Qaeda-linked operative who was involved in the murder a US diplomat and his driver in Khartoum in 2008, to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Hamza's father is a senior cleric in a jihadist group that claimed the attack and is closely tied to al Qaeda in the Sudan.

The US State Department added Hamza to the list of global terrorists today.

"In making this designation, the Department seeks to emphasize to the public and, in particular, to the Granville and Abbas families, our commitment to justice prevailing in this case," the State Department said in the press release.

Hamza is one of five jihadists who were convicted by the Sudanese government for their involvement the assassination of US Agency for International Development (USAID) diplomat John Michael Granville and his driver, Adbelrahman Abbas Rahama, in Khartoum, Sudan on Jan. 1, 2008. Granville and Abbas were shot at least 17 times after leaving a New Year's Eve party held at the British Embassy in Khartoum.

Not long after the New Year's Day attack in Khartoum, Sudanese authorities detained five men believed to have committed the assassination: Hamza, Mohamed Makawi Ibrahim Mohamed, Abdelbasit Alhaj Alhasan Haj Hamad, Mohannad Osman Youssef, and Murad Abdel-Rahman Abdullah. Two of the men were arrested in February 2008 by Sudanese authorities after a brief shootout in a suburb of Khartoum's twin city, Omdurman. In 2009, a Sudanese court sentenced all of the suspects to death except Abdullah, who was given just two years in prison. In June 2010, however, all four men who had been sentenced to death managed to escape from the heavily fortified maximum-security Kober federal prison in Khartoum. A police officer was killed during the escape.

Sudanese officials reported in September 2010 that the fugitives were likely hiding in Darfur in Sudan. Hamza was recaptured within three weeks of his escape from prison. Mohannad Osman Youssef "was reportedly killed in Somalia in May 2011," according to Rewards for Justice.

Makawi and Abdelbasit are still on the run and are thought to be in Somalia with Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate. The US added the two fugitives to its terrorism list in January 2010 [see LWJ report, US adds 2 Sudanese al Qaeda operatives to list of terrorists].

Makawi was the leader of the assassination cell, and the US government said that he has "ties to the Sudan-based terrorist organization al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Niles, which conspired to attack other US, Western, and Sudanese targets."

The murder of Granville and his driver was claimed by both al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Niles and by another Sudanese terror group, Ansar al-Tawhid (Partisans of Monotheism). Al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Niles claimed the attack was part of the global jihad, while Ansar al-Tawhid said it was to halt the spread of Christianity and avenge the humiliation of Muslims.

Hamza's father is a senior cleric in Ansar al-Tawhid.

US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that the two groups operate in close coordination and often pool resources and personnel.

Prison escape of Abdelbasit and Makawi shown in video

In late December 2012, a jihadist media group calling itself the "al-Hijratain Foundation," a possibly al Qaeda-affiliated group tied to Ansar al-Tawhid, released a video detailing the June 2010 prison escape of the four men [see LWJ report, Sudanese jihadist media front releases video detailing prison escape of convicted militants]. Abdelbasit and Makawi were featured prominently in the video.

The video sheds light on the escape, and raises questions about the security at the supposedly heavily fortified maximum-security Kober federal prison. The jihadists claimed they stole a prison guard's keys, which they used to unlock their shackles and were thus able to construct a 125-foot-long tunnel underneath the prison.

The video is narrated mostly by Makawi, who appears in it sitting in front of al Qaeda in Iraq's flag.

This image was posted on the Al Bayan Media Foundation's Facebook page in June along with Tariq Abu-al-Azm's letter. Al Bayan publishes Ansar al Sharia Egypt's propaganda. The same image, along with Abu-al-Azm's text, was posted on Mohammed al Zawahiri's Facebook page.

A letter from Tariq Abu-al-Azm, an imprisoned member of the so-called Nasr City terrorist cell, was posted online by Ansar al Sharia Egypt on June 18. Egyptian authorities have accused the al Qaeda-linked terrorist cell of plotting attacks both inside Egypt and abroad. The cell also reportedly has ties to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.

Abu-al-Azm was arrested during a crackdown on the cell in late October 2012. He had previously been arrested in 2002 under the Mubarak regime and accused of being a member of Jund Allah.

According to the US State Department, Jund Allah's members were "planning attacks against US and Israeli interests" at the time of their 2002 arrest.

Abu-al-Azm is a former major in the Egyptian air force. In his recent letter from behind bars, he describes himself as a "engineer officer" who joined Jund Allah when the group was planning attacks as retribution for the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. He does not disavow these operations.

Abu-al-Azm does claim that Egyptian authorities have "completely fabricated" the case against the Nasr City cell in order to scare Muslims away from Salafi jihadists, increase their own power, and to give "America and the Jews" a pretext for pressuring (then president) Mohamed Morsi into "muzzling and restricting the jihadist Salafi movement" by imprisoning its members.

The former military man takes his allegations one step further, saying Egyptian authorities killed one member of the Nasr City cell, Karim al-Badawi, so that they could "plant the handwritten notes" of a document outlining a "battle to conquer Egypt."

The Egyptian press has reported on the document Abu-al-Azm mentions. Egyptian investigators say it outlines the Nasr City cell's plans for sowing dissent throughout the country and then capitalizing on the unrest.

Throughout the rest of his letter, Abu-al-Azm denounces democracy, calling it a "mirage," and arguing that sharia law must be implemented. He criticizes the Muslim Brotherhood for doing little to enforce sharia.

While advocating jihad abroad, especially in Syria and against "Zionist-Crusader aggression" elsewhere, Abu-al-Azm writes that he and his comrades "have preferred to leave the field in this post-revolution time period to the members of the Islamic preaching current." This is likely a reference to dawa, or proselytization. In some countries now ruled by Islamist regimes, al Qaeda-associated groups have opted for dawa instead of jihad in order to increase their ranks.

Ansar al Sharia Egypt defends Abu-Al-Azm, Nasr City cell

Abu-al-Azm's missive from prison was disseminated by the Al Bayan Media Establishment, which publishes Ansar al Sharia Egypt's propaganda. The letter was posted on Al Bayan's Facebook page and the Ansar al Mujahideen web forum.

In an introduction to the letter, Ansar al Sharia Egypt denounces the arrests in the Nasr City case, saying the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's "security agencies" are responsible and are trying to make Muslims fear "the young men of the jihad movement." For this supposed purpose, the security organs have invented "unfounded, fantastic stories" about the Nasr City cell, and so the group is publishing Abu-al-Azm's letter to set the record straight.

Ansar al Sharia Egypt describes Abu-al-Azm as "heroic" and as being among the young Muslims who "have proven to be upright."

Nasr City cell's al Qaeda ties

Egyptian authorities have accused the Nasr City cell of having multiple ties to al Qaeda.

Abu-al-Azm worked for Muhammad Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Jamal), who corresponded with al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri in 2011 and 2012. Jamal's ties to al Qaeda date to the 1990s, when he served as part of Zawahiri's security contingent. [See LWJ report, Communications with Ayman al Zawahiri highlighted in 'Nasr City cell' case.]

In his letters to Zawahiri, Jamal admits setting up training camps in the Sinai and eastern Libya, as well as operating in Mali. Jamal also explains in the letters that he received funding from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and trained AQAP's leadership prior to his own imprisonment by the Mubarak regime. Egyptian press accounts bluntly note that Jamal "had joined al Qaeda," while The Wall Street Journal has reported that Jamal was attempting to establish his own official al Qaeda affiliate at the time of his capture.

According to multiple press accounts, some of Jamal's trainees in Libya took part in the Benghazi terrorist attack.

According to Al Masry Al Youm, Egyptian investigators allege that Jamal "got to know" Abu-al-Azm while the two men were in prison. The detained pair also met Karim Ahmed Essam al Azizy, "a Libyan national believed by security officials to be connected to last years attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi," and who was killed during an Oct. 24, 2012 raid on the Nasr City cell.

Magdy Salem, a Gama'a al-Islamiya lawyer who is representing members of the Nasr City cell, told the press that Abu-al-Azm was arrested alongside Sheikh Adel Shehato.

Shehato, in turn, has been accused of founding and funding the Nasr City cell. [See LWJ report, Egypt arrests pro-al Qaeda jihadist tied to Benghazi suspect.]

Both Shehato and Jamal were senior leaders in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) terrorist group in the 1990s and served under Ayman al Zawahiri, who merged the EIJ with al Qaeda. Along with Abu-al-Azm, Shehato and Jamal were released from an Egyptian prison in 2011, after the beginning of the Egyptian revolution.

After his release from prison, Shehato was openly pro-al Qaeda and starred in jihadist videos alongside Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda's emir. Clips of these videos have been used in al Qaeda's official propaganda.

Still other members of the Nasr City cell have their own ties to al Qaeda, according to Egyptian press accounts. [See LWJ report, More al Qaeda links to Cairo terror cell reportedly found.]

Mohammed al Zawahiri defends Nasr City cell

Al Bayan posted the image above on its Facebook page and elsewhere online when announcing Abu-al-Azm's letter. A few days later, on June 22, the same image with Abu-al-Azm's text was posted on Mohammed al Zawahiri's Facebook page.

The younger Zawahiri has repeatedly defended the Nasr City cell. In June, he attended the cell's trial and also made an appearance on Al Arabiyah Television.

During his June 21 television appearance, al Zawahiri defended Sheikh Shehato, saying he has been wrongly accused of planned bombings and involvement in an al Qaeda cell, a reference to the Nasr City crew.

The younger Zawahiri added that Muhammad Jamal is a "wronged and oppressed man," who was previously tortured in prison.

"Western intelligence services accused this very person [Jamal] of standing behind the [US] Embassy attack in Benghazi," al Zawahiri said. The attack "brought disgrace and shame to the US intelligence service," Zawahiri said, after former CIA Director David Petraeus's mistress "admitted" that the US was holding Libyans at the Benghazi facility and their families simply "came to secure their release."

