In a video released to jihadist forums on Dec. 1, Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) showed some of its recent attacks in North Sinai against Egyptian security personnel along with footage of some of its fighters training. As in previous videos from the Sinai-based jihadist group, clips from al Qaeda figures are featured.

The new video, which has been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, contains clips from former al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi and from Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) spokesman Abu Muhammad al 'Adnani al Shami. In late August, the ISIS spokesman called on Egyptians to take up arms and fight the Egyptian army.

In the portion that focuses on the group's training, fighters are seen firing guns and practicing encircling targets such as enemy vehicles. At one point, the Ansar Jerusalem fighters are shown with al Qaeda's flag planted in the ground beside them as they fire their weapons. This flag was first used by al Qaeda in Iraq but has been adopted by al Qaeda affiliates and associated groups.

Included among the attacks featured in the new video is the Nov. 20 car bombing in North Sinai that killed 11 Egyptian security personnel. Multiple angles of the attack are shown, and Ansar Jerusalem fighters can be heard chanting "Allahu Akbar" following the explosion.

Other featured incidents include machine gun attacks on buses transporting Egyptian soldiers and an RPG attack on an armored vehicle. In one instance, an Ansar Jerusalem fighter is seen firing on a helicopter patrolling the area. In another, a fighter is seen writing on a vehicle: "Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, the War Has Yet to Start."

Since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi on July 3, there have been at least 256 reported attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, most of which were carried out against Egyptian security forces and assets, according to data maintained by The Long War Journal.

On Sept. 10, Ansar Jerusalem declared that "it is obligatory to repulse them [the Egyptian army] and fight them until the command of Allah is fulfilled." In the same statement, the group took credit for a number of attacks on Egyptian security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula. Similarly, on Sept. 15, the Salafi jihadist group declared: "We in Ansar Jerusalem and all the mujahideen in Sinai in Egypt as a whole stress that the blood of innocent Muslims will not go in vain." And on Sept. 28, Ansar Jerusalem released a video that included footage from some of its recent attacks on Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ansar Jerusalem has also conducted a few attacks outside of its normal base of operations in North Sinai in recent months. On Sept. 5, the jihadist group carried out an assassination attempt in Nasr City on Egypt's interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim. A month later, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide bomber unleashed a blast at the South Sinai Security Directorate in el Tor, which killed three security personnel and injured more than 45. On Oct. 19, the Sinai-based jihadist group targeted a military intelligence building in the city of Ismailia. And on Nov. 19, the group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack on Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mabrouk, a senior national security officer, in Cairo.

In a recent visit to North Sinai, CBS News' Clarissa Ward, like other journalists who have visited the area in recent months, interviewed Haitham el Menai, the brother of purported Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) leader Shadi el Menai.

During the interview, Haitham praised his brother, also known as Prince Shadi, as he said, "If my brother is a terrorist, I thank him. They burn our houses, who else will defend us?" When asked whether he viewed his brother as a hero, Haitham told Ward: "Not just my brother. We treasure anyone who defends our children."

And, when asked whether Ansar Jerusalem has "any relationship with al Qaeda," Haitham did not deny a connection, but rather stated that "only God knows. It is possible."

Shadi el Menai

Numerous recent reports have indicated that Shadi el Menai plays an important role in Ansar Jerusalem. His exact role is unclear, however. For example, McClathcy described him as "a founding member" of the Salafi jihadist group, while Slate referred to him only as "a member" of the group. And, according to CBS News, Prince Shadi is "the leader" of Ansar Jerusalem.

According to his brother Haitham, Shadi was the fifth member of the Ansar Jerusalem cell that was targeted on Aug. 9. In that attack, four members of the group, including two of Shadi and Haitham's relatives, were killed. At the time, Ansar Jerusalem did not name the fifth member, but described him as the cell's "commander."

More recently, on Nov. 22, rumors swirled in the Egyptian media that authorities had arrested Shadi, who has been linked to a number attacks in North Sinai as well as the May 2013 kidnapping of seven Egyptian security personnel. Security officials quickly squashed the reports, however.

The current location of Shadi, pictures of whom swirled with the recent rumors of his arrest, is unknown. However, indications from those who have visited North Sinai in recent months are that he is still in the area. Shadi was last seen in September after Egyptian forces targeted his home.

Ansar Jerusalem's links to al Qaeda

Although a pledge of allegiance (bayat) to al Qaeda or its emir Ayman al Zawahiri has not been revealed, the group's material is released through official al Qaeda-linked channels. On Oct. 21, Ansar Jerusalem announced that it was not operating any social media accounts and that any purporting to be the group's account was unofficial.

"[T]he only source of our statements and productions are the jihadi forums from al-Fajr Media Center (Shumukh al-Islam Networking and al-Fida' Islamic Network)," the group said. Relatedly, the group's videos often feature clips from al Qaeda figures such as Ayman al Zawahiri and Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

The al Fajr Media Center is a key distributor of al Qaeda's propaganda online. "Al-Fajr maintains communication with representatives of all the affiliates, and therefore, it can facilitate the rapid transfer of information between these groups and pass on information it has gathered," the SITE Intelligence Group noted in an August report.

In addition, the group's fighters were lauded in August 2013 by an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official as "our mujahideen brothers." Prior to this, in February 2012, al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri lauded "the heroes who blew up the gas pipeline to Israel." While Zawahiri did not direct his praise toward any specific group, Ansar Jerusalem has claimed responsibility for attacks on the Arish-Ashkelon gas pipeline on numerous occasions in recent years.

More recently, reports in the Egyptian media suggested that Ansar Jerusalem may have links to Muhammad Jamal and the Muhammad Jamal Network [MJN], which were added to the US government's list of designated terrorists and the UN's sanctions list in October 2013.

Jamal, a former commander in Egyptian Islamic Jihad, "has developed connections" with al Qaeda affiliates, such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), according to the State Department. Jamal also has ties to Nasir al Wuhayshi, AQAP's emir and the newly appointed general manager of al Qaeda, and Qasim al Raymi, AQAP's senior military commander.

When Jamal was arrested by Egyptian authorities in November 2012, Cairo uncovered communications between him and al Qaeda's emir, Ayman al Zawahiri. In one letter, Jamal told Zawahiri that he believed "in the necessity of establishing a jihadist entity in Egypt" and that he had taken steps to establish "groups for us inside Sinai." According to Jamal, who had petitioned Zawahiri for consent to start al Qaeda in Egypt, the Sinai is "the next frontier of conflict with the Zionists and Americans."

Jamal, whose fighters have been linked to the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi terror attack, is also said to have established "several terrorist training camps in Egypt and Libya" with funding from AQAP.

In late November, in response to a Long War Journal query on whether the State Department believes there is a connection between the Muhammad Jamal Network (MJN) and Ansar Bayt al Maqdis, a State Department spokesman said: "We have no comment on the inter-relationships between MJN and the other Sinai groups."

Maiduguri Airport in flames. Image from BizWatchNigeria.

Boko Haram's latest attack in Maiduguri has been described as its most audacious yet. In the early hours of Monday morning hundreds of Boko Haram militants stormed the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, in an assault that left scores of people dead. The estimated number of fighters ranged from 300 to 500, and according to one Nigerian intelligence officer, they entered Maiduguri "from the bush, chanting 'Allahu Akbar.'" Once they arrived in the city, the fighters attacked the Maiduguri Airport, a Nigerian Air Force Base, and various locations around the base. The use of both explosives and RPGs has been confirmed.

The attack has caused a political storm in Nigeria. A new political coalition, now one of Nigeria's largest opposition parties, has called for a probe into intelligence failures before the attack, and questioned how several hundred militants could strike a military facility in a large city without prior warning. President Goodluck Jonathan is said to be furious over the incident, and there are allegations in the Nigerian press that "heads may roll" if assertions of sabotage and negligence of duty are proved true. With new accusations that the military's offensive against Boko Haram has been a failure, things are likely to get worse even while discussions take place as to how to make things better.

The government had recently extended emergency rule in Borno as well as in the nearby states of Adamawa and Yobe, in an effort to crush the Boko Haram insurgency. Despite the fact that there are over 8,000 troops now deployed in these states, they have obviously not been successful and the International Criminal Court has officially designated Nigeria as embroiled in a civil war. The situation was so bad last month that President Jonathan was asked to cancel the visit of Bill Gates for fear it may trigger Boko Haram attacks on polio workers.

The ability of Boko Haram fighters to escape into other countries has also greatly frustrated Nigeria. A Borno state official recently accused Cameroonian authorities of habitually refusing to arrest or chase Boko Haram militants fleeing across the border after carrying out attacks in Nigeria. Although a regional strategy would be ideal for Nigeria, Cameroon has shown little interest in the problem, while Niger and Chad do not have adequate resources to help. A member of Boko Haram captured by the military in Maiduguri claimed that the group has members from each of these countries actively taking part in the insurgency. Furthermore, United Nations officials have stated that they think Boko Haram is now active on the ground in Central African Republic.

But of more immediate concern for Nigerian officials is that Christmas is fast approaching - a period during which, since 2010, Boko Haram has been particularly active. On Christmas Eve of that year, Boko Haram targeted Christians in a campaign of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that left 80 dead. On Christmas Day 2011, at least 37 people were killed during morning Mass at the Saint Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near Abuja, and at least three died in four other bomb attacks that day. Last year, Boko Haram declared its intention to "eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country," and is believed to be behind two separate Christmas Eve attacks; one that killed at least six Christians and burned down a church Yobe, and another that killed six in Maiduguri.

