A former Guantanamo detainee who was transferred to his home country of Bahrain in 2005 has reportedly joined the jihad in Syria. According to an article in the Bahrain Mirror on Dec. 28, Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifah has "return[ed] to jihad" by joining the Syrian mujahideen.

Citing undisclosed sources, the Bahrain Mirror reported that Sheikh Salman was not appropriately rehabilitated following his release from Guantanamo and was "alienated" from his family. This purportedly explains his trip to Syria, where he has "joined the fight."

But Sheikh Salman first traveled to the Taliban's Afghanistan prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, indicating that he has long been drawn to the jihadist cause.

Sheikh Ibrahim bin Mohammad al-Khalifa, Sheikh Salman's father, was quoted in 2002 as saying that his son was detained by the Americans because he was "accused of sympathizing with al Qaeda."

In a written statement to his combatant review status tribunal at Guantanamo, Sheikh Salman denied any affiliation with al Qaeda or the Taliban. "I am not part of the Taliban or al Qaeda," he wrote. "I am just a student looking to study and I have no involvement with fighting or combatant [sic], or al Qaeda, or Taliban." In a brief letter to American officials, his mother claimed that he traveled to Afghanistan to serve a charity.

Leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment

According to a leaked JTF-GTMO threat assessment dated May 13, 2005, military officials and analysts at Guantanamo concluded that Sheikh Salman did have ties to the Taliban and al Qaeda. But in that same memo, JTF-GTMO described the Bahraini as a "possible jihadist" and recommended that he be transferred to another country for continued detention. In a previous assessment, JTF-GTMO advised that he be retained in the Defense Department's custody.

Sheikh Salman "is a prince in the Bahraini royal family" and "related to the current ruler of Bahrain, through a shared great-grandfather," the JTF-GTMO file reads.

"From September 1999 until April 2000," Sheikh Salman "studied religion" in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Bahrain Mirror reports that Sheikh Salman studied sharia at a branch of the Imam Muhammad Bin Saud University. The publication reports that this college "is considered the capital of Salafi religious extremism in Saudi Arabia."

From Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Salman traveled first to Malaysia and then Egypt, according to the JTF-GTMO file. The ex-Guantanamo detainee allegedly admitted having ties to Gamaa Islamiyya, an Egyptian terrorist group, but refused to discuss these connections.

While in Egypt, Sheikh Salman "watched a television program ... that encouraged Muslims to live in an Islamic state" and so he decided to travel to Afghanistan.

Sheikh Salman's father then "wired him" $5,000 so he could make the trip, the JTF-GTMO file notes, and Sheikh Salman stated that he paid the money "to the Taliban embassy in Islamabad." Another "Bahraini source" cited in the threat assessment "reported that a member of the Bahraini royal family paid 5,000 USD to have unlimited use of [a] transit house and access to the front line." JTF-GTMO's analysts found it was "highly likely" that this source was "referring to detainee."

Once in Afghanistan, Sheikh Salman allegedly met with various al Qaeda and Taliban personalities. In Kandahar, he visited the Islamic Institute for Religious Studies, which was run by Abu Hafs al Mauritani, a top al Qaeda ideologue and adviser to Osama bin Laden. The Islamic Institute was known for indoctrinating jihadists who would go on to commit suicide attacks and was "tied to many al Qaeda personnel."

Sheikh Salman met with Abu Hafs directly, according to JTF-GTMO.

After the onset of war in late 2001, Sheikh Salman fled Kabul for Khost province alongside a man known as "Muhammad Abdullah, whom detainee believed was a member of al Qaeda."

Once in Khost, Jalaluddin Haqqani, a top "Taliban commander" and founder of the deadly Haqqani Network, provided Sheikh Salman with "a place to stay."

Despite his reported ties to senior al Qaeda and Taliban figures, JTF-GTMO concluded that Sheikh Salman was only of "medium" intelligence value. The US military officials and analysts also deemed him a "medium" risk, "as he may pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies."

Sheikh Salman was one of three Bahraini detainees transferred to their home country on Nov. 4, 2005. One of the other two is Abdullah al Noaimi, who is described in JTF-GTMO's file as one of Sheikh Salman's relatives, and possibly his cousin.

Al Noaimi was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2008. According to a list of confirmed and suspected Guantanamo recidivists released by the US government, al Noaimi was "involved in terrorist facilitation" and "has known associations with al Qaeda."

A Taliban suicide assault team killed a Coalition soldier in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar today before being gunned down by Afghan troops.

A heavily armed suicide assault team consisting of seven fighters attacked the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan military base in the Ghani Khel district at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time, according to Pajhwok Afghan News. The Taliban assault team detonated a suicide car bomb and then attempted to storm the base, but the remaining fighters were gunned down by security forces.

ISAF confirmed that one of its soldiers was killed "following a suicide attack by enemy forces in eastern Afghanistan Jan. 4." The number of ISAF and Afghan forces wounded during the attack has not been disclosed.

The Taliban, in a statement released on their official website, Voice of Jihad, took credit for the attack, and claimed "25 foreign terrorist troops" were killed in the "latest in the series of martyrdom operations." The Taliban routinely exaggerate the number of Coalition and Afghan forces killed during their operations.

The Taliban identified the members of the assault team as "Maulvi Abdul Aziz residence of Kabul province, Abdul Aziz coming from Paktia, Naseer from Kunar, Qari Waseem, Maulwi Basheer and Bilal Ahmad from Nangarhar and Doctor Khalil from Laghman provinces."

Nangarhar is a strategic province for both the Taliban and the Coalition. The province borders the Pakistani tribal agency of Khyber, and hosts the main supply route from Pakistan.

The Taliban have launched several suicide attacks against Coalition and Afghan bases in Nangarhar. Many of the attacks targeted the main ISAF airbase in Jalalabad.

The suicide assault, or coordinated attack using multiple suicide bombers and an assault team, is a tactic used by al Qaeda and its allies, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Suicide assaults are commonly executed by jihadist groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Nigeria.

The Peshawar Regional Military Shura, one of the Afghan Taliban's four major commands, directs activities in eastern and northeastern Afghanistan, including in Nangarhar province. In 2011, the Taliban appointed Sheikh Mohammed Aminullah to lead its Peshawar Regional Military Shura; he had been added to the United Nations Sanctions Committee's list of "individuals and entities associated with al Qaeda" in 2009.

A Taliban group known as the Tora Bora Military Front operates in Nangarhar and has been behind a series of deadly attacks in the province. The Tora Bora Military Front is led by Anwarul Haq Mujahid, the son of Maulvi Mohammed Yunis Khalis, who was instrumental in welcoming Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan after al Qaeda was ejected from Sudan in 1996. Pakistan detained Mujahid in Peshawar in June 2009. He has since been released and was spotted at the funeral of Awal Gul, who was detained by US forces in 2002 and died at Guantanamo Bay on Feb. 1, 2011. Gul was a Taliban commander in Nangarhar province who had allegedly been entrusted by Osama bin Laden with $100,000 to aid al Qaeda operatives fleeing Afghanistan to Pakistan in late 2001. [See LWJ report, Tora Bora Military Front commander speaks at funeral of former Gitmo detainee.]

Iraq. Click map to view.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, an al Qaeda branch in the Middle East, and its tribal allies have taken control of Fallujah less than one week after launching an offensive in Iraq's western province of Anbar. Meanwhile, the military and tribes that oppose the ISIS have launched counterattacks in Ramadi and other cities and towns along the Euphrates River.

Security officials and reports told the BBC that the ISIS fighters "control the south of the city," while "tribesmen allied with al Qaeda hold the rest of Fallujah." Reuters reported that "the northern and eastern parts of the city were under the control of tribesmen and militants."

The names of the tribes that are supporting al Qaeda have not been disclosed. During the height of al Qaeda's power in Fallujah, from 2004 to 2007, the Zobai and the Fuhaylat sub-tribe of the Albu Issa backed al Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of the ISIS.

Jihadists waving al Qaeda's black flag have occupied police stations and government buildings, and are issuing calls from mosques for men to join the fight against the government.

The military has responded by shelling areas of the city under ISIS control. The total number of people killed during the fighting in Fallujah is not yet known.

ISIS fighters seized control of parts of Fallujah and Ramadi, the two largest cities in Anbar, on Tuesday after the Iraqi military withdrew from the cities in the wake of clashes between government forces and the tribes following the arrest of a senior Sunni politician in Ramadi. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda seizes partial control of 2 cities in western Iraq]. Maliki ordered the troops to return to the cities after cutting a deal with the tribes, but not before the ISIS quickly moved in and seized control.

Fallujah and Ramadi were considered the seats of al Qaeda in Iraq's power from 2004 to early 2007. Large areas of the two cities were either controlled by al Qaeda or were contested. The Awakening and US and Iraqi forces waged a protracted counterinsurgency to clear al Qaeda from the two cities as well as from surrounding cities and towns along the Euphrates River Valley.

Fighting continues in Ramadi and elsewhere in Anbar

In Ramadi, ISIS fighters still control areas in the city, but the Iraqi military and Sunni tribes are battling to regain control of the lost neighborhoods. A senior Iraqi general told AFP that 25 ISIS fighters have been killed during an operation. Yesterday, an ISIS commander known as Abu Abelrahman al Baghdadi, who is thought to be the group's emir in Ramadi, is said to have been killed during the clashes.

Fighting in other areas of Anbar has been reported. The Iraqi general claimed that "a large gathering of [ISIS] members was targeted" near the town of Karma, and that 30 ISIS fighters were killed. Karma, a town just east of Fallujah, was also hotly contested from 2004 to 2007.

Outside of Fallujah, the Iraqi tribes appear to be organizing to fight the spread of al Qaeda. The head of the Dulamyi tribal confederation "has called on all tribes in Anbar to carry weapons and stand beside the Armed Forces to combat the remnants of the terrorists al Qaeda and the ISIS, protect police centers and expel terrorists from them, and give information about infiltrators among the tribes," according to a Jan. 2 report on Al Iraqiya TV.

Iraqi tribes and the military are also said to be organizing to launch operations to clear the cities and towns of Rawa, Anah, Haditha, and Al Qaim.