Zawahiri claimed that Muhammad Jamal "was in Egypt" during the Benghazi attack, a claim he has made before in Jamal's defense. The implication is that Jamal could not have been involved because he was supposedly out of the country at the time. However, press reports indicate that Jamal's trainees took part in the attack, not Jamal personally. It is possible that Jamal was involved without directly taking part in the actual attack.

"Now, they have once again implicated [Jamal] in connection with this case," Zawahiri said of the Benghazi attack.

Mohammed al Zawahiri is part of Ansar al Sharia Egypt's circle, and has lectured at the group's events. Other Ansar al Sharia figures, including founder Ahmed Ashush, have their own ties to the Nasr City cell. [See LWJ reports, Ansar al Sharia Egypt founder 'honored to be an extension of al Qaeda', and Old school jihadists linked to 9/11 Cairo protest, Benghazi suspect.]

And now these longtime Egyptian jihadists are openly defending their friends in the Nasr City case.

Mohammed al Zawahiri has issued statements concerning the Egyptian political crisis on his Facebook page and Twitter feed.

As the political crisis unfolded inside Egypt this week, leading to the military's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, Mohammed al Zawahiri issued statements on his social media sites in an attempt to rally the country's jihadists. On July 2, the younger brother of al Qaeda's emir posted a defiant message on his Facebook page.

Zawahiri urged Muslims to "forsake fear and hesitation," promising "we will not be defeated."

"If the United States and its agents in the state of Egypt" push tensions to the point of "confrontation, it will definitely be in our favor because we do not have anything to lose," Zawahiri wrote, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal.

The younger Zawahiri argued that all will not be lost "even if all of us had been eliminated and the first and second lines perished," because "we entered this arena not only after we had sold ourselves to God, but also we believe we lived more than we expected."

The jihadists "will have the upper hand" in the end "and that is what matters." And should the jihadist "trend be established in Egypt," it will transform the entire region, leading to an "Islamic revival and victory."

Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm characterized Zawahiri's July 2 statement as a vow to wage jihad against the army in the event that Morsi was deposed. The Muslim Brotherhood's man was in fact removed from the presidency the following day, July 3.

However, one source claiming to speak on Mohammed al Zawahiri's behalf told Al-Masry Al-Youm that his words should not be construed as a call for jihad against the Egyptian military.

In separate entries on his Facebook page and Twitter, the younger Zawahiri posted a statement from "the Islamic Forces and Movements and the Scholars of the Ummah" calling for the immediate implementation of sharia law. It is not clear who the statement's other authors are. Mohammed al Zawahiri and his more infamous older brother regularly call for Egyptians to eschew democracy in favor of sharia. [See, for example, LWJ reports, Mohammed al Zawahiri rejects 'filthy market of democracy' and Zawahiri calls on Muslims to implement sharia.]

The authors of the statement calling for sharia law posted by Mohammed al Zawahiri do not call for violence against the Egyptian military. Instead, they say that the matter will be escalated through the press, and they will organize "massive rallies" and demonstrations that are "proportionate with the reaction of the authorities in charge."

It remains to be seen how Egypt's Salafi jihadists respond to the crisis in the coming days.

The Taliban killed 18 Afghan security personnel in two separate suicide attacks in southern Afghanistan today. One of the attacks killed a border police commander.

The largest of the two attacks took place at a police reserve unit in Tarin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province. A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform entered the dining facility and detonated his vest, killing 12 policemen and wounding five more, Reuters reported. Four of the wounded are reported to be in critical condition.

It is unclear if the attack was carried out by a policeman, or by a Taliban fighter who entered the compound by wearing a police uniform. The green-on-green variety of insider attacks, which involve Afghan security personnel turning on their own, are more common and often far more deadly than the green-on-blue attacks, in which Afghan forces kill ISAF troops or personnel.

In the second attack today, a suicide bomber killed Akhtar Muhammad, a border police commander, along with five policemen, and wounded 19 more people at the Friendship Gate in Spin Boldak, Kandahar province, Dawn reported. The suicide bomber targeted Akhtar's vehicle. The Friendship Gate is the crossing point to Pakistan, and across the border is Chaman, where the Taliban are known to operate a command and control center.

Afghan police have been hit especially hard over the past several months as Afghan security forces step in to assume security responsibilities left as Coalition forces draw down. The Interior Ministry said that 299 policemen were killed in June alone.

At least 22 Afghan policemen have been killed so far this month, according to a count by The Long War Journal. Among the policemen killed over the past five days are the senior female police officer in Helmand and a district police chief in Baghlan.

Today's attacks took place as the international community continues to seek a negotiated settlement with the Taliban after the group set up a "political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban have employed the office as a de facto embassy, raising the Taliban flag and using the name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," which is what the Taliban used when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and still use to this day.

Taliban officials have said that suicide attacks, such as the one that targeted the presidential palace in Kabul on June 25, would continue despite the opening of the political office in Qatar. The Taliban have refused to eschew suicide bombing, a tactic they adopted from al Qaeda.

At the end of April, the Taliban said they would step up attacks against "foreign invaders" (Coalition personnel operating under the command of the International Security Assistance Force), workers from nongovernmental organizations operating in Afghanistan, and "officials and workers of the stooge Karzai regime." The Taliban stressed that suicide and insider attacks would be used, and warned Afghans to "stay away from the bases of the invaders, their residential areas or working for them in order to avoid civilian losses." [See LWJ report, Taliban promise suicide assaults, 'insider attacks' in this year's spring offensive.]

Over the past five weeks, the Taliban and their allies, including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have stepped up suicide operations against the Coalition, NGOs, and Afghan institutions. There have been 13 high-profile suicide attacks, including the two attacks today in in the south, since May 23.

An al Qaeda military commander and a Haqqani Network leader are among 17 jihadists reported to have been killed in a US drone strike that took place earlier this week.

The al Qaeda commander, who was identified as Abu Saif al Jaziri, and Maulana Akhtar Zadran, a Haqqani Network officer, were killed in the July 2 drone strike in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan, the Urdu-language Karachi Express News Television reported.

Two other "militant commanders," who were identified as Rana Ashraf from Sargodha and Navid Butt from Lahore, are also reported to have been killed in the US attack.

The deaths of al Jaziri, Zadran, Ashraf, and Butt have not been confirmed. Al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network often do not announce the deaths of military commanders.

US intelligence officials who track al Qaeda in the region told The Long War Journal that they are aware of the reports of the deaths of the jihadist leaders, but would neither confirm nor deny them.

One US intelligence official said that al Jaziri is a "mid-level paramilitary commander" who works with the Haqqani Network in the region. Al Jaziri is from Algeria, the official said.

Al Jaziri is a commander in the Lashkar-al-Zil, or the Shadow Army, al Qaeda's paramilitary force that fields small conventional units in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and also embeds military trainers within Taliban units in both countries. 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. The US Treasury Department officially acknowledged the existence of this unit when it added one such Pakistan-based trainer and commander of al Qaeda's "paramilitary brigades" to the list of global terrorists in June. [For more information on this unit, see LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army,' from February 2009.]

Akhtar Zadran is a senior Haqqani Network commander, another intelligence official who follows the group told The Long War Journal.

Akhtar Zadran is from the same tribe as Mullah Sangeen Zadran, the Haqqani Network commander who is thought to be holding Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who was captured in Afghanistan four years ago. Mullah Sangeen serves as a senior lieutenant to Sirajuddin Haqqani and as the Taliban's shadow governor for Paktika province in Afghanistan. Mullah Sangeen was added to the list of designated terrorists on Aug. 16, 2011.

US military officials have told The Long War Journal that Sangeen is considered to be one of the most dangerous operational commanders in eastern Afghanistan. Sangeen has organized numerous assaults on US and Afghan combat outposts in the region. Sangeen has professed his support for al Qaeda, and recently called on Turkish and Kurdish jihadists to join the fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere. His fighters often conduct joint operations with al Qaeda.

On July 2, Canadian authorities announced the arrest of two Canadian-born citizens in a terror plot involving pressure cooker bombs. The two suspects, who were "inspired by al Qaeda ideology," targeted a public gathering at the British Columbia Legislature in Victoria on Canada Day, July 1.

Over the past few days, details have emerged on the two suspects, John Stuart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody, who authorities said had "self-radicalized." On July 3, Threat Matrix examined some of the couple's online activities, in particular those related to Nuttall's music career in a variety of punk bands.

Canadian news accounts since have reported the existence of more accounts tied to both Korody and Nuttall. These accounts provide few, if any, indications of jihadist sympathies. Korody, like Nuttall, used to operate a Myspace account. In 2005, Korody was also active on Flickr and Live Journal. Neighbors have also suspected that in the past Korody acted as a prostitute, in some cases posting on Craigslist, according to the CBC.

But other social media accounts tied to the couple which were active within the last year provided more worrying signs. The most prominent example is the couple's activities on YouTube. Additionally, media reports have suggested that posts in a paintball forum could have also provided signals for authorities.

According to Canadian press reports, Nuttall was active on YouTube, where he adopted the username "ana nimity." The account is linked to Korody's Google account. While it is possible that the two suspects both used the account, it appears Nuttall was behind most of the posts.

In many of the postings under the "ana nimity" username there were numerous diatribes against the United States and Israel. For example, in one posting within the last year, one of the suspects wrote, "Muslims are the only ones brave enough to stand against the tyrannical USA and Israeli gov who command them." In another posting, one of the two wrote, "Tell united snakes of america and israhell to be peacefull. An eye for an eye, and usa and Israel will be a distant memory inshAllah soon!"

Korody or Nuttall also denounced Canadian Prime Minister Harper. "F*** you harper you racist Islamophobe. F*** you from BC Canaduh eh....," one of the two wrote in the comments on one YouTube video.