If the recent attack in Maiduguri is any indication, Boko Haram has shifted its tactics and grown more sophisticated. The group is now prepared to directly attack military installations, and in large numbers. This is particularly striking since the attack took place just one week after the Nigerian military claimed it had cleared the terror group from bases in the Sambisa forest and that more than 100 Boko Haram fighters had been killed during the assault.

Additionally, there are now reports of both suspected insider collaboration and that the attack took place as Nigerian Special Forces were planning one of their biggest offensives against the group. According to one source, Boko Haram successfully planted IEDs before the attack, and the authorities strongly believe "that this incident was made possible by insiders' collaboration in terms of giving them information." This means that Boko Haram may well have a better intelligence network than the Nigerian military.

With Boko Haram escalating its activities, this year's Christmas season could be one of the most telling periods for a Nigerian government desperate to prove that it is capable of putting down the insurrection.

Saddam al Jamal, a senior leader of the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade who has defected to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. Image from the SITE Intelligence group.

Four battalions from the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade, a large rebel group in Syria that is funded by the Qatari government, defected and vowed to continue to fight the "armed jihadist struggle." Meanwhile a senior leader of the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade recently defected and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, one of two official al Qaeda branches operating in Syria.

The four rebel battalions "issued a statement declaring their dissent from the Ahfad al Rasoul brigade in northern Syria and their complete political and military independence," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Dec. 3. The battalions were identified as the "al-Ansar, al-Naser al-Qadem, al-Naser ,and al-Muntaser Billah."

The battalions cited "the unfamiliarity of the brigade's leaders" as the reason for breaking ranks with the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade. They also "assured that they will proceed with their 'armed Jihadist struggle' and cooperate with all forces on the ground to uphold god's oneness and fight the criminal regime."

The defections of the four battalions took place after Saddam al Jamal, a senior leader, left the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. Jamal formerly led Ahfad al Rasoul's Allah Akbar Battalion, and served as the Free Syrian Army's Eastern Front representative to the Supreme Military Council. The SMC is led by Salim Idriss and is backed by the United States.

Al Jamal recently released a videotape that "speaks about the relationship between his brigade and Western and Arab intelligence services," according to the SITE Intelligence Group. "In the video, al Jamal 'confesses' that Arab and Western intelligence were heavily involved in funding and directing brigades affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Military Council." Al Jamal claimed that Saudi Arabia, and not Qatar, is now the primary backer of the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade.

Despite the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade's cooperation with the SMC and the FSA, the group has fought alongside al Qaeda against its enemies in the past. In July, the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade banded together with al Qaeda's other branch in Syria, the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, as well as the Islamic Kurdish Front and the Ahrar al Sham, a known Syrian Islamist group that is sympathetic to al Qaeda and has fought alongside them in the past, to fight Kurdish rebels in northern Syria.

The Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Military Council have become significantly weaker, as units are breaking away and joining Islamist coalitions that share the same goals with and fight alongside al Qaeda. In mid-November, seven large Islamist brigades (Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Suqour al-Sham, Liwa al-Tawhid, Liwa al-Haqq, Ansar al-Sham, and the Kurdish Islamic Front) with an estimated 45,000 fighters broke from the Free Syrian Army and formed the Islamic Front. The group declared that its primary aim is to "topple the Assad regime ... and build an Islamic state," with sharia, or Islamic law, as the basis of governance.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed more than 50 people in a suicide assault that targeted Yemen's Ministry of Defense complex in the capital of Sana'a. The attack is the latest in a series of suicide assaults in Yemen that have targeted security forces.

Today's attack began when a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at the outer wall of the complex near a hospital, according to Reuters. Then, a second car filled with heavily armed AQAP fighters dressed in military uniforms entered the breach in the wall and opened fire.

The AQAP fighters then "broke into three departments of the ministry, and exchanged gunfire with the soldiers," Xinhua reported. AQAP fighters gunned down "two German and two Vietnamese doctors, and one Indian and two Filipino nurses" during the assault, Reuters reported. At least one doctor and a nurse were executed in front of the staff.

Yemeni soldiers and AQAP fighters battled for several hours before the AQAP fighters were killed. The exact number of AQAP fighters involved in the attack has not been disclosed but it is estimated to have been carried out by about a dozen AQAP operatives.

At least 52 people, including soldiers, medical staff, and AQAP fighters, were killed during the fighting, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

Today's suicide assault took place just two weeks after President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi claimed that AQAP's activities have been "reduced" in Yemen. Hadi said members of the terror group "began to flee to other areas suffering upheaval such as Syria, Egypt, Libya and North Africa" after a military offensive was launched in 2012 to uproot AQAP from southern provinces that it controlled.

But AQAP has remained active in Yemen. In early August, the US closed down its embassy in Sana'a and more than two dozen other diplomatic facilities across the world after receiving intelligence warning of a major attack. The threat was traced back to a plot discussed by Ayman al Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda, and Nasir al Wuhayshi, AQAP's emir who also serves as al Qaeda's general manager. The embassy in Sana'a remains closed to this day.

AQAP has continued to launch suicide assaults, bombings, and assassinations throughout Yemen. Some of the more high-profile suicide assaults include: the Sept. 20 suicide assaults against three military bases in Shabwa province; a raid on military headquarters in Mukallah in Hadramout on Sept. 30 (the base was held by the AQAP fighters for days before the military retook control); and the Oct. 18 suicide assault on a military training center in Abyan.

The suicide assault, or coordinated attack using multiple suicide bombers and an assault team, is a common tactic used by al Qaeda and its allies, including the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Suicide assault are commonly executed in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed it executed yesterday's suicide assault on the Ministry of Defense in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a in an effort to strike at the US' drone program that targets AQAP leaders, operatives, and foot soldiers. The suicide assault resulted in the deaths of 52 people, including foreign doctors and nurses, and 11 AQAP fighters.

AQAP made the claim in a series of tweets at the newly established Twitter site of "Malahem Media." The Twitter site was promoted by Abdul Razzaq al Jamal, a Yemeni journalist who is closely tied to AQAP and "who often posts communiqués and videos from AQAP before their official release on jihadi forums," according to the SITE Intelligence Group. Al Malahem Media is the official media outlet for AQAP.

AQAP claimed it targeted the "operation rooms" for the drone program.

"As part of the policy of targeting the operation rooms of pilotless planes, the mujahideen (holy fighters) have heavily struck one of these rooms in Defense Ministry headquarters," the group said, according to Reuters.

"Such joint military locations, which participate with the Americans in their war against this Muslim nation, are a legitimate target for our operations," AQAP continued in another tweet.

No US casualties were reported in yesterday's assault, nor is it clear if the US maintains an operations room inside Yemen's Ministry of Defense. Seven foreigners -- two German and two Vietnamese doctors, and one Indian and two Filipino nurses -- were killed during the attack as AQAP fighters overran a hospital inside the defense ministry complex.

The US has launched 23 drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. Between July 27 and Aug. 10, the US launched nine strikes in Yemen, but no drone strikes were reported for seven weeks prior to July 27. The spike in attacks from the end of July to mid-August was related to an al Qaeda plot that was uncovered by US officials. The plot's discovery led the US to close down more than 20 embassies and diplomatic facilities across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The plot involved AQAP emir Nasir al Wuhayshi, who now also serves as al Qaeda's general manager.

Despite the uptick of activity at the end of July and into the second week of August, the pace of the strikes has 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.

AQAP criticizes Yemeni military for cooperating with the US

In the recent tweets, AQAP also castigated the Yemeni military for cooperating with the US and ignoring the sectarian war against Shia Houthis in the town of Dammaj in the northern province of Saada. Hundreds of fighters from the Houthis and opposing Salafists have been killed during fighting in Dammaj over the past several weeks.

"The duty of the army is to defend the country and not pant behind the American desires while standing idle towards what is happening in Dammaj," one tweet said, according to SITE.

AQAP made similar criticisms of the Yemeni military in a video that was released last month. In that video, AQAP officials lectured captured Yemeni soldiers for fighting alongside the US, with Yemeni soldiers fighting on the ground and US drones acting as air cover [see LWJ report, AQAP video details suicide assaults against Yemeni bases in Shabwa].

Yesterday's coordinated suicide assault against the Ministry of Defense is the latest in a series of similar attacks by AQAP against Yemeni security forces over the past several months. Some of the more high-profile suicide assaults include: the Sept. 20 suicide assaults against three military bases in Shabwa province; a raid on military headquarters in Mukallah in Hadramout on Sept. 30 (the base was held by the AQAP fighters for days before the military retook control); and the Oct. 18 suicide assault on a military training center in Abyan.

The Islamic Front, a recently formed Islamist alliance of several large groups that cooperate with al Qaeda in Syria, has driven Free Syrian Army forces out of bases and a warehouse at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing into Turkey. Late last month, the warehouse and its FSA commanders were taken over by the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham.

Following an all-night battle between the Islamic Front and FSA units, today Islamic Front fighters seized FSA arms depots containing weapons that had come into Syria through Turkey, according to the activist Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

FSA spokesman Louay Meqdad said the Islamic Front fighters raised their own flag in place of the FSA's, after "asking" FSA personnel to leave, Reuters reported.

