Mohammed Zammar. Photograph from Spiegel.

Mohammed Zammar, the al Qaeda operative responsible for recruiting the suicide-hijack pilots for the 9/11 attacks, has reportedly been freed inside Syria.

Zammar's freedom was reported by Zaid Benjamin, the Washington correspondent for Radio Sawa, on his Twitter feed on Mar. 2.

Writing for Al-Monitor, John Rosenthal cited multiple sources confirming Zammar's freedom in an account published on Mar. 10.

Zammar was captured in Morocco in late 2001. Unlike most of the 9/11 co-conspirators who were captured, however, Zammar was not transferred to US custody. Instead, he was sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned by Bashar al Assad's regime.

Zammar, who was freed in late 2013, was exchanged for Syrian army officers who were being held by jihadist forces. The exchange of prisoners was reportedly negotiated by Ahrar al Sham, an al Qaeda-linked group that frequently fights alongside the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria. The Ahrar al Sham is a major constituent of the Islamic Front, a coalition of seven large Islamist fighting groups in the country.

The Long War Journal reported on Dec. 17, 2013 that a longtime senior al Qaeda operative known as Abu Khalid al Suri was a founding member of, and senior leader in, Ahrar al Sham. Al Suri was killed by a suicide bomber in late February. Other al Qaeda operatives continue to serve in leadership roles within Ahrar al Sham, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.

9/11 recruiter

Both the "Joint Inquiry Into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001," a report prepared by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and the 9/11 Commission documented Zammar's role as the recruiter for al Qaeda's Hamburg cell. The cell included the terrorists who would go on to serve as the pilots aboard the hijacked planes on 9/11.

Zammar has been part of the jihadist scene since the 1980s. The CIA told the Joint Inquiry after the 9/11 attacks that Zammar traveled to Afghanistan for training and fought alongside his fellow jihadists in 1991. In 1995, he traveled to Bosnia, a jihadist hotspot at the time. But he returned "to Afghanistan a number of times between 1995 and 2000."

During his time in Germany, Zammar worked closely with Mamoun Darkazanli, another al Qaeda operative. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, Darkazanli was an imam at the Al Quds mosque in Hamburg, which served as the spiritual home for the hijackers. [For more on Darkazanli, see LWJ report, Longtime al Qaeda operative runs mosque closed by German authorities.]

US counterterrorism officials were aware of Zammar's and Darkazanli's activities long before the 9/11 attacks. According to the Joint Inquiry, Darkazanli first popped up on the CIA's radar in 1993. And two years later, the CIA knew that the two Syrians were active inside Germany.

"Since 1995," the Joint Inquiry report reads, "the CIA had been aware of a radical Islamic presence in Germany, including individuals with connections to Osama Bin Laden." The CIA "unsuccessfully sought additional information" on Zammar and Darkazanli. The Agency's inquiry was blocked by German authorities, who were then operating under lax counterterrorism laws.

Even though the US investigation was obstructed, the CIA and FBI "repeatedly produced intelligence relating to" the two al Qaeda operatives prior to Sept. 11, 2001.

By mid-1999, US authorities learned that Zammar "was in direct contact with one of Bin Laden's senior operational coordinators."

And in March 1999 the "CIA received intelligence about a person named 'Marwan' who had been in contact with Zammar and Darkazanli." Marwan "was described as a student who had spent time in Germany."

Only after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks did US counterterrorism officials figure out that "Marwan" was Marwan al Shehhi - one of the 9/11 hijackers. Indeed, the FBI concluded that Zammar recruited three of the four hijack-pilots for the operation, including al Shehhi, and "encouraged their participation in the September 11 attack."

Zammar also recruited Ramzi Binalshibh, who became the point man for the 9/11 operation. According to the 9/11 Commission's final report, one witness "reported hearing Zammar press Binalshibh to fulfill his duty to wage jihad." And after 9/11, Zammar "reportedly took credit for influencing not just Binalshibh but the rest of the Hamburg group."

Zammar's recruiting activities were interrupted in late 2001 when he was detained in Morocco.

Darkazanli continued to operate, however, even though he was being monitored by Western intelligence agencies.

Long after the 9/11 attacks, Darkazanli served as an imam at Al Quds, which was renamed the Taiba mosque. During the summer of 2010, Western intelligence services learned that the mosque had once again become the epicenter for a major planned terrorist attack.

Some of the key al Qaeda operatives selected to take part in a Mumbai-style attack in European cities had longstanding ties to the mosque, as well as the 9/11 hijackers. The foiled plot was one of the last operations Osama bin Laden ordered against the West. The Taiba mosque was subsequently shuttered by German authorities.

It is not clear based on currently available reporting what Zammar is doing inside Syria today.

The US killed a local al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula commander and his bodyguard in the fourth recorded strike in Yemen so far this month.

Today's airstrike, which was carried out by the remotely piloted Predators or Reapers, targeted a vehicle as it traveled in the Jebel Jame area in the northern province of Al Jawf. The strike killed a local AQAP military commander known as Moajab bin Aziz, as well as his bodyguard, according to reports.

Al Jawf is a known haven for top al Qaeda leaders. US drones have struck AQAP in Al Jawf five other times since the beginning of 2010. The last strike in the province took place just one week ago, on March 5. That attack killed Ali Saleh Juraym Al Olyan, a local al Qaeda commander said to have returned from fighting in Iraq, and three other AQAP fighters.

Two of the six strikes in Al Jawf have targeted top-tier AQAP leaders. In September 2011, the US killed Anwar al Awlaki, the American propagandist, ideologue, recruiter, and operational commander, and Samir Khan, an American who ran Inspire Magazine, in an airstrike in the province. Awlaki sheltered at the homes of Islah leaders in Al Jawf before he was killed. And in January 2010, an airstrike targeted Qasim al Raymi, AQAP's top military commander. He and other senior AQAP officials survived the strike.

The US has stepped up the targeting of AQAP's network in Yemen over the past two weeks after a more than five-week-long pause that began at the end of January. Since March 3, the US has executed four drone strikes inside Yemen.

The March strikes have killed five local AQAP military commanders as well as eight fighters, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. In addition to the March 5 airstrike that killed al Olyan, the US also killed Mujahid Gaber Saleh al Shabwani in a strike in Shabwa on March 3, and Ebad Mobarak Al Shabwani and Ja'afar Mohammad Jaber Al Shabwani on March 10.

Background on US strikes in Yemen

In addition to the four strikes this month, the US has launched three other strikes in Yemen this year; all three were in January.

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 airstrikes in Yemen, 2002 - 2014.

The Specialized Criminal Court on State Security and Terrorism in Riyadh charged eight defendants today with providing weaponry and financial funding to al Qaeda in support of terrorist operations both inside and outside the kingdom. The eight defendants were sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to six years and barred from traveling outside the kingdom for similar periods of time thereafter.

The detailed charges handed down by the court in Riyadh include significant information about al Qaeda's terrorist network and intentions. Most notably, they indicate that al Qaeda seeks to commit acts of sabotage inside Saudi Arabia, specifically targeting large oil refineries in the eastern province of al Sharqiya. Additionally, al Qaeda has been trying to attract militants from Cuba, and to invest financially in a media agency in Egypt to spread jihadist news.

One of the defendants convicted today was accused of storing large quantities of machine guns and ammunition for al Qaeda as well as purchasing radio communication devices to be used in jihadist activity. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and barred from travel for an additional five.

Another defendant was charged with receiving electronic circuitry and accessories used in the remote detonation of explosives. He reportedly kept the electronics in house at first, and then later buried them for safekeeping, storing the coordinates of the burial location on his mobile phone. He was also accused of covering up an invitation to join a weapons training course led by Yousef al Ayeri, a Saudi member of al Qaeda and the first leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP,) who was killed in a gun battle with Saudi forces in Ha'el province in 2003. The defendant was sentenced to a prison term of six years and is barred from travel "for a similar amount of time."

A serious indication of al Qaeda's international connections emerged in the charges against a defendant who set up an office in China as part of his implementation of an al Qaeda project to manufacture laser technology weaponry. The defendant reportedly received $100,000 to fund the project and was accused of "supporting and financing terrorism" as well as being in possession of a large cache of weapons and ammunition. He was sentenced to a prison term of four years and is barred from travel "for a similar amount of time."

Other defendants were charged with crimes such as possession of weaponry and concealing knowledge that al Qaeda was intending to carry out terrorist attacks inside Saudi Arabia, specifically targeting oil refineries in al Sharqiya. Additionally, one defendant was allegedly aware of an al Qaeda plan to bring two militants over from Cuba, and confessed that one of the Cubans went to Yemen to join AQAP and that the other was "still searching for a passport." Another defendant was accused of scouting out eastern Riyadh for a suitable location to establish a jihadist training camp.