Al Qaeda regaining control of areas in Iraq it lost during the surge

The ISIS has had success in regaining control of areas of Iraq that it lost during combined US and Iraqi counterinsurgency operations from 2007 to 2009. A map recently produced by Reuters shows that the ISIS controls villages and towns along the Euphrates River and the border with Syria as well as in the desert in Anbar, in areas south of Baghdad, in the Hamrin Mountains in Diyala and Salahaddin, and in numerous areas in Ninewa [map is below].

When the Reuters map is compared with maps produced in 2008 by Multinational Forces - Iraq that show al Qaeda control in Iraq in 2006 [leftmost map] at the height of the organization's strength in the country, and 2008 [center map] after the group was driven from many of its sanctuaries, al Qaeda's resurgence becomes clear.

The ISIS began retaking control of areas in Iraq after the US withdrew military, intelligence, and logistical support from the Iraqi military and intelligence services and abandoned its support of the Awakening in December 2011. The Syrian civil war and a political standoff between Prime Minister Maliki and Sunnis in Anbar have also fueled the resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq.

In Syria, the ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's other branch in Syria, and allied Islamist groups from the Islamic Front control large areas in the northern and eastern portions of the country.

For a larger image, click the map. Left and center maps: these two maps were produced by MNF-I in 2008 to show how al Qaeda was driven from its sanctuaries during the surge. Dark red indicates control; light red indicates presence. Right map: this map was produced by Reuters in December 2013.

The US Department of State added a deputy shadow governor for the southeastern Afghan province of Zabul to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists today. While not stated in the press release that announced the designation, the Taliban leader is associated with al Qaeda.

Qari Saifullah, the designated Taliban leader, has directed suicide, IED, and small arms attacks against Coalition forces and the Afghan government and military. In a press release, State described Saifullah as the "Taliban shadow deputy governor and an operational commander in Zabul Province, Afghanistan."

"As an operational commander, Qari Saifullah has used Taliban fighters to organize terrorist activities against the Government of Afghanistan and Coalition Forces in eastern Zabul Province," State continued. He "directly ordered his subordinates to conduct improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, small arms fire attacks, and rocket attacks" in the province.

State identified two attacks or plots that Saifullah directed: an RPG ambush of a Romanian military convoy in the Tarnak Wa Jaldak district in January 2012; and a plot to send two suicide bombers to attack the Provincial Reconstruction Team at Forward Operating Base Smart in Qalat district and Forward Operating Base Bullard in Shajoy district in September 2011.

While the September 2011 plot to attack the PRT in Qalat was broken up, the Taliban later carried out a successful attack against PRT officials in the city. In April 2013, a Taliban suicide bomber killed three US soldiers, a State Department official, and a Defense Department official from the PRT as they were driving in Qalat. Four more State personnel were wounded in the blast. State did not link Saifullah to the attack in the press release that announced his designation.

Additionally, Saifullah ordered a subordinate Taliban commander "to transport light weapons" to Qalat City in support of a suicide assault team that was planning to attack the Afghan military in September 2010.

"The shipment included approximately 25 Kalashnikov rifles, 10 machine guns, five RPGs, and 20 grenades," according to State. "Suicide bombers planned to use these weapons against Coalition Forces and Afghan National Security Forces, specifically targeting the Second Afghan National Army Brigade and Police Headquarters in Qalat, Zabul Province."

Although State department officials declined to comment on Saifullah's connections with al Qaeda, two US military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that he is linked to the global jihadist group.

"Qari Saifullah aids al Qaeda's network in RC-South," or Regional Command - South, the International Security Assistance Force's designation for the region of Afghanistan that includes the provinces of Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul, and Daykundi. "Weapons, ammunition, shelter, whatever they need, he will provide it."

Zabul a known transit point and staging ground for al Qaeda

Six months prior to his death, Osama bin Laden, the founder and former emir of al Qaeda, issued instructions to his chief of staff, Atiyah Abd al Rahman, to relocate "hundreds" of commanders and fighters from North Waziristan to Kunar, Nuristan, Ghazni, and Zabul provinces in Afghanistan to avoid targeting by US drone strikes. Bin Laden's letter to Atiyah was dated Oct. 21, 2010. [See LWJ report, Bin Laden advised relocation of some leaders to Afghanistan due to drone strikes in Waziristan.]

It is unclear if bin Laden's instructions were followed, but several al Qaeda leaders and operatives were killed, captured, and targeted in those four provinces after the letter was written.

Al Qaeda often embeds military trainers within Taliban groups in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. These trainers, who are part of the Lashkar-al-Zil, or Shadow Army, provide instructions for battling security forces in local insurgencies and furnish knowledge, expertise, funding, and resources for conducting local and international attacks. The US Treasury Department officially acknowledged the existence of this unit when it added one such Pakistan-based trainer and commander of al Qaeda's "paramilitary brigades" to the list of global terrorists in June. [For more information on this unit, see LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army,' from February 2009.]

Zabul province is a known haven for al Qaeda in the Afghan southeast. Al Qaeda's presence in Zabul has been detected in the districts of Shah Joy, Shamulzai, Tarnak wa Jaldak, and Qalat; or four of Zabul's 11 districts, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal. The province is an ideal staging and transit point for al Qaeda and allied groups operating from Pakistan. Zabul shares a border with Pakistan, and also borders the Afghan provinces of Uruzgan, Kandahar, Ghazni, and Paktika.

Coalition and Afghan forces have targeted several al Qaeda cells in Zabul since October 2008. In July 2010, security forces killed Malauwi Shahbuddin, a Taliban commander and "foreign-fighter facilitator," during a raid in Shah Joy. In October 2010, Mullah Abdullah Kakar, another Taliban commander and "foreign-fighter facilitator," was killed in an airstrike, also in Shah Joy.

In a series of raids starting in May 2011, ISAF and Afghan special operations forces targeted the "foreign fighter" support networks run by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Zabul. On May 8, 2011, Coalition and Afghan forces captured an unnamed "Germany-based Moroccan al Qaeda foreign fighter facilitator" during a raid in the district of Qalat. Several foreign fighters were among the 10 people killed during the raid. Security forces "found passports and identification cards from France, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia amongst ten insurgents killed during the operation."

On May 19, 2011, ISAF attempted to capture a Taliban commander who operates in Zabul and "directs a core group of insurgent fighters augmented by al Qaeda associated foreign fighters assembled in Quetta, Pakistan." On May 29, 2011, ISAF conducted a follow-up raid against the Taliban commander in the Shah Joy district in Zabul.

On June 14, 2011, a Taliban facilitator who assisted in the transfer of Uzbeks and Farsi-speaking foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban was captured in Tarnak wa Jaldak district, Zabul province.

ISAF is no longer reporting information on the targeting of al Qaeda's network in Afghanistan. At the end of June 2013, after completing its transition of security responsibilities to the Afghan National Security Forces, ISAF stopped issuing press releases on its raids against al Qaeda, shutting off a window into how it targets al Qaeda's network in Afghanistan.

Two al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters were killed today in the first recorded US drone strike in Yemen or Pakistan this year.

The remotely piloted Predators or Reapers fired missiles at a vehicle as it traveled in the Al Qutn area of Yemen's Hadramout province, killing two suspected AQAP fighters, Reuters reported.

The identities of the two AQAP fighters have not been disclosed. No senior AQAP operatives or leaders are reported to have been killed. AQAP has not commented on today's strike.

Hadramout is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, and the province has become an AQAP bastion over the past several years. AQAP has regrouped in Hadramout and other provinces after losing control of major cities in Abyan and Shabwa provinces to government forces starting in late spring 2012. In May 2013, 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 41 drone strikes in Yemen in 2012, or 17%, took place in the province. In 2013, six of the 26 strikes in Yemen, or 23%, occurred in Hadramout.

Four of the past five drone strikes have taken place in Hadramout. Two of the strikes hit targets in Al Qutn; the other two strikes occurred in Ghayl Bawazir and Shibam.

Today's strike is the second recorded in Yemen since Dec. 12, when US drones accidentally killed 15 civilians as they traveled in a wedding party in Rada'a in the central province of Al Baydah. Yemeni officials said that the strike targeted Shawqi Ali Ahmad al Badani, a wanted midlevel AQAP commander. Al Badani is said to be linked to the al Qaeda plot that resulted in the shuttering of US embassies and diplomatic facilities worldwide. US officials claimed that no civilians died in the strike, and that between nine and 12 AQAP fighters were killed. The US has opened an investigation into the claims that civilians were killed in the Dec. 12 strike.

Background on US strikes in Yemen

Today's strike is the fourth in Yemen since Dec. 6, when AQAP penetrated security in a major attack 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 pace of the drone strikes in Yemen decreased last year from the previous year (26 in 2013 versus 41 in 2012). The reduction in the number of strikes coincided with a speech by President Barack Obama at the National Defense University in May 2013. The strikes are being reduced as the US government is facing increasing international criticism for conducting the attacks in both Yemen and Pakistan.

The number of strikes might have been much lower in 2013 were it not for an al Qaeda plot emanating from Yemen that was uncovered by US officials in late July. The plot 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.

Between July 27, after the plot was disclosed, and Aug. 10, the US launched nine strikes in Yemen; no drone strikes were reported for seven weeks prior to July 27. The burst in attacks was intended to disrupt the plot and take out AQAP's top leadership cadre and senior operatives. The US killed Kaid al Dhahab, AQAP's emir for Al Baydah province, during that time period.

For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2014.

Sufyan ben Qumu.

Note: An earlier version of this article was published by The Weekly Standard. In addition, this article draws on earlier reporting at The Long War Journal and The Weekly Standard.

An ex-Guantanamo detainee, Sufian Ben Qumu, remains a key suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, the Washington Post reports.

US officials suspect that Ben Qumu "played a role in the attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and are planning to designate the group he leads as a foreign terrorist organization, according to officials familiar with the plans," the Post stated.

Ben Qumu is based in Derna, Libya and runs a branch of Ansar al Sharia headquartered in the city. US officials have found that some of Ben Qumu's militiamen from Derna "participated in the attack." Witnesses interviewed by American officials have said "that Qumu's men were in Benghazi before the attack on Sept. 11, 2012," according to the officials cited by the Post.

Ben Qumu was fingered early on as a suspect in the Benghazi attack, but his name dropped out of much of the reporting on the assault for more than one year.

In late 2013, however, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that there was a significant amount of evidence tying Ben Qumu to the Benghazi attackers.

Ben Qumu's biography is rich with al Qaeda links.

