The US launched yet another airstrike in Yemen, killing two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operatives in a strike on a vehicle in southern Yemen. The strike, which took place late last night, is the latest in a flurry of attacks by the US in the past two weeks after a seven-week pause in strikes.

The strike, which took place in the southern province of Lahj, targeted a vehicle as it traveled "on a mountain road late on Saturday evening," Reuters reported. The vehicle was "believed to be carrying arms and its occupants were suspected members of al Qaeda."

No senior al Qaeda operatives or leaders are reported to have been killed at this time. The identities of the two al Qaeda operatives who were killed have not been disclosed. Two people were wounded and another escaped uninjured, AFP reported.

Today's strike in Lahj is the first reported in the southern province. The Al Anad airbase in Lahj has long been known to host the Reapers that are used to hunt al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders and fighters in Yemen.

The US has stepped up its drone attacks in Yemen; there have been nine strikes in Yemen in the past 14 days. The location of the strikes highlights AQAP's geographical reach in Yemen: three of the strikes took place in Hadramout, two in Shabwa, two in Marib, one in Lahj, and one in Abyan.

The recent spike in attacks is related to the terror warning by the US that led to the closure of diplomatic facilities in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. US officials said they have intercepted communications between al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri and Nasir al Wuhayshi, AQAP's leader and al Qaeda's general manager.

Background on US strikes in Yemen

The US has launched 21 drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. Despite the recent burst of activity, the pace of the strikes has still decreased since last year. In 2012, the US launched 42 drone strikes in Yemen against AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia. The previous year, the US launched 10 drone and air strikes against the al Qaeda affiliate. The strikes are being reduced as the US government is facing increasing international criticism for conducting the attacks in both Yemen and Pakistan.

Although six senior AQAP operatives, including the group's deputy emir, Said al Shihri, were killed in strikes in Yemen in 2012, the group's top leadership cadre remains intact. Just two weeks ago, AQAP confirmed that al Shihri, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, was killed; he is thought to have died or to have been seriously wounded following a strike in October 2012.

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

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

Over a year ago, Nasir al Wuhayshi, al Qaeda's general manager, provided guidance to the terror group's branch in North Africa on waging war, administering conquered territories, and engaging in a media campaign. Wuhayshi, who also doubles as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's emir, is reported to have been recently named as the general manager of al Qaeda. Although the date of his appointment is not known, his letters to the emir of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb emir indicate he was either already serving in that capacity or being groomed for the new responsibility by the late spring of 2012.

The two letters, written in May 2012 and August 2012, were obtained and translated by The Associated Press. The letters are among thousands of documents recovered at an AQIM headquarters in northern Mali after AQIM, Ansar Dine, and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa were driven from the region by a French intervention that began in January 2013.

In the first letter, written three months after the three terror groups seized control of northern Mali, Wuhayshi addresses "the dear Sheikh," who presumably is Abdelmalek Droukdel, the emir of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and advises him provide services to the people and to be patient in implementing sharia, or Islamic law.

"You have to take a gradual approach with them when it comes to their religious practices," Wuhayshi says, according to AP, noting that the people in northern Mali have been living in "sin" for a long period of time.

"You canʼt beat people for drinking alcohol when they donʼt even know the basics of how to pray," he continues. "We have to first stop the great sins, and then move gradually to the lesser and lesser ones."

In some cases, AQIM, MUJAO, and Ansar Dine did not follow this advice, and strictly enforced sharia. Beating, amputations, and executions were reported in several areas in northern Mali while the three al Qaeda groups administered northern Mali.

In the second letter, written in August 2012, Wuhayshi shares al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's military experiences in the face of a Yemeni government offensive to retake large areas of southern Yemen after AQAP gained control of much of Abyan and Shabwa provinces in May 2011. The Yemeni military launched an offensive to retake the provinces in May 2012. AQAP and its political front, Ansar al Sharia, which is led by Wuhayshi, administered much of southern Yemen during that time.

Wuhayshi says that "after four months of fighting we were forced to withdraw."

"The offensive was very tough and it could hardly be stopped before achieving all its targets," he says. The US aided the Yemeni military with air support, including Predators and Reapers that struck AQAP leaders, operatives, and fighters. AQAP withdrew after realizing "the campaign would have been long and would have exhausted us both in terms of casualties and money," and that civilian losses would have harmed the group.

But Wuhayshi maintains that the investment was worth it, despite the cost, and that AQAP was able to preserve its top leadership cadre while essentially fighting a rearguard action.

"The control of these areas during one year cost us 500 martyrs, 700 wounded, 10 cases of hand or leg amputation and nearly $20 million," he says.

"We withdrew successfully and in time to circumvent their goal of killing our leaders, and taking others as POWs," he claims. AQAP's leadership cadre remains intact today, despite an intense US drone campaign that continues to this day.

"People became familiar with us, and our Islamic model was well received in the areas under our control," he adds.

Wuhayshi also states that AQAP's "position now is far better" despite its losses, as the year of governing large areas gave it "a rare opportunity for guerrilla warfare and liquidations [assassinations]." And "most of the battle costs, if not all, were paid from through the spoils" of war as well as by taking hostages.

He notes that the "Popular Committees," or local tribal groups that sided with the government, are AQAP's greatest obstacle. Also, "spies" who "infiltrate the ranks of the mujahideen" have provided intelligence to the US to target AQAP leaders in drone strikes. AQAP has publicly executed such "spies" in the past.

Finally, Wuhaysi advises Droukdel to engage in media activities (he describes the media as "our most important weapon") and to delay in declaring an Islamic state (he notes that both AQAP and Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somali, have refrained from doing so on the advice of al Qaeda's "General Command"). He also cautions that long campaigns are "exhaustive in terms of money, men and weapons," and advises AQIM to avoid a protracted campaign.

"Hold on to your previous bases in the mountains, forests and deserts and prepare other refuges for the worst-case scenario," he says. "This is what we came to realize after our withdrawal."

AQIM and its allies followed some of Wuhayshi's advice. The three jihadist groups engaged in an aggressive media campaign in northern Mali, and conducted an orderly withdrawal of their forces after French troops invaded northern Mali in mid-January. Most of the groups' top leaders and fighters escaped the French offensive.

But the jihadist groups established the Islamic State of Awazad in May 2012, four months before Wuhayshi's letter advising them not to do so. Droukdel also criticized this decision as well as the imposition of sharia in a letter written to AQIM commanders sometime in July. In that same letter, Droukdel foreshadowed Western intervention in Mali, and noted that the region was to be used as a base for international jihad.

On Saturday, Aug. 10, a series of car bombings in and around Baghdad left more than 60 people dead and over 200 wounded. The bombings came just as Iraqis were celebrating the end of Ramadan, and targeted mainly Shiite neighborhoods.

That same day, the State Department fingered al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as the culprit in a statement released to the press. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki also confirmed that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (a.k.a. Abu Dua), who heads the ISIL, "is now based in Syria."

Al Baghdadi's relocation was first reported earlier this year, and underscores the degree to which al Qaeda has expanded its operations. Despite leadership disagreements, al Qaeda has redoubled its efforts in Iraq since American forces left in late 2011, while also expanding its operations into neighboring Syria.

On Aug. 11, the day after the attacks, the ISIL claimed credit for the bombings.

In a statement released on jihadist forums, the ISIL said the the attacks were retaliation against the Iraqi government for its "revenge of the martyrs campaign." After the ISIL coordinated a massive jailbreak in July, the Iraqi government has been struggling to re-arrest freed al Qaeda operatives.

"The Islamic State deployed some of its security efforts in Baghdad and the southern province and other places, to deliver a quick message," the ISIL said in the statement, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The ISIL's statement continued: "They will pay a high price for what they did, and they will not be secure day or night ... so they should watch their footsteps and stop the detention campaigns and cease harming the Sunni clans, and to expect more of what will harm them and what will bring them to their senses, Allah permitting."

The bombings are just the latest example of al Qaeda's resurgence inside Iraq.

Citing Pentagon data, the Associated Press reported last fall that al Qaeda's attacks in Iraq had increased from 75 per week in early 2012 to "an average of 140 attacks each week across Iraq" by October 2012. The violence has only intensified since then.

Citing the United Nations, Reuters reported yesterday that there were more than 1,000 fatalities in July, making it the bloodiest month in Iraq since 2008.

The State Department noted in its Aug. 10 statement that al Baghdadi "has taken personal credit for a series of terrorist attacks in Iraq since 2011, and most recently claimed credit for the operations against the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, the suicide bombing assault on the Ministry of Justice, among other attacks against Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi citizens going about their daily lives."

Al Qaeda leadership dispute

While increasing al Qaeda's operational capacity in Iraq, al Baghdadi's group also helped spawn the Al Nusrah Front in Syria. The Al Nusrah Front quickly became one of the most lethal insurgency groups fighting Bashar al Assad's crumbling regime and its allies.

Al Baghdadi and the Al Nusrah Front's leader, Abu Muhammad al Julani, publicly quarreled over al Qaeda's chain-of-command in early April. Al Julani rejected al Baghdadi's attempt to assert authority over the Al Nusrah Front and reaffirmed his oath of loyalty directly to Zawahiri.

The dispute forced al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri to intervene. Zawahiri sided with al Julani in the dispute, ruling that the two al Qaeda branches should remain under their own commands until the dispute is resolved for good. Zawahiri also chastised both commanders for airing their differences for the whole world to see. Al Baghdadi then openly defied Zawahiri's order.