Agence France Presse notes that the capture of the FSA bases took place only four days after the Islamic Front declared that it rejected FSA command.

Last week, the Islamic Front, estimated at 45,000 fighters, published its charter, which sets out its goals of creating an Islamic state under sharia law. Although the charter does not mention al Qaeda or its two official Syrian branches, the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, the Islamic Front embraces jihad and calls the foreign fighters "our brothers." Taken as a whole, the charter indicates that the Islamic Front is willing to cooperate with both Al Nusrah and the ISIS; most of the Islamist groups that make up the Islamic Front have fought alongside the al Qaeda groups already. [See LWJ reports, Islamic Front endorses jihad, says 'the Muhajireen are our brothers,' and Analysis: Formation of Islamic Front in Syria benefits jihadist groups.]

Shortly after the publication of the charter, General Salim Idriss, head of the FSA's Supreme Military Council, congratulated the Islamic Front on its formation and pledged to cooperate with it. A few days earlier, on Nov. 24, an FSA spokesman had claimed that the Islamic Front answered to the Supreme Military Council; he also estimated that the Islamic Front controlled up to 60 percent of the rebel fighters in Syria, TIME reported.

A report in the BBC today states that al Qaeda-linked fighting units are becoming increasingly organized in the recruitment and transfer of foreign fighters through safe houses near the Turkish border into Syria and often out again back to their home countries.

A French jihadist who joined a brigade that consists of 8,000 fighters told the BBC that "there are thousands of us, literally from every corner of the world" and "we are all al-Qaeda." He also claimed that his brigade had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham.

In a further indication of the growing strength of the Islamist forces and corresponding weakness of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, a former rebel commander told the BBC that FSA fighters are now being targeted by jihadist forces and that he fled to Turkey after jihadists captured his unit and killed most of his men.

The Afghan Taliban recently claimed that the US' reliance on drone strikes to target Taliban leaders masks the decline of American power in the world and the failure of its counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban also called the US a "paper tiger," the same phrase used by Osama Bin Laden to describe the American military when it withdrew from Somalia after the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993.

The Afghan Taliban made the statements in report titled "A reflection on the American Drone War Strategy," which was released on Nov. 25 on its website, Voice of Jihad. The report is a mix of propaganda and what purports to be Taliban views on the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and reliance on airpower to defeat the group.

In the report, the Taliban claim that the US switched to a strategy of "drone warfare" after conventional warfare and then counterinsurgency operations "failed to defeat the Afghans." The Taliban also accuse the Obama administration of ramping up the use of drones to cover its withdrawal from Afghanistan after 12 years of war.

"It [the Obama administration] has openly declared the desire to leave Afghanistan," the report states. "However, conscious of maintaining at least a semblance of continuing this war, the Obama regime has instead resorted to using unmanned drones that are both inexpensive financially and non-costly in terms of [American] human lives."

Drones ineffective in decapitating Taliban's leadership cadre

The Afghan Taliban describe the US' use of drones to target Taliban leaders as "a publicity stunt," and claim the strikes have been ineffective in eliminating the group's top leaders, who are described as its "symbolic leaders." The Taliban say they have sheltered their top leaders by delegating less senior leaders to serve as "operational commanders" to execute the orders of their superiors:

It is worth keeping in mind that these drone strikes have only been able to target those that have been very active in the public sphere and thus prone to be targeted through a number of means. The drone strikes have virtually been of no use against targeting the more important symbolic leaders of the opposition to the American aggressors. Any leaders that suspect being targeted by drone planes inevitably retract their public profile and instead delegate their operational duties to other less known associates. In other words, most of those targeted by these drone strikes are operational commanders. The targeting of these commanders cannot disrupt any of their activities because these commanders always nurture several delegates who are able to take over and resume activities in the event of the death or capture of any operational commanders.

While the Taliban's statements should be taken with a grain of salt, there does appear to be some truth to the claims. The US government has previously detailed how top Taliban leaders exercise command and control of "subordinate Taliban commanders" while the leaders remain out of reach of US and Coalition forces in safe havens in Pakistan, often with the support of that country's military and intelligence service. [See the US designation of Mullah Naim Barich, for an example.]

With the exception of the Haqqani Network, a subgroup of the Afghan Taliban that is based in North Waziristan, where US drones routinely strike top leaders, senior Afghan Taliban leaders are largely untouched by the drone program. The US drones rarely stray outside of North and South Waziristan to conduct a strike, while top Afghan leaders are based throughout Baluchistan province and in major cities such as Quetta and Karachi.

But perhaps the best indication that the US has failed to defeat the Taliban using drones (or by targeted raids and conventional airstrikes in Afghanistan) is that after 12 years of war, the Taliban remain a viable fighting force. Despite yearly claims in media outlets that the Taliban's leadership is broken by more than a decade of fighting and that the group is on the verge of collapse, the Taliban continue to wage an effective insurgency and their leadership remains intact. The group still controls rural areas of Afghanistan, even in areas where Coalition forces surged between 2009 and 2011, routinely attacks Afghan forces and disrupts movement on the Ring Road, and is capable of conducting high-profile attacks in the capital and in other major cities, as well as against Coalition and Afghan bases.

The "paper tiger"

The Taliban's recent statement maintains that the American reliance on drones is a sign of the decline of the US as a global power.

"The people of the drone-affected areas have now come to see what the US truly is - a paper tiger which a superficial claim to be the greatest empire of all time," the group concludes.

The Taliban's statement adopts the same phrase used by Osama bin Laden to describe the American military following its withdrawal from Somalia after the Battle of Mogadishu in early October 1993 resulted in the loss of 18 US soldiers. The bodies of US soldiers who were left behind were mutilated and dragged through the streets of the Somali capital. The US and UN withdrew from Mogadishu by March 1994.

In an interview with ABC News in 1998, bin Laden said the quick US withdrawal was a sign of weakness that emboldened the burgeoning global jihadist movement.

"The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the America soldiers are paper tigers," bin Laden said. "After a few blows, the Americans ran away in defeat."

Afghan Taliban join the push against US drone strikes

With the Nov. 25 statement on the American reliance on drones, the Afghan Taliban have now joined al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Shabaab, and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in criticizing the program.

The Afghan Taliban invoked similar themes as the other terror groups, most notably the allegation that the US strikes kill an inordinate amount of civilians. The report described the drones as "inherently unreliable and indiscriminate" in killing civilians:

Such weaponry naturally results in a lot of casualties all of whom might not necessarily be involved in any activity against the US. Due to these two weaknesses drone strikes cause disproportionate civilian casualties. These high proportion of civilian casualties in effect ferment a lot of hatred against the US in the affected areas. The affected local populations, traumatized by such attacks, begin to view the Americans as a discriminate and immoral force that is willing to sacrifice the lives of the locals in order to attack a small number of their enemies.

A study by The Long War Journal of the US' use of drones against al Qaeda and allied groups in North and South Waziristan shows that civilians appear to constitute a small percentage of those killed. While it is difficult to assess the number of civilians killed in Pakistan's tribal areas due to Taliban control, Pakistani press reports indicate the number is low.

Additionally, civilian attitudes toward the US drone campaign are not as uniformly critical as the Taliban and al Qaeda would have you believe. There are credible reports that civilians who suffer under Taliban rule are supportive of the targeting of terrorist leaders and fighters.

But the Afghan Taliban's adoption of arguments and rhetoric used by al Qaeda and other terror groups against the drones may indicate that the groups are coordinating their propaganda efforts. The groups cooperate on the battlefield in Afghanistan, so the sharing of propaganda would not come as a surprise.

The US killed two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operatives in a drone strike today in an eastern province in Yemen where the terror group has stepped up its activities.

The remotely piloted strike aircraft fired several missiles at a vehicle as it traveled in the Al Qutn area of Hadramout, Reuters reported. The identity of those killed was not disclosed; a Yemeni intelligence official told the news agency that the bodies were burned beyond recognition.

The target of today's strike was not disclosed. No senior AQAP commanders or operatives are reported to have been killed at this time. AQAP has not released a statement on the attack.

Today's strike is the first reported in Yemen since Nov. 19, when three AQAP fighters were killed in the Ghayl Bawazir area of Hadramout.

Hadramout is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden's family, and the province has become an AQAP bastion over the past several years. In May, the Yemeni government claimed it foiled a plot by AQAP to establish an Islamic emirate in the Ghayl Bawazir area.

In 2012, the US stepped up drone strikes against AQAP in Hadramout. Prior to May 2012, there were zero US drone strikes in the province. From mid-May until the end of 2012, the US launched seven attacks in Hadramout. Seven of the 42 drone strikes in Yemen in 2012, or 17%, took place in the province. And so far this year, five of the 24 strikes in Yemen, or 21%, have occurred in Hadramout.

Background on US strikes in Yemen

Today's strike is the first in Yemen since AQAP penetrated security at Yemen's Ministry of Defense in Sana'a. The suicide assault resulted in the deaths of 52 people, including foreign doctors and nurses, and 11 AQAP fighters. AQAP claimed that the assault
targeted the US-run "operation rooms" for the drone program in Yemen.