Ben Qumu is one of the original "Arab Afghans" who traveled to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets in the 1980s. In the years that followed the end of the anti-Soviet jihad, Ben Qumu followed al Qaeda to the Sudan and then, in the mid-to-late 1990s, back to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ben Qumu was eventually arrested in Pakistan after the 9/11 attacks and transferred to the American detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.

A leaked Joint Task Force Guantánamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment describes Ben Qumu as an "associate" of Osama bin Laden.

JTF-GTMO found that Ben Qumu worked as a driver for a company owned by bin Laden in the Sudan, fought alongside al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and maintained ties to several other well-known al Qaeda leaders.

Ben Qumu's alias was found on the laptop of an al Qaeda operative responsible for overseeing the finances for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The information on the laptop indicated that Ben Qumu was an al Qaeda "member receiving family support," according to JTF-GTMO.

An August 2012 report published by the Library of Congress in conjunction with the Defense Department, titled "Al Qaeda in Libya: a Profile," identified Ben Qumu as the possible "new face of al Qaeda in Libya despite" his denial of an ongoing al Qaeda role. The report also noted that Ben Qumu and his Ansar al Sharia fighters are "believed to be close to the al Qaeda clandestine network" in Libya. According to the report's authors, that same network is headed by al Qaeda operatives who report to al Qaeda's senior leadership in Pakistan, including Ayman al Zawahiri.

The reporting on Ben Qumu's ties to the Benghazi attack directly refutes an account by David Kirkpatrick of The New York Times. Kirkpatrick reported that "neither Mr. Qumu nor anyone else in Derna appears to have played a significant role in the attack on the American Mission, officials briefed on the investigation and the intelligence said."

The Post reports that, in addition to Ben Qumu and Ansar al Sharia Derna, the branches of Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi and Tunisia are going to be designated as terrorist organizations by the State Department.

Two other individuals, Ahmed Abu Khattala and Seifallah Ben Hassine, are going to be added to the list of "specially designated global terrorists."

Seifallah Ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi) is the head of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia, which assaulted the US Embassy in Tunis just three days after the attack in Benghazi.

In its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, published in May 2013, the State Department noted that Ben Hassine "was implicated as the mastermind behind the September 14 attack on the US Embassy," which involved "a mob of 2,000 - 3,000" people, "including individuals affiliated with the militant organization Ansar al Sharia."

According to multiple published reports, Ben Hassine relocated to Libya after the Tunisian government labeled Ansar al Sharia a terrorist organization and cracked down on its operatives. The Tunisian government has repeatedly alleged that the Ansar al Sharia groups in Libya and Tunisia are tied to one another, as well as to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The Post's report concludes: "In addition to Qumu and Khattala, American officials are eager to question Faraj al Chalabi, a Libyan extremist who might have fled the country."

Chalabi is also considered a key suspect in the Benghazi attack, US intelligence officials tell The Long War Journal. Two US intelligence officials say Chalabi once served as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and is suspected of bringing materials from the compound in Benghazi to senior al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, an al Qaeda branch in the Middle East, killed 21 people in a suicide attack at a military recruiting center in Baghdad today. The attack was launched as the ISIS continues to control Fallujah, parts of Ramadi, and other areas in Anbar province.

The suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives outside the Iraqi Army recruitment center at the Muthanna airport in Baghdad, according to the National Iraqi News Agency. Iraqi officials reported that 21 Iraqis, including four soldiers protecting the center, were killed and 35 more were wounded in the deadly blast.

Between 2005 and 2007, ISIS predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq routinely attacked military and police recruitment sites with suicide and car bombs in an effort to dissuade Iraqis from joining the security forces.

Today's attack takes place as the Iraqi government is contemplating military action to retake the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi from the ISIS, which seized Anbar's two largest cities last week. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda seizes partial control of 2 cities in western Iraq.] Although Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki initially said the military would move in to retake the cities, he is now encouraging Anbar's tribes to fight the ISIS.

Fallujah remains fully under the control of the ISIS and allied tribes one week after Iraqi forces were withdrawn from the city. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda, tribal allies 'control' Fallujah.] Half of Ramadi is still said to be controlled by the ISIS. Iraqi forces have blockaded the cities, and in Fallujah, troops are launching artillery strikes into civilian areas thought to be held by the ISIS.

In addition to Fallujah and Ramadi, the city of Karma, which is just east of Fallujah, has also fallen to the ISIS, according to The New York Times. Iraqi security forces have "isolated the Karma area ... from Abu Ghraib," a district in the western part of Anbar province, "by emplacing concrete block to separate them apart," the National Iraqi News Agency reported yesterday.

While the ISIS remains in control of large areas of Anbar, Iraqi forces claimed to have killed several top leaders in the group. The military said it killed Bashir Alewi Markab, an al Qaeda "prince," in Karma on Jan. 6

In Ramadi, the military reported that Khalid Ali, the ISIS' military commander for the city, was killed along with four fighters. Abu Abelrahman al Baghdadi, who is said to be the ISIS's emir for Ramadi, is rumored to have been killed at the start of the fighting in the city.

North of Baghdad in the town of Tarmiyah, the military claimed to have killed Abdul Rahman, who is said to be the driver for Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the emir of the ISIS.

The US State Department announced today that it has added three chapters of Ansar al Sharia, as well as three of the groups' leaders, to the government's terrorist designation lists. Ansar al Sharia groups in Benghazi, Derna, and Tunisia were designated as foreign terrorist organizations, as well as specially designated global terrorist entities.

The three Ansar al Sharia leaders, Sufian Ben Qumu, Ahmed Abu Khattalah, and Seifallah Ben Hassine (a.k.a. Abu Iyad al Tunisi), were also added to the list of specially designated global terrorists.

Ben Qumu is described as "the leader" of Ansar al Sharia Derna, while Khattalah is "a senior leader" of Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi. Seifallah Ben Hassine is the founder of Ansar al Sharia in Tunisia.

The State Department says that Ansar al Sharia Tunisia "is ideologically aligned with al Qaeda and tied to its affiliates, including AQIM" (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). The designation confirms The Long War Journal's reporting on Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's connections to the al Qaeda network.

Attacks on US Mission and Annex in Benghazi, US Embassy in Tunis

AQAP's tenth edition of Inspire magazine featured the September 2012 assaults on US diplomatic facilities.

All three Ansar al Sharia organizations were involved in assaults on US diplomatic facilities in September 2012.

The Ansar al Sharia groups in Derna and Benghazi were both "involved" in the "September 11, 2012 attacks against the U.S. Special Mission and Annex in Benghazi, Libya," the State designation said.

US intelligence officials have previously told The Long War Journal that some of Ben Qumu's men took part in the Benghazi attack. The US government has reportedly issued a sealed indictment against Khattalah because of his alleged role in the assault.

Three days later, on Sept. 14, 2012, Ansar al Sharia Tunisia was "involved" in the "attack against the US Embassy and American school in Tunis, which put the lives of over one hundred United States employees in the Embassy at risk."

The State Department previously reported on Ben Hassine's role in the Sept. 14 attack in Tunis. In its annual Country Reports on Terrorism, published in May 2013, Foggy Bottom noted that Ben Hassine "was implicated as the mastermind behind the September 14 attack on the US Embassy," which involved "a mob of 2,000 - 3,000" people, "including individuals affiliated with the militant organization Ansar al Sharia."

Al Qaeda has praised the September 2012 assaults on US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Cairo, Sanaa, and Tunis. In November 2012, al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri released an audio message praising the assaults as "defeats" for the US.

"They were defeated in Iraq and they are withdrawing from Afghanistan, and their ambassador in Benghazi was killed and the flags of their embassies were lowered in Cairo and Sanaa, and in their places were raised the flags of tawhid [monotheism] and jihad," Zawahiri said in the message, which was translated the SITE Intelligence Group.

The 10th edition of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire magazine celebrated the September 2012 attacks. The cover picture showed a black flag, similar to those used by al Qaeda-affiliated groups, being raised in front of one of the embassies. The feature article was titled, "We Are All Usama," a reference to the chant heard in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere.

None of the suspected terrorists responsible for the attacks in Benghazi or Tunis have been brought to justice. In its new designation, the State Department says the US government "is committed to taking all appropriate actions against the organizations and individuals responsible for the attacks against the US diplomatic facilities in Libya and Tunisia."

Al Qaeda-tied biographies

Two of the three jihadists named in today's designation, Sufian Ben Qumu and Seifallah Ben Hassine, have had strong ties to the al Qaeda network throughout their careers. Both have been previously profiled by The Long War Journal. [See, for example, LWJ reports Al Qaeda ally orchestrated assault on US Embassy in Tunis and Ex-Gitmo detainee reportedly tied to consulate attack.]

Ben Qumu was previously detained at Guantanamo. A leaked threat assessment authored by Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) includes many details about his pre-9/11 career. JTF-GTMO's analysts concluded that Ben Qumu was one of the original "Arab Afghans," and followed al Qaeda from Afghanistan, to Sudan, and then back to Afghanistan and Pakistan as the group relocated the headquarters for its operations.

JTF-GTMO found that Ben Qumu worked as a driver for a company owned by bin Laden in the Sudan, fought alongside al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and maintained ties to several other well-known al Qaeda leaders. He is described as an "associate" of bin Laden's in the file.

Ben Qumu's alias was found on the laptop of an al Qaeda operative responsible for overseeing the finances for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The information on the laptop indicated that Ben Qumu was an al Qaeda "member receiving family support," according to JTF-GTMO.

In August 2012, just weeks before the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi, Ben Qumu was identified in a report published by the Library of Congress as the possible "new face of al Qaeda in Libya despite" his denial of an ongoing al Qaeda role.

The report ("Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile"), which was authored by the Defense Department's Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office, also noted that Ben Qumu and his Ansar al Sharia fighters are "believed to be close to the al Qaeda clandestine network" in Libya. According to the report's authors, that same network is headed by al Qaeda operatives who report to al Qaeda's senior leadership in Pakistan, including Ayman al Zawahiri.

Seifallah Ben Hassine has his own longstanding ties to al Qaeda. In 2000, Hassine became the co-founder of the Tunisian Combatant Group (TCG), which was established with help from al Qaeda's senior leaders. The relationship between the TCG and al Qaeda has been explained by the United Nations, which notes that the TCG was created "in coordination with" al Qaeda.

Ben Hassine reportedly met with both Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. And the TCG was implicated in the Sept. 9, 2001 assassination of Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was killed by two Tunisians pretending to be journalists.