In another comment about nine months ago, one of the two wrote that they wanted to "live in a Muslim country so bad. I hate this sinful place [Canada]." In a separate post, Korody or Nuttall said they would rather kick an American soldier's "face in for killing people and being a marauding, raping and pillaging," rather than shake their hand. Additionally, about nine months ago, someone behind the account denounced Salman Rushdie, whom they referred to as a "kafir."

Responding to a comment that the Prophet Mohammed was a "flaming homosexual," Nuttall or Korody (more likely Nuttall) wrote: "Hey kafir, you wanna say that to my face? I live in Surrey BC Vancouver , I will meet you on the corner of 99th and 120th on the train tracks. I cant wait to meet you kafir. I am a Mujahid and inshAllah I will die a Shaheed! Call me so we can set this up kaffir mushriqun. My number is 604-655-5470 ask for John. But by the sounds of you, I may as well march my wife up there to fight you. Im waiting ...." The phone number listed was also used by Nuttall on the paintball forum.

The couple's comments on jihadist material online

Nine months ago, one of the two suspects commented on a video about the sentencing of Aafia Siddiqui, an al Qaeda operative. The video was uploaded by Abu Nusaybah, who was recently charged with three terror offenses by British authorities. "It could happen to you ... Subhannallah," Korody or Nuttall commented on the video.

Nuttall or Korody also commented on videos featuring al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Anwar al Awlaki. Designated by the US as a global terrorist in July 2010, Awlaki was killed in a drone strike along with Samir Khan in September 2011.

The suspects appear to have watched official al Qaeda videos on YouTube as well. In response to one As Sahab video featuring Shaykh Ustadh Muhammed Yasir, the account tied to Korody and Nuttal wrote, "What a great talk. MashAllah. But what are we to do?" Similarly, in response to an old video of jihadists firing weapons with a Nashid accompaniment, the account tied to Nuttall and Korody wrote: "I pray every day for your success and may Allah smile upon you all. Jazak Allahu Khair.. You are not forgotten. Allah says The Mujahideen are granted a rank above other Muslims and rightly so, You are what is best in men and truly are my inspiration. When I feel weak in my Iman or disheartened I think of you. Roaring Takbir from Canada!"

About 11 months ago, one of the two wrote "Mashallah!" in response to a video detailing some of the story of American jihadist Omar Hammami. And commenting on a video released by Jundallah Studio, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan's propaganda arm, Nuttall or Korody (more likely Nuttall) wrote: "I wish I was with the Mujahideen... I hate this fitna and deception which surrounds me. Im all alone in my own society. Even the Masjids around here preach kufar Islam. Its bidda. Jazak Allahu khair Ackie. May Allah bring the Mujahideen victory over the enemies of Allah and free Philistine and AL-Aqsa. Shukraan for posting his great vid."

The account also appeared to celebrate the killing of a number of Israelis in the Burgas terror attack in July 2012, which was carried out by Hezbollah. "[M]ahmoud Ummah Hezballah!" and "look at them cry lol! F*** you Israel from Canada!," Korody or Nuttall wrote in two comments in response to a video that covered mourning by Israelis after the attack.

About eight months ago, one of the two suspects commented on another YouTube video, saying they wanted Iran to obtain nuclear weapons "that way everyone will leave them alone." Similarly, in another posting the Nuttall or Korody wrote that "Iran IS the victim. They have not attacked anyone in their entire history since they fought the 300 Spartans."

Nuttall and Korody's account appears to have watched a number of videos related to missing FBI agent Robert Levinson. In the comments of one video about Levinson, Nuttall or Korody wrote, "This is bullshit, I doubt he even exists...Just more pro war propaganda."

In October 2012, Korody and Nuttall's only known YouTube account uploaded its only video, a report from Russia Today. The video questioned the "real reason" NATO intervened in Libya against Moammar Qadaffi.

On the paintball forum, Nuttall was known to post under the username "Mujahid." Korody, on the other hand, used the username "PirateNinjaCat." Nuttall was active on the forum between June and August 2012, while Korody ended her posts in July 2012. In one of her first posts on the forum, Korody noted that she was in "poor health." Her health was a constant reference in many of her early posts. In some cases, she had to sit out matches due to it.

In many of the posts, the couple can be seen asking for rides to matches from other forum members. For example, in one Korody wrote, "I'm willing to compensate anyone who goes out of their way to pick us up, but I'd rather discuss the financial details in private." A day before Canada Day 2012, Korody wrote on the forum "what better way to celebrate your countries freedom from England than by shooting each other in the face with brightly coloured paint. I think we've got white paint... who's bringing the red?"

Korody and Nuttall were arrested on Canada Day 2013.

In one instance an argument broke out on the forum when Nuttall was referred to as "sketchy" by one of the other paintballers. In response, Nuttall explained his past use of methadone and said, "I have now been clean and off methadone AND all other drugs for one year now."

It is not clear why Nuttall and Korody stopped participating in the online forum in the summer of 2012.

Both are scheduled to appear in court on July 9.

1. INTRODUCTION

The threat of al Qaeda in Turkey is significantly understudied, considering the nature and number of targets against which the terror group has plotted attacks, including many targets affiliated with the United States. Perhaps this is because the Turkish police are successful in thwarting such attacks; foiled plots are not as sensational as those that are carried out and cause tragedy. Or it could be because terror in Turkey has historically been synonymous with the terrorism of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which distracts from the al Qaeda threat. It is also easy to dismiss Turkey as an unlikely target for al Qaeda, given its 99 percent Muslim population and currently Islamic-rooted government.

A look at al Qaeda's targets, which appear to be concentrated on US, Turkish, British, Jewish, and Christian facilities, demonstrates the point. Plots involving American targets include a plan to attack the İncirlik Base in Adana in 2003; a foiled attack on the NATO summit in Istanbul in May 2004 that was to be attended by then-President George W. Bush; and an attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul in July 2008, which killed three policemen. In July 2011, an attack on the US Embassy in Ankara was thwarted just before Secretary of State Clinton's visit. In April 2013, Turkish police found evidence of a new plot linked to al Qaeda to bomb the US Embassy in Ankara. As recently as May 2013, Turkish police uncovered a plot by the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front to conduct sarin gas attacks against Turkish and American targets, a relatively new phenomenon which appears to be a result of the spillover effects of the Syrian war into Turkey.

Other targets include suicide attacks on the British Consulate, the headquarters of British HSBC international bank, and two big synagogues in Istanbul in November 2003, which killed some 60 people and injured at least 700; a possible attack on the Pope during his visit to Turkey in November 2006; and a plot to attack the Bilderberg Summit in Istanbul in June 2007. Turkish authorities have also intercepted al Qaeda plans to conduct attacks on churches and clergy in Ankara, Turkish soldiers in Afghanistan after their takeover of the Kabul Regional Command in November 2009, the Turkish parliament building, and an Israeli cruise ship to Turkey.

These incidents suggest that the al Qaeda threat in Turkey persists. In fact, an al Qaeda-linked document found during a recent raid in Turkey said that it was more beneficial for the group to target Turkey than the West. Routine operations and mass arrests of suspected al Qaeda members and sympathizers indicate the presence of a support network for its cause within Turkey. These indications, combined with the recent emergence of jihadists in Syria, and the presence of Al Nusra Front elements along certain parts of Turkey's 570-mile border with Syria, make this a threat worth examining.

There are challenges in trying to decipher the al Qaeda threat in Turkey, however. Reports based on open sources such as this one have to make analyses based only on the information that is available. The media does not give much attention to thwarted attacks. And the Turkish press does not publish names of people arrested, to protect the privacy of the individuals and investigations; instead, only the suspects' initials are published. Moreover, many al Qaeda operatives have one or more code names. In addition, many of the details of operations or what they reveal is not reported. Nevertheless, some conclusions can still be made about the characteristics of al Qaeda in Turkey today.

2. WHY IS TURKEY A TARGET? HOW DOES AL QAEDA VIEW TURKEY?

Al Qaeda's narrative on Turkey suggests that it views Turkey as a Muslim traitor that abolished the Caliphate at the end of the Ottoman Empire, which for al Qaeda marks the start of the "Muslim world's humiliation and contempt over the last 80 years." Al Qaeda views Turkey -- a country with free elections and a liberal economy, a member of NATO, and a strategic ally of the United States -- as a US or Western puppet. Turkey was also one of the first countries to recognize Israel, and takes part in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, which leads al Qaeda to accuse Turkey of "cooperating with Israel" and "killing Muslims in Afghanistan."

In the wake of the Arab Spring, al Qaeda appears to be particularly bothered by Turkey's being hailed as a potential model for Muslim nations in the Middle East today. Turkey stands as an obstacle to al Qaeda's plans to create polarization between Islam and the West. For example, Turkey's participation in ISAF in Afghanistan undermines al Qaeda's rhetoric that ISAF is a "crusader force." Turkey's tolerant interpretation of Islam is also directly opposed to al Qaeda's interpretation, which calls for replacing existing governments in Muslim countries with a single Islamic state or Caliphate and the imposition of a strict form of government based on its specific interpretation of Islam. Al Qaeda calls the Turkish government an "apostate" one that does not adhere to the terror group's definition of "true Islam."

The organization has criticized Turkey's cooperation with the US in fighting al Qaeda. The quote below is a good example of the kind of rhetoric the group uses regarding Turkey's cooperation with the US. In a May 23, 2007 interview which aired on Al Jazeera, Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid, a senior al Qaeda official in Afghanistan, threatened Turkey after it was revealed that Ankara had handed over Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iral Qaedai, an al Qaeda operative, to the US:

Regarding the arrest of the heroic brother Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iral Qaedai.... He was on his way to Iraq.... He was arrested in Turkey and the puppet government in Turkey extradited him to the Americans.... Despite the fact that the brother Abd Al-Hadi had requested political asylum and the Turkish courts had agreed to grant it.... What freedom do they [the Turkish government] claim? What justice do they allege? And to what Islam do they belong? Their punishment from God and from the mujahedeen is coming, God willing.