Highlighting al Qaeda's financial and military ties to other terrorist groups in the Middle East, a defendant was accused of being in close contact with a member of Abi Musab al Zarqawi's terrorist faction in Iraq. The Iraqi militant requested that the Saudi transfer 150,000 euros to a media agency in Egypt interested in spreading jihadi news. Additionally, the same defendant transferred 350,000 rials to the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq on behalf of one of his Saudi comrades.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other Palestinian terror groups, including Fatah's al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, launched dozens of rockets and mortars from Gaza towards southern Israel yesterday. The barrage of rockets and mortars was the most significant in a single day since Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.

In a statement posted on its website, the al Quds Brigades, PIJ's military wing, said that "Operation Breaking the Silence" comes in response to "Zionist aggression" in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. The Iran-backed terror group specifically noted Tuesday's airstrike in Gaza that killed three PIJ fighters who had fired mortar rounds at Israeli forces.

PIJ fighters fired 130 rockets and mortars, the group claimed. Israeli officials said only 60 hit Israel, however. At least three of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

It is likely, though still unclear, that a number of the rockets and mortars fired by PIJ and the other groups landed in Gaza. Both PIJ and the IDF released video of some of yesterday's attacks from Gaza.

According to Israel's Shin Bet, in all of 2013 only 74 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza towards Israel.

In response to yesterday's rocket attacks, the Israeli Air Force struck at least "29 terror sites in the Gaza Strip" last night. "The IDF will do everything in its power to fight Gaza terrorism and protect the people of Israel," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. Officials in the Gaza Strip said the targeted sites belonged to PIJ and Hamas, the Associated Press reported.

Hamas, which did not claim responsibility for any of yesterday's attacks, said Palestinians have a right to defend themselves in the face of Israeli aggression. In a brief statement, the State Department called yesterday's attacks from Gaza "reprehensible" and noted that "Israel, like any nation, has a right to defend itself."

Israeli officials have expressed concern in recent weeks about escalating violence emanating from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. "The situation is stable, but we are seeing a creeping escalation," one military official told the Jerusalem Post in late February.

While the recent upsurge in rocket attacks has been carried out by groups other than Hamas, Israeli military officials consistently remark that Hamas is not doing enough to stem the rocket attacks. Hamas "can and must do more" to stop rocket fire from Gaza, one official told Reuters in mid-January. In early February, Hamas pulled back some of its forces responsible for preventing rocket attacks. The forces were eventually redeployed, but sporadic rocket and mortar fire continued.

The firing of rockets and mortars toward Israel from Gaza increased in January and February. In response to the rocket fire, the IAF struck a number of terror sites in Gaza, as well as terrorists themselves. On Jan. 19, the IAF targeted Ahmad Saad, an operative in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who was allegedly behind the firing of five rockets toward Ashkelon on Jan. 16, among other attacks. On Jan. 22, the IAF targeted and killed Ahmed Za'anin, another Palestinian terror operative in the Gaza Strip.

More recently, on Feb. 9, the IAF targeted Abdallah Kharti, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees who was said to have worked with the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis). On March 3, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a member of PIJ as well as a fighter in the Mujahideen Brigades.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, teamed up with a Free Syrian Army unit known as the Liwa al Ummah to overrun a military outpost in Idlib province last week. Free Syrian Army units continue to ally themselves with the Al Nusrah Front on the battlefield despite Al Nusrah's public affiliation with al Qaeda.

The latest joint operations between the Al Nusrah Front and the Free Syrian Army took place on March 6, when the two groups attacked a Syrian Army outpost in the city of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province. The Al Nusrah Front announced the joint operation in a statement that was released yesterday; the statement was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The statement said that "a small group from the mujahideen of the Al Nusrah Front and Liwa al Ummah attacked the Tariq 'Ajeeb barrier" and overran it, killing six Syrian soldiers and wounding 30 more. The Al Nusrah Front said that a tank was used by the group during the assault.

"The mujahideen took as spoils a BMP vehicle, 3 RPG launchers, a collection of light weapons, and various ammunition," the Al Nusrah Front claimed. The two group then proceed to attack "the neighboring Ma'arzafi barrier."

Heavy fighting has been reported in Khan Sheikhun over the past week as the Al Nusrah Front and Free Syrian Army groups have been attacking Syrian forces in the city [see video above, which shows Free Syrian Army fighters attacking Syrian troops].

The emir of the Al Nusrah Front, which was formed by al Qaeda's branch in Iraq, publicly reaffirmed his allegiance to al Qaeda's leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, in a statement released in April 2013. The group was added to the US' list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist groups in December 2012. Several Free Syrian Army groups have openly joined the Al Nusrah Front over the past year.

The Liwa al Ummah, or Brigade of the Muslim Nation, was formed by Abd al Mahdi al Harati, a deputy of Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the former emir of the al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Al Harati, who headed a rebel group during the Libyan revolution, led Liwa al Ummah for six months in 2012 before merging with the Free Syrian Army. Liwa al Ummah is estimated to have around 6,000 fighters, and is comprised primarily of Syrians, but also includes a large contingent of Libyans, Sudanese, Palestinians, Egyptians, and Arabs.

Hundreds of Libyan fighters are thought to have traveled to Syria to fight with rebel groups. Many of these Libyans are believed to be fighting alongside the ISIS or the Al Nusrah Front. Ansar al Sharia Libya, a Libyan jihadist group with ties to al Qaeda, helps recruit Libyan fighters to travel to Syria. Ansar al Sharia Libya is also reported to run training camps for recruits destined for Syria.

Free Syrian Army units as well as the Islamic Front, which is viewed by some analysts as "moderate" despite its close ties to al Qaeda, continue to fight alongside the Al Nusrah Front against regime forces. And even though hundreds of fighters have been killed in internecine clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham on one side, and Al Nusrah, the Islamic Front, and Free Syrian Army units on the other, the groups occasionally fight alongside each other against Syrian government forces. For instance, the Islamic Front, Al Nusrah, and the ISIS have joined forces to fight the Syrian military in Yabroud.

On March 5, a review board set up to evaluate the status of Guantanamo detainees determined that Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi should remain in US custody. Al Rahabi is a Yemeni who was among the first detainees transferred to Guantanamo in early 2002.

In deciding that al Rahabi should remain in detention, the review board assessed his "potential threat upon transfer to Yemen." The board found that he has "significant ties to al Qaeda, including his past role as a bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden and a prior relationship with the current amir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula." The head of AQAP is Nasir al Wuhayshi, who once served as the aide-de-camp to bin Laden and is now the general manager of al Qaeda's global operations.

Furthermore, the review board found, al Rahabi's time "fighting on the frontlines, possible selection for a hijacking plot, and significant training" raised concerns.

The review board's one-page unclassified summary does not make public the underlying evidence against al Rahabi. But declassified and leaked documents authored by Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) show how US officials compiled a dossier on him.

In particular, a leaked JTF-GTMO threat assessment, dated April 28, 2008, details the evidence that led American authorities to consider al Rahabi such a risk. JTF-GTMO recommended at the time that al Rahabi be retained in the Department of Defense's custody. The Yemeni was deemed a "high risk" and "likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies."

As of 2008, al Rahabi had admitted little to interrogators and interviewers at Guantanamo. Al Rahabi continued to claim that he traveled to Afghanistan simply to teach the Koran. His "account is assessed to be false," JTF-GTMO's analysts wrote, finding that he was employing a cover story used by other detainees.

To fill in the details of al Rahabi's life, American analysts relied on the testimony of other al Qaeda operatives in custody. Indeed, most of the evidence against al Rahabi comes from al Qaeda operatives who were captured after the 9/11 attacks.

Al Qaeda members questioned at Guantanamo or in the CIA's detention and interrogation program provided key details about al Rahabi, including his role in a canceled hijacking operation that would have coincided with the 9/11 attacks.

Additional 9/11 hijackings canceled

As part of al Qaeda's original 9/11 plot, terrorists were going to hijack additional American aircraft flying out of Southeast Asia and either blow them up midflight or fly them into other targets. These hijackings were canceled after Osama bin Laden concluded it would be too difficult to synchronize them with the attacks inside the US.

The review board cites al Rahabi's "possible selection for a hijacking plot" as a source for concern. According to the leaked JTF-GTMO threat assessment, al Rahabi was one of the al Qaeda members selected to take part in the Southeast Asia hijackings on 9/11.