Massoud's assassins were given forged passports by a senior TCG member. The assassination was an integral part of al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001 plot, as Massoud was a key Afghan leader opposed to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Massoud's death, therefore, eliminated an American ally from the battlefield before the fight for Afghanistan even began.

While many TCG members and leaders were designated by the US and the UN as al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists years ago, Ben Hassine somehow escaped being designated until today. Some of the other designated TCG leaders went on to hold prominent positions within Ansar al Sharia Tunisia after their release from prison in 2011.

One of these TCG leaders is Sami Ben Khemais Essid, who was the head of al Qaeda's operations in Italy until he was arrested in early 2001. The State Department has previously reported that Ben Khemais plotted against the US Embassy in Rome. Ben Khemais is now a senior Ansar al Sharia Tunisia leader.

Continued threat to US interests

In today's designation, the State Department connects all three Ansar al Sharia groups to a string of attacks beyond the September 2012 assaults in Benghazi and Tunis. The Ansar al Sharia groups in Libya "have been involved in terrorist attacks against civilian targets, frequent assassinations, and attempted assassinations of security officials and political actors in eastern Libya."

In Tunisia, Ansar al Sharia "has been implicated in attacks against Tunisian security forces, assassinations of Tunisian political figures, and attempted suicide bombings of locations that tourists frequent."

The State Department concludes that the three Ansar al Sharia groups continue to threaten US interests.

Ansar al Sharia "represents the greatest threat to US interests in Tunisia."

And members of the Derna and Benghazi branches of Ansar al Sharia "continue to pose a threat to US interests in Libya."

The Taliban were responsible for downing a US Army Blackhawk helicopter in the southern Afghan province of Zabul on Dec. 17, 2013, the International Security Assistance Force has confirmed. The helicopter may have been brought down by an anti-helicopter mine such as one tested by the Islamic Jihad Union, an al Qaeda-linked group known to operate in the province.

When the helicopter crashed on Dec. 17, ISAF said that "initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash." The Taliban immediately claimed credit for the attack on their website, Voice of Jihad, however, stating that "Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate have shot down the helicopter of foreign troops." [See Threat Matrix report, Taliban claim credit for ISAF helo crash in Afghan south.]

Two days ago, ISAF told CNN that "the families of the soldiers killed in the December 17 helicopter crash have been notified that 'enemy action caused the crash and loss of life,'" Stars and Stripes reported. Five US soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division and another from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment were killed in the Taliban attack.

The exact cause of the downing of the helicopter has not been disclosed. Three US military officials told CNN that "the Taliban has been deemed responsible -- either by shooting the helicopter or if the low-flying aircraft set off a bomb hidden on the ground."

In the past, the Taliban have successfully shot down US helicopters with rocket-propelled grenades. The most significant shootdown took place in August 2011 in the Tangi Valley in Wardak province. Taliban RPGs struck a US Army Chinook that was involved in a raid to capture a senior Taliban commander; the attack resulted in the deaths of 38 US and Afghan troops, including 17 Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 6.

While Taliban-fired RPGs have been credited with downing ISAF helicopters, jihadists in Afghanistan have also advertised the testing of what they described as an "anti-helicopter fragmentation mine" designed to take out US Army Apache attack helicopters. In July 2013, the IJU, an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, displayed one such weapon in a video about its operations in Paktika province. [See LWJ report, Islamic Jihad Union fighters attack US base, plant 'anti-helicopter' mine.] The IMU and al Qaeda are known to operate in Zabul; members often serve as embedded military trainers to Taliban forces. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army'.]

In one scene of the IJU video, the jihadist fighters are shown carrying what the SITE Intelligence Group described as "the prototype for an anti-helicopter fragmentation mine."

"The mine can hit a target at a distance of 300 meters," the IJU video states. The cameraman describes the anti-helicopter fragmentation mine as an "unpleasant surprise" for the US helicopter crews. The IJU narrator indicates, however, that the mine was not fired.

If the Dec. 17, 2013 helicopter crash is determined to have been caused by an anti-helicopter fragmentation mine, it would be the first successful attack of its kind reported in Afghanistan. It would also indicate that ISAF forces, which are relying more on helicopters for support as Western forces continue to draw down, face a new threat from the Taliban and allied groups in Afghanistan.

IJU anti-helicopter fragmentation mine from its July 2013 video:

In an apparent crackdown on support for al Qaeda in Syria, Turkish authorities conducted simultaneous raids in seven provinces today against an Islamic relief organization and arrested at least 23 people, including senior al Qaeda operatives. The organization, Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), reportedly the biggest Turkish provider of aid to Syria, is protesting its innocence. The operation has reportedly netted several senior al Qaeda operatives, including al Qaeda's Middle East deputy leader İbrahim Şen, who is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, and the terror group's Turkey representative, Halis Bayancuk.

So far the antiterror operation has resulted in the arrest of 19 people in Van, three in Istanbul, and one in Kayseri, as well as the dismissal of Devlet Çıngı, the chief counterterrorism officer in the border city of Kilis, Hurriyet Daily News reported. An account in Today's Zaman said numerous al Qaeda operatives were arrested raids in the provinces of İstanbul, Adana, Kilis, Gaziantep, and Kayseri, and that helicopters were deployed in case clashes erupted.

Reuters cited reports by the Turkish news outlet Dogan that police were also conducting raids against al Qaeda suspects in the cities of Gazientep and Adana, near the border with Syria.

IHH General Secretary Yaşar Kutluay protested against the government crackdown, claiming that"[t]hey are trying to show the İHH as if it is related to terror organizations."

Today's raids, which took place during the runup to the Geneva II peace talks on Syria set to begin on Jan. 22, also come amid recent events raising questions about the Erdogan government's position on al Qaeda forces in Syria.

On Jan. 1, security forces seized a purported IHH truck in Hatay province carrying arms and ammunition that was headed for the Syrian border. The Hatay governor tried unsuccessfully to take the truck from the soldiers, and the Hatay public prosecutor opened an investigation. The IHH denied any connection to the intercepted truck.

Immediately after the incident, the police who had stopped the vehicle, as well as Hatay counterterrorism officers, were relocated. The Adana prosecutor filed a criminal complaint alleging obstruction of justice by government officials, including the Interior Minister and Turkish intelligence, for preventing a search of the truck. The governor of Hatay province had allegedly claimed that the truck's mission involved a "state secret." The UN said it wants inspections of all trucks entering Syria from Turkey, and the Turkish opposition revived accusations that the government is sending arms to al Qaeda in Syria.

In addition to confronting allegations that his government has allowed and even facilitated the operations of al Qaeda fighters along Turkey's border with Syria, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been battling fallout from a corruption probe involving his family's longstanding ties to a wealthy al Qaeda-linked Saudi businessman, Yasin al-Qadi, who is said to have made several illegal trips to Turkey in 2012.

And there have been reports in diplomatic circles that Turkey has begun quietly supporting the Islamic Front along the Syrian border in an effort to stave off the more violent incursions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, an al Qaeda affiliate. The Islamic Front, which with an estimated 45,000 fighters is the largest Islamist fighting group in Syria, has recently battled the ISIS for control of border crossings into Turkey, even though the Islamic Front previously took over a border crossing from the Free Syrian Army. The Islamic Front is currently being courted by Western diplomats as a more palatable alternative to the ISIS, but in fact the large Islamist organization shares the same goals as the two al Qaeda affilates in Syria, the ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front.

Whether today's raids constitute a genuine effort to stem the flow of jihadist fighters and weaponry into Syria from Turkey, or are simply attempts to deflect attention from claims that Turkey is turning a blind eye to jihadists, remains to be seen.

The IHH organization a significant actor in the global jihadist movement

The IHH organization, which is based in Turkey and officially named the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, has long supported the global jihadist movement. According to a March 2010 report by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, IHH is active in over 120 countries, including in Turkey, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the Balkans, Central and South America, Central and South Asia, and the Caucasus, on an annual budget of approximately $100 million. IHH operates in conflict zones, and is known to have provided logistical support to fighters in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In addition, the IHH was a prime mover of the Gaza flotilla in May 2010 and the operator of the ship Mavi Marmara.

Although the IHH has not been designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, a German branch was banned in Germany in 2010 for links to jihadist activity. Israel banned the IHH in 2008 and designated it a terrorist organization in 2010.

Established in Istanbul in 1992, the IHH is an affiliate of the Union of Good ('I'tilaf al-Khayr), a Saudi-based organization founded in May 2001 that serves as an umbrella group for some 50 Islamic charities. The US designated the Union of Good as a global terrorist organization in November 2008, stating that it was formed for the purpose of transferring funds to the terrorist group Hamas. The chairman of the Union of Good is Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, an advocate of suicide attacks on Israeli citizens. Also serving on the Union's board is Abdulmajid al Zindani, a radical Islamist cleric with close ties to both al Qaeda and the Yemeni government; Zindani has been designated a terrorist financier by the UN's 1267 Committee and labeled a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US in 2004 for serving as a spiritual adviser to bin Laden and as an al Qaeda financier and recruiter.

The ICT report elaborated further on IHH in commentary regarding trial proceedings on al Qaeda's millenium bomb plot. Testifying in the proceedings, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the former head of the French judiciary's counterterrorism unit and the head of the US' Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, said that the IHH played important logistical roles in obtaining bogus passports and other counterfeited documents, the trafficking of weapons, the recruitment of jihadists, and their insertion into conflict zones.

The ICT report continued: "[Bruguiere] also stated that the IHH was 'basically helping Al Qaeda when (Usama) bin Laden started to want to target US soil.' Importantly, Bruguiere affirmed: 'It's hard to prove, but all elements of the investigation showed that part of the NGO served to hide jihad-type activities ... I'm convinced this was a clear strategy, known by IHH ... it was clearly proven that some of the NGO's work was not charity, it was to provide a facade for moving funds, weapons and mujahedeen to and from Bosnia and Afghanistan.'"

Amid the news of today's counterterrorism raids, another item also appeared in the Turkish press. An article in Today's Zaman noted that six police officers from the antiterrorism branch of the Adana Police Department were removed from their duties for allegedly releasing photos to the press of ammunition found during a search of two passenger buses in Adana near the Syrian border.