Similarly, in July and August of 2010, al Qaeda emir Ayman al-Zawahiri, then the group's second in command, warned Turkey twice, accusing it of collaborating with Israel and sending troops to Afghanistan, and killing Muslims in Afghanistan (even though Turkish forces do not participate in combat missions in ISAF). In a 20-minute Arabic video published online, he said, "The Turkish government shows sympathy with the Palestinians through statements or sending some relief aid, but actually recognizes Israel, engages in trade, carries out military training, and shares information with it." He called on Turks to pressure their government to end relations with Israel. Quite interestingly, these warnings came following a severe deterioration in relations between Turkey and Israel after the infamous Mavi Marmara incident.

On the other hand, with its 75 million Muslims, Turkey is also seen as a potential al Qaeda recruitment pool. The Turkish people's proximity to and influence in Central Asia, along with their linguistic, religious, and ethnic affinities with Uzbeks and others in the region, make them a potential target audience for support and recruitment. A large Muslim diaspora in Germany also positions Turks as a recruitment source for other Islamist militant groups operating in Europe.

3. TURKEY'S 9/11: THE NOVEMBER 2003 ATTACKS

On Nov. 15, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., two trucks filled with explosives slammed into the Beth Israel and Neve Shalom synagogues in Istanbul. The explosions devastated the synagogues and killed 24 people, most of them Turkish Muslims, and injured more than 300 others.

Five days later, on Nov. 20, 2003, at 10:55 a.m., two more simultaneous suicide attacks took place. An attack on the HSBC Bank Central Directorate in Istanbul killed the bomber and 15 others; five minutes later an attack against the British Consulate in Istanbul killed British Consul Roger Short and 34 others, and injured hundreds. The attacks came as then-US President George Bush was meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

These four attacks, which resonate as a 9/11 for Turks, marked the point at which the al Qaeda presence in Turkey became apparent to the world. Turkish police uncovered the organization quickly, and details of the operations and perpetrators emerged. The bombers had established a detergent company in Turkey six months prior to the attacks, and used it as a front to produce the 12 tons of chemical explosives used in the bombings. They had opened several cell phone stores in order to easily access SIM cards and establish cell phone communication with each other. They also had purchased four trucks, trained the drivers on the attack locations, and practiced the attack many times. The financing for all this, $150,000, had come from Osama bin Laden through a Syrian, Louai Sakka (a Turkish-speaking Syrian, with code name Aladdin).

During the planning stage, other targets were discussed, including the US Consulate in Istanbul (which was attacked five years later, in 2008); the Incirlik Air Base in Adana; and Israeli ships approaching Turkish ports. In fact, initially, the first suicide attack in Turkey was planned for Nov. 7, 2003 against an Israeli ship expected at a port in Alanya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. A follow-up attack was planned for the next day, with suicide bombings in two synagogues in Istanbul; and another attack was planned for one week later, with suicide bombings on the HSBC Central Branch in Istanbul. When the expected ship did not arrive in Alanya on that day, however, plans were postponed by a week.

4. AL QAEDA TARGETS TURKEY

The following is a list of all known al Qaeda targets in Turkey, and includes attacks that have been carried out as well as foiled plots.

• Nov. 15, 2003: Suicide bombers attacked two synagogues in Istanbul, killing 24 people and injuring more than 300.

• Nov. 20, 2003: Suicide bombers in Istanbul attacked the British Consulate and the HSBC Bank Central Branch, killing 34 people and injuring at least 400.

• March 9, 2004: Two suicide bombers attacked a Masonic Lodge in Istanbul, killing two people, including one of the suicide bombers.

• May 3, 2004: Turkish authorities thwarted a plot by the al Qaeda-linked Ansar Al-Islam to bomb a NATO summit in Istanbul at the end of June, which was to be attended by President George W. Bush.

• August 2005: A suspected member of al Qaeda, believed to be planning a terrorist attack against an Israeli cruise ship in Antalya, was arrested in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır.

• December 2006: Police arrested 10 people ahead of the Pope's visit to Turkey, based on email exchanges of al Qaeda members they had been tracking. The organization had denounced the visit as part of a "crusader campaign" against Islam.

• May 30, 2007: Turkish police arrested 11 people in Istanbul who were allegedly planning to attack the Bilderberg Summit in Istanbul, a meeting of prominent statesmen and businessmen, sometimes referred to as "covert world government," which took place from May 31 to June 3.

• April 1, 2008: Simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Gaziantep, and Hatay led to the arrests of 45 suspects, including one of the top leaders of al Qaeda in Turkey. The suspects were allegedly planning a high-profile attack.

• July 9, 2008: An attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul killed three police officers and three attackers.

• Jan. 15, 2010: Seven separate raids in Ankara and Adana revealed and foiled a plot to attack Turkish soldiers at the Kabul Regional Command in Afghanistan to protest Turkish soldiers' taking over the command as part of ISAF in November 2009.

• July 13, 2011: Turkish police arrested 15 al Qaeda militants in Ankara, Yalova, and Bursa who had 1,550 pounds of bomb-making explosives, and prevented an attack against the US Embassy in Ankara just ahead of a visit to Turkey by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The indictment report revealed that they were also planning to attack Ankara's churches and Christian clergy, as well as the Turkish Parliament. This foiled plot was speculated to be al Qaeda's revenge for the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

• Feb. 27, 2013: In a counterterrorism operation against two cells, carried out by the Tekirdağ Police Department, 11 al Qaeda members with explosives were captured after reportedly planning to stage attacks on the US Consulate in Istanbul and a synagogue in Istanbul.

• April 2013: Based on the raid in February 2013, Turkish police also found evidence of a plot linked to al Qaeda to bomb the US Embassy in Ankara.

• May 2013: Seven members of the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front were detained after police found sarin gas, which was reportedly going to be used in a bomb attack against targets in Turkey, during a search of the suspects' homes in Adana and Mersin.

5. BACKGROUND: RADICAL ISLAMIST COMMUNITIES IN TURKEY

According to a BBC report from January 2010, "[t]here are pockets of sympathy for jihadist Islam in parts of Turkey, numbering around 5000 Salafi Muslims." This group "serves as a potential recruitment pool for al Qaeda operatives" notes a 2009 report in Eurasia Daily Monitor. Members of these communities have gone to Afghanistan and Pakistan for military training, and to Saudi Arabia for religious training. These groups include members who have fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, and Kashmir. The Salafist view sees Turkey as a country that is not ruled according to Islamic laws. Salafists do not believe in praying with an imam who is paid by the government, nor do they believe that the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) represents Muslims. They want to abolish the secular order, bring Islamic law (sharia), and spread the Salafi-Wahhabi version of Islam in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia.

How did this demographic base emerge in Turkey? In a 2007 report for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Turkish expert on Islamic movements Ruşen Çakır observes that it started in the 1970s, with the influence of the Egyptian Islamist theorist and author Sayyid Qutb. Subsequently, the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran opened new horizons for Turkish Islamist ideology. Çakır notes that many young Islamists from Turkey visited Iran and then began to research ways of transforming Turkey into Iran when they returned. Under the influence of the Iranian regime's strategy of "export of revolution," books written by ayatollahs, particularly those of Khomeini, were translated into Turkish.

Çakır writes that the Islamist movement in Turkey started growing stronger in the 1980s, and that in 1983, Turkey transitioned to a democracy and opened up to the world both economically and culturally, allowing its citizens access to translated Islamic publications from around the world. Almost all books written by the world's most prominent Islamic scholars from Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan were translated into Turkish during this period. However, military coups in Turkey prevented this movement from becoming fully politicized, thus forcing it to remain underground as it continued to grow. When al Qaeda emerged on the world stage in 1996-1998, it found a group of Turkish volunteers from within this demographic, which became the organization's base in Turkey in 1999. A 2009 Jamestown Foundation report notes that most raids on al Qaeda in Turkey today take place in cities such as Gaziantep, Konya, or Istanbul, where Salafist communities live, "suggesting the existence of a relationship between al Qaeda members and the Salafi communities within Turkey."

6. AL QAEDA'S ALLEGED LOCAL PARTNERS IN TURKEY

Three local groups in Turkey stand out as being (or having been) potential collaborators with or 'subcontractors' to al Qaeda in Turkey: the Turkish Hizballah; the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front (IBDA-C); and in the past, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department, while the other two are included in the State Department's list of 'Other Terrorist Groups.'

Turkish Hizballah

Turkish Hizballah (TH) is a Kurdish militant radical Islamist group in Turkey which, before going underground in January 2000, sought to set up an Islamic Kurdish state. It is comprised exclusively of Kurds, and has no known associations with the Hizballah organization in Lebanon. Some of the militants from the November 2003 attacks were linked to this group, and there is evidence that suggests a cooperative relationship between TH and al Qaeda operatives in Turkey in recent years. In 2008, police operations in Istanbul, Ankara, and Diyarbakır revealed that high-level TH leaders had cooperated with al Qaeda and had even sent some TH members to Afghanistan for training. Arrests in police raids against al Qaeda in Turkey reveal that many of its members are descendants of TH militants. One of the leaders of al Qaeda in Turkey, Halis Bayuncuk, was also the son of former TH member Haci Bayuncuk. In addition, Gaziantep, which has emerged as an important hub for al Qaeda activity in Turkey, serves also as a major operation center for TH. The US State Department has designated TH as a terrorist group.



It is unclear whether the TH urges its former militants to join forces with al Qaeda, or whether they join by individual choice. During a raid in April 2009, Turkish police discovered that the TH maintains operatives with knowledge of weapons and explosives whom it wants to install in the al Qaeda network.

Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front (IBDA-C)

The Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front ("İslami Büyükdoğu Akıncılar Cephesi" in Turkish, or IBDA-C) is an Islamist militant organization whose self-proclaimed goal is to create an Islamic federate state in the Middle East and reestablish the Caliphate. Like al Qaeda, IBDA-C considers the Turkish government illegal and has carried out acts of terrorism in Turkey in the past. This group initially claimed responsibility for the November 2003 attacks, but it quickly became apparent that the perpetrators were part of an al Qaeda cell in Turkey.

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

Although the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and al Qaeda are not aligned ideologically, there have been claims that al Qaeda has courted the PKK to exploit its knowledge of Turkish security vulnerabilities. Al Qaeda's Kurdish ally Ansar al Islam was based in the same mountains of northern Iraq where the PKK is based. While the geographic proximity and common enemy may have made such cooperation plausible in the past, it should be noted that this is no longer the case, given the PKK's ceasefire and the peace process that is ongoing between the Turkish government and the group as of early 2013.

A 2004 article which appeared in the Turkish mass daily Sabah reported claims that al Qaeda was collaborating with the PKK, and noted: "Some groups from the PKK have started to collaborate with Al-Qaida. The alliance between the PKK and Al-Qaida is a nightmare which is getting stronger in northern Iraq." It is also worth noting that around 2007, the PKK started adopting al Qaeda's tactics, such as simultaneous attacks, suicide bombings, kidnappings, and the use of YouTube videos, suggesting possible cross-pollination between Kurdish insurgents and al Qaeda.

Some reports claim that al Qaeda-PKK cooperation lies behind the July 2008 attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul. Although security sources suggest the attack was carried out by al Qaeda, others noted that it was far from having the hallmarks of that organization. This triggered the intelligence services and security officials to question whether al Qaeda had the support of the PKK. Many alleged that the two organizations, under increasing pressure from both Turkish and American intelligence services, had a cooperative relationship in which al Qaeda had used the PKK as a "subcontractor."

7. GAZIANTEP: AN IMPORTANT HUB

Operations against al Qaeda cells in Turkey reveal that Gaziantep, a city near Turkey's border with Syria, is a logistical and military base for the group. It has also been a way station for al Qaeda militants traveling to Iraq or Afghanistan and, more recently, Syria.

Following the 9/11 attacks, a group of 20 militants departed from Gaziantep to Afghanistan to join the jihad. They were headed by Turkish militant Mehmet Yılmaz and his assistant, Mehmet Reşit Işık, who later resurfaced in Iraq, where the two men were killed by US forces in June 2007. Yılmaz had been facilitating the movement of foreign fighters to Iraq for al Qaeda operations, via the Gaziantep cell. Gaziantep was also a home base for militants returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. On Oct. 29, 2001, 14 militants who had fought with al Qaeda in Afghanistan were captured in Gaziantep.

Writing about Islamic movements in Turkey, Ruşen Çakır discusses the importance of Gaziantep for al Qaeda militants heading to Iraq in 2008:

Al-Qaida prefers the Syrian route to Iraq. Those who cannot get to Syria directly, and who have connections to Al-Qaida, come to Turkey first. Then they go to Gaziantep and contact their Al-Qaida affiliates, and then they get to Syria through illegal ways, and on to Iraq. These include volunteer suicide bombers from Europe and professional teams who are directed to Iraq by Al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Gaziantep is also the only city where al Qaeda militants have responded with gunfire to Turkish police during a raid, suggesting their strength in that city. On Jan. 24, 2008, Turkish security units conducted an operation against an alleged al Qaeda cell in Gaziantep, amid reports that the cell was planning an operation of "sensational" proportions in Turkey. Suspected militants responded with gunfire to police calls to surrender, resulting in a firefight that led to the deaths of five militants and a policeman, along with the detention of 19 others.

Following the operation, codenamed "Ufuk" (Horizon), intelligence officials from the Gaziantep Anti-Terror Directorate interrogated the suspects and determined that the cell coordinated activities with other al Qaeda cells abroad. The officials further revealed that members of this cell frequently traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan via Iran with false passports. During these visits they had met with other al Qaeda militants, informed them of their activities in Turkey, and taken directions from them.

8. TURKEY AS PART OF AL QAEDA'S GLOBAL STRATEGY

Al Qaeda's global strategy includes a phase that entailed an expansion into Turkey. The third phase of the group's seven-phase global strategy, called the "Rising and Standing Up" phase, was to begin in 2007 and last until 2010. Militant activities in this phase were planned to concentrate on establishing an al Qaeda presence and influence in the "Land of Sham," corresponding to Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and northern Jordan. Developments and al Qaeda-related arrests in Turkey between December 2006 and June 2007 (which correspond to the early part of this phase) were consistent with this plan.

Between December 2006 and June 2007, Turkish police arrested over 100 people suspected of having links with al Qaeda, and seized fake documents, weapons, and training manuals related to the organization. An operation in Konya province in January 2007 discovered a villa being used as an al Qaeda base, which housed a school for Turkish children age 12 and under. The school's activities included studying the Quran, and swearing to pursue martyrdom through daily recitations pledging "to give their lives for Shari'a [Islamic law] and being ready to rise to the level of martyrdom." The school also had other sections for recruiting adults, and contained thousands of publications, along with weapons training videos and compact discs. The school's existence demonstrated al Qaeda's longterm goals in recruiting Turkish youth and adults.

Al Qaeda also debuted its Turkish-language website, Sehadetvakti.com (Time for Martyrdom), in early 2007 (the site went offline in mid-2012). Since then, a growing number of similar Turkish websites have emerged, which suggests an increase in Turkish involvement in jihadist activity.

The Time for Martyrdom website advocated a message of militant jihad, and featured an array of violent videos from established al Qaeda media organizations focusing on Iraq and Afghanistan. The website would routinely eulogize fighters killed in jihad and hold them up as role models for others.

9. CONCLUSION: THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF AL QAEDA IN TURKEY

The following conclusions can be drawn based on the information known about al Qaeda in Turkey today.

• As Gareth Jenkins, a senior fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy's Turkey Initiative, observes, there does not appear to be a Turkish "branch" of al Qaeda with a "country representative" at its head. Instead, the network appears to be run by a few people of similar hierarchical status in different regions. In fact, there are many different networks in the country, Jenkins says, "some of which are in contact with al Qaeda members outside Turkey and others who merely share the same goals but have no direct links."

• Al Qaeda uses elements of local radical Islamist groups in Turkey, and appears to have links with Turkish Hizballah (TH). Some of TH's members are thought to have regrouped under the al Qaeda movement in Turkey. Terror analysts have also alleged past links with the PKK through Ansar al Islam, a former Kurdish al Qaeda unit in northern Iraq near PKK bases.

• Al Qaeda's plans in Turkey are more likely to be carried out in the organization's name as the work of localized networks picking targets of opportunity that they identify, rather than being managed by a senior operational group in Afghanistan.

• Turkish security forces are very efficient in monitoring the activities of Islamist militants and successful in preventing attacks.

• Al Qaeda's violent interpretation of Islam receives no public backing in historically secular Turkey. As Prof. Serhat Erkmen, an al Qaeda researcher notes, Turkey's tolerant understanding of Islam provides a "natural immunization" against al Qaeda. This, coupled with the language barrier (most Turks do not speak Arabic), makes Turkey unlikely to ever become a strong al Qaeda base.

• Gaziantep, the largest city in the southeast, has been used as an important hub for militants traveling to and from Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaziantep is also a major operations center for TH.

• Iraq, an important activity area for al Qaeda, was also where al Qaeda members from Turkey would escape. Some of the main organizers of the attacks in Turkey escaped to Iraq via Gaziantep.

• Several Turkish al Qaeda militants have recently surfaced in Syria.

• As a result of the Syrian war, elements of the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front have surfaced in the border regions between Turkey and Syria, which can tap into the already existing al Qaeda network in Turkey.

• Al Qaeda is still targeting Turkey. 

APPENDIX: CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF AL QAEDA PLOTS, ATTACKS, AND ARRESTS IN TURKEY

Nov. 15, 2003: Suicide bombers attacked two synagogues in Istanbul, killing 24 people and injuring more than 300.

Nov. 20, 2003: Suicide bombers in Istanbul attacked the British Consulate and the HSBC Bank Central Branch, killing 34 people and injuring at least 400.

March 9, 2004: Two suicide bombers attacked a Masonic lodge in Istanbul, killing one person and one of the suicide bombers.

May 3, 2004: Turkish authorities thwarted a plot by Ansar al Islam to bomb a NATO summit in Istanbul at the end of June that was to be attended by President George W. Bush.

August 2005: Syrian national Louai Sakka, (code name 'Syrian Aladdin'), one of the masterminds of the November 2003 Istanbul attacks, was arrested under the false ID of Ekrem Özel in Diyarbakır on charges that he was preparing a bomb attack on Israeli ships arriving in Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

December 2006: Police arrested 10 suspected militants before the Pope's visit to Turkey, after determining a potential threat based on email exchanges.

January 2007: In operations around the country, Turkish police arrested 48 people suspected of links with al Qaeda. In Konya province, this operation discovered a villa being used as an al Qaeda base which housed a school for Turkish children age 12 and under. The school's activities included studying the Quran and swearing to pursue "martyrdom" through daily recitations, pledging "to give their lives for Shari'a [Islamic law], and being ready to rise to the level of martyrdom." The school had other sections for recruiting adults, and contained thousands of publications, along with weapons training videos and compact discs.

May 30, 2007: Authorities arrested 11 people in Istanbul who were allegedly planning to attack the Bilderberg Summit in Istanbul, a meeting of prominent statesmen and businessmen, sometimes referred to as "covert world government," that took place from May 31 to June 3.

June 23, 2007: Mehmet Yılmaz and Mehmet Reşit Işık, two Turkish al Qaeda members, were killed by Coalition forces in Baghdad, Iraq.