The intelligence connecting al Rahabi to this plot came mainly from two al Qaeda operatives who were held in the CIA's detention and interrogation program before being transferred to Guantanamo.

Walid bin Attash, a senior al Qaeda planner, identified al Rahabi as one of the would-be 9/11 hijackers. Bin Attash himself had performed surveillance on American aircraft in Asia in anticipation of the hijackings. Bin Attash has also admitted to playing a role in other high-profile al Qaeda operations, such as the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the USS Cole bombing in 2000.

Bin Attash was captured in Karachi alongside Ammar al Baluchi on April 27, 2003. Bin Attash and al Baluchi, who is the nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), were reportedly planning to attack US interests in Karachi at the time of their capture. The pair was held in the CIA's detention and interrogation program before being transferred to Guantanamo in September 2006.

Footnotes in the JTF-GTMO file reveal that all of the reporting from Bin Attash on al Rahabi's role in the hijacking plot comes from the period before he was transferred to Guantanamo.

Bin Attash explained to authorities that bin Laden originally wanted "to use Yemenis and Saudis who could not obtain a US visa" as hijackers aboard the airplanes flying from Southeast Asia. Al Rahabi was one of several al Qaeda members Bin Attash identified as being a part of this group.

At some point in 2003, Bin Attash told US officials that KSM had taken al Rahabi and several others "to Karachi to teach them English and American behaviors in preparation for the hijacking operation" just two months prior to 9/11.

The JTF-GTMO threat assessment cites an intelligence report from the Israeli Directorate of Military Intelligence that verifies Bin Attash's reporting. The Israelis indicated that KSM had established "a special training program in Karachi" to prepare for 9/11-style attacks. One of the operatives who took part in the training was listed as "Batar al-Yemeni," which JTF-GTMO identified as a "variant" of al Rahabi's alias.

Other intelligence reports cited in the JTF-GTMO file place al Rahabi in KSM's Karachi class. An al Qaeda facilitator in US custody, Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj, "corroborated" al Rabhi's "placement in [KSM's] group when he speculated" that al Rahabi and two others "may have been at a special operational meeting" with KSM in Karachi.

Al Hajj told officials that he met with al Rahabi at a Karachi restaurant in July 2001. Al Hajj explained that al Rahabi was "clean shaven" at the time. The 9/11 hijackers shaved off their beards so as to avoid any unwanted scrutiny prior to their day of terror. According to al Hajj, al Rahabi said he "had a job to do at the al Qaeda media center," which was run by KSM.

Al Hajj was captured in raids in Karachi on Feb. 7, 2002. He was held in the CIA's program before being transferred to Guantanamo on Sept. 19, 2004. The footnotes in the JTF-GTMO file indicate that al Hajj's testimony concerning al Rahabi came both before and after his transfer to Guantanamo.

Advanced training

Al Rahabi's "significant training" is among the concerns raised by the review board.

The JTF-GTMO file notes that al Rahabi "received advanced training at several al Qaeda affiliated camps and resided at several al Qaeda affiliated guesthouses."

In its threat assessment, JTF-GTMO cited several sources on al Rahabi's training.

Two of those sources are the aforementioned Bin Attash and al Hajj. Bin Attash said in 2003 and again in 2004 that al Rahabi "was a participant at an elite close combat training course give in 1999." Al Hajj also told officials that al Rahabi had attended al Qaeda's training camps.

Mohammed al Qahtani, who had been slated to take part in 9/11 as the 20th hijacker but was denied entry to the US in the summer of 2001, also identified al Rahabi as an al Qaeda trainee. Qahtani was subjected to coercive and abusive interrogation tactics at Guantanamo from 2002 until early 2003. In 2003, Qahtani told US officials that he had seen al Rahabi at a guesthouse in Kandahar, as well as at al Qaeda's training camps. Qahtani said that al Rahabi "was always at [bin Laden's] side."

Two additional sources placed al Rahabi at the Khalden training camp. A senior al Qaeda operative known as Ibn al Sheikh al Libi identified al Rahabi as an al Qaeda trainee. In 2002, al Libi reported that al Rahabi had arrived at Khalden "in 1995, stayed until 1996, and received weapons, explosives, and machinegun training."

Al Libi was captured in Pakistan in late 2001 and then transported to Egypt for questioning. Al Libi's detention and interrogations became especially controversial. The Egyptians are suspected of using harsh interrogation measures on al Libi, who later recanted some of his more sensational claims. There was disagreement within the US intelligence community over how much of what al Libi initially told Egyptian interrogators was accurate. Al Libi died in 2009 while imprisoned in his home country of Libya.

Another detainee at Guantanamo, Ahmed Muhammad Haza al Darbi, also identified al Rahabi as a trainee at Khalden, however. Al Darbi, who is still detained at Guantanamo, is suspected of participating in an al Qaeda plot to ram an explosives-laden boat into a petroleum tanker in the Straits of Hormuz. Al Darbi told officials that al Rahabi was "close" to Osama bin Laden and that he had attended Khalden alongside al Rahabi.

Al Rahabi himself "admitted attending a two week combat swimmer's course in Pakistan." The course "was taught by the Pakistani army and was geared for militants scheduled to participate in operations in Kashmir."

Other evidence cited by JTF-GTMO

The JTF-GTMO file shows that al Rahabi was well-known in al Qaeda circles. Multiple detainees identified him as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. Some of these same sources identified al Rahabi as participating in the Battle of Tora Bora in late 2001.

Al Rahabi fled Afghanistan in December 2001 as part of a group that US military and intelligence officials have dubbed the "Dirty 30." The group included other members of bin Laden's security detail, as well as Mohammed al Qahtani.

US authorities believe al Rahabi may have written a letter to Osama bin Laden. In the letter, dated Aug. 30, 2000, the Yemeni asks for bin Laden's permission to fight in Kashmir and for "forgiveness if he has not lived up to [bin Laden's] expectations."

The leaked JTF-GTMO file also cites a "last will and testament" authored by al Rahabi in Jalalabad on Sept. 24, 2001. In it, the Guantanamo detainee praised bin Laden's "jihad against America and encourages the readers to support [bin Laden] with their lives and their money."

More than a dozen years later, the review board is concerned that al Rahabi remains loyal to his deceased master's jihad. Given al Rahabi's past, the "marginal security environment in his native Yemen," and his "ties to a relative who is a possible extremist," the review board worries that he is susceptible "to reengagement."

JTF-GTMO had the same concerns nearly six years ago, when its analysts authored their threat assessment of al Rahabi.

In a statement released to jihadist forums on March 14, the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) announced the death of Tawfiq Mohammed Freij, also known as Abu Abdullah. The group described Freij as one of the group's founders, and said he had been killed on March 11. And yesterday, the group issued a statement eulogizing Mohamed al Sayed Mansour al Toukhi, who died on March 11 in a shootout with Egyptian authorities in Cairo's Ain Shams district.

The two statements, translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, were the first confirmation by Ansar Jerusalem since Jan. 2 of the deaths of members. Freij and Toukhi are the 18th and 19th members whom Ansar Jerusalem has confirmed dead by name, according to a tally maintained by The Long War Journal.

Tawfiq Mohammed Freij

Freij's death occurred when a bomb he was transporting detonated during a car accident, Ansar Jerusalem claimed. The jihadist group did not specify where Freij died. Egyptian military sources are claiming that the traffic accident story is a cover and that Freij died as a result of an operation by security forces in North Sinai.

In early January 2014, Freij had been identified by Egypt's Interior Ministry as a key figure in the jihadist group. According to Ansar Jerusalem's statement, Freij "was one of the people of unique fingerprints in the history of the jihadi work in Sinai" and had earlier "accompanied" the former leaders of Tawhid wal Jihad, Khaled Mosaed and Naser Khamis. Mosaed was killed in 2005, and Khamis died in 2006.

Although Ansar Jerusalem did not specify Freij's nationality, the group has previously claimed to have been founded by Egyptians.

According to Ansar Jerusalem, it was Freij who came up with the idea of carrying out attacks against a pipeline that supplied gas to Israel. In addition, he was the "field commander" for the group's Aug. 18, 2011 cross-border attack that killed eight Israelis. He was also involved in the "disciplinary invasion against those who transgressed against the beloved Prophet," likely a reference to the group's September 2012 cross-border attack against Israel. And in 2013, Freij oversaw a number of Ansar Jerusalem's attacks, including the attempted assassination of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim on Sept. 5, 2013.

Ansar Jerusalem's eulogy for Freij concluded by saying that he was a "good commander for your brothers and a good soldier to your emirs."