The depth of Turkey's commitment to the struggle against al Qaeda will become clearer in the coming weeks, and reports of official attempts to squelch news of operations linked to suspected al Qaeda activities continue to raise questions. Today's report of the arrests of senior al Qaeda leaders in Turkey comes at an opportune time.

For background on al Qaeda in Turkey, see LWJ report, The al Qaeda threat in Turkey.

The US accidentally killed a civilian in the second drone strike that targeted al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramout so far this year.

The remotely piloted Predators or the more deadly Reapers killed a farmer in the village of Houta near Shibam, according to Reuters. "Witnesses said the farmer was killed by shrapnel from two rockets fired by the drone early in the morning as he walked home in the village," the wire service reported.

The identity of the AQAP operative or operatives targeted in today's strike was not disclosed. AQAP is known to operate openly in Hadramout province.

Hadramout is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, and the province has become an AQAP bastion over the past several years. AQAP has regrouped in Hadramout and other provinces after losing control of major cities in Abyan and Shabwa provinces to government forces starting in late spring 2012. In May 2013, the Yemeni government claimed it foiled a plot by AQAP to establish an Islamic emirate in the Ghayl Bawazir area.

AQAP has launched a series of assassinations and complex attacks against Yemeni security forces in the province. In September 2013, a platoon-sized AQAP assault team stormed a base run by the Interior Ministry's paramilitary Central Security Organization in the city of Mukallah, the capital of Hadramout province. Several soldiers were killed and the base was held by AQAP for days before it was retaken by commandos.

US strikes in Hadramout increase

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 41 drone strikes in Yemen in 2012, or 17%, took place in the province. In 2013, six of the 26 strikes in Yemen, or 23%, occurred in Hadramout. Both of the drone strikes recorded in Yemen this year have taken place in the eastern province.

Five of the past six drone strikes have been executed in Hadramout. Two of the strikes were carried out in Al Qutn; two more occurred in Shibham; and other hit a target in Ghayl Bawazir.

Today's strike is the third recorded in Yemen since Dec. 12, when US drones accidentally killed 15 civilians as they traveled in a wedding party in Rada'a in the central province of Al Baydah. Yemeni officials said that the strike targeted Shawqi Ali Ahmad al Badani, a wanted midlevel AQAP commander. Al Badani is said to be linked to the al Qaeda plot that resulted in the shuttering of US embassies and diplomatic facilities worldwide. US officials claimed that no civilians died in the strike, and that between nine and 12 AQAP fighters were killed. The US has opened an investigation into the claims that civilians were killed in the Dec. 12 strike.

Background on US strikes in Yemen

Today's strike is the fifth in Yemen since Dec. 6, when AQAP penetrated security in a major attack 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 pace of the drone strikes in Yemen decreased last year from the previous year (26 in 2013 versus 41 in 2012). The reduction in the number of strikes coincided with a speech by President Barack Obama at the National Defense University in May 2013. The strikes are being reduced as the US government is facing increasing international criticism for conducting the attacks in both Yemen and Pakistan.

The number of strikes might have been much lower in 2013 were it not for an al Qaeda plot emanating from Yemen that was uncovered by US officials in late July. The plot 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.

Between July 27, after the plot was disclosed, and Aug. 10, the US launched nine strikes in Yemen; no drone strikes were reported for seven weeks prior to July 27. The burst in attacks was intended to disrupt the plot and take out AQAP's top leadership cadre and senior operatives. The US killed Kaid al Dhahab, AQAP's emir for Al Baydah province, during that time period.

For more information on the US airstrikes in Yemen, see LWJ report, Charting the data for US air strikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2014.

The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released its review of the intelligence concerning the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. The report confirms that multiple parts of al Qaeda's international terrorist network have been linked to the attack.

"Individuals affiliated with terrorist groups, including AQIM, Ansar al Sharia, AQAP, and the Mohammad Jamal Network, participated in the September 11, 2012, attacks," the report reads.

The committee notes that there is insufficient intelligence to conclude whether or not the leaders of any of these groups ordered their fighters to take part in the attack.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are both official branches of al Qaeda and have sworn allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's emir. The head of AQAP, Nasir al Wuhayshi, was also appointed the general manager of al Qaeda's network in August 2013.

While it is not clear what specific intelligence the committee is relying on, press reports have pointed to connections between the attackers and both AQIM and AQAP.

Some of the Benghazi attackers, identified as members of Ansar al Sharia, reportedly called an AQIM leader the night of the attack to brag of their involvement.

CNN previously reported that several Yemeni men belonging to AQAP were directly involved in the assault.

The Mohammad Jamal Network is run by an Egyptian who was trained by al Qaeda in the 1980s and has long been a subordinate to Zawahiri. In the 1990s, Jamal served as a commander in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which merged with al Qaeda.

Jamal was arrested multiple times in Egypt, but was released following the uprisings that overthrew Hosni Mubarak's regime in 2011. Jamal was in direct contact with Zawahiri in 2011 and 2012. Some of Jamal's letters to Zawahiri, which were recovered on Jamal's laptop, have been published in the Egyptian press.

According to both the US government and the United Nations, Jamal conspired with AQAP, AQIM, and al Qaeda's senior leadership. Jamal, who was re-arrested by Egyptian authorities in late 2012, was seeking to establish his own official branch of al Qaeda.

Jamal established training camps in Libya, as well as elsewhere, and some of his trainees reportedly took part in the assault on the US Mission and Annex in Benghazi.

Members of both Ansar al Sharia in Derna and the group's Benghazi branch took part in the attack, according to the US State Department. Ansar al Sharia in Derna is led by an ex-Guantanamo detainee, Sufian Ben Qumu, who has long served as an al Qaeda operative and was deemed a specially designated global terrorist by the State Department earlier this month.

Intelligence on al Qaeda's activities inside Libya prior to Sept. 11, 2012

The committee's report notes that the US intelligence community "produced hundreds of analytic reports in the months preceding" the Benghazi attack and these reports provided "strategic warning that militias and terrorist and affiliated groups had the capability and intent to strike US and Western facilities and personnel in Libya."

While none of these warnings contained specific details about the attack that would unfold on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the increasing terrorist threat was noted time and again.

The reports pointed to the "growing ties" between al Qaeda's "regional nodes" and terrorists in Libya, the increasing threat caused by terrorists connecting with al Qaeda "associates" in Libya, and the extensive infrastructure that three al Qaeda groups had established inside the country.

One such report, "Libya: Terrorists Now Targeting US and Western Interests," was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on June 12, 2012. The "report noted recent attacks against the US Mission compound in Benghazi," according to the committee, as well as the "growing ties between al Qaeda (AQ) regional nodes and Libya-based terrorists."

The Senate committee cites this passage from the DIA's report: "We expect more anti-US terrorist attacks in eastern Libya [redacted], due to terrorists' greater presence there... This will include terrorists conducting more ambush and IED [improved explosive device] attacks as well as more threats against [redacted]."

A June 18, 2012 daily intelligence report by the Pentagon's Joint Staff, "Terrorism: Conditions Ripe for More Attacks, Terrorist Safe Haven in Libya," assessed that terrorist attacks will "increase in number and lethality as terrorists connect with AQ associates in Libya."

Citations to a July 2, 2012 report by the DIA on Ansar al Sharia's founding in Libya are blacked out in the committee's report. But according to a footnote, the report apparently referenced Sufian Ben Qumu.

A CIA report authored on July 6, 2012 and entitled, "Libya: Al Qaeda Establishing Sanctuary," reads:

Al Qaeda-affiliated groups and associates are exploiting the permissive security environment in Libya to enhance their capabilities and expand their operational reach. This year, Muhammad Jamal's Egypt-based network, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have conducted training, built communication networks, and facilitated extremist travel across North Africa from their safe haven in parts of eastern Libya.

The three groups identified by the CIA as part of al Qaeda's operations inside Libya would contribute terrorists to the Benghazi attack just over two months later.

Additional intelligence reports cited by the committee prior to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack pointed to the growing safe haven enjoyed by terrorists inside Libya, as well as the threat they posed to US interests.

Note: Some passages in this article are taken from a previously published report at The Weekly Standard's web site. The spellings of al Qaeda, other words, and abbreviations have been standardized throughout this article.

In a series of tweets yesterday, a jihadist group calling itself the Yahya Ayyash Brigades claimed responsibility for a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on Jan. 13 around the time of the funeral of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

According to the group, whose tweets were shared by jihadists such as Sirajuddin Zurayqat, an official in the al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, fighters from the Yahya Ayyash Brigades launched three rockets toward the site of Sharon's funeral. At the time, Israeli media reports said only two rockets were fired.

"The gathering of the Jews dispersed after the targeting of Sharon's funeral, and Allah plunged fear in their hears, and all praise and gratitude are due to Allah," the group declared, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group. Israeli police said the rockets exploded approximately six miles away from funeral, the Associated Press reported.

In its sixth tweet, the group urged people in "Palestine, Lebanon, and Sinai to relentlessly pursue the Jewish criminals, the allies of the Safavid Magians."

Yahya Ayyash, for whom the group is named, was Hamas' top bombmaker before his death as a result of a bomb-laden cellphone in January 1996. According to the IDF, Ayyash, also known as The Engineer, "personally built the bombs used in a number of Hamas suicide attacks which resulted in 439 casualties."

In recent weeks there has been an uptick in the number of rockets and mortars fired toward Israel from Gaza. Overnight, five rockets headed toward the city of Ashkelon were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. In response to the rocket fire, the Israeli Air Force struck a number of terror sites in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the IDF announced.

Today, a senior Israel military official said Hamas "can and must do more" to stop rocket fire from Gaza, Reuters reported.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant claimed credit for today's bombing in the Lebanese city of Hermel. The attack is the latest by al Qaeda-affiliated groups that have targeted Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Today's bombing in Hermel, a city near the border with Syria in the Hezbollah-dominated Bekaa Valley, took place at rush hour near a government building, the Daily Star reported.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, one of two official al Qaeda branches that operate in Syria, released a statement on Twitter claiming credit for the attack.

"By the grace of Allah, a stronghold of the Party of Iran [Hezbollah] was shaken in a martyrdom-seeking operation whose knight was one of the lions of the Al Nusrah Front in Lebanon," the group said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained the tweets.

The Al Nusrah Front, whose emir publicly renewed his allegiance to Ayman al Zawahiri last year, said that the bombing was carried out "in response to the crimes that the party is perpetrating against the women and children of the Sunni people in Syria."