However, the two wings of al Qaeda continue to fight alongside one another in Syria against their common enemies.

In early August, al Baghdadi's ISIL also released a statement on social media sites disavowing Facebook and Twitter users who had accused Zawahiri of betraying the ISIL. The ISIL denounced 17 Facebook pages for spreading "slander" and "lie(s)" about Zawahiri.

Al Baghdadi's Islamic State continues to launch high-profile attacks inside Syria. On Aug. 11, the same day the ISIL claimed credit for the bombing spree in Iraq, the ISIL also released a statement saying its forces are fighting alongside other jihadist groups to expel Assad's forces from the Latakia governorate on Syria's coast.

The ISIL claimed that the "mujahideen took control of" 12 Shiite villages "one after the other" and then launched rockets on al Qardaha, the birthplace of Bashar al Assad.

The attacks were part of what the ISIL calls the "Cleansing of the Coast" campaign in the Latakia governorate, according to the SITE Intelligence Group's translation of the statement.

At about 1 a.m. on Tuesday, at least one rocket was fired toward the southern Israeli city of Eilat. The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted one rocket, and authorities are searching the area for any additional strikes.

The interception was "the first time the Iron Dome system has intercepted a rocket over" Eilat, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz. Israeli authorities had moved an Iron Dome battery to Eilat in mid-July due to concerns regarding the situation in the Sinai peninsula.

The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), a consortium of Salafi jihadist groups based primarily in the Gaza Strip, took responsibility for the attack in a statement released to jihadist forums on Aug. 13. The MSC said it fired the Grad rocket in response to the recent killing of four members of the Sinai-based Ansar Jerusalem jihadist group.

In addition, the MSC boasted that Israelis were forced to run to shelters. The statement warned that Eilat and other cities in Israel will not enjoy security and that "the Jews" will "pay dearly" for killing "the mujahideen."

The rocket attack on Eilat comes just a few days after four members of the Salafi jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem were killed as they were preparing to fire rockets toward Israel. While jihadist groups, including the MSC, have contended that the four jihadists were killed as a result of an Israeli drone strike in cooperation with Egyptian authorities, conflicting statements have emerged from Egyptian sources. Additionally, Israeli officials have remained relatively mum.

On Aug. 10, Hussein Ibrahim Salem al Tihi, from the Tiyaaha tribe, and Yusri Muhaareb al Saraarkah, Ibrahim Khalaf al Munei'I, and Muhammad Hussein al Munei'i, all from the Sawaarkah tribe, were buried following an extensive funeral procession. Some of the slain jihadists were wrapped in al Qaeda flags, while vehicles in the procession had the black flags attached as well.

Last week, Israeli authorities closed Eilat's airport for a few hours due to a security assessment. Egyptian officials subsequently claimed that a warning from them regarding plots by jihadists in the Sinai had been shared with Israeli officials and led to the airport closure. Israeli authorities have previously expressed concern that jihadists may try to target planes landing and taking off from the airport.

Although Eilat has not normally been a target of rocket fire from terror groups in the region, it has increasingly come under fire during the past two years. On Nov. 20, 2012, Ansar Jerusalem claimed to have fired rockets at Eilat, according to a statement that was obtained and translated by SITE. The same group also took responsibility for a rocket attack on Eilat in mid-August 2012.

More recently, in early July, Ansar Jerusalem issued a statement claiming responsibility for the firing of two rockets toward Eilat. Prior to that, in April, the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on Eilat.

Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem

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

The MSC has taken responsibility for a number of rocket attacks against Israel, as well as the June 18, 2012 attack that killed one Israeli civilian. The group said the attack was "a gift to our brothers in Qaedat al Jihad and Sheikh Zawahiri" and retaliation for the death of Osama bin Laden. In early February 2013, the MSC released a martyrdom video branding one of the terrorists killed in the June 2012 attack as an al Qaeda "martyr."

On Oct. 22, 2012, the MSC released a 32-minute-long video detailing some of its rocket attacks against Israel and threatening to "fight you [Israel] as long as we hold...weapons in our hands." In November 2012, the group carried out joint rocket attacks with the Army of Islam. Following the institution of a ceasefire that ended Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense, the MSC said that it was not truly a party to the ceasefire.

Over the past two years, the Israeli Air Force has targeted a number of MSC members. On Oct. 7, 2012, the IDF targeted Tala'at Halil Muhammad Jarbi, a "global jihad operative," and Abdullah Muhammad Hassan Maqawai, a member of the MSC. Maqawai, likely a former member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, died of his wounds. On Oct. 13, 2012, Israel killed Abu al Walid al Maqdisi, the former emir of the Tawhid and Jihad Group in Jerusalem, and Ashraf al Sabah, the former emir of Ansar al Sunnah, in an airstrike. The two men were said to be leaders of the MSC. Numerous jihadist groups and media units as well as al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri issued statements following the death of the two jihadists.

More recently, in April this year, the IAF targeted and killed Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, a well-known jihadist in the Gaza Strip, who was said to be a member of the MSC. On May 7, Masshal was eulogized by a senior member of the MSC who claimed that he never visited Masshal "without finding his room full with materials for manufacturing and preparing rockets, and the materials of jihad." On Aug. 7, 2013, the MSC released a video to jihadist forums praising Masshal for having "always rolled up his sleeves and used up his time in training the mujahideen to fight and shoot in the Cause of Allah."

In June, jihadists in Syria called on Hamas members as well as members of other Palestinian factions in Gaza to join the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem.

Since its formation, the group has released a couple of eulogies for slain al Qaeda leaders. For example, in September 2012 the group released a eulogy to jihadist forums for Abu Yahya al Libi, a longtime al Qaeda leader from Libya, who was killed in a US drone strike in Mir Ali in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan on June 4, 2012. More recently, in mid-July, the group released a statement of condolence to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) after it confirmed the death of its deputy leader, Said al Shihri (a.k.a. Abu Sufyan al-Azdi).

Asmatullah Muawiya (center), from a March 2013 video. Osama bin Laden is to Muawiya's left, and Rasheed Ghazi, the slain leader of the Lal Masjid, is to his right. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

Asmatullah Muawiya, a Pakistani terrorist who serves as one of several al Qaeda "company" commanders as well as the leader of the Taliban in Punjab province, threatened to attack members of the Pakistani Muslim League - Nawaz political party if the government carries out its plan to begin executing jihadists on death row.

Muawiya leveled the threat in a statement released to Pakistani news outlets on Monday after the interior minister said the government would go ahead with the execution of jihadists in Punjab province, Dawn reported. Muawiya said the PML-N, which won the parliamentary election in May, "will have to pay a price" if it carries out the executions. He also reminded the PML-N as well as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf of the vicious campaign of suicide and other attacks that were carried out against the Awami National Party when it sided against the Taliban while governing Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Additionally, Muawiya accused "secret agencies" as well as the United States of provoking the government to carry out the death sentences.

"Some elements in secret agencies are trying to involve the PML-N in this war. But my organization will exercise restraint," he said, according to Dawn.

Pakistan's interior minister brushed off Muawiya's threat and said that three Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fighters would be executed starting on Aug. 20, Dawn reported. More than 8,000 prisoners are said to be on death row.

An al Qaeda commander

Muawiya is known to be a leader of the Punjab province branch of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, but he is also one of several al Qaeda "company" commanders, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal in May 2012. Atiyah Adl al Rahman and Abu Yayha al Libi, two top aides to Osama bin Laden who have since been killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan, mentioned the existence of these companies in a December 2010 letter addressed to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan [see LWJ report, Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan].

The US killed Badr Mansoor, the head of one such company, in a drone strike in early 2012. Mansoor had been directly named as a company commander by Atiyah and al Libi in their December 2010 letter. Al Qaeda swiftly designated Farman Shinwari as Mansoor's successor. Like Mansoor, Shinwari has close ties to Pakistani terror groups, and specifically the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Muawiya is an influential commander who leads "several hundred jihadis" in Pakistan's tribal areas and in Punjab province, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in May 2012. Other companies include Brigade 313 and the Qari Zafr Group. These groups are commonly referred to as the Punjabi Taliban.

When leadership positions traditionally held by Arabs or Africans become vacant due to drone strikes, al Qaeda has often backfilled them with Pakistani jihadist commanders from groups such as the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jundallah (the Karachi-based, al Qaeda-linked group), and several other Pakistani terror groups.

Muawiya appeared in a propaganda video that was released in February on the jihadist Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum. In that video, he praised Ajmal Kasab, a participant in the November 2008 assault on Mumbai, India, and Afzal Guru, a member of the team that attacked the Indian Parliament in New Delhi in December 2001. Al Qaeda is known to have played a role in the training for the attack on Mumbai [see LWJ report, Pakistani al Qaeda 'company' commander praises Mumbai attacker].

Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of the Gaza-based Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation), today called on Egyptians to wage "jihad" against Egyptian army commander General Abdul Fattah el Sisi. Al Maqdisi, who was released from a Hamas prison in December, also called on Egyptians to overthrow "the tyrant" (el Sisi) and establish an Islamic state. In addition, al Maqdisi said he hoped that one of el Sisi's bodyguards would kill him.

Al Maqdisi further stated, according to press reports, that although Jaish al Ummah does not currently coordinate with any Salafist groups in Egypt, it is prepared to work with any Muslims who are prepared to implement sharia, or Islamic law.

Al Maqdisi's comments come a day after Egyptian authorities took action to disperse two sit-ins by supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi. The forcible measures used to disperse Morsi's supporters quickly led to massive clashes.