Mohamed al Sayed Mansour al Toukhi

In its eulogy for al Toukhi, Ansar Jerusalem said that he had conducted "jihad with his self and his money in the cause of Allah." According to the jihadist group, al Toukhi, who spent at least three and a half years in prison, fought the enemies of Islam.

After leaving prison (no specific date was given), al Toukhi "yearned for jihad and martyrdom and so he continued his jihadi journey against the Jews and their agents." According to Ansar Jerusalem, al Toukhi "participated in several attacks and struck the enemies of Allah and hurt their headquarters." Egypt's Interior Ministry had previously said that al Toukhi was a key suspect in the Jan. 24 car bombing outside the Cairo Security Directorate.

Ansar Jerusalem

Ansar Jerusalem, which was founded by Egyptians, is the dominant jihadist group operating in the Sinai Peninsula today. The group, whose fighters are often seen with the al Qaeda flag, has claimed credit for a number of attacks against Israel and Egypt since 2011.

In September 2013, Ansar Jerusalem, which releases material through the jihadist forums of Al Fajr Media Center, al Qaeda's exclusive media distribution outlet, declared that "it is obligatory to repulse them [the Egyptian army] and fight them until the command of Allah is fulfilled." Recent reports in the Egyptian media have suggested that Ansar Jerusalem may have links to Muhammad Jamal and the Muhammad Jamal Network [MJN], which were added to the US government's list of designated terrorists and the UN's sanctions list in October 2013.

Jamal, whose fighters have been linked to the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi terror attack, is said to have established "several terrorist training camps in Egypt and Libya" with funding from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In late August, Ansar Jerusalem was lauded by an AQAP official as "our mujahideen brothers in Sinai."

The nascent insurgency

Since July 3, 2013, there have been more than 315 reported attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, most of which were carried out against Egyptian security forces and assets, according to data maintained by The Long War Journal. A good number of these attacks, including the Nov. 20, 2013, car bombing that killed 11 Egyptian security personnel, have been claimed by Ansar Jerusalem. On Jan. 26, Ansar Jerusalem released video of its fighters using a surface-to-air missile to take down an Egyptian helicopter operating in North Sinai. Five Egyptian soldiers were killed in the attack.

Attacks by Sinai-based jihadists, Ansar Jerusalem specifically, have also taken place outside North Sinai. On Sept. 5, 2013, the jihadist group used a suicide car bomber in an assassination attempt in Nasr City on Egypt's interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim. A month later, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide bomber unleashed a blast at the South Sinai Security Directorate in el Tor, which killed three security personnel and injured more than 45. On Oct. 19, 2013, the Sinai-based jihadist group targeted a military intelligence building in the city of Ismailia in another car bombing. And on Nov. 19, 2013, the group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack on Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mabrouk, a senior national security officer, in Cairo. In late December 2013, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide car bombing attack outside the Daqahliya security directorate in Mansoura killed over a dozen people and injured over 130 more. Five days after the attack in Mansoura, Ansar Jerusalem carried out a car bombing outside a military intelligence building in Anshas in the Sharkiya governorate.

More recently, Ansar Jerusalem took credit for a series of bombings in Cairo, including a car bombing at the Cairo Security Directorate on Jan. 24 that left at least six people dead. On Jan. 28, the group said its fighters were responsible for the assassination of an aide to Egypt's Interior Minister in Cairo.

The al Furqan Brigades, which are not believed to be based in the Sinai, have also claimed responsibility for a number of shootings and rocket attacks in the Egyptian mainland since July 2013. In addition, a group calling itself Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for seven attacks in the Cairo area in recent months.

Early yesterday morning, at least six army officers were gunned downed by unidentified gunmen in the Cairo area, the Associated Press reported. The attack came only two days after unidentified gunmen killed one soldier and wounded three others in a shooting in the Cairo area. Egypt's army spokesman blamed both attacks, which have not yet been claimed, on the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant has announced the establishment of two training camps in Syria that are named after al Qaeda's emir and a senior al Qaeda in Iraq operative who was killed by US special operations forces in Syria in 2008.

The Al Nusrah Front, which is al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, disclosed the existence of the two camps in videos that were released on YouTube over the past two weeks.

In the videos, the masked trainees are seen marching in formation; running through obstacle courses, often while instructors fire live rounds at their feet; live-firing weapons, and practicing military assaults or "storming" operations.

The Ayman al Zawahiri Camp, located in the city of Deir al Zour, is named after al Qaeda's current emir. In the video, one of the instructors praised al Qaeda's prior emir, Osama bin Laden, as "the Sheikh, the Imam, the Reviver [of jihad], Usama bin Muhammad bin Laden," according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

"All praise is due to Allah, who granted us that we followed his [bin Laden's] path on this method, with permission from Allah the Almighty," the instructor continued.

The Abu Ghadiya Camp is named after the leader of the al Qaeda in Iraq facilitation network that was based in eastern Syria. Abu Ghadiya, who was appointed by Abu Musab al Zarqawi to lead the network and whose real name is Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidi, was killed during a US special operations raid near Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, just five miles from the Iraqi border, in October 2008. Several members of his staff were also killed during the cross-border raid.

In February 2008, the US Treasury department publicly designated Abu Ghadiya and his brother Akram Turki Hishan Al Mazidih, as well as his two cousins Ghazy Fezza Hishan Al Mazidih and Saddah Jaylut Al Marsumis, as senior members of al Qaeda's foreign facilitation network. Abu Ghadiya was supported by Assef Shawkat, the former deputy defense minister and head of Syrian military intelligence who was killed in a suicide attack in 2012. [See LWJ reports, US strike in Syria "decapitated" al Qaeda's facilitation network, and Slain Syrian official supported al Qaeda in Iraq.]

The Al Nusrah Front videos from the Abu Ghadiya and Ayman al Zawahiri camps are reminiscent of others released by al Qaeda from the network of camps in Afghanistan during the 1990s. Al Qaeda used camps such as Khalden and Al Farouq to churn out thousands of foreign fighters who fought alongside the Taliban in the 55th Arab Brigade. But al Qaeda also selected graduates of the camps to conduct attacks in the West, including the Sept. 11, 2001 operation.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released the 12th issue of Inspire magazine. The Long War Journal has obtained a copy of the magazine, which is published as a pdf file online.

The cover story of the magazine, "Shattered: A Story About Change," argues that the 9/11 attacks were a "turning point" in American history. The author, Abu Abdullah Almoravid, conflates a series of unrelated issues into a single narrative that portrays the US as a crumbling empire.

In uneven English, Almoravid references everything from America's economic woes to the elementary school shootings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Clumsy propaganda pieces such as "Shattered" are a regular feature in al Qaeda's propaganda.

On a more serious note, the magazine devotes a lengthy section to what AQAP calls "Open Source Jihad." As in past editions of Inspire, AQAP seeks to motivate and educate aspiring lone wolf jihadists who do not have the ability to receive more formal training.

In this edition, AQAP shows jihadists how to plan a car bomb attack on their own.

In the letter from the editor, Yahya Ibrahim refers to past operations, such as Faisal Shahzad's attempted May 2010 car bombing in Times Square and the attacks on the Boston Marathon in April 2013. Shahzad was trained and dispatched by the Pakistani Taliban, but AQAP wants jihadists to emulate Shahzad's actions on their own.

Ibrahim taunts American counterterrorism officials, saying the US government was unable to stop the Boston Marathon bombings, which utilized backpacks filled with pressure cooker bombs. Ibrahim adds, "I wonder if they are ready to stop car bombs!"

Ibrahim claims there are "many" Shahzads "residing inside America, and all they need is the knowledge of how to make car bombs" to "fulfill their duty of jihad."

Over several pages in Inspire, AQAP offers what it says are the instructions to make a car bomb similar to Shahzad's.

The author, dubbed the "AQ Chef," explains how a shrapnel bomb can be assembled from common household items, including cooking gas cylinders and nails. The device can be set off by a "martyrdom bomber," by a timer, or with a remote detonator. In the last instance, AQAP suggests a "toy-car remote, alarm remote, garage remote or any other," as long as the bomb maker tests the remote first.

Inspire offers advice on how to avoid being detected by authorities. "It is better to start preparing the car bomb [a] few hours before the operation, because the security forces (if they come into your work place/house) cannot accuse you of preparing a bomb, especially if you distribute the ingredients in your house well," the magazine reads.

The "AQ Chef" also offers what he calls "field data" on the types of targets that should be attacked. "This type of car bomb is used to kill individuals and NOT to destroy buildings," he says. "Therefore, look for a dense crowd."