The US has launched 24 drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. Despite an uptick of activity at the end of July and into the second week of August, the pace of the strikes has 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.

Between July 27 and Aug. 10, the US launched nine strikes in Yemen, but no drone strikes were reported for seven weeks prior to July 27. The spike in attacks from the end of July to mid-August was related to an al Qaeda plot that was uncovered by US officials. The plot's discovery led the US to close down more than 20 embassies and diplomatic facilities across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The plot involved AQAP emir Nasir al Wuhayshi, who now also serves as al Qaeda's general manager.

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. In July, AQAP confirmed that al Shihri, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, was killed; he is thought to have died or been seriously wounded in 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.

In a message released by al Qaeda's As Sahab on Dec. 7, Muhammad bin Mahmoud Rabie al Bahtiyti, an al Qaeda official, said the group is following current events in Egypt, even though it is "away from them."

"[W]e would have liked to be among them [Egyptian Muslims], helping them and supporting them, and blocking off the assaults of the oppressors and the tyrants," al Bahtiyti said, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group. "Even though we are away from them - and that is imposed on us - this does not prevent us from addressing them and their plight and doing out duty towards them."

With regard to the ongoing crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, al Bahtiyti argued that a peaceful approach will not do anything of importance. "Anyone who calls to resist falsehood with peacefulness is swimming in a sea of illusions, and perhaps in a sea of blood, in vain," he declared.

He also called on Egyptian Muslims to work towards the implementation of sharia-based governance. Egyptian Muslims must "stand in the face of this fierce campaign led by the people of falsehood and the forces of delusion," al Bahtiyti urged. They must "educate people about their obligation to support the religion and empower the Shariah," he continued.

According to al Bahtiyti, force is necessary to ensure sharia-based governance is brought about. "The reality about which there is no doubt, is that falsehood will not be removed and will not go away except with force and with power," al Bahtiyti's message said.

Al Bahtiyti described the current government in Egypt as a "small band of secularists that imposed themselves ... over the necks of the people." He further denounced the current regime for allegedly trying to fight Islam, "extirpate its people, and prevent its empowerment, and to serve the enemy the Jews and Crusaders and to be their follower."

In addition to slamming the current government, al Bahtiyti criticized the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood-led government, which was overthrown in early July 2013, "tried to satisfy all the parties of falsehood and the protectors of the seculars and misguided from among the army, police, secularists, and Christians," he alleged. Al Bahtiyti further said that he hoped the overthrow would give Muslim Brotherhood supporters the chance to "review themselves and correct their path."

"Experiences have proved beyond a doubt that the road to democracy that some people claim will help the religion and establish Shariah, is just an illusion and deviation from the path," he stated.

The message from al Bahtiyti came approximately one month after leading global jihad ideologue Sheikh Abu al Mundhir al Shinqiti called on Egypt's Muslims to wage jihad against Egyptian security forces, in particular within the Sinai Peninsula. According to al Shinqiti, the Egyptian army must be fought, as "peaceful change ... is now impossible."

"Every attempt to avoid fighting the Egyptian Army is like treating a disease with the wrong medicine," he wrote.

In January 2009, the US Treasury department designated al Bahtiyti, then believed to be in Iran, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. According to Treasury, al Bahtiyti, a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda, is the son-in-law of current al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. Al Bahtiyti was on an al Qaeda military committee in the 1990s and purportedly participated in the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, Treasury noted. Following al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Bahtiyti was told by Zawahiri "to take al-Zawahiri's family to Iran."

More recently, in late January 2013, al Bahtiyti wrote a biography about Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed, a longtime jihadist who was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan sometime in the spring of 2012. In the biography, which was released through al Qaeda's Al Fajr Media Center, al Bahtiyti detailed el Sayed's activities as a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda.

Raed Hijazi. Photograph from Reuters.

A longtime jihadist who was born in the US and slated to take part in al Qaeda's planned millennium attacks in Jordan has been rearrested by authorities.

Al Jazeera reported on its Arabic website earlier this month that Raed Hijazi, who spent more than a decade in prison, was detained once again by Jordanian authorities in November. The charges against Hijazi, who was identified as a leading member of the Salafi jihadist trend in Jordan, are not immediately clear. Hijazi's son confirmed the arrest, which has been reported by other outlets as well.

According to the 9/11 Commission, Hijazi had sworn bayat (an oath of allegiance) to Osama bin Laden in 1999, at a time when he was plotting to carry out mass casualty attacks against several sites.

One of Al Jazeera's sources inside the Salafi jihadist trend, Sa'd al Hunayti, also said that Khadr Abu Hoshar had been warned by Jordanian security forces. Abu Hoshar has been one of Hijazi's alleged accomplices since the 1990s. Jordanian officials reportedly told Abu Hoshar that any protests on behalf of his imprisoned comrades would lead to additional arrests.

The Jordanian government has also warned other members of the Salafi jihadist trend against supporting the mujahideen in Syria. Al Hunayti said that approximately 100 members of the Salafi jihadist trend had been jailed on charges of "heading to Syria for jihad."

The 9/11 Commission Report on planned millennium attacks

The 9/11 Commission discussed the planned millennium attacks in Jordan at length in its final report. Jordanian authorities unraveled the plots beginning on Nov. 30, 1999, when they intercepted a telephone call from senior terrorist Abu Zubaydah to Abu Hoshar.

"The time for training is over," Abu Zubaydah said.

The Jordanians suspected, according to the 9/11 Commission, "that this was a signal for Abu Hoshar to commence a terrorist operation." Jordanian police then arrested 16 jihadists, including Abu Hoshar and Hijazi.

Hijazi was born in California, but lived in the Middle East for much of his childhood. After returning to California, according to the 9/11 Commission, Hijazi became an extremist and "then made his way to Abu Zubaydah's Khaldan camp in Afghanistan, where he learned the fundamentals of guerrilla warfare."

Sometime in the early to mid-1990s, Hijazi and his younger brother were recruited by Abu Hoshar "into a loosely knit plot to attack Jewish and American targets in Jordan." But Abu Hoshar was arrested in Jordan in 1996, so Hijazi decided to move back to the US, becoming a cabdriver in Boston. The 9/11 Commission found that he sent some of the money he earned to his fellow plotters.

After Abu Hoshar's release from prison, Hijazi "shuttled between Boston and Jordan gathering money and supplies." The pair then worked to recruit jihadists in Jordan, Syria, and Turkey and "with Abu Zubaydah's assistance, Abu Hoshar sent these recruits to Afghanistan for training."

By late 1998, Abu Hoshar and Hijazi had settled on a plan to attack multiple sites frequented by Western tourists. "Hijazi and Abu Hoshar cased the intended targets and sent reports to Abu Zubaydah, who approved their plan," according to the 9/11 Commission. Hijazi stockpiled the ingredients necessary to make the bombs their plan required.

Hijazi and Abu Hoshar contacted another alleged al Qaeda operative, Khalid Deek, in early 1999. They acquired a copy of the Encyclopedia of Jihad, a terrorist manual authored by Deek.

The 9/11 Commission reported what happened next. In June 1999, "with help from Deek, Abu Hoshar arranged with Abu Zubaydah for Hijazi and three others to go to Afghanistan for added training in explosives."

Then, in late November 1999, "Hijazi reportedly swore before Abu Zubaydah the bayat to Bin Laden, committing himself to do anything Bin Laden ordered."

The cell's members were apprehended before they could move forward with their plan. Once in custody, the 9/11 Commission reported, Hijazi's younger brother told authorities that their motto had been: "The season is coming, and bodies will pile up in sacks."

Ties to Guantanamo detainees

The cell led by Abu Hoshar and Hijazi allegedly had ties to a current Guantanamo detainee named Haji Wali Mohammed. According to a leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment, Mohammed was identified as a high-level financier for the Taliban and al Qaeda. Mohammed, who is an Afghan, received assistance from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID), according to the JTF-GTMO file. [See LWJ report, The Gitmo Files: al Qaeda's alleged primary financial manager.]

The JTF-GTMO file cites intelligence received from the Jordanians, who fingered Mohammed as a financier of the Aug. 7, 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

JTF-GTMO's analysts also found that Mohammed had "financed an al Qaeda cell in Jordan led by [Khadr Abu Hoshar], which planned to conduct terrorists operations in conjunction with the millennium celebrations."

There is another possible Guantanamo connection to Abu Hoshar and Hijazi. Al Jazeera reported that Usama Abu Kabir has been targeted in Jordan's recent security operations. Abu Kabir, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, was arrested in 2009 and charged with plotting terrorist attacks against Israel.

According to Al Jazeera's sources, however, Abu Kabir is one of the current members of the Salafi jihadist trend who are causing concern among Jordanian officials. If true, then obviously he was let out of prison at some point after his arrest.

The Ahrar al Sham Islamic Movement, one of six units of the newly formed Islamic Front, conducted a joint raid with al Qaeda's two official branches in Syria against Hezbollah and pro-Assad militias. Ahrar al Sham also was involved in the recent takeover of a large cache of weapons and munitions owned by the Free Syrian Army.