Today's bombing is the third major suicide attack and car bombing in Lebanon carried out by al Qaeda-affiliated groups against Iran and Hezbollah since mid-November 2013. The al Qaeda groups have advocated attacking Iranian and Hezbollah interests in Lebanon due to the former's involvement in the Syrian civil war.

On Nov. 19, 2013, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades took responsibility for the suicide attack outside of the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed 23 people, including Iran's cultural attache. Just over a month later, Majid bin Muhammad al Majid, a Saudi jihadist who led the group, was captured and then died in custody shortly afterward. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades was established by one of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's lieutenants.

And on Jan. 14, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham claimed credit for the Jan. 2 car bombing in Beirut that killed four people and wounded more than 70. The attack, which may have been executed by a suicide bomber, took place outside of Hezbollah's political office in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik.

The ISIS described the attack as occurring "[a]t a time when the security efforts of the Islamic State were able to break the boundaries and penetrate the security system of the Rafidah [Shi'ite] Party of Satan [Hezbollah] in Lebanon, and to crush its strongholds in the heart of its home in what is called the security zone in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday, 30 Safar 1435H [2 January 2014], in a first small payment from the heavy account that is awaiting those wicked criminals...", according to a statement that was obtained and translated by SITE.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula attacked military bases in central Yemen today, killing several soldiers and seizing armored personnel carriers, according to reports from the country.

AQAP fighters killed 10 soldiers during "simultaneous attacks against three military positions" in the town of Rada'a in Al Baydah province, AFP reported. At least one AQAP fighter who was wearing a suicide vest was gunned down during the attack.

At least one military camp was overrun and three armored personnel carriers were taken, according to Reuters.

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.

The US accidentally killed 15 civilians in a drone strike in Rada'a on Dec. 15. Yemeni officials said that a senior AQAP operative was targeted in the strike.

AQAP has successfully overrun military bases and confiscated armored vehicles in the past. In one of the most brazen attacks, in March 2012, an AQAP assault team penetrated security at a military base in Al Koud in Abyan province, killed 185 soldiers, and seized several APCs.

AQAP has continued to launch suicide assaults, bombings, and assassinations throughout Yemen. On Dec. 5, 2013, a large suicide team of AQAP fighters penetrated security at the Ministry of Defense in the capital of 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.

Other recent high-profile suicide assaults include: the Sept. 20 , 2013 suicide assaults against three military bases in Shabwa province; a raid on military headquarters in Mukallah in Hadramout on Sept. 30, 2013 (the base was held by the AQAP fighters for days before the military retook control); and the Oct. 18, 2013 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 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, Pakistan, and Somalia.

US intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula remains a direct threat to the homeland. The terror group has planned multiple attacks against targets in the US. A drone strike in Yemen 2011 year killed both Anwar al Awlaki, the radical, US-born cleric who plotted attacks against the US, and Samir Khan, another American who served as a senior AQAP propagandist. AQAP master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan Tali al Asiri, who was behind the failed Christmas Day 2009 airliner attack as well as the design for an underwear bomb that is nearly undetectable and was to be detonated on an airliner, remains at the top of the US's target list.

Coalition and Afghan special operations forces targeted a Haqqani Network-linked Taliban leader during a recent raid in the central Afghan province in Parwan. The Taliban commander, who serves as Parwan's deputy shadow governor, "transports weapons, fighters and suicide bombers" into the province and Kabul. Afghanistan's president accused the US of killing eight civilians during the raid.

Ten Taliban fighters, a US Special Forces soldier, and two civilians were killed after Afghan commandos and Coalition advisers launched a raid on Jan. 15 "to disrupt insurgent activities in the [Ghorband] district, including attacks on Bagram Airfield," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release.

ISAF said that the combined special operations force "came under heavy fire from insurgents, resulting in the death of one ISAF service member." The two civilians were killed after the Afghan and Coalition force launched airstrikes on nearby buildings that were occupied by Taliban fighters.

President Karzai claimed that a woman and seven children were killed during the fighting, and again called for an end to the controversial 'night raids' by Coalition forces.

"The Afghan government has been asking for a complete end to operations in Afghan villages for years, but American forces acting against all mutual agreements ... have once again bombarded a residential area and killed civilians," a statement from Karzai's office said. The statement neglected to note that Afghan commandos led the operation.

ISAF indicated that areas of Parwan province remain under the Taliban's control or influence.

"The operation was conducted in a high threat area with Taliban activity, some linked to the Haqqani Network," ISAF said. "The insurgents in this area enjoy freedom of movement allowing them to harass and threaten the local population as well as stage and facilitate attacks."

The primary target of the operation was Qari Nazar Gul, the deputy shadow governor, who also is "a member of the senior Taliban Commission."

"Gul has ties to the Haqqani Network and transports weapons, fighters and suicide bombers to Parwan and Kabul," ISAF said. He also "has conducted attacks against ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] and Coalition forces including a complex attack at Bagram Airfield." ISAF may be referring to the May 19, 2010 suicide assault on Bagram Airbase that was executed by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, al Qaeda, and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. The assault was led by Bekay Harrach, a dual-hatted IMU and al Qaeda leader from Germany. Harrach is thought to have been killed during the attack.

Background on the Haqqani Network

The Haqqani Network is a powerful Taliban subgroup that operates primarily in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika, but also has an extensive presence in Kabul, Parwan, Logar, Wardak, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar, Baghlan, Kunduz, and Takhar. In addition, the network has expanded its operations into the distant Afghan provinces of Badakhshan, Faryab, and Kunar, according to ISAF press releases that document raids against the network. In central Afghanistan, the Haqqani Network coordinates suicide operations and complex assaults with groups such as the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, in what ISAF used to call the Kabul Attack Network.

The Haqqani Network has close links with al Qaeda, and its relationship with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID) has allowed the network to survive and thrive in its fortress stronghold of North Waziristan. The terror group has also extended its presence into the Pakistani tribal agency of Kurram.

In North Waziristan, the Haqqanis control large swaths of the tribal area and run a parallel administration with courts, recruiting centers, tax offices, and security forces. In addition, the Haqqanis have established multiple training camps and safe houses that are used by al Qaeda leaders and operatives and by Taliban foot soldiers preparing to fight in Afghanistan.

The Haqqani Network has been implicated in some of the biggest terror attacks in the Afghan capital city of Kabul, including the January 2008 suicide assault on the Serena hotel, the February 2009 assault on Afghan ministries, and the July 2008 and October 2009 suicide attacks against the Indian embassy.

The terror group collaborated with elements of Pakistan's military and intelligence service in at least one of these attacks. American intelligence agencies have confronted the Pakistani government with evidence, including communications intercepts, which proved the ISID's direct involvement in the 2008 Indian Embassy bombing. [See LWJ report Pakistan's Jihad and Threat Matrix report Pakistan backs Afghan Taliban for additional information on the ISID's complicity in attacks in Afghanistan and the region.]

In the summer and fall of 2011, the US and the Afghan government linked the Haqqani Network and Pakistan's intelligence service to the June 28, 2011 assault on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and the Sept. 13, 2011 attack on the US Embassy and ISAF headquarters. Shortly after the September attack, Admiral Michael Mullen, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accused the Haqqani Network of being one of several "[e]xtremist organizations serving as proxies of the government of Pakistan."

The US military has been hunting top Haqqani Network commanders in special operations raids in the Afghan east, while the CIA has targeted the network with a series of unmanned Predator airstrikes in Pakistan's tribal agency of North Waziristan. In November, the CIA killed Maulvi Ahmed Jan, a top deputy to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the group's operational commander, in a strike in the district of Hangu.

Despite the targeting of top Haqqani Network leaders, the group continues to expand in Afghanistan.

Over the past few weeks, the news has been rife with reports of infighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, an al Qaeda affiliate, and other Islamist groups in Syria, including al Qaeda's other Syrian affiliate, the Al Nusrah Front. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist observer group, claimed yesterday that 1,069 people have been killed in clashes between rival Islamist groups from Jan. 3 to Jan. 15 in northern and eastern Syria. That figure includes some 130 civilians, as well as 312 ISIS fighters and 608 combatants from what the SOHR calls "the Islamist and non-Islamist rebel battalions."

During this same time period, the forces of President Bashar al Assad have been able to capitalize on the disarray and make gains, particularly around Aleppo, after the ISIS withdrew from certain areas. The rebel infighting is a boon to regime forces and clearly detrimental to the overall strength of the Syrian opposition.

The dynamism of this conflict within a conflict has made it difficult to follow, as reports of shifting allegiances among the ranks of rebel fighters complicate the picture. In its broad outlines, the fighting among the Islamist groups in Syria appears to constitute a general reaction against the brutal excesses of the ISIS. The apparent triggering event for the clashes was ISIS' alleged torture and murder of a Syrian doctor affiliated with the Islamist group Ahrar al Sham, which is part of the largest coalition of Islamist fighters in Syria, the Islamic Front, formed in November. Since that incident, ISIS has battled intermittently with various Islamist groups, including the Islamic Front, the Al Nusrah Front, the Ahrar al Sham, and others, such as the newly-formed Muhajideen Army.

The Al Nusrah Front's dispute with the ISIS epitomizes the complexity of the disagreements within the jihadist factions. While the emirs of the Al Nusrah Front and the ISIS have been at odds since last year when the ISIS attempted to put Nusrah under its banner, their rivalry has not led to open warfare. But the ISIS' heavy-handed tactics and refusal to submit to combined sharia, or Islamic law, councils, have brought the two groups to blows in some areas. Most recently, Al Nusrah lambasted the ISIS for executing Nusrah's emir for Raqqah. But even while berating the ISIS, Al Nusrah has offered an olive branch, calling for the group to submit to sharia councils with other Islamist units.

Yet at the same time, ISIS seems to be cooperating and even collaborating with the Islamist groups in various theaters across the country. As Islamist fighters, they share the same goals and a common enemy in the Assad regime.

Given the mix of infighting and cooperation between the Islamists, as well as attempts by the Al Nusrah Front to mediate the conflict and a hesitancy by the Islamic Front to openly declare war on the ISIS, at the moment the current internecine warfare is a complicated affair.

The following is a chronology of the recent internecine battle, including [in italics] instances of cooperation or at least toleration between the ISIS and some of the Islamist groups against which it has also fought:

Jan. 1: The SOHR reported that its network of sources is increasingly being threatened by Islamist extremists, but declined to identify them. They were later identified as the ISIS.