The author advises jihadists that they should target places "flooded with individuals, e.g. sports events in which tens of thousands attend, election campaigns, festivals and other gathering [sic]. The important thing is that you target people and not buildings."

America "is our first target, followed by [the] United Kingdom, France and other crusader countries," the "AQ Chef" writes. Washington DC, New York, northern Virginia (because it "has a big military presence" and federal agencies are located there), Chicago, and Los Angeles are all listed as the preferred cities to target inside the US.

While al Qaeda is known for its desire to hit high-profile and symbolic targets, Inspire advises jihadists to hit other, more mundane locations as well.

For instance, the "AQ Chef" says that restaurants and bars in Arlington and Alexandria, Va., as well as on M Street in Washington DC, are visited by "high profile personalities" on the weekend and are, therefore, good places to attack.

Other possible targets in the UK and France are listed, including sports stadiums and tourist hotspots. Inspire says that terrorists should attack the entrances and exits of these locations as the facilities themselves are often difficult to enter with a bomb.

Inspire offers advice on the best times of the year for an attack, and even suggests that jihadists disguise themselves as Santa Claus during the Christmas holiday when carrying out a bombing.

Other pieces in the magazine were authored by high-profile al Qaeda ideologues such as Abu Musab al Suri, who was imprisoned inside Syria before the uprisings. There are conflicting reports on al Suri's current status, as he may or may not have been freed. Al Qaeda branches, such as the Al Nusrah Front, openly follow al Suri's advice. Inspire has included pieces culled from al Suri's catalogue of writings in the past.

An article by Anwar al Awlaki, the deceased AQAP cleric who helped pioneer the group's propaganda, is also included in the magazine. Awlaki was killed in a US drone strike in September 2011, and Inspire's latest edition carries multiple condemnations of America's drones.

A piece by "freelance journalist" Abdulilah Shaye tries to show the influence of al Qaeda's propaganda. In a piece entitled "City Wolves," Shaye, who was detained in Yemen for three years, blames President Obama for his arrest. Shaye claims Obama ordered his jailing to keep him quiet about a supposed "American massacre" of women and children in southern Yemen.

Shaye, who is known for his ability to get access to AQAP leaders, briefly recounts the stories of jihadists such as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Tex. in 2009, as well as the story of the Tsarnaev brothers, who were responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings.

Still another piece by AQAP theologian Ibrahim Rubaish, who was once held at Guantanamo, takes aim at the Obama administration's claim that al Qaeda is on the "path to defeat." Rubaish cites the closing of more than 20 US diplomatic facilities in August 2013 as an example of why this thinking is wrong.

The diplomatic facilities were closed after American officials learned that al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri had communicated, via a complex Internet-based system, with more than 20 al Qaeda operatives around the world. The al Qaeda terrorists reportedly discussed a possible attack on a US embassy or consulate. During the communications, Zawahiri also made it known that he had appointed Nasir al Wuhayshi, the head of AQAP, as the new general manager of al Qaeda's global operations.

From left to right: Khamzat, the commander of the Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyr Brigade; Doku Umarov, the leader of the Caucasus Emirate; and Saifullah, the suicide bomber of the deadly Jan. 24 suicide attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people.

The Islamic Caucasus Emirate, an al Qaeda-linked group that operates in southern Russia, confirmed today that its emir, Doku Umarov, has died. Although Umarov was rumored to have been killed by Russian security forces late last year, the reports have not been confirmed until now.

"The Command of the Caucasus Emirate officially announced the martyrdom of the Emir Doku Abu Usman [Umarov]," according to statement that was released today on Kavkaz Center, a media outlet for the Islamic Caucasus Emirate.

The Islamic Caucasus Emirate did not say how or when Umarov was killed, and the martyrdom statement provided only a brief biography. Umarov had been reported killed several times over the years, only to re-emerge.

Umarov was first reported killed in a statement on Dec. 18, 2013 by Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of the Chechen Republic. But one day later, a video showing the Islamic Caucasus Emirate leader was uploaded to YouTube.

In mid-January 2014, Kadyrov again claimed that Umarov is dead, and said intercepted communications between jihadist leaders in Kabardino-Balkaria and Dagestan mentioned the election of a new "emir."

Today, Kavkaz Center tweeted that Ali Abu Muhammad, the "Caucasus Emirate's Sharia Judge," was "elected as new CE Emir by leaders of CE provinces." A video of of Abu Muhammad was also released by the Islamic Caucasus Emirate on Kavkaz Center.

Umarov had led the jihad in the Russian Caucasus since he declared the establishment of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate in November 2007. He admitted to planning and executing numerous terror attacks in the Caucasus and in Moscow, the Russian capital. The US added Umarov to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in June 2010. The Islamic Caucasus Emirate was added to the US' list of global terrorist groups the next year.

Two of the most deadly attacks claimed by Umarov have occurred in Moscow. Umarov took credit for the deadly Jan. 24, 2011 suicide attack at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow that killed 35 people and wounded scores more. Umarov also claimed responsibility for the March 29, 2010 suicide attack by two female bombers that killed 39 people in the Moscow metro.

Umarov had repeatedly vowed to continue attacks inside Russia. In May 2011, in an interview with Kavkaz Center, the terror group's propaganda arm, Umarov said he considered "the Caucasus Emirate and Russia as a single theater of war."

"Today, the battlefield is not just Chechnya and the Caucasus Emirate, but also the whole Russia," he continued. "The situation is visible to everybody who has eyes. The Jihad is spreading, steadily and inevitably, everywhere. I've already mentioned that all those artificial borders, administrative divisions, which the Taghut [false leader or liar] drew, mean nothing to us. The days when we wanted to secede and dreamed of building a small Chechen Kuwait in the Caucasus are over."

Umarov also said his group is "part of the global jihad," in a July 2013 statement in which he called for further attacks aimed at disrupting Russia's plans for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Although the Islamic Caucasus Emirate failed to launch attacks in Sochi during the Olympics, the group executed three suicide attacks on transportation targets in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in the months leading up to the games.

The Islamic Caucasus Emirate has close ties to al Qaeda. Some members of the group have fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And the International Islamic Battalion, the unit comprised of Arab and other foreign jihadists that fights in the Caucasus, has been led by senior al Qaeda leaders. The top leaders of the International Islamic Battalion have included al Qaeda commander Ibn al Khattab (killed in 2002); Abu al Walid (killed in 2004); Abu Hafs al Urduni (killed in 2006); and and Muhannad (killed in April 2011).

Large numbers of fighters from the Islamic Caucasus Emirate are currently battling alongside the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, and the rival Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham.

In a statement released to jihadist forums and social media sites yesterday, a group calling itself Kataeb Ansar al Sharia fi Ard al Kinanah (Brigades of Ansar al Sharia in the Land of Egypt), claimed responsibility for a slew of recent shooting attacks in the governorates of Sharkiya, Beni Suef, and Giza. In total, 28 security personnel were targeted in more than a dozen separate shooting attacks, the group claimed.

A group under the same name appeared on March 4 when it released a founding statement that circulated on jihadist forums and social media sites. In the statement, the group called on Egyptian Muslims to fight and defend their honor, and said its fighters were prepared to target security personnel. After releasing the statement, the group said on its now defunct Facebook page that it would release another statement claiming responsibility for recent shooting attacks.

While there is a strong possibility the two statements are coming from the same group, the image version of the two statements does contain notable differences as well as some similarities.

In yesterday's statement, the group, which is active on Twitter and Facebook, said its attacks were part of "the first phase of a campaign to punish traitors," the Associated Press reported. While most of the attacks took place in February and March, at least one of those claimed occurred in late January.

The Long War Journal has matched nearly all of the names mentioned in the communique to shooting incidents within the past two and half months. According to the group, a couple of the incidents noted in its statement were either not announced by Egypt's Interior Ministry or were reported to be a car accident.

It is unclear whether this new Ansar al Sharia has any connections, aside from its similar name, to the Ansar al Sharia that threatened attacks in early July or the Ansar al Sharia that was founded by Ahmed Ashush.

The nascent insurgency

Since July 3, 2013, there have been more than 315 reported attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, most of which were carried out against Egyptian security forces and assets, according to data maintained by The Long War Journal. A good number of these attacks, including the Nov. 20, 2013, car bombing that killed 11 Egyptian security personnel, have been claimed by Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis). On Jan. 26, Ansar Jerusalem released video of its fighters using a surface-to-air missile to take down an Egyptian helicopter operating in North Sinai. Five Egyptian soldiers were killed in the attack.