The Ahrar al Sham Islamic Movement announced that it, in conjunction with the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, targeted "the headquarters of [Hezbollah] and Abu al Fadhil al 'Abbas," a pro-government Syrian Shia militia, in the Sayyidah Zaynab and Hujayra farms area Damascus. The exact date of the operation was not disclosed. The statement, which is headed "Islamic Front / Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement | Damascus," was released by the group on Dec. 7 and obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"The mujahideen engaged with the shabiha [thug] militias with light machine guns and silenced pistols, which led to the killing of more than 50 of the shabiha, and taking of spoils of a number of individual weapons," Ahrar al Sham stated. Additionally, the three groups ambushed a supply column and destroyed "four vehicles of the traitor army."

Ahrar al Sham, a force estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 fighters, has conducted numerous joint operations with the Al Nusrah Front and the ISIS in the past. Some of the more notable joint operations include overrunning the Taftanaz airbase in Idlid in January; taking control of the city of Raqqah in March; massed assaults in Idlib in May; assaulting the Christian town of Malula in September; and attacks on the villages of Maksar al-Husan, Job al-Jarrah, and al-Massoudiyya, also in September.

Ahrar al Sham was one of 11 groups, including the Al Nusrah Front, that in September rejected the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition and called for the establishment of sharia, or Islamic law, throughout Syria.

In November, Ahrar al Sham formed the Islamic Front along with five other large Islamist brigades that have also cooperated with al Qaeda's branches in the past. The Islamic Front is estimated to consist of about 45,000 fighters. [See LWJ report, Analysis: Formation of Islamic Front in Syria benefits jihadist groups.]

The Islamic Front's charter, released on Nov. 26, calls for the establishment of an Islamic state and the imposition of Islamic law, both of which are goals shared by al Qaeda. The charter also hints that the Islamic Front will continue to work with al Qaeda's branches in Syria. It welcomes the "Muhajireen" [emigrants or foreign fighters] as "our brothers who supported us in jihad." [See LWJ report, Islamic Front endorses jihad, says 'the Muhajireen are our brothers'.]

The Islamic Front has recently seized bases and warehouses in northern Syria near the border with Turkey that were used by the Free Syria Army to store and distribute weapons, ammunition, supplies, and aid sent by the US and Western and Arab countries.

Among the items confiscated from the FSA by the Islamic Front are "2,000 AK-47 rifles, 1,000 assorted arms--including M79 Osa rocket launchers, rocket-propelled grenades, and 14.5mm heavy machine guns--in addition to more than 200 tons of ammunition" and "at least 100 FSA military vehicles," according to a report today in Asharq al Awsat. An Ahrar al Sham commander known as Abu Al Nur is said to have led the operation. The warehouses were raided by the Islamic Front a few days before Nov. 24. The Islamist fighters also detained several FSA commanders during the raid. [See LWJ report, Islamic Front fighters take over Free Syrian Army bases near Turkish border.]

The theft of Western-supplied weapons and equipment by Islamist groups has been going on for some time. In mid-September, the ISIS raided a weapons depot of the FSA's Supreme Military Council in northern Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported. Council members said the depot had contained light weapons and ammunition. [See Threat Matrix, Report: American-supplied arms fell into al Qaeda's hands.] Around that time, Turkey closed its border gate at Öncüpınar to block an ISIS advance; clashes between the FSA and ISIS in nearby Azaz were subsequently resolved by a truce. In late October, a report in the Turkish press claimed that the US had suspended arms shipments to Syrian rebels in the north after ISIS had seized a border crossing.

In the wake of the Islamic Front's recent large-scale takeover of Free Syrian Army weapons and equipment, both the United States and the United Kingdom have suspended the shipment of all nonlethal supplies to the FSA in northern Syria.

Downplaying the developments, Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Meqdad called for the resumption of supply shipments, and said the fighting between the Islamic Front and the FSA was merely a "misunderstanding" that Supreme Military Council head Salim Idriss was attempting to resolve through dialogue.

The US launched its second drone strike in Yemen this week, killing several civilians in an attack on a wedding convoy that is thought to have included members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Today's strike took place near the city of Rada'a in the central province of Baydah, The Associated Press reported. Yemeni military and intelligence officials said the drones hit a group of vehicles transporting members of a wedding party, but one Yemeni security official said al Qaeda members were thought to have been traveling with the convoy.

Fifteen people were killed and five more were wounded, according to Reuters. The initial press accounts indicate that all of those killed were civilians.

The US has mistakenly killed civilians in drone strikes in the past. On Sept. 2, 2012, the US killed 13 civilians in a strike in Rada'a, according to Yemeni tribesmen. The exact target of that strike is not known. Seventeen civilians are reported to have been killed in Yemen in 2013, and an additional 25 were killed in 2012, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. Two hundred and ninety jihadists are reported to have been killed in drone strikes in Yemen in 2012 and 2013.

Rada'a was an AQAP stronghold in early 2012, when a senior AQAP leader known as Tariq al Dhahab took control of the town, raised al Qaeda's flag, and swore allegiance to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. Tariq was later killed by a brother who is opposed to al Qaeda.

Another brother, known as Kaid al Dhahab, took over to serve as AQAP's emir in the province of Baydah. The US killed Kaid in a drone strike in Baydah on Aug. 30.

Background on US strikes in Yemen

Today's strike is the second in four days, and the second in Yemen since AQAP penetrated security at Yemen's Ministry of Defense in Sana'a. The suicide assault resulted in the deaths of 52 people, including foreign doctors and nurses, and 11 AQAP fighters. AQAP claimed that the assault targeted the US-run "operation rooms" for the drone program in Yemen.

The US has launched 25 drone strikes in Yemen so far this year. Despite an uptick of activity at the end of July and into the second week of August, the pace of the strikes has 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.

Between July 27 and Aug. 10, the US launched nine strikes in Yemen, but no drone strikes were reported for seven weeks prior to July 27. The spike in attacks from the end of July to mid-August was related to an al Qaeda plot that was uncovered by US officials. The plot's discovery led the US to close down more than 20 embassies and diplomatic facilities across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The plot involved AQAP emir Nasir al Wuhayshi, who now also serves as al Qaeda's general manager.

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. In July, AQAP confirmed that al Shihri, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, was killed; he is thought to have died or been seriously wounded in 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.

Yesterday, jihadists from Ansarul Mujahideen killed four Pakistani soldiers in an IED attack in North Waziristan. The jihadist group, which is known to include Uzbek fighters, claimed that the attack was carried out to avenge the death of Maulvi Ahmed Jan, a top Haqqani Network leader who was killed in a US drone strike in November. Ansarul Mujahideen has attacked Pakistani troops in the past in response to US drone strikes that have killed top Taliban leaders.

The IED attack took place in the Spinwam village in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan on Dec. 12. In addition to the four Pakistani soldiers who were killed, five more were wounded in the deadly blast.

Abu Baseer, the spokesman for Ansarul Mujahideen, told AFP that the IED attack was "in retaliation to the drone strike in Hangu."

The drone strike in Hangu that Abu Baseer is referencing is the Nov. 21 attack that killed Maulvi Ahmed Jan, a top Haqqani Network leader, and two Taliban shadow governors for eastern provinces in Afghanistan.

Jan has been described as "the right hand" and chief of staff of Sirajuddin. Jan often represented Sirajuddin in council meetings and mediated disputes with jihadist groups such as the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. He is also said to have directed and organized suicide assaults in Afghanistan, particularly in Kabul, as well as served as a key financier and logistics expert for the Haqqani Network.

Ansarul Muhajideen has claimed credit for four other attacks against Pakistani military forces in the past year. While Ansarul Muhajideen is often described as a group that is affiliated with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, it has claimed to have attacked Pakistani troops in retaliation for drone strikes that killed the emir of the Mullah Nazir Group and fighters from the Turkistan Islamic Party, as well as attacks against Shia to avenge the deaths of Sunnis in Syria and Iraq.

On Jan. 13, the group ambushed a Pakistani military convoy as it traveled on a road in the Ramzak area of North Waziristan. Fourteen soldiers were killed in the attack and 25 more were wounded. Abu Baseer said the attack was carried out to retaliate for Pakistani military complicity in the US drone campaign in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Less than two weeks prior to the Ansarul Mujahideen attack, the US killed Mullah Nazir in a drone strike. Nazir was a powerful independent Taliban commander in South Waziristan who also said he was a member of al Qaeda; he was not affiliated with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

On July 26, Ansarul Mujahideen claimed credit for a double suicide attack in Kurram that killed 57 people and wounded 167 more. Abu Baseer said the group would "plan more similar attacks against the Shi'ite community in Pakistan to seek revenge for the brutalities of Shi'ites against Sunni Muslims in Syria and Iraq." Sectarian attacks such as the one in Kurram are usually associated with the anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

On Sept. 1, the jihadist group killed nine Frontier Corps troops and wounded 20 more in an IED attack on a convoy that was traveling from the Data Khel area, a known al Qaeda haven in North Waziristan, to Miramshah, a Haqqani Network stronghold. Abu Baseer said the attack was conducted to avenge a drone strike that killed four members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a terror group that is allied with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of other jihadist organizations based in the area.

And on Nov. 20, Ansarul Mujahideen said a suicide attack in North Waziristan that killed two paramilitary Frontier Corps troops was carried out to avenge the death of former Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan emir Hakeemullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike on Nov. 1.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. Image from Vanguard.

A new video has surfaced showing Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claiming responsibility for the Dec. 2 attack on military installations in Maiduguri, and threatening attacks in the West. The emergence of the video further contradicts reports that he was killed several months ago.