Jan. 2: The Syrian National Coalition charged that the ISIS is linked to the Assad regime and serves its interests. An opposition activist group said the body of a British doctor who had been allied with the Islamic Front's Ahrar al Sham but executed by ISIS was recently handed over in a prisoner exchange. The Islamic Front demanded that the ISIS perpetrators be brought to justice by a sharia court for the doctor's death. ISIS released a video clip on the creation of an Islamic state and Osama bin Laden blessing its predecessor group ISI, and the Al Nusrah Front released a lengthy video on its joint operation with the Islamic Front and the Fajr al-Sham Islamic Movement in the capture of an Aleppo hospital.

News emerged that ISIS had taken over Fallujah and Ramadi in Iraq over the past few days.

Jan. 3: A mass demonstration against both the ISIS and the Assad regime took place in Aleppo city. ISIS clashed with rebel groups in various locations in Aleppo province. The Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front called on ISIS to leave the town of Atareb in Aleppo. The Islamic Front denounced ISIS crimes, and the Mujahedeen Army declared ISIS an enemy. Islamist brigades sent reinforcements to the ISIS-controlled Bab al-Salama border crossing by Azaz city. In Idlib, ISIS forces fired on a demonstration and sieged several field clinics.

Jan. 4: The Al Nusrah Front released video of leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani' conducting a battlefield tour in Aleppo. The ISIS clashed with various rebel groups in Aleppo, and an ISIS commander is said to have been killed in Azaz. ISIS warned rebels that unless they stop attacking ISIS, release ISIS captives, and remove checkpoints, ISIS will withdraw from the liberated areas of Aleppo, leaving them to regime forces. ISIS executed a rebel captive in Idlib and reportedly killed other captives when its fighters were besieged by rebels. The Syrian National Coalition said it "fully supports" Free Syrian Army efforts to combat ISIS in Syria. A newly formed Islamist alliance of eight groups that calls itself the Army of the Mujahideen announced its opposition to ISIS. The Secretary General of the Free Syrian Army claimed that ISIS is "trying to hijack the Syrian revolution."

Jan. 5: The ISIS clashed with rebels and Islamist battalions in Raqqah. Kurdish YPG forces battled ISIS, Al Nusrah Front, and Islamist battalions in Hasakah. Regime forces clashed with Al Nusrah and Islamist battalions in Deir Izzour. Al Nusrah is reportedly mediating between ISIS and several rebel battalions in Aleppo: several ISIS bases were surrendered to Al Nusrah. Yesterday 10 captive regime soldiers were executed by Al Nusrah and an armed Islamist movement in Aleppo. Some 60 fighters were killed in clashes between Islamist and non-Islamist rebel groups in Aleppo, Idlib, Raqqah, and Hama. Syrian opposition sources say that despite clashes between ISIS and other groups, there does not appear to be all-out confrontation.

Jan. 6: The ISIS clashed with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the newly formed Jaish al Mujahideen in al Tabqa in Raqqah. Islamist and non-Islamist rebels also fought against ISIS in other Raqqah cities, and released 50 captives from an ISIS prison in Raqqah city. ISIS clashed with rebels in Aleppo, and an ISIS suicide car bomber detonated near Sha'ar. Islamist and rebel battalions took over ISIS' main base in Jarabalus in Aleppo. Al Nusrah battled Kurdish YPG forces in Hasakah. ISIS fighters withdrew from Kafarzeita in Hama after mediation by Al Nusrah. Al Nusrah claimed it liberated a Deraa hospital on Jan. 1 with help from a number of Islamic brigades. A top-tier jihadist forum called for support for ISIS and warned that enemy elements on Twitter are trying to sabotage ISIS.

Jan. 7: The head of the Al Nusrah Front called for a ceasefire between the ISIS and clashing rebel groups in Syria, the creation of an independent Islamic council to mediate disputes, and the exchange of prisoners. An opposition activist group said that 274 people have been killed in four days' fighting between ISIS and rebel groups, including at least 99 ISIS fighters, of whom 34 were executed by rebels. Over 100 ISIS fighters are said to be besieged by rebels in Aleppo and to have asked Al Nusrah to mediate. In Deir Izzour, ISIS fighters withdrew from their base in al-Mayadeen and headed toward Raqqah city. ISIS clashed with Al Nusrah and rebels, including the Kurdish Front Battalion, in Raqqah province. ISIS fighters, backed by Al Nusrah and rebels, captured two towns and several villages in Hasakah from Kurdish YPG fighters, who retreated. At least 34 non-Syrian fighters from ISIS and Jund al-Aqsa were executed by rebels in Idlib; ISIS killed tens of rebels in a suicide bombing near Derkosh yesterday.

Jan. 8: After the Al Nusrah Front called for a truce between clashing rebel and Islamist groups, Abu Muhammad al-'Adnani, the spokesman for the ISIS, issued a statement denouncing the Syrian National Coalition and the Supreme Military Council as apostates and enemies unless they stop fighting the mujahideen. Al-'Adnani also warned that ISIS would defend itself from attack, especially from the "Army of the Mujahideen," a coalition of eight rebel groups, saying ISIS would "crush the conspiracy in its cradle." An opposition activist group reported that Islamist rebels have taken over ISIS headquarters in Aleppo city, finding prisoners and the bodies of nine executed men, but the fate of the "hundreds" of ISIS fighters there is unknown. The activist group also said ISIS set off car bombs against rebels in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and Raqqah.

Jan. 9: The ISIS clashed with Islamist and non-Islamist rebels in Raqqah, Idlib, and Aleppo, and is said to be preparing numerous suicide attacks in Deir Izzour. In Hasakah, ISIS and rebel groups, including the Islamic Front, issued a joint declaration creating a unified sharia council and a joint operations room. In Hama, a truck bomb detonated near a school in the mainly Shiite town of Kalat, killing at least 18 people, and an Egyptian ISIS commander defected to Al Nusrah. Former ISIS prisoners alleged horrific crimes on the part of their captors, including summary executions and torture. Delegates from Syrian opposition groups, including the Islamic Front, met in Cordoba, Spain, in advance of the Geneva II talks. An Arab news outlet said on Jan. 7 that "highly delicate" negotiations were underway between rebels and ISIS in Raqqah for control of the Sed Tishreen prison, where French journalists and an Italian priest were reportedly being held.

Jan. 10: Islamist battalions and the Al Nusrah Front clashed with the ISIS in Raqqah city; ISIS made gains in the city. An opposition activist group claimed that some 500 people, including 85 civilians, have died in clashes between ISIS and Islamist and non-Islamist groups over the past week. A senior Al Nusrah commander said the group has been providing weapons and cars to the ISIS to assist in its battle against the Iraqi government.

Jan. 11: A top Syrian National Council official claimed that discussions are underway with all opposition military forces, including the Islamic Front, to create a "Free National Army" to fight against extremist Islamist rebel groups and the Assad regime. The Islamic Front is reportedly considering the idea, said to involve a complete restructuring of the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council. Six ISIS fighters were killed in Idlib in clashes with Islamist and rebel battalions. On Jan. 6, a Belgian ISIS emir in Idlib threatened that hundreds of ISIS fighters are ready to carry out suicide car bombings in the province. In Aleppo, two suicide bombers detonated near rebels, the Al Nusrah Front bombed a regime building, and an "infamous" rebel battalion executed a civilian suspected of fighting for ISIS and allegedly raped his mother. Rebels in Homs reported that ISIS killed over 30 Islamist rebel fighters in al-Tiba over the past three days. In Raqqah, ISIS seized the Tal Abyad border crossing into Turkey after fighting with the Islamist movement that had controlled it. In Hama, 12 civilians were killed when rebel battalions bombed their home.

Jan. 12: The ISIS recaptured much of Raqqah city; the Ahrar al Sham did not oppose ISIS. Rebel and Islamist battalions, including one affiliated with Al Nusrah Front, clashed with ISIS in Raqqah. In Aleppo, the ISIS clashed with Islamist battalions in Jarabalus city and at the Bab al-Salama border crossing; ISIS also killed a senior commander in the Mujahideen Army's Nour al-Din Zanki brigades. State media claimed that security forces in Damascus killed and wounded a number of Islamic Front fighters in Adra and a number of Al Nusrah Front fighters in Madaya. One ISIS foreign fighter was killed in a clash with an Islamist movement in Hasakah. Islamist rebels targeted a regime checkpoint in Deir Izzour. An ISIS car bomb in Idlib killed one rebel. An opposition activist group claimed that some 700 people, including 351 combatants from Islamist and non-Islamist rebel battalions, and 246 ISIS fighters, have been killed fighting each other in the past nine days.

Jan. 13: The ISIS captured al Bab in Aleppo from rebel units, setting up checkpoints and conducting house-to-house searches. State media claimed that security forces killed scores of Islamic Front fighters in Damascus and destroyed a large quantity of weapons and uncovered terrorist tunnels in Aleppo. ISIS and rebels clashed in Aleppo, but ISIS and rebels also fought against regime forces in the province. A car bomb near an Islamist movement checkpoint in Idlib killed at least five rebel fighters. In Homs, Islamist rebels executed three members of Syrian intelligence, and ISIS executed at least 14 rebels after clashes in the desert. In Raqqah, ISIS killed at least 46 members of an Islamist movement who were leaving Raqqah for Hasakah. The Al Nusrah Front said that six brigades in Ghouta have joined it, claimed the killing of 65 Kurdish PKK fighters and regime troops in Hasakah as well as an attack on a Shiite brigade in Damascus, and vowed revenge for the killing of Muslims at Matahen in Homs.

Jan. 14: Regime forces have retaken a number of towns on the outskirts of Aleppo. An ISIS suicide car bombing in Idlib killed at least 13 Islamic movement fighters. ISIS clashed with regime forces near the 17th division base in Raqqah, after the Islamist movement controlling the base withdrew a few days ago. Islamist and rebel battalions in north Reef Aleppo clashed with ISIS and took over two towns.