Attacks by Sinai-based jihadists, Ansar Jerusalem specifically, have also taken place outside North Sinai. On Sept. 5, 2013, the jihadist group used a suicide car bomber in an assassination attempt in Nasr City on Egypt's interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim. A month later, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide bomber unleashed a blast at the South Sinai Security Directorate in el Tor, which killed three security personnel and injured more than 45. On Oct. 19, 2013, the Sinai-based jihadist group targeted a military intelligence building in the city of Ismailia in another car bombing. And on Nov. 19, 2013, the group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack on Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mabrouk, a senior national security officer, in Cairo. In late December 2013, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide car bombing attack outside the Daqahliya security directorate in Mansoura killed over a dozen people and injured over 130 more. Five days after the attack in Mansoura, Ansar Jerusalem carried out a car bombing outside a military intelligence building in Anshas in the Sharkiya governorate.

More recently, Ansar Jerusalem took credit for a series of bombings in Cairo, including a car bombing at the Cairo Security Directorate on Jan. 24 that left at least six people dead. On Jan. 28, the group said its fighters were responsible for the assassination of an aide to Egypt's Interior Minister in Cairo.

The al Furqan Brigades, which are not believed to be based in the Sinai, have also claimed responsibility for a number of shootings and rocket attacks in the Egyptian mainland since July 2013. In addition, a group calling itself Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for seven attacks in the Cairo area in recent months.

Abu Muhammad al Amriki [the American, far right with index finger raised], walking alongside Omar al Shishani [center, with red beard].

An American who previously explained his defection from the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, or ISIS, is seen posing in pictures with two ISIS commanders.

The purported American, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al Amriki (the American), is seen in photographs posted on the Twitter page of a local ISIS commander known as Abu Abdurahman al Iraqi.

Abu Abdurahman currently commands ISIS forces in the town of Tal Jijan in Aleppo province. Previously, he was the commander of ISIS forces in Azaz, the border town where the ISIS clashed with the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front before retreating. Abu Abdurahman is a prolific poster on Twitter. He often tweets images of himself or corpses of his enemies. In one photograph, Abu Abdurahman is seen posing with the severed heads of five Al Nusrah Front and Islamic Front fighters who were killed during clashes with the ISIS.

Abu Muhammad al Amriki, with gun raised, poses with Abu Abdurahman al Iraqi. Click photograph to enlarge.

In one picture, a bearded Abu Muhammad poses with Abu Abdurahman in front of a pickup truck with a heavy machine gun mounted in the bed. In another, he poses with Abu Abdurahman in front of a recoilless rifle. Both photographs show him wearing a Multicam parka, and a radio is included among his gear.

"Your brother Abu Muhammad al Amriki and your brother Abu Abdurahman Al Iraqi," a translation of a statement accompanying one of the images says.

And in another picture, Abu Muhammad is seen walking alongside Omar al Shishani, a Chechen who is a top military commander in the ISIS. The photograph is dated Feb. 16 and was purportedly taken in Azaz. Omar joined the ISIS last year; previously he led the Muhajireen, or Emigrant's Army.

Abu Muhammad's real name is not known, and it is unclear if he is an American citizen. US officials in intelligence and government agencies told The Long War Journal in early February that they are investigating to determine his status. [See Threat Matrix report, 'American' jihadi with ISIS explains defection from Al Nusrah Front.]

In February, a video of Abu Muhammed was published on YouTube. In that video, he explained that he had defected from the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, to the ISIS after the two groups began fighting in the town of Atma, where he claimed he was a military commander. He also claimed to have lived in the United States for 10 or 11 years, but it is unclear if he was born in the US or obtained citizenship.

If Abu Mohammad is determined to be an American citizen, he would be the latest in a long line of Westerners who have traveled to Syria, or are seeking to do so, to join up with jihadist groups fighting the regime of President Bashar al Assad.

Americans are known to fight in Syria against the Assad regime, and most are thought to join the Al Nusrah Front, the ISIS, or Islamist groups such as the brigades in the Islamic Front. On Feb. 4, James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, told Congress that more than 50 Americans are thought to be waging jihad in Syria and are among 7,500 foreign fighters in the country.

Yesterday, the US indicted Nicholas Teausant from California for "supporting violent extremist activities and providing material support to various terrorist organizations." A private in the National Guard, Teausant said he "would love to join Allah's army" and wanted to be "part of America's 'down fall.'" He was arrested at the Canadian border while en route to Syria to join the ISIS.

The most infamous American to have fought in Syria is Eric Harroun, who joined the Al Nusrah Front, and then turned himself in to US officials while in Turkey. Harroun later pled guilty to a weapons charge and was sentenced to time served.

Other known American jihadists include Amiir Farouk Ibrahim, who was born in Pennsylvania on Oct. 30, 1980, according to his passport, which was found in an ISIS safe house last year. Ibrahim is thought to have been killed last year.

Nicole Lynn Mansfield, an American from Flint, Mich., was killed in May 2013. She fought for Ahrar al Sham, an Islamist brigade that is part of the Islamic Front. One of Ahrar al Sham's top leaders, Abu Khalid al Suri, was also a senior al Qaeda leader and the personal representative to Ayman al Zawahiri in Syria, until he was killed by a suspected ISIS suicide attack in Aleppo in late February.

The Afghan Taliban claimed credit for today's suicide assault on a police headquarters in Jalalabad in the eastern province of Nangarhar that killed 18 people.

A heavily armed suicide assault team consisting of seven fighters opened the attack on the police station in Jalalabad City by ramming a truck packed with explosives into the outer wall of the compound. Six fighters armed with assault weapons and suicide vests then stormed the compound and engaged with Afghan forces for nearly six hours before being killed.

Ten Afghan policemen, including a district police chief, were killed during the attack, as well as a student and all seven Taliban fighters. Three of the Taliban fighters are said to have detonated their vests.

At Voice of Jihad, the Taliban's official website, the group claimed the attack and said that more than 20 policemen were killed after "a group of martyrdom-seeking Mujahideen attacked the enemy's military installations in Jalalabad city, using heavy and light arms." The Taliban said that one of the fighters communicated via cell phone with Al Emara, the Taliban's propaganda arm, during the assault.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry accused the Taliban's "supporters outside Afghanistan," a reference to Pakistan, of facilitating the attack.

"Aimed at destabilizing the country, the terrorists and their supporters outside Afghanistan in the continuation of subversive activities targeted a police station in Jalalabad city Thursday morning, killing 10 police and a civilian and wounding 15 others," an Interior Ministry statement said, according to Xinhua.

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 a number of suicide attacks against Coalition and Afghan bases in Nangarhar. Many of those attacks have targeted the main ISAF airbase in Jalalabad. The last such attack in Nangarhar took place in January when a Taliban assault team struck at an International Security Assistance Force and Afghan military base in the Ghani Khel district. One ISAF soldier was killed while repelling the assault.

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 was 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 whom bin Laden had allegedly entrusted 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.]

The Haqqani Network, a deadly Taliban subgroup that is closely tied to al Qaeda and is supported by Pakistan's military, also is known to operate in Nangarhar. Afghan intelligence linked the Feb. 19, 2011 suicide assault on a bank in Jalalabad to the Haqqani Network, and said the attack was planned inside Pakistan with the help of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Abu Firas al Suri, a senior al Qaeda operative, was sent to Syria from Yemen in 2013. According to the Al Nusrah Front, Al Suri served as an "envoy" for Osama bin Laden and helped establish Lashkar-e-Taiba. The picture above is from an Al Nusrah Front video.

A recently released video produced by the Al Nusrah Front features Abu Firas al Suri, an al Qaeda veteran who has waged jihad since the late 1970s. In his video debut, al Suri criticizes the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), a jihadist group that has been disowned by al Qaeda's senior leadership.

The Al Nusrah Front is al Qaeda's official branch inside Syria and has been openly fighting ISIS both online and on the ground.

Abu Firas is one of the senior al Qaeda officials who was entrusted to mediate the dispute, but those efforts have failed.

"I was not intending to talk about the State (ISIS) and about its crimes against the Islamic ummah and against Islam," Abu Firas says in the video, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal. However, an ISIS leader known as Abu Muhammad al Adnani recently accused Abu Abdallah al Shami, a Nusrah Front official, of "lying and slander." Al Adnani also called for Allah to curse the lying party in the dispute, by which al Adnani meant the Al Nusrah Front.

Abu Firas says that al Adani's speech, which was widely disseminated online, was "devastating" and therefore he had to respond.

Abu Firas addresses two issues in his response to ISIS: the assassination of al Qaeda's top representative in Syria, known as Abu Khalid al Suri, and ISIS' habit of declaring other Muslims to be apostates.