In the 40-minute video obtained by AFP yesterday, Shekau is dressed in military fatigues and vest, and has a Kalashnikov rifle under his arm. He speaks for 19 minutes, then the rest of the video shows footage of the attack. The 46-second clip released by AFP contains excerpts showing Shekau speaking, Boko Haram fighters entering Maiduguri in trucks, and fighters calmly in control of the military air base as aircraft and buildings burn.

In his speech in Arabic, Hausa, and Kanuri, Shekau reportedly claims that the whole world fears him, including US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and even the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Addressing the United States, Shekau calls it a "prostitute nation of infidels and liars," and goes on to threaten that Boko Haram plans to attack outside Nigeria and even the US itself: "You are boasting you are going to join forces with Nigeria to crush us. Bloody liars. You couldn't crush us when we were carrying sticks. By Allah, we will never stop. Don't think we will stop in Maiduguri. Tomorrow you will see us in America itself. Our operation is not confined to Nigeria. It is for the whole world."

Shekau's threat follows the US' addition of Boko Haram to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities on Nov. 13 along with a splinter faction known as Ansaru. Shekau himself was added to the US list of global terrorists on June 21, 2012, along with Khalid al Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kamba, both of whom "have ties to Boko Haram and have close links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb."

In the State Department's official announcement of the Boko Haram designation, the group was described as "a Nigeria-based militant group with links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) that is responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria over the last several years including targeted killings of civilians." Ansaru, on the other hand, was described as focusing "on Nigerian military and Western targets."

Boko Haram's tactics have shifted lately, and are becoming more like those of Ansaru. As indicated by the recent attack in Maiduguri, Boko Haram has changed its tactics and grown more sophisticated. The group is now prepared to directly attack military installations, and in large numbers.

This is the second time in the past 30 days that Shekau has appeared in a video to claim responsibility for a Boko Haram attack. On Nov. 3, Shekau featured in a video titled "the Battle of Damaturu," in which he claimed to have personally commanded the operation that killed 35 people on Oct 24. While the authenticity of the clip could not be independently verified in November, Shekau spoke in Arabic, Hausa, and Kanuri, as he did in the video obtained yesterday. The Damaturu attack was Boko Haram's first significant raid in a major urban center in some time.

The attacks continue

Following the Maiduguri attack, investigations have begun into suspected Boko Haram collaborators within the military. According to President Jonathan, the Maiduguri attack confirms Boko Haram's external sponsorship, and that poverty is not a factor in the insurgency. President Jonathan has given his support to the creation of an African rapid response force that could help fight Boko Haram.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram attacks continue. The military has claimed that Boko Haram is forcefully conscripting in Borno to replenish its numbers, and there have been a series of suspected Boko Haram attacks along the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway.

The Nigerian military has reported that at least 25 Boko Haram fighters were killed yesterday near the highway. According to The Vanguard, Boko Haram members crossed the road from their camps in the Sambisa Forest and exchanged gunfire with troops. Three fighters were reported killed in the attack, while many more were killed by a military airstrike as they fled.

All this by a man reported dead in August

The escalation in Boko Haram attacks follows an Aug. 1 report in the Huffington Post that Abubaker Shekau had been shot and deposed by his own followers as a prelude to peace negotiations with the Nigerian government. The report alleged that Boko Haram's leadership had sent representatives to the Nigerian capital Abuja on June 25, where they revealed to the government that Shekau was no longer their leader. The report quoted Imam Liman Ibrahim, described as "the spiritual leader of Boko Haram," as stating that Shekau's teachings were becoming increasingly harsh, and that "the beheadings, the killings, the recent death of students ... this is not the way of the Holy Qu'ran. We could tolerate it no longer."

According to the report, Shekau had been given a choice of joining the peace dialogue, forming his own sect, or being killed, and had subsequently been shot in the lower leg, thigh, and shoulder. The sight of a limping Shekau in a video clip recovered by the military after a raid on a Boko Haram camp seemed to corroborate the story.

Clearly reports of Shekau's demise have been exaggerated.

US authorities today announced the arrest of Terry Lee Loewen, 58, of Wichita, Kan. Loewen had attempted to detonate a car bomb at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, authorities said. He was arrested at approximately 5:40 am today.

Loewen "was arrested as part of an FBI undercover investigation, and the device used by the defendant was, in fact, inert and at no time posed a danger to the public," a Department of Justice press release stated. According to the DOJ, Loewen was arrested "without incident" after "he attempted to enter the airport tarmac and deliver a vehicle loaded with what he believed were high explosives."

Authorities had been investigating Loewen, who worked as an avionics technician for an aeronautics company, "since early summer 2013," the DOJ said. During this time, Loewen "made statements that he was resolved to commit an act of violent jihad against the United States" and "took a series of actions to advance the plot."

Loewen planned to use his access card to drive into the airport grounds with an explosives-laden van, and then "pull the trigger on the explosives himself and die in the explosion," according to the DOJ statement.

"No additional arrests are anticipated," the DOJ stated.

According to the criminal complaint, Loewen expressed a desire to an undercover FBI employee "to engage in violent jihad on behalf of al Qaeda." "I don't understand how you can read the Qur'an and the sunnah of the Prophet (saw) and not understand that jihad and the implementation of Sharia is absolutely demanded of all the Muslim Ummah," Loewen said in one communication.

In another communication with an undercover FBI employee, Loewen stated that "Brothers like Osama bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki are a great inspiration to me." According to Loewen, he read many of Awlaki's writings and found them to be "very informative." In addition to Awlaki's writings and AQAP's Inspire, Loewen possessed The Al Qaeda Manual (Manchester Manual) and expressed praise for the Revolution Muslim website.

In fact, in one communication Loewen said he thought about providing money to the family of Younus Abdullah Muhammad, one of the site's founders who was sentenced to more than 11 years in prisons in June 2012. According to Loewen, Revolution Muslim was "the first website that really helped me understand what obedience to Allah(swt) was."

In a letter dated Dec. 11, Loewen wrote that his attack was intended "to cause maximum carnage + death." "I expect to be called a terrorist (which I am), a psychopath, and a homicidal maniac," he further stated.

Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, as pictured on his Twitter feed. Banners commonly used by al Qaeda-affiliated groups are on the wall behind him.

Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a popular Saudi cleric who has relocated to Syria, has used his highly trafficked social media presence to endorse the new Islamic Front formed by some of the leading Syrian insurgent groups. He has also called for the Islamist coalition to cooperate with al Qaeda's two official branches inside Syria.

Al Muhaysini's messages have been released on his official Twitter feed and YouTube page. As of this writing, his Twitter page has more than 240,000 followers, while his videos posted on YouTube regularly receive thousands of views. Al Muhaysini's Facebook page has received more than 30,000 likes.

Another Twitter feed established by al Muhaysini (@us_4_all) is billed as the best place for news about Syria and currently has more than 224,000 followers.

Al Muhaysini announced his relocation to Syria in early October. The Saudi cleric claimed he was banned from traveling abroad, but made the trip anyway. Upon his arrival in the Levant, al Muhaysini sought to play a conciliatory role.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, or Levant (ISIS), one of two official al Qaeda branches in Syria, has quarreled with other jihadist groups, including the Al Nusrah Front (the other formal al Qaeda branch) and Ahrar al Sham, which is a leading member in the new Islamic Front. These groups frequently coordinate their operations, but ISIS has often proven to be a problematic partner. The disagreements have even boiled over into occasional skirmishes.

Al Muhaysini swiftly proposed that a common sharia court be established, with each of the leading jihadist groups contributing two judges. The court would adjudicate disputes between its members. Al Muhaysini even said that the new court's rulings should be made public such that Muslims worldwide could read the decisions for themselves.

According to some accounts on Twitter, the Al Nusrah Front and other Syrian jihadist groups endorsed the idea. ISIS reportedly did not. Some online ISIS supporters criticized Al Muhaysini's attempt at reconciliation, forcing the Saudi to defend himself on Twitter.

On Oct. 26, al Muhaysini announced a new fundraising campaign to finance the jihad in Syria. A banner for the campaign, titled "Wage jihad with your money," was circulated on jihadist websites and on Twitter.

The banner can be seen above.

Three telephone numbers are listed at the bottom of the banner. One of the numbers listed is for a line in Kuwait, while the other two are telephone numbers in Qatar. A separate Twitter feed devoted to the fundraising campaign is also listed on the banner.

The banner lists various of levels of support, depending on the amount contributed by individual donors.

An al Qaeda leader far removed from Syria's battlefields endorsed al Muhaysini's efforts.

On Nov. 1, Sheikh Abu Yahya al Shinqiti, who serves on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's sharia committee, released a statement concerning the jihad in Syria.

Al Shinqiti warned the mujahideen to avoid infighting, saying they should be "wary of disputes and division." Al Shinqiti also took note of the role played by social media, saying that "rumors" circulated online can serve to exaggerate the differences between various factions.

The AQIM official also signaled out al Muhaysini for praise. Al Shinqiti expressed his "gratitude" for al Muhaysini's fundraising activities, as well as the Saudi's attempt to established a unified Islamic court for settling the jihadists' differences. Al Shinqiti asked Allah to make al Muhaysini successful.