Jan. 15: The ISIS, the Al Nusrah Front, and Islamic battalion fighters clashed with regime forces in eastern Ghouta in Reef Dimashq, and Al Nusrah and rebels clashed with regime forces near Maaloula. The Kurdish YPG accused the Syrian National Coalition of supporting ISIS against YPG forces in Hasakah. Residents of Hasakah mourned the deaths of 39 YPG fighters killed over the past month by ISIS, Al Nusrah, and Islamist rebels; ISIS and allies have taken over the Qamishli countryside. An ISIS suicide bomb killed at least 26 people in Jarabalus city in Aleppo; ISIS also clashed with Islamic battalion fighters and rebels in the province. In Raqqah, ISIS tortured and killed two Kurdish civilians and set free dozens of Islamist rebels it had captured earlier. In Idlib, Belgian ISIS commander Abu Baraa was killed in Saraqeb, and another non-Syrian ISIS fighter was injured, in an ambush by Islamic fighters; "hundreds" of ISIS fighters are said to be in Saraqeb.

The Afghan Taliban claimed credit for a suicide assault in Kabul today that killed more than 20 people, including the International Monetary Fund's representative to Afghanistan and three UN employees.

A three-man suicide assault team targeted a Lebanese restaurant in a secured area of the capital that is frequented by Westerners, foreigners, and the Afghan elite. A suicide bomber detonated outside of the restaurant, while the other two Taliban fighters entered the building, shot at the customers, and fought with the guards for 20 minutes before being killed.

Twenty-one people, including the IMF's representative to Afghanistan, three UN workers, two Americans, two Brits, two Canadians, and a Danish citizen were killed in the attack, according to Reuters.

The Taliban released a statement on their website, Voice of Jihad, taking credit for the attack. The Taliban claimed that their fighters "killed many foragers [foreigners], mostly German invaders." The group routinely exaggerates the effects of its operations. The German foreign ministry has not confirmed that its citizens were among those killed.

Today's attack took place just two days after Afghan and Coalition special operations forces targeted the Taliban's deputy shadow governor for Parwan province, which borders Kabul. The Taliban leader, Qari Nazar Gul, is linked to the Haqqani Network and "transports weapons, fighters and suicide bombers to Parwan and Kabul," ISAF stated. He supports the Kabul Attack Network, an alliance of jihadist groups that includes al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network and is tasked with executing attacks inside the capital. [See LWJ report, Afghan, US forces target Haqqani-linked Taliban leader in Parwan.]

The Taliban later released a statement claiming that the attack in Kabul was executed to avenge the Afghan and Coalition raid in Parwan province that targeted Gul.

The Afghan Taliban lauded suicide attacks against Western and Afghan targets as "heroic operations of the Mujahideen" in statement released on Voice of Jihad last summer.

The suicide assault, or coordinated attack using multiple suicide bombers and an assault team, is a tactic that is frequently used in Afghanistan by the Taliban and their allies, including the Haqqani Network, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, al Qaeda, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Suicide assaults are also commonly executed by al Qaeda and jihadist groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, and Nigeria.

The Taliban have launched numerous suicide assaults against Coalition and Afghan bases. One of the more prominent attacks over the past several years was the Afghan Taliban's assault on Camp Bastion in Helmand in September 2012; two US Marines were killed, and six Harriers were destroyed and two more were damaged.

The Taliban launched a failed suicide assault on an Afghan base in Nangarhar on Jan. 4; the seven members of the Taliban team were gunned down by security forces. One ISAF soldier was killed in the attack.

A statement criticizing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) that was written by Abu Khalid al Suri, Ayman al Zawahiri's main representative inside Syria, has been posted on various jihadist websites. The statement appears to be authentic as it was posted on a Twitter feed that apparently belongs to al Suri.

The Long War Journal has reviewed the Twitter feed and various social media pages linked to it. Al Suri (whose real name is Mohamed Bahaiah) posted the statement on Twitter on Jan. 16, and it was picked up by other jihadist websites.

In the statement, al Suri confirms his longstanding ties to al Qaeda's most senior leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. Al Suri harshly criticizes ISIS because of its infighting with other jihadist groups, and says that the group should not attribute its actions to bin Laden, Zawahiri, and other leading jihadists.

"So my words to you are the words of one who spent his life with those prominent men and knew them well, for they are innocent of what is being attributed to them, like the innocence of the wolf from the blood of the son of Jacob," al Suri writes, according to a translation prepared by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Al Suri warns that ISIS is weakening the rebels' cause and calls upon its emirs, as well as its "brother emigrants," to "repent to Allah and return to His matter and adhere to His Shariah." Al Qaeda has been attempting to settle the dispute between ISIS and other groups in a common sharia court.

Ahrar al Sham is directly linked to al Qaeda

The Long War Journal reported on Dec. 17 that al Suri is a founding member of, and a senior leader in, Ahrar al Sham.

Ahrar al Sham is an extremist group that has fought alongside ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's two officially recognized branches inside Syria, against Bashar al Assad's forces.

ISIS, however, has proven to be unruly and its emir has even disobeyed orders from Zawahiri. In recent weeks, the infighting between ISIS and other rebel groups, including Ahrar al Sham and the Al Nusrah Front, has intensified.

US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal that al Suri's role in Ahrar al Sham shows that al Qaeda is playing a sophisticated game inside the Syrian insurgency.

Al Qaeda's senior leaders have sought to hide their influence within the group. And al Suri is not the only senior al Qaeda operative within Ahrar al Sham's senior ranks, the officials say.

Ahrar al Sham is not only one of the largest Syrian rebel groups in its own right, it is also a key part of the Islamic Front, a powerful rebel coalition. Ahrar al Sham holds significant posts within the front.

Al Qaeda has been able to influence the direction of Ahrar al Sham and the Islamic Front while not publicly recognizing its hand inside either, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.

Al Suri openly brandishes his position within Ahrar al Sham. His Twitter feed features Ahrar al Sham's flag and is followed by other senior leaders from the group.

Longtime al Qaeda operative

Al Suri's al Qaeda role was well-documented even before his latest statement was released on Jan. 16. The US Treasury Department recognized him as "al Qaeda's representative in Syria" in December.

The Spanish officials who investigated the Mar. 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings found a mound of evidence linking al Suri to al Qaeda's global operations. The Spanish government identified al Suri as one of bin Laden's most trusted couriers in Europe before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The investigation also documented al Suri's ties to bin Laden's chief subordinate inside Europe and to a constellation of other al Qaeda actors. [See LWJ report, Syrian rebel leader was bin Laden's courier, now Zawahiri's representative.]

Ayman al Zawahiri named Abu Khalid al Suri as his arbiter in a leadership dispute between ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front last year. The emir of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, tried to fold Nusrah into his ranks. But Abu Muhammad al Julani, Nusrah's emir, refused Baghdadi's order and reaffirmed his allegiance to Zawahiri directly.

Zawahiri then empowered al Suri to settle the dispute, but those mediation efforts have not put an end to the infighting.

Al Suri's role within Ahrar al Sham shows, however, that al Qaeda has placed multiple bets within the Syrian insurgency.

In December, the US Treasury Department designated 'Abd al-Rahman bin 'Umayr al-Nu'aymi as an al Qaeda supporter. Treasury described al-Nu'aymi as "a Qatar-based terrorist financier and facilitator who has provided money and material support and conveyed communications to al Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen for more than a decade." Nu'aymi "was considered among the most prominent Qatar-based supporters of Iraqi Sunni extremists."

"In 2013," the Treasury designation reads, "Nu'aymi ordered the transfer of nearly $600,000 to al Qaeda via al Qaeda's representative in Syria, Abu Khalid al Suri, and intended to transfer nearly $50,000 more."

Below: Abu Khalid al Suri posted a statement criticizing ISIS on his Twitter feed. Al Suri confirms his longstanding ties to al Qaeda's most senior leaders in the statement. Click the statement to enlarge.

A top spokesman for the Afghan Taliban rejected the US' call for the group to "put down their arms and begin peace talks," a request that was made just one day after a Taliban suicide assault team killed 21 people, including two Americans, at a restaurant in Kabul.

"We strongly reject the American demand," Zabihullah Mujahid, an official Taliban spokesman, said in an email sent to The Long War Journal. Mujahid's statement was also published on the Taliban's website, Voice of Jihad.

"America wants to turn a blind eye from a manifest reality and conveniently skip over the primary reason for the problems of Afghanistan," he continued. Mujahid said that "the American invasion and its resultant barbarity" was the Taliban's reason for continuing the fight.

"If America truly wants peace and stability for Afghanistan then it should immediately withdraw all its forces from our land and leave the Afghans to their own wills and aspirations," he continued. "If America is adamant on war and occupation then it should wait for more deadly attacks."

Mujahid was responding to an official statement by the White House that condemned the Jan. 17 suicide assault on a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul that killed 21 people, including the IMF's representative to Afghanistan, three UN workers, two Americans, two Brits, two Canadians, and a Danish citizen.

The Taliban claimed the Kabul attack was retaliation for the Jan. 15 raid in Parwan province that targeted a senior Taliban commander who is linked to the Haqqani Network and supports suicide bombings and attacks in the capital. [See LWJ report, Afghan, US forces target Haqqani-linked Taliban leader in Parwan; and Threat Matrix report, Taliban say Kabul suicide assault was response to ISAF raid in Parwan.]

In the White House statement, the US reiterated that it wants to negotiate with the Taliban.

"We call again on the Taliban to put down their arms and begin peace talks, which is the surest way to end the conflict in a peaceful manner," the White House statement said.

The US government has unsuccessfully pursued peace talks with the Taliban for the past five years as the Obama administration seeks to withdraw the bulk of the forces from the country by the end of 2014. Vice President Joe Biden is pushing for a residual force of less than 3,000 troops to remain in country, while the 'zero option,' or no US forces in country, is a distinct possibility. The administration believes that a peace deal with the Taliban will end the fighting and prevent al Qaeda from operating in the country.

Previously, the US has demanded that the Taliban denounce al Qaeda and join the Afghan political process. The demand that the Taliban denounce al Qaeda was dropped last year as the Taliban were permitted to open an office in Qatar. Western officials wanted the Taliban to use the office to conduct peace talks, but the Taliban insisted it was to be used to raise the profile of the group in the international community and serve as a "political office." Additionally, the Taliban wanted to use the office in Qatar to secure the release of five al Qaeda-linked commanders who are being held by the US at Guantanamo Bay. [See LWJ report, Taliban want release of 5 al Qaeda-linked commanders in exchange for captured US soldier; and Threat Matrix report, Taliban insist on using 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,' flying flag at Qatar 'political office.']

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

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

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