Shortly before Abu Khalid al Suri (whose real name was Mohamed Bahaiah) was killed, Abu Firas says the two met. Abu Khalid claimed to have had warnings about an impending attack on him by ISIS. "They put me on the black list and they want to assassinate me," Abu Khalid said, according to Abu Firas' account.

Abu Firas maintains that he warned Abu Khalid to take special precautions, but the attack was successful on Feb. 23, the day after they met. Although Abu Khalid had worked with Abu Firas to end the disagreement between ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front, all Abu Khalid did was earn ISIS' enmity.

Another senior al Qaeda official in Syria, a Saudi known as Sanafi al Nasr, has made similar claims on his Twitter feed. Nasr has alleged that Abu Khalid al Suri warned him about ISIS' threats just two weeks prior to the suicide bombing. [See LWJ report, Head of al Qaeda 'Victory Committee' in Syria.]

Given the similarity of their claims, it is likely that al Qaeda operatives inside Syria are coordinating their testimony against ISIS. By claiming that Abu Khalid al Suri warned of his own death beforehand, they are building the case against ISIS in jihadist minds.

Abu Firas also levels another charge against ISIS: that the group is "takfiri" because it declares other practicing Muslims apostates. Abu Firas says that when the Al Nusrah Front attempted to shelter ISIS fighters during a battle in northern Syria, an ungrateful ISIS commander complained that Al Nusrah raised its banner above an ISIS building in the process.

According to Abu Firas, this same ISIS leader also lashed out at Al Nusrah for accepting oaths of support from members of the Free Syrian Army. But Abu Firas claims that Al Nusrah was simply receiving pledges of support for jihad. Thus, the longtime al Qaeda ideologue says, ISIS is "takfiri" for denouncing acts that are consistent with the will of Allah.

Little known, but with an extensive biography

Little was publicly known about Abu Firas al Suri until his sudden appearance in the Al Nusrah Front video, which includes a summary of his biography.

According to Al Nusrah, Abu Firas went to military school and joined the Syrian military, but was relieved of his duties because of his "Islamic tendencies." Abu Firas was a member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and fought against the regime of Hafez al Assad, Bashar al Assad's father, in 1979 and 1980.

Abu Firas traveled to Jordan and then Afghanistan, where he met with Abdullah Azzam and Osama bin Laden. He trained both Afghans and Arabs, as well as jihadists from other countries around the world, and worked to end the conflict between unidentified jihadist groups inside Afghanistan.

The Al Nusrah Front claims that Abu Firas served as Osama bin Laden's "envoy" for "mobilizing Pakistanis for jihad." The Pakistani jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was set up for this purpose, the Al Nusrah Front says. The LeT and another group "were established, trained, and funded by Osama Bin Ladin."

Further demonstrating Abu Firas' seniority within al Qaeda, the Al Nusrah Front video says that he worked with the group's first two military commanders, Abu Ubaidah al Banshiri and Abu Hafs al Masri. Abu Firas also worked with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the deceased commander of al Qaeda in Iraq.

After the 9/11 attacks, Abu Firas "secured the mujahideen families in Pakistan," meaning that he helped al Qaeda families and others find safe haven in the country.

In 2003, Abu Firas relocated to Yemen and he stayed there until 2013, when the conflict between ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front erupted. Al Qaeda's senior leadership then dispatched Abu Firas to Syria in an attempt to help put an end to the dispute.

Abu Firas says in the video that he has followed the guidance of Al Nusrah's emir, Abu Muhammad al Julani, who wanted to resolve the conflict with ISIS.

'Core' al Qaeda in Syria

Abu Firas' role as a leader within the Al Nusrah Front was not publicly known until the video was released on March 18. But this is not the first time that the infighting in Syria has brought to light more details concerning al Qaeda's international network.

After the infighting between ISIS and the Al Nusrah Front broke out in April 2013, Ayman al Zawahiri named Abu Khalid al Suri as his chief mediator. Abu Khalid al Suri's position of authority inside the Syrian jihad was not known before a letter from Zawahiri to all of the parties involved, written in May 2013, was leaked online.

Subsequently, as The Long War Journal reported, Abu Khalid al Suri's leadership position within Ahrar al Sham was also discovered. Ahrar al Sham is not an official branch of al Qaeda, but it is possibly the most powerful rebel group within the Islamic Front, which is a large coalition of several Islamist groups.

While Abu Khalid al Suri was killed in late February, al Qaeda still has senior talent inside Syria, in addition to the new recruits it has garnered since the insurgency began in 2011. For instance, The Long War Journal has reported that Sanafi al Nasr, who leads al Qaeda's 'Victory Committee,' relocated to Syria from Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Nasr has also been a party to the infighting between Al Nusrah and ISIS. Like Abu Firas and Abu Khalid al Suri, Nasr is opposed to ISIS.

In February, according to BBC Monitoring, Nasr claimed on his Twitter feed that al Qaeda has sent a group of leaders to Syria and most of them were tasked with joining the Al Nusrah Front. This group includes Abu Firas.

Two of the dispatched al Qaeda operatives, however, were told to join Ahrar al Sham. However, only the deceased Abu Khalid al Suri has been identified as a dual-hatted Ahrar al Sham-al Qaeda leader. The identity of Abu Khalid's companion remains unknown.

Just as Abu Firas' role was not publicly known (at least in the West) until the Al Nusrah Front's video was released on March 18, the Syrian jihad likely masks more of al Qaeda's secrets.

Abu Sulayman al Muhajir, as pictured in an Al Nusrah Front video released on March 17.

An extremist preacher known for his fiery sermons in Australia, where he implored listeners to join the jihad in Syria, is now a leader in the Al Nusrah Front. The cleric, known as Abu Sulayman al Muhajir (or Abu Sulayman "the emigrant"), was introduced by the Al Nusrah Front as one of the group's top sharia officials in a video released on March 17.

The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch inside Syria, released the video as part of its propaganda campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which was disowned by al Qaeda's senior leadership earlier this year.

Abu Sulayman says in the video that he was tasked with trying to resolve the conflict between Al Nusrah and ISIS. Al Qaeda's senior leadership dispatched a number of highly respected jihadist ideologues to Syria to resolve the dispute last year. And Abu Sulayman's video confirms that he was among them.

Other known al Qaeda operatives who were involved in the failed reconciliation effort include Abu Khalid al Suri (al Qaeda's chief representative in Syria, who was killed in a suicide bombing on Feb. 23), Sanafi al Nasr (who heads al Qaeda's "Victory Committee," which is in charge of the group's strategic planning and policy), and Abu Firas al Suri (an al Qaeda veteran who once served as Osama bin Laden's "envoy" to Pakistani jihadist groups). It appears that a popular Saudi cleric named Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini was among these al Qaeda representatives sent to Syria as well.

Abu Sulayman says in the video that he decided to speak out only after an ISIS official known as Abu Muhammad al Adnani released a blistering critique of Abu Abdallah al Shami, an Al Nusrah Front official. This echoes the testimony of Abu Firas al Suri, who made the same claim in a video released by the Al Nusrah Front the following day, on March 18.

Criticizes ISIS

Abu Sulayman's testimony focuses on key aspects of the infighting.

First, and foremost, he rebuts the claim made by ISIS supporters that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi did not swear a formal bayat (oath of loyalty) to Ayman al Zawahiri. ISIS advances this claim in order to avoid the obvious implication that al Baghdadi is in the wrong for failing to follow orders. And Al Nusrah argues the opposite, that al Baghdadi is insubordinate because he has failed to abide by his pledge of bayat to Zawahiri.

Abu Sulayman says that ISIS "accepted" him as a mediator in conflict with Al Nusrah. But some within ISIS began to claim that al Baghdadi's oath was not a "full" bayat and instead a bayat for "love and support" only. Abu Sulayman says that he does not know what sort of bayat ISIS "was speaking about."

So, he brought the matter up with al Baghdadi.

"I seek refuge in Allah, I have a true binding bayat to Sheikh Ayman, to hear and obey, in hardship and in ease!" al Baghdadi responded, according to Abu Sulayman's testimony.

This, according to the Abu Sulayman, "affirmed to us what we already know, that [al Baghdadi] is a soldier in the command of al Qaeda and that he listens and obeys like the other [leaders] of other regions."

Al Baghdadi's willingness, at first, to abide by Ayman al Zawahiri's orders shows that he was an al Qaeda soldier, Abu Sulayman says. The cleric recounts an episode from his "first mediation" attempt, when al Baghdadi allegedly said: "If Sheikh Ayman commanded me to assign the issue of Sham [the Levant] to someone else I would do so."