Security forces carried out "a scorched-earth assault that killed hundreds" over more than 12 hours, the New York Times reported. The health ministry today announced that at least 525 people had been killed, including a number of security personnel.

The events in Egypt have elicited a number of responses from jihadists [see Threat Matrix report, Jihadists respond to violence in Egypt]. In the jihadi forum Shumukh al Islam, one user claimed, in remarks obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, that now "is the opportunity for a 'military' jihadi armed current to rise to defend Sunnis with the sword and spear."

Similarly, Abdullah Muhammad Mahmoud of the jihadi Dawa'at al-Haq Foundation for Studies and Research warned Egyptian Muslims in an article posted to jihadist forums yesterday that "if you don't do jihad today, then only blame yourselves tomorrow."

Another prevalent jihadist theme in reaction to events in Egypt, which al Qaeda and its affiliates have pushed repeatedly since Morsi's ouster, is the argument that the Muslim Brotherhood made a mistake by engaging in the democratic process. In an essay posted to jihadist forums in July, Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, a global jihadi ideologue and former mentor of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, argued that the Egyptian army's overthrow of Morsi's government "demonstrate[d] the soundness of the jihadi project and the choice of the ammunition box over the ballot box."

And today the Afghan Taliban released a statement condemning the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. The statement, obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, claimed that there had been at least "2,600 martyrs."

The Taliban, who condemned Morsi's ouster as a coup on July 8, today called on security forces in Egypt "to stop shedding the blood of the innocent and oppressed among the children and women, and youth and elderly." The group's statement reiterated a previous call on July 14 for Morsi's reinstatement. "[I]n order for the situation not to become worse, it [the army] must pave the way for the return of the legitimate president-elect [Morsi] to power," the Taliban said today.

Jaish al Ummah

Jaish al Ummah is one of a number of Salafi jihadist groups operating in the Gaza Strip. The group has warned about the creeping influence of Iran in the coastal enclave, in particular through Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In addition, the group has claimed responsibility for numerous rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and was praised by a leading Salafi jihadist official for its actions during Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.

Following the deaths of Abu al Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah, two leaders of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), on Oct. 13, 2012, Jaish al Ummah released a statement in support of the MSC. Similarly, following the death of Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, a well-known jihadist in the Gaza Strip, in late April 2013, the jihadist group issued a statement praising Masshal.

Over the past year, the Salafi jihadist group has issued a couple of statements related to situation in Syria. For example, on Jan. 20, 2013, an audio speech from Abu Abdullah al Ghazi, an official in Jaish al Ummah, was released to jihadist forums. In the speech, which was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, al Ghazi said the Levant should be seen as an open "market of jihad." In addition, he called on fighters to "[t]ake the initiative and rise to establish the Islamic State in the Levant and reestablish the rule of Allah over His land after you pluck out that criminal tyrant [Assad] and retaliate for the blood that was spelt and the honors that were violated."

Nine days before this audio speech was released, a video from Jaish al Ummah was released to jihadist forums. In the video, which was dedicated to fighters in Syria, the group showed "how to manufacture a 107mm rocket," according to SITE. The video also "provided recommendations about substitute materials and quantities depending on the size of the rocket."

Jaish al Ummah has also expressed for support for Sunni Muslims living in Ahvaz, Iran. In a video released in January, an unidentified speaker denounced Shiites as "a poisonous dagger in the side of this Ummah." The speaker called on Muslims to provide greater support to Sunnis living in Ahvaz. "Rise now, in a firm aware revolution against the [Shi'ites] and their plots. Lie in wait for them everywhere and face your [Shi'ite] enemies and foil their plots, because, by Allah, if they dominate you, it will be an affliction on earth and a lot of corruption," the speaker said. The video concluded with the speaker urging "all the mujahideen all over Earth to target Iranian interests everywhere."

In addition to expressing support for Sunnis in Ahvaz, Jaish al Ummah has issued statements in support of jihadists in Mali. "[W]e will support and be loyal and aid our mujahideen monotheist brothers in Mali without limits," the Salafi jihadist group said in a statement released to jihadist forums on Jan. 20, 2013. In the same statement, Jaish al Ummah urged Muslims to "attack all the French and Western interests in their countries, and target what they can of their citizens and men."

Ghazi Mohammed Rozi. Image from the Voice of Jihad.

Yesterday the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, announced that Australian forces had tracked down and killed a former Afghan National Army soldier who was involved in an insider attack nearly two years ago in Uruzgan province.

The rogue soldier, Mohammed Roozi, was hunted down earlier this week by a joint Afghan/Australian/International Security Assistance Force unit in the northern province of Takhar, far from the Australian base in Uruzgan where the green-on-blue attack took place in November 2011.

"This combined operation involved months of focused intelligence and professional work by the Australian Defence Force in concert with the International Security Assistance Force," Rudd said. According to the Guardian, ADF chief General David Hurley said that "Australian forces, in concert with ISAF, narrowed down his location and then worked with the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] and ISAF elements responsible for the area to plan and conduct a focused mission."

During the Afghan-led cordon and search operation, Roozi was shot and killed by the approaching joint force after he threw a grenade at them, slightly injuring an Afghan soldier.

On Aug. 14, the Taliban issued a statement on their website, Voice of Jihad, confirming Roozi's death, and claimed that he had been killed by American soldiers in a raid on his house during which eight US troops were said to have been killed. The Taliban also claimed that Roozi's presence had been reported by informers. The Taliban routinely exaggerate casualty statements, and no ISAF casualties have been reported from the raid.

Roozi had fled to the Taliban after opening fire with a grenade launcher and an automatic weapon on Australian and Afghan troops at a patrol base in Uruzgan late on Nov. 8, 2011. He wounded three Australian soldiers and two Afghan troops, and escaped in an army vehicle, Reuters reported at the time. The wounded Australians had been training Roozi, according to The Age.

After escaping to the Taliban, Roozi appeared in a Taliban propaganda video in which he claimed to have been on a mission "to kill foreigners and teach them a lesson." [See Threat Matrix report, Observations on Taliban video 'welcoming' rogue ANA soldiers.]

According to General Hurley, Australian troops never gave up searching for Roozi. Hurley also stated that his forces are still trying to track down other green-on-blue attackers, including Hek Matullah (or Hikmatullah), who killed three Australian soldiers at a base in Uruzgan in late August 2012.

Roozi is one of the few green-on-blue attackers to have been tracked down so far. According to The Long War Journal's special report, Green-on-blue attacks in Afghanistan: the data, in the 80 attacks reported since Jan. 1, 2008, a total of 35 attackers are said to have fled, and there is only one other reported instance of an attacker being located days after escaping (April 4, 2011 attack). So far, 69 attackers have been killed, wounded, or captured during or immediately after the incident. And earlier this year, a captured attacker escaped from prison (July 9, 2013 attack).

Green-on-blue attacks continue

The Taliban have been quick to capitalize on the green-on-blue attacks in their propaganda, routinely claiming them for the Taliban, and usually alleging that the attacker was an infiltrator. Insider attacks have featured as a key element of Taliban strategy over the past few years.

Although the frequency of green-on-blue attacks this year has fallen in comparison to a peak last year, there is a likelihood that the number of attacks is higher than that officially reported. ISAF has not disclosed the overall number of green-on-blue incidents in which ISAF soldiers were wounded by Afghan security personnel, or the attacks on ISAF personnel that did not result in casualties.

ISAF told The Long War Journal in March 2012 that "these statistics ... [are ] ... classified." Inquiries as to why the overall statistic is classified went unanswered. More than one year later, the data remains classified. [See Long War Journal report, Afghan soldier kills 2 ISAF troops in latest green-on-blue attack.]

In its July 2013 Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, the US Department of Defense noted a small decrease in the number of insider attacks for the reporting period Oct. 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013 in comparison to the same period the year before (15 last period and 13 this reporting period).

The report also stated that the DoD has revised its figures to account for insider attacks that had been previously miscategorized, so that: "additional events were reclassified as insider attacks for a 2007-2012 total of 99 attacks," instead of the previous total of 88. It added that "there were three events that occurred in 2013, bringing the current total of insider attacks against ISAF to 102." The totals contained in The Long War Journal's special report data are consistent with those reported by the DoD, but LWJ's totals do not include data for 2007. In addition, the DoD totals include data for some incidents that are classified.

According to the latest DoD report, "[r]oughly half of the attacks in 2012 involved some level of insurgent links, with a third of those only making contact with insurgents after their attack." This assessment is similar to previous US estimates of Taliban infiltration and influence, and is likely a conservative one.

"None of the insider attacks against ISAF during the reporting period was attributable to
personal disagreements," the report stated. The report also noted a marked increase in insider attacks conducted by more than one person.

The report specified that after the spike in attacks in 2012, counter-intelligence teams (Target Focused Analysis & Neutralization (TFAN)) and other NATO forces were deployed throughout Afghanistan to try to address the increasingly dangerous trend. In all, these forces "detected and neutralized 94 insider threats" during the reporting period.

A video posted online by Al Faroq Media celebrated Mohammed al Zawahiri's role in instigating the Sept. 11, 2012 protest at the US Embassy in Cairo. The video portrayed the protest as a pro-al Qaeda rally consistent with Osama bin Laden's warnings to the West. Courtesy of SITE Intelligence Group.

Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, was arrested in Egypt yesterday. According to Al Masry Al Youm, he was detained at a security checkpoint in Giza, which is located not far from Cairo on the west bank of the Nile river. An anonymous Egyptian security official has confirmed the arrest in an interview, according to the Associated Press.

Mohammed al Zawahiri became a prominent figure in post-Mubarak Egypt, granting frequent interviews to the press and organizing protests against the West. He used the permissive environment to proselytize on behalf of al Qaeda's ideology.

While being coy about his ties to the al Qaeda organization, Mohammed al Zawahiri has emphatically defended his more infamous older brother and al Qaeda's role in the world. His official Facebook page, which was taken down in recent weeks, was peppered with al Qaeda statements and posts glorifying his older brother.

Press reports have cited Zawahiri's ties to jihadists in the Sinai, although it is not clear what exact role he has played in this relationship. Al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula is led by Osama bin Laden's former doctor, and other al Qaeda-linked groups operate in the area as well.

Mohammed al Zawahiri has known, active ties to terrorists elsewhere. One of his followers even took part in a suicide attack in Mali.

Ties to assaults on US diplomatic facilities

Mohammed al Zawahiri is one of the several prominent al Qaeda-affiliated jihadists who helped instigate the Sept. 11, 2012 protest at the US Embassy in Cairo. The embassy's walls were breached, leading to the stars and stripes being torn down and an al Qaeda-style black banner being raised in its place.

Later that same day, terrorists overran the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans. Some of the al Qaeda-linked terrorists responsible were trained in camps operated by Muhammed Jamal al Kashef (a.k.a. Abu Ahmad). Both Zawahiri and Jamal were Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) commanders during the 1990s. The EIJ was led by Ayman al Zawahiri, who formally merged his organization with al Qaeda prior the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Jamal and the younger Zawahiri were imprisoned together for years during Hosni Mubarak's rule. In 2007, they were among several signatories on a letter defending al Qaeda against its jihadist critics.

Jamal was arrested late last year by Egyptian security forces and accused of being a leader of the "Nasr City cell," which has ties to al Qaeda and the terrorist attack in Benghazi. According to The Wall Street Journal, US officials think that Mohammed al Zawahiri helped Jamal contact his older brother. Jamal corresponded with Ayman al Zawahiri in 2011 and 2012.

Another leader of the cell, Sheikh Adel Shehato, was also arrested last year.

Shehato is a close ally of Mohammed al Zawahiri and the two have appeared together at public events in Cairo and elsewhere. Video clips of the duo have been used by al Qaeda in its official propaganda videos.

Reaction to most recent crisis

Mohammed's son, Abdel Rahman al Zawahiri, has denounced the arrest, saying his father refrained from taking part in the widespread protests and riots that erupted after a military coup overthrew Egypt's Islamist president on July 3. Abdel Rahman also claimed that his father had not called on Salafi jihadists to take part in the protests, but Mohammed did in fact explicitly endorse the rallies on his social media pages.

Mohammed al Zawahiri has walked a fine line in his public statements, frequently avoiding direct calls for violence inside Egypt, while openly advocating violence elsewhere.

On July 2, the younger Zawahiri issued a statement on his official Facebook page concerning the political crisis. He vowed that 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."

"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. Ominously, 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."

Despite setting forth the justifications for jihad against the Egyptian military in his July 2 statement, Zawahiri was careful not to explicitly endorse attacks against the military. In another statement endorsed by Zawahiri on his social media pages in early July, he and his fellow jihadist ideologues called for sharia law to be implemented immediately. They said, however, 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."

Therefore, contrary to his son's claim, Mohammed al Zawahiri has openly endorsed the protests, calling on Salafi jihadists to participate.

Rejected democracy, defended al Qaeda

Mohammed al Zawahiri has been a leading figure in Ansar al Sharia Egypt, a group that appeared after the fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime. Like Ansar al Sharia chapters elsewhere, the organization routinely rejects democracy. Its leaders have argued that the Muslim Brotherhood's electoral gains were inconsistent with Islamic law.

In a statement published in June, Ansar al Sharia denounced democracy as "one of the greatest deceptions used by the enemies of" Islam because it pushes people away from their obligation to perform jihad. Along with his co-authors, Mohammed al Zawahiri rejected the "filthy market of democracy" outright.

Mohammed al Zawahiri has starred at Ansar al Sharia Egypt's events, which have been used to garner new recruits and spread the jihadist ideology.

Purported image of executed policemen following an attack in the Sinai Peninsula. Photograph from the Sinai News Network.

At least 24 Egyptian policemen were executed today by Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula. The attack, one of dozens in the Sinai since the ouster of former president Mohammed Morsi in early July, comes amid an ongoing crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to press reports, the policemen were ambushed while they were traveling to their barracks near Rafah. It remains unclear how exactly they were killed.

Unidentified sources told Reuters that the militants attacked with machinegun fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

The Associated Press was told, however, that the soldiers were killed "execution-style." "The militants forced the two vehicles to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before they shot them to death," AP reported.

According to Daily News Egypt, the militants fled into the Sinai with the buses after killing the policemen.

No group has yet taken responsibility for the attack. The Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza-based group, said that Israel was responsible for the attack, Ma'an News Agency reported.

Since the start of the most recent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood last week, which has left at least 850 people dead, many extremists have called for "jihad" in Egypt against the army.

For example, Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of the Gaza-based Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation), called on Egyptians to wage "jihad" against Egyptian army commander General Abdul Fattah el Sisi. Similarly, in the jihadist forum Shumukh al Islam, one user claimed, in remarks obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, that now "is the opportunity for a 'military' jihadi armed current to rise to defend Sunnis with the sword and spear."

Likewise, Abdullah Muhammad Mahmoud of the jihadist Dawa'at al-Haq Foundation for Studies and Research warned Egyptian Muslims in an article posted to jihadist forums on Aug. 14 that "if you don't do jihad today, then only blame yourselves tomorrow."

Since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi on July 3, there have been near-daily attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, which have left dozens dead. On Aug. 7, the Egyptian army claimed that it had killed 60 terrorists and arrested over 100 in the Sinai over the past month. Thus far no proof has been provided to support the army's claims, however.

Two days ago, jihadi ideologue Abu Sa'ad al 'Amili posted a series of tweets to his Twitter account urging Egyptian Muslims to prepare for an "open war." The tweets were subsequently repackaged into a complete message posted to jihadist forums, which was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Al 'Amili has recently issued a eulogy for slain al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Said al Shihri, and earlier issued a eulogy for former al Qaeda emir Osama bin Laden following his death in May 2011. Al 'Amili has also voiced support for Ansar al Sharia in Tunisia, Ansar al Sharia in Yemen, and Jabhat al Nusra (the Al Nusrah Front).

In one of the recent tweets, al 'Amili said: "What our enemies are afraid of the most is for us to unite." As a result, al 'Amili urged Egyptian Muslims to unite. "[U]nity among the brothers is stronger than any time before and the confrontation requires us first to unite the efforts and organize the ranks," al 'Amili said.

He went on to warn that if Egyptian Muslims do not unite then "the enemy will pick you out one after the other." "[O]pen fronts on them [the enemy] everywhere and target their heads," al 'Amili exhorted his followers.

Al 'Amili also compared the situation in Egypt to Syria, as he said that "[s]ome [army] officers may defect and declare a resistance front like the Free Syrian Army to defend the people." This, he claimed, would be followed shortly thereafter "by jihadi factions that took off from Sinai and expand to cover the rest of the cities, especially Cairo and Alexandria."

Al 'Amili, who previously issued a eulogy for Abu Walid al Maqdisi and Ashraf al Sabah, two leaders of the Gaza-based Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, following their deaths in mid-October 2012, concluded his message by urging his followers to "consider themselves in an open war with the enemies of Allah ... and to save themselves for what is coming." Egyptian Muslims, al 'Amili said, must "take secret hideouts and bases" because "[t]he coming war will impose that on you and you don't have a choice."

The short statement finished by calling on Egyptian Muslims to "[f]ortify yourselves and your bases and supply a lot of food and weapons and the rest of your needs."

Al 'Amili's comments come amid an ongoing crackdown by Egyptian security forces against the Muslim Brotherhood, which has left at least 850 people dead. Other Islamists, such as Mohammed al Zawahiri, the brother of al Qaeda's emir Ayman al Zawahiri, have also been targeted.

The recent events in Egypt have elicited a number of responses from jihadists [see Threat Matrix report, Jihadists respond to violence in Egypt]. For example, on Aug. 15, Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of the Gaza-based Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation), called on Egyptians to wage "jihad" against Egyptian army commander General Abdul Fattah el Sisi. Similarly, in the jihadist forum Shumukh al Islam, one user claimed, in remarks obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, that now "is the opportunity for a 'military' jihadi armed current to rise to defend Sunnis with the sword and spear."

Likewise, Abdullah Muhammad Mahmoud of the jihadist Dawa'at al-Haq Foundation for Studies and Research warned Egyptian Muslims in an article posted to jihadist forums on Aug. 14 that "if you don't do jihad today, then only blame yourselves tomorrow."

Another prevalent jihadist theme in reaction to events in Egypt, which al Qaeda and its affiliates have pushed repeatedly since Morsi's ouster, is the argument that the Muslim Brotherhood made a mistake by engaging in the democratic process. In an essay posted to jihadist forums in July, Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, a global jihadi ideologue and former mentor of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, argued that the Egyptian army's overthrow of Morsi's government "demonstrate[d] the soundness of the jihadi project and the choice of the ammunition box over the ballot box."