Dec. 29, 2007: Simultaneous raids in four Turkish cities resulted in the detention of 20 suspected al Qaeda militants. The raids took place in Aksaray, Adana, Ankara, and Istanbul after the Aksaray Gendarmerie Intelligence decided to preempt a planned attack by a sleeper cell in Aksaray that had been under surveillance for several years.

Dec. 31, 2007: An article in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth claimed that Israeli intelligence reports suggested al Qaeda cells in Turkey were preparing for an imminent attack against Israeli and US targets inside Turkey. Israeli institutions and companies in Turkey were issued warnings by the Israeli government.

Jan. 24, 2008: In several simultaneous raids, Turkish security forces arrested members of an al Qaeda cell in Gaziantep. Suspected militants responded with gunfire to police calls to surrender, resulting in a firefight which led to the deaths of four militants and the detention of 19 others.

April 1, 2008: Simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Gaziantep, and Hatay led to the arrests of 45 suspects, including one of the high-level members of al Qaeda in Turkey. The suspects were allegedly planning a large-scale attack to avenge the January 2008 operations against the Gaziantep cell, which had killed four terrorists, including Halis Bayuncuk, said to be one of the senior members of al Qaeda in Turkey. (He was the son of a former Hezbollah member, Hacı Bayuncuk.)

July 9, 2008: Three police officers and three attackers died during an attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul, in which four armed men drove a car up to the high-walled compound. The attackers then jumped out of the car and started firing at police at a guard post. The police officers fired back, killing three of the attackers, as bystanders ran for cover; at least one attacker escaped in the car.

April 9, 2009: Police arrested 28 suspects in Eskisehir. The Eskişehir cell was allegedly organizing discussion groups to recruit new members to its network.

April 22, 2009: Raids in Gaziantep, Konya, Adana, Kahramanmaraş, and Şanlıurfa resulted in the arrest of 37 suspected al Qaeda members believed to be planning attacks on Turkish soil.

Jan. 15, 2010: Seven separate raids in Ankara and Adana resulted in the capture of Ebubekir Aslan, allegedly a top al Qaeda Turkey leader; his assistant Ali Mert; and 30 others, who were reportedly preparing an attack on Turkish soldiers at the Kabul Regional Command in Afghanistan to protest Turkey's taking over the command as part of ISAF in November 2009. (Turkey doubled its troop numbers to about 1,750 at that time.) Aslan had been trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was allegedly the organization's Taifatul Mansura branch. Weapons, al Qaeda-linked documents, and fake IDs and passports were found. Police also found quantities of camouflage clothing to be sent to Serdar Elbaşı (code name Ebu Zer El Turki) in Afghanistan, who was allegedly al Qaeda Turkey's leader in Afghanistan. Another theory was that they were plotting to kill Turkish soldiers in Adana or Ankara, or to murder police in Turkey.

Jan. 15-20, 2010: In countrywide operations, over 100 suspected al Qaeda militants were arrested, 17 of whom were detained for conducting al Qaeda-linked activities under the fake association NIDA-DER, producing fake IDs, and fundraising and recruiting fighters for al Qaeda.

April 2011: In Istanbul, 50 raids resulted in the arrest of 26-year-old Halis Bayancuk, considered one of the ringleaders of al Qaeda in Turkey, along with 42 others. He is the son of Hacı Bayancuk, a former leader of the Kurdish Hezbollah in Turkey. He had been sent to prison in 2008 but released in 2009. In Van, 10 others were arrested.

June 2011: Authorities arrested 10 suspected al Qaeda militants in Adana, home to the İncirlik Air Base, which is used by the US to transfer supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan.

July 13, 2011: Authorities arrested 15 al Qaeda militants in three cities (Ankara, Yalova, and Bursa), and seized 1,550 pounds of bomb-making explosives. The indictment report in December 2011 revealed that the militants were planning to attack Ankara's churches and Christian clergy, as well as the Turkish Parliament and the US Embassy in Ankara, during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit. Documents found said, "It is more advantageous to wage jihad against Turkey than the United States." Among the documents seized was a list of names and addresses of Christian clergy and church workers living in Ankara. This foiled plot was speculated to be al Qaeda's revenge for the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

Nov. 22, 2011: Authorities arrested 14 al Qaeda militants in Konya.

Dec. 9, 2011: Istanbul authorities confirmed that police were searching for three al Qaeda extremists and five others involved in stealing $3.5 million from a Turkish businessman's account by using false identities and bribing bank employees. The group hoped to use the money to support the al Qaeda cause. This was the first "fiscal terrorism" operation in Turkey.

Dec. 14, 2011: Six militants were arrested in Izmir and Manisa, including group regional leader Erdal Akpınar. They were apparently working for the organization's Turkish leader, Halis Bayuncuk, who had been arrested in April 2011.

Dec. 20, 2011: Authorities arrested 12 suspects in operations in 15 locations in Gaziantep.

June 2012: Authorities arrested 21 suspected al Qaeda members in operations in Bursa, Balıkesir, Gaziantep, and Yalova.

Aug. 3, 2012: Osman Karahan, publicly known as the lawyer defending al Qaeda members in Turkey, was killed in Aleppo, Syria. Karahan had defended Louai Sakka, a Turkish-speaking Syrian and one of the planners of the November 2003 attacks in Istanbul.

Aug. 16, 2012: Metin Ekinci was killed in Syria. One of the trucks used in the November 2003 attacks was registered under his name. He was the brother of suspected al Qaeda member Azad Ekinci, who was one of the planners of the November 2003 attacks. Azad has been wanted in connection with the attacks since then.

Aug. 18, 2012: Baki Yiğit, one of the main planners of the November 2003 attacks, was killed in Aleppo, Syria. Yiğit had been prosecuted for organizing the attacks and was known to have had personal contact with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. He had been charged with being a member of al Qaeda, attempting to change the Turkish Constitution, and organizing a bomb attack on synagogues, HSBC bank, and the British Consulate, and had been sentenced to life in prison in February 2007. He was released on Oct. 12, 2010 based on time served, however, and was not prohibited from traveling outside the country.

Aug. 30, 2012: Authorities arrested 13 suspected al Qaeda militants in Kocaeli.

Feb. 27, 2013: In a counterterrorism operation carried out by the Tekirdağ Police Department against two cells, 11 al Qaeda members were captured with explosives after reportedly planning to stage attacks in Istanbul on the US Consulate, a church, and a synagogue.

April 10, 2013: Based on the raid in February 2013, Turkish police also found evidence of an al Qaeda plot to bomb the US Embassy in Ankara.

April 15, 2013: An antiterrorism operation against an al Qaeda cell in in Konya led to the arrest of 10 suspects on charges that they were funneling weapons to the Syrian opposition and recruiting members to send to Syria.

May 30, 2013: Seven members of the al Qaeda-linked Al Nusrah Front were detained after police found sarin gas, which was reportedly going to be used in a bomb attack against targets in Turkey, during a search of the suspects' homes in Adana and Mersin.

In a statement posted to jihadist forums on July 6, al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya denounced the Egyptian army for firing on protesters in the city of el Arish in North Sinai. The statement, titled "Regarding the Crimes of the Army Elements Against the Protesters in Arish," was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The Salafi jihadist group charged that the Egyptian army had opened fire and wounded at least 21 people who were protesting "in front of the district building in Arish during afternoon prayers on Friday." "The matter cannot be denied, for the cameras and videos had recorded it and the video is on the internet," the statement said. According to al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya, Friday's incident is "a continuation of the series of crimes against the people and sons of Sinai."

"The people of Sinai in general will not stand aside, and the rise of the people of Arish after this crime and their taking control of the district building and expelling the army is only an example of that," the group said. Jihadists are said to have overtaken the district building in el Arish and raised a black al Qaeda flag on Friday.

The Salafi jihadist group further stated that there must "a decisive stand against the war that has been declared by the enemies of Islam in Egypt against Islam and the Shariah of Allah and in which the police and the army participated alongside the secularists and the Christians."

A representative of al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya in Sinai recently announced the formation of a new front, "Ansar al Sharia in Egypt," in the wake of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's ouster. The group is getting ready for a fight, saying it will "make preparations and acquire means of power such as weapons and training," according to a statement obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

In addition to the statement by al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya, a statement announcing the establishment of the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam in Egypt was posted to jihadist forums today. According to SITE, the statement was posted to the Shumukh al-Islam forum, but was subsequently removed by administrators.

"It was later distributed on other forums and on jihadists' Twitter accounts," SITE reported. Facebook pages affiliated with Ansar al Sharia in Tunisia appear to have posted the statement as well.

The statement alleged that a campaign has been launched to "maim the image of Islam and destroy it." The Brigades said that their goal is "to support the religion of Allah, and to make the words of Allah the highest, and to remove injustice from the people of Egypt."

The group concluded its statement by warning that "the traitors and the agents of the Jews and the Christians" must be wary as "what we have to say to them is what you will see and not what you hear. You will only see from us, Allah the Almighty permitting, what will harm you."

It is not clear if the new group exists beyond the Internet or if it has any ties to the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a jihadist group that has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks in Israel as well as the July 28, 2010 bombing of a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

In an incident being described variously as an insider attack and an "accident," an Afghan security force member opened fire on International Security Assistance Force troops at Kandahar Airfield this morning, killing one and wounding at least two more.

Initial reports indicated that American troops had been targeted. Gen. Abdur Raziq Sherzai, a commander of the Afghan National Army's 20th Atal Corps, told Pajhwok Afghan News that a "rogue soldier" from Laghman province who had joined the ANA two years ago fired at US troops at the airfield and wounded three US troops. Sherzai said the attacker had been arrested and was being interrogated. According to the Javed Faisal, spokesman for the provincial governor, the shooting occurred after a "verbal clash."