In late November, al Muhaysini released a video on YouTube in which he comments on the formation of the new Islamic Front. After reviewing the group's charter, al Muhaysini blessed the new coalition, saying it offered a "clear" statement on proper governance under sharia law. Al Muhaysini praised the charter for rejecting democracy and subservience to any foreign parties.

But al Muhaysini also cautioned that his endorsement was conditional upon the Islamic Front's willingness "to bring together your brothers who have not joined" the group. He noted that "there are large groups still outside the coalition," including ISIS, Al Nusrah, and several other brigades.

If all of these groups cannot unify their efforts, al Muhaysini said, then they should still recognize there is "enough room in this arena of jihad for all of us" and they should continue to coordinate their efforts without antagonism.

Al Muhaysini added that Sheikh Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar serve as good examples for the Islamic Front's efforts because they were the "vanguards" who integrated the Taliban and al Qaeda in the face of global opposition.

The Saudi cleric went on to pray to Allah for the unification of the various jihadist constituencies and for the Islamic Front to show tolerance for its "brothers."

Despite the other jihadist groups' ongoing disputes with ISIS, al Muhaysini has continued to play the role of mediator.

In late November, he warned in a series of tweets that social media is being used to exacerbate "small" problems and disagreements. The cleric tweeted that he had visited both the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front in the field, calling members of both groups his "brothers."

On Dec. 3, al Muhaysini commented on reports that two members of ISIS had been killed at a Free Syrian Army checkpoint. Al Muhaysini said the two were "heroes" and asked Allah to accept them as "martyrs." The cleric praised these ISIS members despite the criticism he has received from the group. He also used the incident to remind all mujahideen that the spilling of Muslim blood is impermissible and that Muslims must work together on the battlefields of Syria.

According to his own posts, al Muhaysini's efforts are not confined to the digital world. The Saudi claims to have set up a guesthouse that regularly receives new jihadist recruits. Eager new jihadists contact him daily, al Muhaysini has said.

Given his substantial online presence, it does not appear that al Muhaysini is exaggerating.

Note: This article is based on al Muhaysini's numerous tweets and videos on YouTube.

The Defense Department announced the transfer of two Guantanamo detainees to Saudi Arabia today. Saad Muhammad Husayn Qahtani and Hamood Abdulla Hamood were both previously approved for transfer from the detention facility by President Obama's Guantanamo Review Task Force.

The task force made its final recommendations in January 2010. The body concluded that both men could be transferred "subject to appropriate security measures."

Previously, Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) recommended that both detainees be retained in US custody. JTF-GTMO's threat assessments for both detainees, which were authored before the task force was commissioned in January 2009, have been leaked online.

JTF-GTMO classified both men as "high" risks who are "likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies."

Military officials determined that both men had served in Osama bin Laden's 55th Arab Brigade, which "served as [bin Laden's] primary battle formation supporting Taliban objectives, with [bin Laden] participating closely in the command and control of the brigade."

JTF-GTMO's disagreement with Bush administration's transfer approval

Prior to the decision by President Obama's task force, Qahtani was also approved for transfer by a designated civilian official in the Bush administration. According to a leaked memo dated Jan. 5, 2009, however, JTF-GTMO disagreed with this official's decision.

JTF-GTMO concluded that Qahtani is an "al Qaeda member who swore allegiance to Osama Bin Laden" and "participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces on the front lines and in [bin Laden's] Tora Bora Mountain complex in Afghanistan."

JTF-GTMO warned that Qahtani admitted "receiving al Qaeda funds for distribution on the front lines" and that he "attended extremist training camps," where he "possibly received additional, advanced training." Qahtani also allegedly "acknowledged his associations with numerous al Qaeda members, leaders, and other extremists, including at least five 11 September 2001 hijackers."

In addition to allegedly admitting his ties al Qaeda, JTF-GTMO reported that Qahtani "admitted associations with multiple terrorist groups and terrorist support entities," including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), both of which have been supported by the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment.

An unnamed "senior al Qaeda member" also reportedly told authorities that Qahtani had "volunteered for a suicide mission." The senior al Qaeda leader who fingered Qahtani is not identified in the Guantanamo files, but a footnote indicates that this reporting was from 2004.

Qahtani's testimony at Guantanamo

According to declassified documents, Qahtani testified at least twice during hearings at Guantanamo. In general, Qahtani disputed the most serious allegations against him, even while admitting details that connected him to the al Qaeda network.

During his second administrative review board (ARB) hearing, Qahtani explained that when he first went to Afghanistan it was to train in Camp Khaldan. Numerous al Qaeda operatives received instruction at the camp, which was run by senior terrorists.

Qahtani said that a man he knew only as "Tariq" facilitated his travel to the camp.
Qahtani claimed that only later did he learn the facilitator's "name was Abu Zubaydah, one of the Muslim fighters."

"I called him [Abu Zubaydah] and he told me to go to Rawalpindi," Qahtani said during the hearing. "He told me to go to a certain place and he would come to take me from there." Qahtani also conceded that he stayed with Zubaydah for 7 to 10 days, but claimed that he did not know of Zubaydah's al Qaeda activities at the time.

Zubaydah was involved in multiple al Qaeda plots, including the planned millennium bombings in Jordan and California.

During his ARB testimony, Qahtani admitted that he served alongside the Taliban forces fighting the Northern Alliance. "I went to the front lines many times, but not all in the front lines," he said. Asked if he joined the Taliban's forces, Qahtani answered: "Yes and no. I went there. I was with the Pakistanis. I spent most of the time with them either in the front lines or in the city of Kabul." Qahtani said he spent most of his time performing security or guard duty.

Like many other Saudi jihadist recruits, Qahtani was influenced by a fatwa that called on Muslims to support the Taliban. The fatwa that influenced Qahtani was co-authored by Sheikh Hammoud al Oqla, who died in 2001.

Al Oqla, according to the allegations read aloud at the ARB hearing, "condoned the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States" and "helped raise money for Osama bin Laden." Al Oqla's support for al Qaeda is well-known. An al Qaeda spokesman publicly praised the cleric in a video that aired in October 2001.

Qahtani said he wasn't aware of Al Oqla's endorsement of al Qaeda, but "he was a well-trusted scholar" and "one who knows all about the region and what is going on."

Such fatwas loomed large in Qahtani's decision-making, according to his testimony. He claimed that it was not until his third trip to South Asia that he took up arms because he did not initially have the proper fatwa to do so.

Asked about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Qahtani said he "disagree[d] with it." But when pressed on whether or not the hijackers were "martyrs," Qahtani said he couldn't answer "yes" or "no."

"I knew two of them [the 9/11 hijackers]," Qahtani said. They "are from my city," he elaborated. "One of them studied with me. The other one is my neighbor. I didn't expect them to do it."

Later in the hearing, Qahtani said that just because he knew the hijackers it did not make him responsible for their actions.

"Do you consider yourself an al Qaeda mujahedin?" a military officer asked Qahtani.

"No," he responded, arguing that he and his fellow Saudis had not even heard of al Qaeda.

A military official also asked about the allegation made by a senior al Qaeda operative, who claimed that Qahtani volunteered to be a suicide bomber. Qahtani denied the charge. "No. I disagree with it," Qahtani claimed. "I know that, if I want to fight, I would be bombing people from farther away."

Qahtani also said that if he were returned to Saudi Arabia he would live a peaceful life.

In its assessment, JTF-GTMO disagreed, concluding that Qahtani "is a likely recidivist candidate."

A senior al Qaeda operative known as Abu Khalid al Suri is a leading figure in Ahrar al Sham, a Syrian extremist group that is part of the recently formed Islamic Front. Al Suri's real name is Mohamed Bahaiah.

Bahaiah is a longtime al Qaeda operative who worked as a courier for the terror network. Spanish authorities think he may have delivered surveillance tapes of the World Trade Center and other American landmarks to al Qaeda's senior leadership in Afghanistan in early 1998.

In addition to being a senior member of Ahrar al Sham, Bahaiah today serves as Ayman al Zawahiri's representative in the Levant.

Ahrar al Sham is not one of al Qaeda's two official branches inside Syria, which are the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, or Levant (ISIS) . But Ahrar al Sham has closely cooperated with the al Qaeda affiliates on the battlefield even while engaging in a very public dispute with ISIS.

Bahaiah's role in Ahrar al Sham has been confirmed by two US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal. One official noted that while Bahaiah is not the emir or overall head of Ahrar al Sham, he is considered a central figure within in its ranks and plays a significant role in guiding the group.

Other al Qaeda operatives hold key positions within the extremist organization as well, according to the US officials.

In an article earlier this month, As-Safir, a Beirut-based publication, reported that Bahaiah "has played a prominent role" in Ahrar al Sham since its founding and "has sought to to cooperate and consult with prominent al Qaeda figures regarding the best methods of jihadist work in Syria." The publication cited a "source in the Ahrar al Sham movement."

The Daily Beast reports that Bahaiah is "overseeing the relationship between the al Qaeda affiliates and the Islamic Front."

Bahaiah has kept his role within Ahrar al Sham out of the spotlight. US officials say that he is part of a secretive al Qaeda cadre that has sought to influence or co-opt parts of the Syrian insurgency that are not official al Qaeda branches.

A courier for Osama bin Laden

European officials first gathered evidence connecting Bahaiah to the al Qaeda network as early as the 1990s. Spanish investigators identified Bahaiah as one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted couriers.