In an article released in the fifth issue of "al Balagh," a jihadist magazine produced by Fursan al Balagh, Abu Sa'ad al 'Amili similarly argued that recent events in Egypt are "considered a new nail and maybe the last in the coffin of this democracy." "We hope from our peoples to wake up from their slumber and realize that what they experienced was just a dream and it ended," al 'Amili wrote.

A report released early today by the Israeli daily Haaretz sheds new light on the Israeli view of the Salafi jihadist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Shin Bet officials believe there are at least 15 Salafi groups, some of which are affiliated with al Qaeda, currently operating in the Sinai, the daily stated.

Of the 15, four are "especially active in attempts to attack Israel Defense Forces soldiers along the border and fire rockets into Israel," the report said. The four groups were identified as Ansar Jerusalem, Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), Jaish al Islam (Army of Islam), and Al Takfir Wal Hijra.

Haaretz's report incorrectly stated that Ansar Jerusalem was behind the recent rocket attack on Eilat (the MSC was), and provided no source for its claim that al Takfir wal Hijra was responsible for the August 2012 attack on a Rafah military outpost that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. Last October, Israeli media reported that Israeli intelligence thought Ansar Jerusalem was behind most of the recent attacks originating from the Sinai.

Israeli intelligence agencies differ over the size of the Salafi jihadist groups in the Sinai. "While the Shin Bet estimates the number of operatives at several hundred people, Military Intelligence puts it at a few thousand," Haaretz observed.

The report further noted that a number of foreign fighters have joined the Sinai-based jihadist groups, but the foundation is based around the Sinai Bedouin.

The Shin Bet has previously contended that elements of the "global jihad" are using the Sinai as a base to wage terror attacks against Israel. Western officials have similarly estimated in the past that at least several hundred jihadists, some of whom are from Yemen and Somalia, are now operating in the Sinai. Egyptian officials have also expressed concern that jihadists from Algeria and Libya are now operating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Haaretz also noted that a number of Gaza-based Palestinian fighters have exported their expertise to fighters in the Sinai. "The Salafi operatives from Gaza are all breakaways from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who know the IDF well and have accumulated much more combat experience than the operatives from Sinai .... The Gaza operatives are an operational asset, because they know how to plan and supervise attacks," one official told Haaretz.

According to Haaretz, the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence (AMAN) have reached an agreement that makes the Shin Bet responsible "for thwarting attacks along the Egyptian border," while AMAN is responsible for "electronic intelligence gathering, satellite photography and the balloon-mounted cameras tethered along the border that float into Sinai."

The threat from the Sinai is viewed so seriously by Israel that "a new unit that deals solely with foiling attacks from Sinai" was recently established by the Shin Bet.

Haaretz's report cited an official as saying that Mumtaz Dughmush, the leader of Jaish al Islam, is running training camps in Gaza for jihadists who subsequently go to fight in Yemen, Sinai, and Syria, among other locations.

In August 2011, the US Department of State designated Dughmush as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. His group, Jaish al Islam, was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in May 2011.

The US Treasury Department today designated an al Qaeda leader who has served the terrorist organization in various capacities since the 1990s. Treasury also designated a madrassa in Peshawar, Pakistan that is used to support al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Multiple roles for al Qaeda

The newly-designated terrorist, Umar Siddique Kathio Azmarai (Azmarai), is al Qaeda's "leader in Sindh and Balochistan provinces, Pakistan, and has been a significant financial facilitator for the group, moving hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of its leadership and operations," Treasury stated in its press release announcing the designations.

According to Treasury, "Azmarai has also acted as a courier for al Qaeda officials and has managed logistics for family members of senior al Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden."

In 1999, Azmarai helped make "logistical arrangements for al Qaeda members and their families" in Karachi. That same year, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden selected Azmarai to look after the bin Laden family, and by mid-2000 Azmarai was "facilitating their travel, lodging, and medical needs."

Azmarai "was responsible for bin Laden's family members in Karachi" from late 2001 until early 2002. Later that year, he worked for Osama's son, Saad bin Laden. Saad is known to have relocated to Iran sometime after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but the Treasury Department designation does not indicate whether Azmarai traveled to Iran while working for the junior bin Laden. The Iranians placed Saad bin Laden under house arrest in 2003, but he was freed several years later. Saad was killed in a drone strike in northern Pakistan in 2009.

In late 2002, Azmarai worked as a courier for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. By early 2003, he worked as a courier "between al Qaeda cells in Pakistan and the Persian Gulf."

Treasury's designation does not say what Azmarai did between 2003 and 2011. But in 2011 he "assisted al Qaeda's administrative manager with managing the care of important al Qaeda members' families, including facilitating their finances, housing, and medical care." And as of early 2012, Azmarai was procuring "secure areas in Pakistan for al Qaeda to house militants and store vehicles."

The Ganj Madrassa serves the syndicate

Treasury also added the Ganj Madrassa in Peshawar, Pakistan, to the designation list today, noting that the designation is a first such instance, which involved "a madrassa that is being abused by terrorist organizations," and specifying that the designation does not target madrassas in general.

Treasury stated that the Ganj Madrassa is "controlled by designated al Qaeda facilitator Fazeel-A-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al-Peshawari," also known as Sheikh Aminullah.

Aminullah was previously designated by both the US and the United Nations in 2009.

In 2011, the Taliban appointed Aminullah to head its Peshawar Regional Military Shura, which is responsible for operations in eastern and northern Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Taliban appoint al Qaeda-linked commander to lead Peshawar shura.]

In its 2009 designation, the UN reported that Aminullah used the Ganj Madrassa to provide "assistance including funding and recruits to the al Qaeda network as of early 2008."

Aminullah "also provided funding, explosive suicide vests and other resources to the Taliban" and "began a campaign to support Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan," according to the UN. By 2006, Aminullah "was providing monetary compensation to families of Al-Qaida and Taliban fighters killed in Afghanistan and was involved in Taliban recruiting activities."

In its new designation, the Treasury Department builds upon the 2009 designations, saying that the Ganj Madrassa "serves as a terrorist training center where students, under the guise of religious studies, have been radicalized to conduct terrorist and insurgent activities." The madrassa's students include "bomb manufacturers and suicide bombers."

Aminullah "frequently travels to the Gulf to obtain charity donations on the madrassa's behalf," according to Treasury. And he uses these donations to fund Taliban operations inside Afghanistan, as well as to support al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Treasury reports that Aminullah uses the Ganj Madrassa for training and harboring Taliban fighters "who have subsequently been dispatched to Afghanistan," recruiting for Lashkar-e-Taiba, and hosting al Qaeda operatives.

In 2010, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that al Qaeda and other groups, including the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, operate as part of a "syndicate" in South Asia. "What we see is that the success of any one of these groups leads to new capabilities and a new reputation for all," Gates said at the time. "A victory for one is a victory for all."

Today's designation of Aminullah's madrassa further buttresses Gates' point. Aminullah is an "al Qaeda facilitator," according to the Treasury Department. But he has also served as the head of the Taliban's Peshawar Regional Military Shura, and wooed new recruits for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The US State Department added an operative from the al Qaeda-linked Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) who is involved in kidnapping, weapons smuggling, and armed attacks to its list of global terrorists.

Mohamed Lahbous was designated today by the State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He is the third member of the terror group to be added since MUJAO was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group on Dec. 7, 2012.

"As a member of the organization, Lahbous has participated in a number of attacks, including the October 2011 abduction of three aid workers from a refugee camp in western Algeria, and a June 2012 attack in Ouargla, Algeria, which killed one and injured three," today's State Department press release said.

The June 2012 attack was executed by a suicide bomber who attacked a gendarme headquarters in Ouargla. MUJAO claimed credit for the suicide bombing.

The October 2011 kidnapping by MUJAO took place at the Raguni refugee camp in Tinduf province. An Italian woman and a Spanish man and woman, all who were providing aid to refugees, were kidnapped by Lahbous's group.

Additionally, Lahbous "has also been involved in arms trading and drug trafficking in North and West Africa."

Lahbous is the third MUAJO operative to have been added to the list of SDGT since the group was added to the same list in December 2012. The same day that MUJAO was named an SDGT, Hamad el Khairy and Ahmed el Tilemsi, two founding members of the groups, were also named as SDGTs. Additionally, Oumar Ould Hamaha, MUJAO's spokesman, was added to State's Rewards for Justice list in June 2013.

MUJAO was formed in late 2011 as an offshoot from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the al Qaeda affiliate in North Africa, in order to wage jihad in western Africa. Although MUJAO leaders are purported to have leadership differences with the Algerian-dominated AQIM, MUJAO conducts joint operations with AQIM and Mokhtar Belmokhtar's al Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade, another al Qaeda unit, in northern Mali, Niger, and other areas. At the time of its formation, MUJAO expressed affinity to al Qaeda and its founder, Osama bin Laden, and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

MUJAO is one of three major al Qaeda-linked groups that participated in last spring's invasion of northern Mali. Along with AQIM and Ansar Dine, MUJAO took control of northern Mali after the Malian military overthrew the government in the south. MUJAO, AQIM, and Ansar Dine fought alongside the secular Tuaregs from the Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) to take control of northern Mali, but then quickly cast aside the MNLA and imposed sharia, or Islamic Law, in areas under their control. The three al Qaeda groups lost control of northern Mali only after French troops invaded in January 2013. The three terror groups were marching south on the capital and Malian forces were in disarray before the French troops intervened.