An account by Khaama Press stated that "at least three" Czech soldiers were wounded in the attack, which occurred as they were "crossing the area." The Khaama report said the attacker belonged to an air force brigade.

A subsequent report by the Associated Press indicates that the injured soldiers were from Slovakia, which guards the Kandahar Airfield base. According to the AP report, gubernatorial spokesman Faisal claimed that a preliminary investigation indicated the shooting was an "accident" rather than an insider attack.

According to ISAF, one soldier was killed in the attack today. The ISAF statement said that one ISAF member "died when an individual wearing an Afghan National Security Force uniform fired his weapon at ISAF individuals in southern Afghanistan today."

Slovakia's Defense Minister, Martin Glvac, later confirmed that one Slovak soldier was killed, two seriously injured, and four more lightly injured, according to Pajhwok Afghan News. The attacker was a disgruntled Afghan soldier named Lamber Khan, the New York Times reported.

Just yesterday, ISAF formally turned over security responsibility for Regional Command South to Afghan forces, in a ceremony at Kandahar Airfield. ISAF and Afghan military officials in Kandahar announced that Afghan National Security Forces were now strong enough to repel Taliban attempts to take over districts in southern Afghanistan, TOLONews reported. Gen. Abdul Majid, the Commander of the Afghan National Army's (ANA) 205 ATAL, claimed that Taliban forces had recently tried to occupy some districts of southern Afghanistan but had been thwarted by security forces.

"Thousands of Taliban insurgents came from neighbouring countries and failed. The Quetta Council had decided that the Taliban should have one district of each province under its control. But they failed in their attempt," he said.

Today's attack is the eighth green-on-blue attack so far this year in Afghanistan, and the first this year in Kandahar province. [See LWJ Special Report, Green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan: the data.] The overall number of such attacks, in which Afghan forces turn on their Coalition counterparts, is down so far this year from a peak in 2012, when green-on-blue attacks accounted for 15% of total Coalition casualties. This year, there have been eight deaths from green-on-blue attacks, accounting for 8% of Coalition casualties. The downturn is likely due to reduced partnering between Afghan and Coalition forces as greater security responsibility is turned over to the Afghans.

As the time for the withdrawal of all US combat forces in 2014 approaches, the Obama administration and the Karzai government are finding themselves increasingly at odds over long-term security plans for Afghanistan. President Karzai recently repudiated peace talks between the US and the Taliban in Qatar, claiming they left Afghanistan out of the equation. The New York Times reported today that President Obama, in turn, is said to be giving new consideration to the "zero option" in Afghanistan, in which no US troops will be left in the country to help maintain stability after 2014.

A group calling itself the "313 Brigade" has claimed credit for yesterday's car bombing in the capital of Lebanon that targeted Hezbollah members. The group bears the same name as al Qaeda's military unit that operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, although it is unclear if the two groups are one and the same.

The "313 Brigade" claimed credit for the Beirut bombing, which wounded more than 50 people in an area known to be a Hezbollah stronghold, in a statement that was released on its Facebook page. The statement was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The 313 Brigade blamed Hezbollah, which it calls the "Lebanese Party of Iran," and elements of the Lebanese government for intervening in the Syrian civil war on the side of the Syrian government.

"[I]n light of the vicious attack that patient Homs has suffered with the participation of the mercenaries of Hassan Nasrallah [the leader of Hezbollah], special units from the 313 Brigade carried out an attack with a car bomb," the group stated, according to SITE, which said the 313 Brigade is based in Syria.

The 313 Brigade threatened to strike again in Lebanon unless Hezbollah halts its activities in Syria. Hezbollah is estimated to have sent more than 12,000 fighters to support recent offensives launched in several areas by the forces of President Bashir al Assad. Hezbollah is credited with helping to turn the tide in the town of Qusayr and in other areas.

"We will strike everywhere in Lebanon the gatherings of the Lebanese Party of Iran, and we will pursue the remnants of this terrorist organization anywhere in the world in order to stop their participation in spilling Syrian blood," the 313 Brigade said.

The Syrian 313 Brigade shares the same name as the group that serves as al Qaeda's military organization in Pakistan. There is no direct evidence to link the Pakistani and Syrian groups, but al Qaeda is known to have tasked top operatives and recruits to fight in Syria. Al Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria is known as the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant.

Maulana Asim Umar, an al Qaeda ideologue based in Pakistan, claimed in May that some leaders and fighters from the region have been transferred to the Syrian front.

"And now the black flags of East Persia are moving to Syria after Iraq. The Mujahideen have established their centers in Syria ... in order to help establish caliphate," Umar said, according to a translation of his statement that was obtained by The Long War Journal.

"At present, al Qaeda and other Mujahideen of Islam have fully controlled this movement." he continued. "Several lashkars from Afghanistan are also leading in Syria."

The Pakistani Brigade 313 is made up of members from the Taliban and allied jihadist groups. Members of Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jundallah (the Karachi-based, al Qaeda-linked group), and several other Pakistani terror groups are known to have merged with al Qaeda in Pakistan, and the group operates under the name of Brigade 313. This group is interlinked with Pakistan's Taliban and also recruits senior members of Pakistan's military and intelligence services, a senior US intelligence official had told The Long War Journal.

The Pakistan-based Brigade 313 has been behind many of the high-profile attacks and bombings inside Pakistan, including multiple assassination attempts against former President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Gilani. The unit has also been involved in the rash of attacks on Pakistan's military and intelligence services, including the assault and siege against the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi in December 2009. It was led by Ilyas Kashmiri, a senior HUJI leader who also ran al Qaeda's military committee as well as the Lashkar-al-Zil, al Qaeda's military organization along the Afghan-Pakistan border. He was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan, in June 2011.

Brigade 313 is named after the 313 companions who fought with the Prophet Mohammed during the Battle of Badr.

For more information on Ilyas Kashmiri and Brigade 313, see LWJ reports, Al Qaeda Brigade 313 website goes online, US adds Ilyas Kashmiri to list of designated terrorists, and Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army.'

The Afghan Taliban praised suicide attacks and justified the use of the tactic just days before opening their "political office" in Doha, Qatar that is serving as an unofficial embassy for the group.

On June 12, the Taliban lauded suicide bombings on their website, Voice of Jihad, six days before news of the official opening of their office in Qatar. The article, titled "Let's Understand 'Suicide Bombing,'" was written by Taliban officials Ikrimah Anwar and Maulana Muawiya Hussaini.

In the article, Anwar and Hussaini claim to have carried out an "independent, impartial study of what "Suicide Bombing" ("Martyrdom Operations") really is." The two Taliban officials then justify the use of suicide bombers by making religious arguments from the Quran and Hadith, as well as the writings of Islamic scholars over the centuries.

The Taliban officials proceed to describe suicide attacks as "heroic operations of the Mujahideen" and recommend that the tactic should be referred to as "martyrdom operations." They also accuse the media of spreading "false propaganda against martyrdom operations ... because the operations have their basis in the Shariah," or Islamic law.

After a lengthy defense and justification of the use of suicide bombers, Anwar and Hussaini conclude that "'martyrdom operations' are one of the greatest of praiseworthy acts in the Shariah if they are carried out according to their conditions, under the guidance of pious Scholars and Mujahideen."

The Taliban's release of their justification for suicide attacks, just days before the opening of the political office which has served as their de facto embassy, serves as a further indication that the Taliban have no intention of abandoning the tactic that was introduced into Afghanistan by their ally, al Qaeda.

Nonetheless, the US and the West, which are drawing down forces in Afghanistan, are eager to negotiate a settlement with the Taliban, and have dropped demands that the Taliban first denounce al Qaeda and renounce international terrorism.

The Taliban signaled in early 2012 that they had no intentions of disowning al Qaeda, and refused to denounce international terrorism. A Taliban spokesman even said that al Qaeda is officially operating under the banner of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

"They [al Qaeda] are among the first groups and banners that pledged allegiance to the Emir of the Believers [Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban], and they operate in Afghanistan under the flag of the Islamic Emirate," a spokesman to jihadist forums known as Abdullah al Wazir said in February 2012.

"They are an example of discipline and accuracy in the execution of missions and operations entrusted to them by the Military Command of the Islamic Emirate," Wazir continued, calling al Qaeda "lions in war." [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda 'operates in Afghanistan under the flag of the Islamic Emirate': Taliban spokesman, and Threat Matrix report, Taliban expand list of demands, refuse to denounce 'international terrorism.]'

On July 4, the Taliban issued another statement on Voice of Jihad, essentially defending the creation of the group's "political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in Qatar, which it claims to have established "to protect the country's independence and national unity and secure peace and security."

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has sent "experts in warfare and information technology" to Syria to establish a base and monitor the fighting there. The disclosure of the existence of the Pakistani Taliban's Syrian cell occurred just two days after a group that bears the same name as an al Qaeda unit in Pakistan claimed to have executed an attack on Hezbollah in Beirut.

The Pakistani Taliban sent 12 "experts in warfare and information technology" to Syria in the past two months to aid Syrian jihadists, while the base was established in Syria six months ago, the BBC reported.

The BBC interviewed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader known as Mohammad Amin, who is described as the "coordinator" of the group's efforts in Syria.

"He [Amin] said that the cell has the approval of militant factions both within and outside" of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the BBC noted.

"They were facilitated by our friends in Syria who have previously been fighting in Afghanistan," Amin said. The Pakistani Taliban cell is in Syria to "assess the needs of the Jihad in Syria, and to work out joint operations with our Syrian friends," he continued.

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan works closely with the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and a host of non-aligned Taliban groups and jihadist organizations in Pakistan. Amin did not disclose which of these groups approved the Pakistani Taliban's establishment of a cell in Syria. Al Qaeda has a strong presence in Syria, and its official affiliate, the Al Nusrah Front, and the rogue Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, control territory throughout the country [see LWJ report, Islamic State of Iraq leader defies Zawahiri in alleged audio message].