Bahaiah "is the person who was totally trusted by many different people in the various countries and was able to coordinate and transmit orders from bin Laden," a Spanish judicial official told The New York Times in December 2003. This same official said that Bahaiah "was also being investigated for helping to finance an unsuccessful plot in 1997 to kill the prime minister of Yemen."

Spanish court records reviewed by The Long War Journal cite Bahaiah's longstanding relationship with Imad Yarkas, a fellow Syrian who headed al Qaeda's presence inside Spain prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Spanish officials found, for example, that Bahaiah delivered money from Yarkas to Abu Qatada, an al Qaeda-affiliated ideologue, in London.

Bahaiah's brother-in-law is Mohammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, a Syrian businessman who was arrested on terrorism charges in 2002. The United Nations has described Zouaydi as "a suspected financier of al Qaeda's worldwide terrorist efforts." Zouaydi would say, according to Spanish court documents, that Bahaiah's "mission had been to establish contacts at the international level."

One of Zouaydi's employees, a fellow Syrian named Ghasoub Al Abrash Ghalyoun, traveled to the US in 1997. During his trip, Ghalyoun made suspicious videos of the World Trade Center and other American landmarks. Ghalyoun would later claim that the videos were simply the work of an eager tourist. Spanish authorities, who tied Ghalyoun to Yarkas' operations, had a different view.

In July 2002, after arresting Ghalyoun for a second time, Spanish police released a statement regarding the videos. "The style and duration of the recordings far exceed touristic curiosity," the statement reads, according to an account by the Associated Press. "For example, two of the tapes are like a documentary study, with innumerable takes from all distances and angles of the Twin Towers in New York."

In addition to the World Trade Center, Ghalyoun made recordings of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sears Tower, and the Statue of Liberty, as well as theme parks. The Golden Gate Bridge's "suspension pillar" was "given substantial attention," according to the police statement.

Spanish investigators believed that Ghalyoun's videos were delivered to senior al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. The allegation was contained in a Sept. 17, 2003 indictment detailing the layers of evidence amassed against Yarkas' al Qaeda network.

"The Spanish indictment alleges that an al Qaeda courier was in Ghalyoun's town in Spain shortly after the trip and that the courier probably delivered the tape to al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan," the 9/11 Commission reported.

According to the Spanish government, that courier was Bahaiah.

The story of Ghalyoun's videos remains one of the enduring mysteries of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Spanish investigators became convinced that it was more likely than not that the videos were part of al Qaeda's attack planning and that the Yarkas cell had supported the plot.

However, the 9/11 Commission concluded that the evidence was not strong enough to say that al Qaeda's Spanish cell was directly involved in the attack. The commission came to this conclusion despite the fact that Yarkas apparently had some foreknowledge of the attack. In August 2001, Yarkas received a call from a fellow operative who said he had entered "the field of aviation" and would be "slitting the throat of the bird."

In any event, the Spanish government amassed a wealth of evidence concerning Bahaiah's al Qaeda role.

Close ally of prominent al Qaeda ideologue

Bahaiah was a close aide and ally to Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (a.k.a. Abu Musab al Suri), an influential al Qaeda ideologue whose work is regularly cited in jihadist literature, including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire magazine. In his seminal work, The Global Islamic Resistance Call, Nasar describes Bahaiah as "my brother and friend, my companion throughout my life."

Both Bahaiah and Nasar had been imprisoned in Bashar al Assad's Syria and were freed in the wake of the uprisings.*

In his biography of Nasar, Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al Qaeda Strategist Abu Musab al Suri, Brynjar Lia summarizes Bahaiah's relationship with Nasar and the al Qaeda network in Europe.

As Lia also recounts, Bahaiah and Nasar had their disagreements with al Qaeda's senior leadership, including Osama bin Laden, prior to Sept. 11, 2001. But this did not stop Bahaiah from serving as a trusted al Qaeda courier. And Nasar mended his own the relationship with bin Laden after 9/11. When Nasar was designated a global terrorist in 2004, the US State Department noted that "in the wake of the [9/11] attacks [Nasar] pledged loyalty to Osama Bin Laden as a member of al Qaeda."

Nasar had his own ties to al Qaeda operatives throughout Europe. And his name surfaced as a suspect in both the Mar. 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings and the July 7, 2005 London bombings. While Nasar certainly had ties to the networks that executed those attacks, his specific ties to the plots, if any, are uncertain. Nasar previously denied any direct role.

While it is unknown what role Nasar plays today, Bahaiah is now Zawahiri's man in the Levant.

Zawahiri's main representative and mediator

Earlier this year, Zawahiri named Bahaiah as his chief representative to settle an ongoing leadership disagreement between al Qaeda's two official branches.

The dispute erupted in April when Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, who heads the ISIS, tried to fold al Qaeda's operations in Iraq and Syria into a single organization. Al Baghdadi's attempt to make the Al Nusrah Front subordinate to his command was rejected by Abu Muhammad al Julani, who heads Al Nusrah.

Zawahiri's ruling on the disagreement came in a letter that was authored in May and published by Al Jazeera in June.

In the letter, Zawahiri appoints Bahaiah as his mediator. Zawahiri describes Bahaiah as "the best of men we had known among the Mujahidin." Zawahiri writes that Bahaiah has been empowered to make sure that his orders are carried out and to resolve "any dispute" between the two emirs "arising from the interpretation of this ruling." If necessary, Bahaiah can "set up a Sharia justice court for giving a ruling on the case."

Bahaiah's role in Ahrar al Sham is not mentioned in Zawahiri's letter. But US offficials say it helps to explain why Zawahiri thought that Bahaiah was well-positioned to settle the dispute. Ahrar al Sham's leaders command a large and effective fighting force that has participated in key battles alongside al Qaeda's two official branches.

To date, Bahaiah has not been able to end the leadership dispute. Ahrar al Sham and ISIS have had their own sometimes contentious disagreements as well.

US officials point out, however, that al Qaeda's senior leadership was clever enough to place multiple bets within the Syrian insurgency.

In late November, Ahrar al Sham was one of several groups that announced the formation of a new Islamic Front, which has been billed as an Islamist or jihadist alternative to al Qaeda. But al Qaeda's presence within Ahrar al Sham ensures that it maintains some degree of influence within the new coalition, the US officials point out.

Ahrar al Sham holds some of the Islamic Front's key posts.

*Note: In April 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nasar (Abu Musab al Suri) had been freed from prison. There are conflicting accounts about Nasar's current status.

Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the head of the al-Mulathameen Brigade and its sub-unit, the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam. Image from Sahara Media.

Today US State Department added three West African terror groups that are associated with al Qaeda leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar to its lists of terrorist organizations.

Belmokhtar's al-Mulathameen Brigade was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. In addition, the al Mua'qi'oon Biddam [the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade], and the al-Murabitoon Brigade, a merger between Belmokhtar's forces and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa [MUJAO, another al Qaeda subgroup], were described "as aliases" of the al-Mulathameen Brigade, State said in a press release announcing the designation.

The al-Mulathameen Brigade and the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade were formed in December 2012 by Belmokhtar, a longtime al Qaeda commander who has fought n Afghanistan, after a dispute arose between him and the top leadership of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al Qaeda's branch in North Africa. Belmokhtar bristled at taking orders from AQIM, and often communicated directly with al Qaeda's central leadership in the Afghan-Pakistan region.

Despite openly breaking with AQIM, Belmokhtar continues to take orders from al Qaeda's central leadership and conducts joint operations with AQIM units in Mali and elsewhere in North and West Africa. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda central tightened control over hostage operations].

In January, only a month after its founding, the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade attacked the In Amenas gas facility in southern Algeria. More than 40 fighters from Belmokhtar's unit carried out the attack on the complex. During the four-day siege, 38 people, including three Americans, were killed and dozens of Westerners, foreigners, and Algerians were taken hostage. The terror group called for the release Omar Abdel Rahman (the "Blind Sheikh") and Aafia Siddiqui ("Lady Al Qaeda") from US prisons, two common al Qaeda demands, as well as an end to the French intervention in Mali, in exchange for the release of American hostages.

The attack ended after Algerian troops assaulted the complex. The US Department of Justice charged Belmokhtar with the murder of three American citizens in the attack at In Amenas.

In August, Belmokhtar merged al-Mulathameen with MUJAO to form the al-Murabitoon Brigade. Both Belmokhtar and Ahmed el Tilemsi, the emir of MUJAO, are said to have ceded control of the al-Murabitoon to an unnamed commander who has waged jihad against both the Soviets and the US in Afghanistan. The newly formed group group has expressed affinity to al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri and Taliban emir Mullah Omar. [See Threat Matrix report, Al Qaeda group led by Belmokhtar, MUJAO unite to form al-Murabitoon.]

The creation of al-Murabitoon was telegraphed months prior to the official merger, however. In May 2013, the Those Who Sign in Blood Brigade and MUJAO launched a joint suicide operation in Niger. 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 the attacks were carried out to avenge the death of Abou Zeid, an AQIM commander killed by French forces in northern Mali. Belmokhtar also claimed the operation in the name of al Qaeda.

In today's designation, the State Department described al-Murabitoon as "the greatest near-term threat to US and Western interests in the Sahel."