Just before French forces arrived in northern Mali, MUJAO announced the creation of four new fighting "battalions," and named three of them after top al Qaeda leaders. The three battalions were called the "Abdullah Azzam" (named after the Osama bin Laden mentor and al Qaeda co-founder who was killed in a bombing in 1989); the "Al Zarqawi" (named after al Qaeda in Iraq emir Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who was killed in an airstrike in 2006); and the "Abu al Laith al Libi" (named after the al Qaeda ideologue and senior leader who was killed in a drone strike in 2008) [see LWJ report, West African jihadist group forms 4 'battalions,' names 3 after al Qaeda leaders].

MUJAO conducted a joint suicide operation with the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade in Niger in late May of this year. The attacks targeted a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. The Agadez attack was executed by a five-man suicide assault team; 18 Nigerien soldiers and a civilian were killed. Belmokhtar said that attacks were carried out to avenge the death of Abou Zeid, an AQIM commander killed by French forces in northern Mali.

The Treasury Department today designated four members of Hezbollah's leadership who are "responsible for operations throughout the Middle East." The designations, Treasury said, further expose Iranian-backed Hezbollah's "pernicious activities that reach beyond the borders of Lebanon."

The four members of Hezbollah sanctioned by Treasury today are: Khalil Harb, Muhammad Kawtharani, Muhammad Yusuf Ahmad Mansur, and Muhammad Qabalan.

Khalil Harb

According to the Treasury Department's press release, Harb was a deputy commander in Hezbollah's central military unit in southern Lebanon between 1988 and 1992. Between 1992 and 1994, he was the lead commander of the unit. And "[f]rom 1994 to 1997, Harb served as the commander of Hezbollah's central military operations," Treasury said.

"By 2000, Harb supervised Hezbollah military operations inside Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, and Turkey," Treasury further stated. Harb, who led a special Hezbollah unit during the 2006 war with Israel, was also said to have been involved in aiding in the smuggling of operatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Syria into the West Bank via Jordan. "In March 2006, Harb served as Hezbollah's chief of military liaison with the Palestinian factions and Iran," Treasury stated.

In early 2007, Harb became the head of Hezbollah's Unit 1800, which, according to Treasury, is dedicated to "supporting Palestinian militants and conducting Hizballah operations in the countries surrounding Israel."

In this position, Harb "travelled to Iran for meetings regarding coordination between Hezbollah, Iran, and the Palestinians," Treasury stated. In 2010, Harb was involved in planning attacks against Israeli officials in response to the killing of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah in February 2008. In the same year, he was also made a "special advisor" to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.

As of 2012, Harb was involved in Hezbollah's activities in Yemen. "Since the summer of 2012, Harb has been involved in the movement of large amounts of currency to Yemen, through Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.," Treasury said.

Muhammad Kawtharani

Muhammad Kawtharani was identified by Treasury as "the individual in charge of Hezbollah's Iraq activities." According to Treasury, Kawtharani, a member of the terror group's Political Council, was involved in providing "training, funding, political, and logistical support to Iraqi Shi'a insurgent groups." During the course of the Syrian civil war, Kawtharani has helped facilitate the movement of "fighters to Syria to support the Assad regime."

Treasury added that Kawtharani was involved in securing the release of Hezbollah's Ali Musa Daqduq, who was responsible for a number of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq. Daqduq, a Hezbollah commander, was himself designated by the Treasury Department in November 2012.

Muhammad Yusuf Ahmad Mansur

Muhammad Yusuf Ahmad Mansur, a Hezbollah member since at least 1986, joined Hezbollah's Unit 1800 around 2004. In 2008, Mansur headed a Hezbollah cell in Egypt that sought to target tourist destinations. In 2009, Egyptian authorities apprehended Mansur and others members of the cell, who later alleged that they were tortured in prison. Although Mansur received a 15-year sentence in 2010 for his activities, he escaped from an Egyptian prison in 2011 and returned to Lebanon, where he has been seen at Hezbollah rallies in Beirut.

Muhammad Qabalan

Like Mansur, Muhammad Qabalan was heavily involved in Hezbollah's Unit 1800. According to Treasury, Qabalan "was serving as the Lebanon-based head" of the Egypt cell led by Mansur. In April 2010, Qabalan was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for his involvement in the cell. According to Treasury, since late 2011, Qabalan has "worked in a separate Hizballah covert unit operating in the Middle East."

Today's designations come just over two months after Treasury designated four Lebanese men who operate for Hezbollah in four West African nations.

Qari Zia Rahman and a map of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Map from the Asia Times; click to view.

An Afghan Army spokesman claimed that Qari Zia Rahman, a wanted Taliban leader who is also known to be a leader in al Qaeda, was killed in a Coalition airstrike yesterday in the remote northeastern province of Kunar. The report of Qari Zia's death has not been confirmed.

Qari Zia and "three other local insurgent leaders [were] killed in an airstrike carried out by the NATO-led coalition forces," Afghan National Army spokesman Mohammad Haroun Yousufi told Xinhua. "The attack took place in Marawara district Wednesday afternoon when the leaders were holding a meeting there."

The report of Qari Zia's death has not been confirmed. He has been reported to have been killed by the Pakistani military in the past. In early 2010, the Pakistani government claimed it killed Qari Zia in an airstrike, but he later spoke to the media and mocked Pakistan's interior minister for wrongly reporting his death.

The International Security Assistance Force told The Long War Journal that it is investigating the report of an airstrike in Kunar province. ISAF stopped issuing press releases on its operations against the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, as of June 27.

The Marawara district in Kunar has long served as a base of operations for the Taliban and al Qaeda. In 2010, when ISAF launched multiple operations to hunt for Qari Zia, ISAF identified Marawara as "a safe haven and staging base for insurgents under the command of Qari Zia ur-Rahman."

Other districts in Kunar, such as Watahpur, are also known safe havens for al Qaeda and allied groups such as Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. ISAF has killed multiple al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders in airstrikes and operations in Watahpur over the past several years.

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

Dual-hatted Taliban and al Qaeda leaders

In the same 2010 ISAF press release that identified Marawara as an al Qaeda safe haven, ISAF also named Qari Zia as a "a Taliban leader and known member of Al Qaeda operating in Kunar Province."

Qari Zia's designation as both a Taliban leader and an al Qaeda commander is not unique. The US military and government have also identified other dual-hatted Taliban and al Qaeda operatives over the past several years. Qari Zia Rahman, Sheikh Aminullah, and Mullah Nazir are just three examples of terrorist commanders known to work for both al Qaeda and the Taliban.

On Aug. 20, the US State Department added the Ganj Madrassa in Peshawar, Pakistan to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist organizations. The recent designation noted that Fazeel-A-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al-Peshawari, who also known as Sheikh Aminullah, controls the madrassa. The US described Aminullah as an "al Qaeda facilitator" who also supports that Taliban. In 2011, the Taliban appointed Aminullah to lead the Peshawar Shura, one of the Afghan Taliban's four major military commands [see LWJ reports, Taliban appoint al Qaeda-linked commander to lead Peshawar shura and Treasury designates al Qaeda leader, madrassa].

Mullah Nazir, the leader of the South Waziristan, Pakistan-based Mullah Nazir Group, was another such dual-hatted Taliban and al Qaeda leader before he was killed in a US drone strike in January 2013. Nazir had identified himself an al Qaeda leader. The US State Department told The Long War Journal that prior to Nazir's death, preparations had begun to add him to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. His successor, Bahawal Khan, and the Mullah Nazir Group have been added as SDGTs for supporting al Qaeda.

Up until late June, when it stopped issuing operational updates, ISAF had announced numerous raids against dual-hatted Talibana nd al Qaeda commanders. For instance, in 2010, ISAF said that it had killed Abu Baqir, described as "a dual-hatted Taliban sub-commander and al Qaeda group leader," during a raid in Kunduz. And in 2012, ISAF announced that it killed Asad, an "al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader," during an operation in Kunar.

Background on Qari Zia Rahman

Qari Zia is the Taliban's top regional commander in northeastern Afghanistan as well as a member of al Qaeda. He is known to operate in Kunar and in neighboring Nuristan province in Afghanistan, and he also operates across the border in Pakistan's tribal agency of Bajaur. Qari Zia is one of the most wanted Taliban leaders operating in Afghanistan.

Qari Zia is closely allied with top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border. His fighters are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and various Arab nations. He commands a brigade in al Qaeda's paramilitary Shadow Army, or the Lashkar al Zil, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.

He is also responsible for establishing training camps that are used to indoctrinate and train females, including children, to carry out suicide attacks on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border. The US military said he was responsible for a female suicide attack in Kunar province on June 21, 2010 that killed two US soldiers [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda, Taliban create female suicide cells in Pakistan and Afghanistan].

The US targeted Qari Zia in multiple raids in Kunar over the summer and fall of 2010, but failed to kill or capture him. In late July and early August of that year, ISAF announced that it was hunting Qari Zia Rahman. The US targeted Qari Zia in three raids that summer. On June 29, 2010, the US launched a battalion-sized operation in Kunar's Marawara district, which directly borders Pakistan. More than 150 Taliban fighters were reported killed in the operation. On July 20, 2010, US and Afghan forces launched another battalion-sized operation in Marawara to flush out Qari Zia. And on Aug. 2, 2010, combined forces conducted a raid, again in Marawara, that targeted the al Qaeda leader.

Early on Aug. 23, the Israeli Air Force struck a "terror site" south of Beirut, Lebanon. An IDF spokesman said the attack near the town of Na'ameh was in response to the rocket fire from Lebanon on Aug. 22.