The Pakistani Taliban are capable of establishing a cell in Syria even as they are waging jihad against the Pakistani government and fighting in Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has insisted that the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is weak and fractured due to military operations against the group.

The announcement of the existence of the Pakistani Taliban cell in Syria took place just two days after a group calling itself "313 Brigade" claimed credit for a bombing in a Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon. More than 50 people were wounded in the blast. The 313 Brigade blamed Hezbollah, which it calls the "Lebanese Party of Iran," and elements of the Lebanese government for intervening in the Syrian civil war on the side of the Syrian government.

The Syrian 313 Brigade shares the same name as the group that serves as al Qaeda's military organization in Pakistan. There is no direct evidence to link the Pakistani and Syrian groups, but al Qaeda is known to have tasked top operatives and recruits to fight in Syria. Al Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria is known as the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant [see LWJ report, Islamic State of Iraq leader defies Zawahiri in alleged audio message].

Maulana Asim Umar, an al Qaeda ideologue based in Pakistan, claimed in May that some leaders and fighters from the region have been transferred to the Syrian front.

"And now the black flags of East Persia are moving to Syria after Iraq. The Mujahideen have established their centers in Syria ... in order to help establish caliphate," Umar said, according to a translation of his statement that was obtained by The Long War Journal.

"At present, al Qaeda and other Mujahideen of Islam have fully controlled this movement." he continued. "Several lashkars from Afghanistan are also leading in Syria."

The Pakistani Brigade 313 is made up of members from the Taliban and allied jihadist groups. Members of Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jundallah (the Karachi-based, al Qaeda-linked group), and several other Pakistani terror groups are known to have merged with al Qaeda in Pakistan, and the group operates under the name of Brigade 313. This group is interlinked with Pakistan's Taliban and also recruits senior members of Pakistan's military and intelligence services, a senior US intelligence official has told The Long War Journal.

The US killed two "militants" in an area of Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan that is known to host al Qaeda and a variety of Pakistani and regional terror groups.

The CIA-operated, remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired a pair of missiles at the two militants as they were riding on a motorcycle in the village of Musaki in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, Pakistani intelligence officials told Dawn.

The target of the strike has not been identified, and no senior leaders or operatives of al Qaeda, the Taliban, or other terror groups based in the area are reported to have been killed.

Today's strike is just the second in Pakistan this month. The previous strike, which took place in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan on July 2, killed Abu Saif al Jaziri, an al Qaeda military commander; Maulana Akhtar Zadran, a Haqqani Network officer; and 15 other people.

The Mir Ali area is in the sphere of influence of Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an al Qaeda leader who serves as a key link to the Taliban and supports al Qaeda's external operations network. He is rumored to have been killed in a US drone strike last year, but the report was never confirmed.

Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadar and the Haqqani Network also operate in the Mir Ali area. Moreover, Mir Ali is a known hub for al Qaeda's military and external operations councils. Al Qaeda and allied terror groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Islamic Jihad Group, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and a number of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups host or share camps in the area.

Despite the known presence of al Qaeda and other foreign groups in North Waziristan, and requests by the US that action be taken against these groups, the Pakistani military has indicated that it has no plans to take on the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network or Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The Haqqanis and Bahadar and are considered "good Taliban" by the Pakistani military establishment as they do not carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

Today's strike is just the third since President Barack Obama's speech at the end of May outlining 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 weakened, 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 17 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 342 strikes recorded since 2004, 325, or 95%, have taken place in the two tribal agencies.

A group of "mujahideen" training in Burma. Image for Kavkaz Center.

A group of jihadists from Burma, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan are reported to have formed a "brigade" to fight the Burmese government. A Burmese branch of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami that is based in Karachi, Pakistan and has been in operation since the late 1980s is likely involved in recruiting Pakistanis to fight in Burma.

"A brigade of Mujahedeen from Burma, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan under the leadership of Abu Safiya and Abu Arif reached Burma," according to a statement released at Kavkaz Center, a propaganda arm of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate.

The statement was accompanied by nine photographs of members of the brigade. The jihadists are dressed in military fatigues and most are wearing green headbands. The men are armed with AK-47 assault rifles and PKM machine guns. The men are seen marching in formation, training with their weapons, and praying. Scores of fighters appear together in some of the pictures.

The photographs were originally published at Arrahmah.com, an Indonesian website that glorifies jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Indonesia, and in other theaters.

The group claims it killed 17 Burmese soldiers in its first ambush of a military convoy, and "a few days ago they slaughtered three men including a Buddhist monk." The claims could not be confirmed.

The statement at Kavkaz also noted that Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah who is currently serving a jail sentence for forming an al Qaeda branch in Indonesia, called for Muslims to wage jihad against the Burmese government.

"By the will of Allah, we can destroy you and your people like Russia, the socialist-communist country, or like America that will be destroyed soon," Bashir threatened in a letter to the president of Burma.

The Burmese branch of Pakistan's Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, a Pakistani terror group closely tied to al Qaeda, operates a branch that is active in Burma. Known as Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Arakan, the group was founded by Maulana Abdul Quddus, a Burmese Muslim who fled to Pakistan sometime in the early 1980s, according to Amir Rana, the author of A to Z of Jehadi Organizations in Pakistan.

Quddus said he fought the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s after settling in Karachi and joining Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami.

"The Afghan war started while I was studying and I went many times to Afghanistan at the behest of Harakat ul-Jihad-e-Islami and had the honor of participating in jihad," he said in an interview in 1998. "I stayed in Afghanistan from 1982 to 1988."

He formed Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Arakan in 1988. The goal was to liberate the Muslim-dominated Burmese state of Rakhine, which was formerly known as Arakan.

Quddus and his Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Arakan are based in Korangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan. The group has an extensive network of madrassas and charities.

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, the parent organization, is closely tied to al Qaeda, and its Brigade 313 serves as al Qaeda's military arm in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Ilyas Kashmiri, the former emir of Brigade 313 who was killed in a US drone strike in June 2011, also served as a member of al Qaeda's military committee.

Terror groups call for jihad in Burma

As tensions between Rohingya Muslims in Burma and the government have escalated over the past several years, calls for jihad in the South Asia country from numerous jihadist groups have increased.

One of the most blatant calls for Muslims to wage jihad in Burma came from a senior cleric and spokesman from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Abu Dher Azzam, who is also known as Abu Dher al Burmi. In the statement, which was released on Nov. 28, 2012 and was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, Azzam assailed the Burmese government and accused China and Germany of supporting "these massacres and this genocide" in Burma.

"Rise O servants of Allah to help your brothers and sisters!," Azzam proclaimed. "Rise to save your sons and daughters! Do your best in jihad, O guardians of creed and [monotheism], against the enemies of Allah the idolatrous Buddhists, and target the most important installations of Burma, China and Germany, and their interests and the interests of the United Nations, which supports these massacres and this genocide in Arakan."

Other groups that have offered support for Burmese Muslims include the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Shabaab, al Qaeda, and various jihadist media outlets such as the Shumukh al-Islam forum, the Global Islamic Media Front, al Qaeda's Vanguards of Khorasan magazine, and the Turkish jihadist magazine Islamic World.

Abu Khalil al Madani, from his latest al Qaeda video. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

A member of al Qaeda's Shura Council who hasn't appeared in an as Sahab video since July 2008 has issued a new audio message. Abu Khalil al Madani's message, "A Call for the Pure Nature," was uploaded to jihadist forums on July 14. The message was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Much of Abu Khalil's audio speech is a boilerplate lament, similar to al Qaeda's many messages in the past. He blames the "weakness" of the Muslim Ummah on its supposed lack of faith. Abu Khalil claims that Muslims worship the countries "that exercise power over people today," instead of Allah. On "top" of these countries, in Abu Khalil's view, is America.

In his recounting of history, Abu Khalil relies on the same narrative al Qaeda has consistently proposed. It is one in which conspiratorial forces have moved against Muslims to prevent them from succeeding. Thus, "the enemies foiled ... the war between Israel and Egypt" just as the people had become united in jihad. And after "the fall of the Soviet Union, the conspiracies started being woven to foil the fruit to which the mujahideen reached" in Afghanistan. Fortunately, from al Qaeda's perspective, Allah intervened to install the Taliban.

Abu Khalil praises the Taliban and Mullah Omar, who "sacrificed his state" in late 2001 "due to his certitude that what Allah has for him is better and permanent." He also criticizes the House of Saud for supposedly sacrificing "the Muslim Ummah in order to fulfill the desires of their bellies and private parts," according to SITE's translation.

Al Qaeda videos featuring new faces

Abu Khalil al Madani's reemergence in al Qaeda's propaganda comes just over two weeks after Hossam Abdul Raouf made his first appearance in an as Sahab video. Raouf is the longtime editor of al Qaeda's Vanguards of Khorasan magazine, but had not previously been featured in the group's videos. [See LWJ report, New al Qaeda video features magazine editor, discussion of Arab Spring.]

In 2012, al Qaeda lost key propagandists in drone strikes. In June 2012, Abu Yayha al Libi was killed. After his escape from an Afghan prison in 2005, al Libi had risen through al Qaeda's ranks to become one of the organization's most prolific and influential propagandists.

Several months later, in December 2012, Khalid bin Abdul Rahman al Husainan (a.k.a. Abu Zeid al Kuwaiti) was also killed in a drone strike in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Al Husainan was a former imam in the Kuwaiti Endowments Ministry. SITE noted that he had "appeared in dozens of as Sahab videos since August 2009, some lecturing on jihad and others speaking on Islam in general." Al Husainan was "presented as an al Qaeda religious scholar."

With the loss of propagandists such as al Libi and al Husainan, al Qaeda has begun to feature new leaders in its messaging. Time will tell if al Madani and Raouf can be as effective as their predecessors.