"Yesterday's attack is a blatant breach [of] Israeli sovereignty that jeopardized Israeli civilian life. Israel will not tolerate terrorist aggression originating from Lebanese territory. The IDF will continue to operate to safeguard the State of Israel and its civilians," an IDF statement said.

The pilots involved in the mission returned safely after striking their intended target, according to the IDF.

In a statement posted on its website, the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) said the strike targeted one of its facilities. A statement from the Lebanese Armed Forces confirmed that underground tunnels belonging to a Palestinian faction were targeted. A Lebanese security source told Reuters the targeted site "was home as well to Islamist militants."

A PFLP-GC official warned that the group will respond to the Israeli strike "in the right place and the right time," according to press reports.

On Aug. 22, an official from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed on Twitter that the group's Ziad Jarrah Batallions had launched the rockets, one of which was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. The group has yet to issue a formal statement, however.

In response to the Aug. 22 attack, the IDF said that it held the Lebanese government and Lebanese Armed Forces responsible although it believed members of the "global jihad" launched the rockets. In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: "Anyone who harms us should know and anyone who tries to harm us should know we will harm them back."

Israeli authorities are investigating why the Iron Dome missile defense system failed to intercept more of the rockets fired from Lebanon on Aug. 22, according to Ynet News.

A statement from the Lebanese Armed Forces said they had found the suspected launch site of the rockets and were working "in coordination with UNIFIL to uncover the circumstances and to determine the identity of the perpetrators."

Background on the Abdullah Azzam Brigades

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades was formed by Saleh al Qarawi sometime after 2004 as an offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq, and was tasked with hitting targets in the Levant and throughout the Middle East. Al Qarawi is now believed to be in Saudi custody. The group is now led by Majid bin Muhammad al Majid.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades is named after al Qaeda's co-founder and Osama bin Laden's mentor. The group was added to the US's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in May 2012.

Qarawi has been described as a "field commander" by Flashpoint Intel, which published a translation of an interview that was released in April 2010. According to Qarawi, he fought with former al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi in Fallujah (presumably in the two battles in 2004), and was ordered by Zarqawi to form the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

"Allah rewarded me to participate with my brothers in Fallujah, and I came to know the Sheikh Abu Musab al Zarqawi--may Allah have mercy on him--closely, and he assigned me to a job outside of Iraq," he said.

In the same interview, Qarawi said that the Abdullah Azzam Brigades are tasked with striking not only with striking in Lebanon but also elsewhere.

"[The Abdullah Azzam Brigades] are not confined to Lebanon but there are targets that our fires will reach Allah‐willing in the near future ... the Brigades are formed of a number of groups that are spread in numerous places ... and the groups of 'Ziad al‐Jarrah' in Lebanon are only some of our groups, and we rushed to create these groups and announced them because of the urgency of the battle with the Jews and the priority of the initiative at the time and the place, but the rest of the groups are outside Lebanon."

The "Ziad al Jarrah" is one of several battalions in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. It operates primarily in Lebanon, and is named after Ziad al Jarrah, a Lebanese citizen who was one of the masterminds of the Sept. 11 attacks on the US. He was the pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Penn. after passengers attempted to retake the plane from the terrorist hijackers.

Yusuf al 'Uyayri Battalion, another unit in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, operates on the Arabian Peninsula and has claimed it executed the attack on the M Star, a Japanese oil tanker traveling off the coast of Oman from Qatar to Japan.

The US State Department has said that the group "is responsible for numerous indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians." In addition to the rocket fire from Lebanon noted by the State Dept., the group has also claimed responsibility for rockets fired from Gaza into Israel on multiple occasions.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades releases propaganda on a routine basis. Over the past three years, the group has advocated for the overthrow of the Saudi government and called for an uprising in Lebanon, as well as voiced support for jihad in Syria. The terror group also released a statement immediately after the death of al Qaeda emir Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

"May Allah have mercy on Osama, the Sheikh of Jihad, the Imam of Piety, the example of asceticism and the model of patience, the pioneer of glory in this age, and the awakener of the Ummah from its slumber," the terror group said, in a statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The group also said it had been formed "after incitation" by bin Laden.

"We in the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam bear witness that we only went out for jihad after incitation from Sheikh Osama bin Laden, by his words and his actions. He is the one enacted among the people of the time, the tradition to invade infidels in their homes, and created a front to fight the Jews and the Crusaders," the statement said.

More recently, on Aug. 17, Sirajuddin Zurayqat, a member of the jihadist group, offered a eulogy in video posted to jihadist forums for former deputy leader of al Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula Said al Shihri, who was confirmed dead by AQAP on July 16.

Additionally, the group has expressed strong disdain for Hezbollah's role in the ongoing Syrian civil war. In a recent statement, Majid bin Muhammad al Majid, a leader in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, called on Sunnis to fight Hezbollah and its interests, which he deemed "legitimate targets."

In a statement posted to Facebook today, Egyptian army spokesman Ahmed Ali announced that recent operations by Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula have led to the deaths of 78 militants. Thirty-two of those killed were said to be non-Egyptians.

Ali stated that in addition to the 78 killed, another 203 have been arrested. Authorities have also successfully destroyed over 340 smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, the spokesman claimed.

Ali's statement did not provide much detail regarding the claim that some of those arrested, killed, or injured were non-Egyptians. Reports over the past year have suggested that foreign jihadists with ties to Yemen, Somalia, Algeria, Libya, and Afghanistan, and other countries, are operating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ali's comments were issued about two weeks after he said that Egyptian security forces had killed 60 militants in the Sinai since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi in early July. And just last week, more than 20 Egyptian policemen were executed by Islamist militants in the Sinai. No group has taken credit for the attack.

Recent statements by jihadist groups in the Sinai

The army spokesman's comments also come a day after the militant group al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya in Sinai released a statement, which was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, calling on Muslims to fight the "apostate" Egyptian army.

Notably, last fall the group said: "[T]he army and the police are not our targets and that our weapons are directed at the enemies and the enemies of our Ummah the Jews." More recently, in mid-May, the jihadist group said: "[T]he target of the Salafist Jihadist current in Sinai is the Zionist enemy and its operations are directed to them, and the Egyptian soldiers are not a target for us."

In its recent statement, the Sinai-based group said the army's crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo was "barbaric."

"It was a scene the likes of which you will almost never find, except in the Crusader wars," the statement said. The group then listed a litany of "crimes" by security forces, including the siege on the al Fateh Mosque.

The jihadist group, which has previously accused the Egyptian army of lying about operations, denounced the military for "protect[ing] the interests of the West." It also alleged in the statement that the United States "controls Egypt."

The army is "preventing the rise of an Islamic regime in Egypt which rules according to God's law and takes into consideration the interests of the Ummah, not the interests of America," the statement charged. The Salafi jihadist group further charged that the army and police are "a sect at war with Islam that has declared loyalty to the enemies of Islam, the Jews and the Crusaders."

Al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya in Sinai argued that the army "should [be] fought until it submits to the command of Allah."

"Fighting it has become an obligation to repulse the aggressor who attacks the lives, possessions, and honor of Muslims. They must be fought until they stop their harm stop standing being between the people and God's law," the statement continued.

The jihadist group, which issued a statement in November 2012 questioning why the army did not fight Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense, used the recent statement to urge security personnel with "an iota of faith or morality" to leave their organizations or else face the potential of being targeted.

"So men of Islam in Egypt, what are you waiting for before you raise arms in defense of your religion, your lives, and your honor?," the communique asked, before stating: "Humiliation is in abandoning jihad. Dignity only returns with Jihad."

Al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya in Sinai, like other jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, also denounced the "futility of the malicious democratic model."

"Religion was lost because of this approach," the group said. The statement urged Egyptian Muslims to adopt "jihad, the apotheosis of religion," in order to protect fellow Muslims and defend Islam.

The group's statement ended with a warning for members of the Egyptian army and police: "[E]xpect from us what hurts you. Just as we fought the Jews abroad, we will not leave their helpers on the inside."

"The apostates, the Crusaders, the secularists, and the atheists have raised their banner in a war against Islam. The ranks of the people of faith are now coming together to raise the pure banner of Islam, the banner of 'there is no god but God.' Be of the supports of Allah," it concluded.

The statement from al Salafiyya al Jihadiyya is the latest in a plethora of statements from jihadists in response to the ongoing crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

On. Aug 17, jihadist ideologue Abu Sa'ad al 'Amili posted a series of tweets to his Twitter account urging Egyptian Muslims to prepare for an "open war."

Likewise, Abdullah Muhammad Mahmoud of the jihadist Dawa'at al-Haq Foundation for Studies and Research warned Egyptian Muslims, in an article posted to jihadist forums on Aug. 14, that "if you don't do jihad today, then only blame yourselves tomorrow."

And on Aug. 15, Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of the Gaza-based Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation), called on Egyptians to wage "jihad" against Egyptian army commander General Abdul Fattah el Sisi. Similarly, on Aug. 19, al Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, urged Egyptian Muslims to "pick up arms and defend yourself."

In an audio message released to jihadist forums today, Harith bin Ghazi al Nadhari (also known as Muhammad al Murshidi), an official in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), denounced the recent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Al Nadhari charged that the actions taken by Egyptian security personnel against the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters on Aug. 14 constituted a "serious crime." The Egyptian government seeks "to return Egypt to the era of oppression, tyranny and the domination of the security and intelligence agencies," the AQAP official said.

In reference to the recent killing of four members of the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem, al Nadhari accused the Egyptian government of working with Israel "in killing our mujahideen brothers in Sinai."

Al Nadhari concluded his short message by urging Egyptian Muslims "to cling to patience and steadfastness" and openly declare their desire to implement sharia law. "Muslims are in need of proclaiming, openly without any disguise, that we want to implement Shari'ah. We want the Islamic Shari'ah," he declared.

In addition to the audio message, a video message from al Nadhari was released to jihadist forums today. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained the video, it "is the first time that Nadhari's face has been unobscured in an AQAP production."

In the video message, al Nadhari said that the "mujahideen" in Syria had achieved "great victories" against the Alawites. In addition, he praised the recent attacks on prisons in Iraq, which have freed numerous jihadists. With regard to Afghanistan, al Nadhari praised Taliban emir Mullah Omar and the Afghan people for continuing "jihad" against the United States. "America is retreating, pulling the tails of military defeat, as the Soviet Union pulled before, and before her, Britain," the AQAP official proclaimed.

Al Nadhari also mocked the recent US decision to evacuate personnel from Yemen after intercepted communications between al Qaeda and its affiliates suggested an attack was in the offing. As in his audio message, in the video al Nadhari offered his condolences for the deaths of fighters from Ansar Jerusalem who were recently killed in the Egyptian Sinai.

The AQAP official concluded his message by boasting that the US is on the retreat: "The crusade-alliance led by America, is in a full retreat. They are losing the war in every aspect: military, economy, intelligence and theology. America's retreat from the war will be a turning point. No other party, however powerful, will be able to take her seat in the war against Islam."

The Taliban have claimed credit for a suicide assault today on an Afghan Army base in Kapisa, where jihadists have been making inroads since Coalition forces withdrew from the central province.

A suicide assault team attacked the Afghan National Army base in Tagab district early in the morning, at 6:30 a.m., the official spokesman for Kapisa province told Xinhua. A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the main gate in an attempt to breach the perimeter and allow the assault team to enter the base.

"They failed to enter pass the first gate as the army soldiers responded to the attack, killing five militants," the spokesman said. He estimated that 15 Taliban fighters were involved in the assault, and claimed that 10 Taliban fighters who were wounded during the fighting were captured. Two Afghan soldiers were also killed during the fighting.

The Taliban took credit for the attack in a statement released on their website, Voice of Jihad.

"Early this morning a courageous Mujahid of the Islamic Emirate rammed his explosive-packed vehicle into the base of the combined NATO invaders and the puppet forces in Tagab district of Kapisa, killing and wounding a large number of the foreign terrorist and their lapdogs," the Taliban claimed. No ISAF troops are reported to have been killed in Kapisa today.

The Taliban also claimed they overran "two of the puppets' [Afghan security forces] outposts in Tagab district of the province, killing and wounding about 2 dozens of the puppets."

Today's attack in Kapisa took place just days after the governor said that the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and the Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin are in control of areas of the Tagab and Alasai districts.

"The government has control over some parts of the Tagab and Alasai districts, but the rest are controlled by the insurgents and Haqqani Network," Governor Mehrabuddin Safi told TOLOnews on Aug. 23. "These groups terrorize the locals and extort money from them," he continued.

Abdul Momin, the Chairman of Kapisa's Provincial Peace Committee, which is tasked with negotiating with the Taliban, backed up the governor's statements, and also said al Qaeda maintains a presence in the province.

"The activities of al Qaeda, the Taliban, Haqqani [Network] and Hizb-i-Islami [Gulbuddin] in the area are preventing people from joining the peace process by threatening them. It is important that the government takes immediate steps and clear the militants from the area," Momin told TOLOnews.

Momin also accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate of supporting jihadists in Kapisa and, and claimed that Pakistani military hospitals are being used to treat Taliban and other jihadist fighters who are wounded while fighting in Afghanistan.

Tagab district is a known safe haven for Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami fighters in Kapisa province [for more information on insurgent groups in Kapisa, see LWJ report, Taliban suicide bomber kills 4 French soldiers]. In June 2012, the Taliban conducted two suicide attacks in Kapisa over the course of nine days.

The Qari Baryal Group is known to operate in the province and throughout central and northeastern Afghanistan. Qari Baryal was a former Hizb-i-Islami insurgent commander who was based in Kapisa province. His network, consisting of approximately 150-200 men, is known to facilitate the movement of weapons, explosives, and would-be suicide bombers from the Pakistan border to Kabul. His group helped plan and coordinate numerous attacks against military bases in Kabul and Parwan provinces, including the sprawling Coalition airbase at Bagram. In January 2011, NATO forces claimed that Qari Baryal was killed along with his contingent during an air strike in the Pech Valley of Kunar province. ISAF described Qari Baryal as an "al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader." [For previous reporting about Qari Baryal and his network in Kapisa and Kunar, see LWJ report, Kapisa province: The Taliban's gateway to Kabul.]

French troops were formerly based in Kapisa, but in June 2012 France transferred control of the province to Afghan security forces. In December 2012, France withdrew its combat forces completely from Afghanistan, two years ahead of schedule, after French troops were targeted in suicide bombings and other attacks.

Kapisa has also been the scene of green-on-blue attacks, in which Afghan security forces attack Coalition personnel. There have been three such attacks in Kapisa. In the latest such attack, in March, a group of Afghan soldiers turned on US troops in Kapisa, killing a Coalition contractor and wounding three US soldiers.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, one of two al Qaeda affiliates operating in Syria, announced that it would coordinate with other Syrian rebel groups, including the Free Syrian Army, to take revenge for a chemical weapons attack last week in the capital that is said to have killed more than 300 people.

The ISIL released a statement yesterday that was signed by seven other "jihadi factions" operating in Eastern Ghouta, a district in the Syrian capital where the chemical attack is said to have taken place. The statement, which was released yesterday on an official Twitter account associated with the ISIL, was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The decision to conduct joint operations against the Syrian government and military was made "after the meeting that was called for by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant for all the jihadi factions in Eastern Ghouta," the ISIL said, according to SITE.

The operation is to be called the "Volcano of Revenge," and the targets are "the main joints of the regime in imprisoned Damascus, including security branches, support and supply points, training centers, and infrastructure (electricity, internet)."

Seven other groups signed onto the ISIL statement, including at least two Free Syrian Army units. The groups that signed the statement are the Ahrar al Sham Islamic Movement, a large, independent jihadist group; the Ahrar Dimashq Battalion, which is described as "The Combat Engineering Brigade of the Muhajireen," or Muhajireen Army, an al Qaeda-linked group; the Abu Dhar al Ghafari Brigade, an ISIL unit in Damascus; the Al Habib Al Mustafa Brigades, a Free Syrian Army unit and its 'Issa bin Maryam Battalion; the Al Furqan Brigade, another Free Syrian Army unit; the Umm al Qura Battalion; and the Deraa al-'Asima Brigade (Lebanon Capital Shield Brigade).

The ISIL's announcement takes place as Obama administration officials have indicated that the US plans on launching airstrikes against the Syrian government to punish it for launching chemical attacks. The US is currently positioning naval assets off the Syrian coast which may be used to launch cruise missile and other strikes against the Assad regime. US officials have indicated that ground forces will not be deployed.

Direct US military involvement in Syria would ironically put it on the same side as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Al Nusrah Front, two of al Qaeda's most powerful affiliates. The US fought al Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor to the ISIL, from 2004 to the end of 2011 before withdrawing from Iraq.

Free Syrian Army routinely conducts joint operations with al Qaeda

Free Syrian Army units are known to conduct joint attacks and administer areas of Syria with al Qaeda's affiliates in Syria, despite claims from senior Free Syrian Army leaders that they oppose the Al Nusrah Front and the ISIL.

Currently, in northern Syria, Free Syrian Army units are fighting alongside the Al Nusrah Front; the ISIL; Ahrar al Sham; the Ahfad al-Rasoul Brigade, which is backed by the government of Qatar; and the Islamic Kurdish Front; to battle Kurdish forces allied with the PKK.

Just weeks ago, the ISIL led an assault, which included a suicide bomber from Saudi Arabia, to take control of an airport in Aleppo. Eight other groups, including the Al Nusrah Front, the Muhajireen Army, and Free Syrian Army units, also took part in the joint operation.

A year ago, in August 2012, the Al Nusrah Front said it launched a joint operation with the Battalion of the Mujahideen of the Companions (Al Sahaba Battalion), a Free Syrian Army unit, against a police station in Jadida Artouz in the countryside of Damascus.

Also in August 2012, the Al Nusrah Front imposed sharia, or Islamic Law, in conjunction with the Tawhid Brigade, a Free Syrian Army unit, and the Ahrar al Sham Brigade in Aleppo.

In October 2012, the Al Nusrah Front claimed it commanded elements of the Al Fajr (Dawn) Islamic Brigade, a known Free Syrian Army unit, as well as "Chechens," likely from the Muhajireen Brigade, during an assault on a Syrian air defense and Scud missile base in Aleppo.

In June this year, the Al Nusrah Front said it conducted two suicide assaults in Eastern Ghouta on April 22 with the help of the Nasser Salahuddin Brigade, and that it launched several conventional attacks in April with the help of the Dera' al Assima, Liwa al Habib al Mustafa, and Liwa' al Tawhid brigades, three Free Syrian Army units in Damascus.