ISIS even rejected the proposal that a common sharia court resolve the group's issues with Al Nusrah, Abu Sulayman claims, because ISIS said it was "waiting for the response of Sheikh Ayman."

Abu Sulayman's claims ring true, at least in part. After the dispute between Al Nusrah and ISIS became public in early April 2013, Ayman al Zawahiri sent a letter to both parties demanding that they account for their actions. Both sides complied, as can be seen in a subsequent letter from Zawahiri dated May 23, 2013, which was leaked to Al Jazeera.

In his letter, Zawahiri references the fact that he received reports from both al Baghdadi and Abu Muhammad al Julani, Al Nusrah Front's emir. Zawahiri then says that he consulted with al Qaeda's Shura council to determine his ruling. This shows, at a minimum, that ISIS' leaders were willing to submit to Zawahiri's arbitration process, which would be unusual if al Baghdadi and ISIS were not nominally under Zawahiri's command.

The March 17 Al Nusrah Front video even concludes with audio from Zawahiri reading from the parts of his May 2013 letter that deal with the written reports that were sent to him, thereby underscoring the fact that ISIS submitted itself to al Qaeda's bureaucratic process.

Zawahiri ruled that Al Nusrah and ISIS should remain separate entities (ISIS had tried to subsume control of Al Nusrah) and ISIS should decamp for Iraq. Al Baghdadi was not about to abide by this decision, however. After Zawahiri's ruling became public in June 2013, al Baghdadi openly defied Zawahiri's orders in an audio message released online.

Beyond the claims regarding ISIS' one-time loyalty to al Qaeda, Abu Sulayman also criticizes ISIS' "extremism," saying that ISIS had threatened to kill one of Al Nusrah's top officials without offering any sound Islamic justifications.

In sum, Abu Sulayman seeks to undermine ISIS' religious credentials, mocking the fact that some within ISIS "deprecate" Zawahiri's "judgment" when they themselves are supposedly bereft of sound reasoning.

Abu Sulayman concludes his testimony by endorsing Shaykh Abu Abdullah al Shami, the Al Nusrah Front ideologue who has been openly engaged in a war of words with ISIS.

Known for his extremism in Australia

While the Al Nusrah Front video is propaganda, it offers outsiders an additional window into how al Qaeda's international network operates. The aforementioned senior al Qaeda ideologues and operatives identified above were not known to play such a prominent role in Syria until the infighting between the Al Nusrah Front and ISIS exposed them.

As a result of ISIS' effective online attacks, Al Nusrah has been forced to expose the identities of some of its most seasoned personnel, some of whom were dispatched to Syria by al Qaeda's senior leadership. While previous reports identified Abu Sulayman as an Al Nusrah Front official in Raqqah province who was expelled by ISIS, little was known about his role in al Qaeda's mediation efforts.

Abu Sulayman does not hide his allegiance to al Qaeda. On his own Twitter feed, which currently has nearly 7,000 followers, Abu Sulayman decribes himself as a member of "Al Qaeda in the Levant."

Prior to migrating to Syria, Abu Sulayman was well-known for his jihadist recruiting efforts in Australia.

Along with other radical clerics, Abu Sulayman preached at the Al Risalah bookstore and community center in Sydney. The bookstore was closed by authorities there late last year.

"We're calling day and night for us to support them with our wealth and with our blood and with whatever we possess," Abu Sulayman said during a lecture in 2012, which was shown on television by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in December 2013. Abu Sulayman's lecture was devoted to supporting the jihad in Syria.

Abu Sulayman told those in his audience that they are obligated to join the jihad in Syria if they can, and they should give "generous donations" to the "mujahideen" in Syria.

Another account by ABC identified one of Abu Sulayman's colleagues at Al Risalah as a jailed preacher named Bilal Khazal. ABC reported that Khazal was a one-time "a confidant of Osama bin Laden" and said he had "trained at a military camp in Afghanistan."

According to Australian press accounts, a significant number of Al Risalah's recruits are suspected of traveling to Syria to fight for the Al Nusrah Front.

Abu Sulayman has joined them.

*Note: The Al Nusrah Front released Abu Sulayman's video in Arabic, as well as a transcript of the video in English.

Center: Muhammad al Shishani.

A Chechen leader of a unit that joined the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's branch in Syria, has been killed during recent fighting against the Syrian military, according to reports.

The military commander, who is known as Muhammad al Shishani (the Chechen) or Muhammad al Khurasani, was killed while fighting in the town of Lermon on March 19, Kavkaz Center, a propaganda arm of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate reported.

Muhammad was killed during a joint assault with the Army of Emigrants and Supporters against Syrian forces in Lermon. The three groups attacked a Syrian military "complex of concrete, high-rises on the outskirts" of the town and eventually "stormed" the buildings. The two Chechen-led groups then linked up other forces from the Al Nusrah Front to continue operations.

At the time of his death, Muhammad led a faction from the Jaish al Muhajireen wal Ansar (Army of Emigrants and Supporters, or Muhajireen Army) that had joined the Al Nusrah Front last year after Omar al Shishani joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS).

Muhammad had taken command of the Muhajireen Army faction following the death of the group's previous emir, Saifullah al Shishani, in battle with Syrian forces in Aleppo in early February. In a statement released after his death, Saifullah was praised as a "heroic knight" by the emir of the Al Nusrah Front, Muhammad al Julani. [See LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front praises Chechen commander killed in Aleppo.]

More than 400 fighters are said to have been under Muhammed's command at the time of his death. He led Chechens and other fighters from the Russian Caucasus, as well as Syrians and other foreign fighters.

Muhammad was seen in a video that was published by Usudu Sham, a propaganda arm of the Muhajireen Army, on Feb. 25. In that video, one of the fighters seated next to Muhammad urged fighters in both Europe and Chechnya to join the jihad in Syria.

"To those in Europe and Chechnya I want to say, let's rise up and unite and fight the infidels in this blessed land," the masked fighter said, according to a translation provided by EA Worldview.

Chechens and others from the Russian Caucasus and even from the Ukraine hold prominent positions in jihadist units fighting in Syria. In addition to Muhammad and Omar al Shishani, who commands fighters in the ISIS, a Chechen known as Salahuddin al Shishani serves as the emir of the Muhajireen Army. His deputy is Abdul Karim Krymsky, a Crimean Tatar from the Ukraine. Hundreds of fighters from the Caucasus and Russia are known to fight in the ranks of the jihadist groups in Syria that are commanded by Chechen leaders.

Sanafi al Nasr is sitting on the far left in the picture above. The photo was circulated on Twitter following the news of Nasr's death.

A senior al Qaeda leader known as Sanafi al Nasr was killed in the Latakia province of Syria on March 21.

Nasr's death was first reported by jihadists on social media and was quickly confirmed by Dr. Sami al Uraydi, a sharia official for the Al Nusrah Front, on his Twitter feed. Al Uraydi asked that Allah accept Nasr in his "caravan" of martyrs.

The Long War Journal first reported on March 6 that Nasr, who is well-known in the online jihadist world, was actually the head of al Qaeda's "Victory Committee." The little-known committee is tasked with strategic planning and policy-making for the terrorist organization.

Nasr, whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Sharikh, was a key ally of the Al Nusrah Front and relocated to Syria from Afghanistan or Pakistan in recent months.

In addition to al Uraydi, other well-connected jihadists have also reported that Nasr was killed. Sheikh Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a popular Saudi cleric who has 292,000 followers on his Twitter feed, honored Nasr's "martyrdom" in a series of tweets. Muhaysini and others have retweeted a hashtag that is being used to commemorate Nasr.

Muhaysini and Nasr, who was prolific commentator online, frequently endorsed each other on Twitter.

At odds with ISIS

As first noticed by BBC Monitoring, Nasr reported on his Twitter feed in February that al Qaeda had dispatched a number of veterans to Syria to join the Al Nusrah Front. Two others, Nasr said, were tasked with joining Ahrar al Sham, a powerful extremist organization in Syria that holds key leadership positions within the Islamic Front, which is a coalition of several rebel groups.

Some of the seasoned al Qaeda operatives Nasr referenced (but did not explicitly name) in his tweets took part in the failed effort to reconcile the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which has been disowned by al Qaeda's general command. Other groups, including Ahrar al Sham, are at odds with ISIS as well.

Muhaysini himself relocated to Syria in late 2013 and proposed a reconciliation initiative, which was accepted by Al Nusrah, Ahrar al Sham, and other groups before being rejected by ISIS.

Nasr was an increasingly vocal critic of ISIS. In the wake of Nasr's death, some jihadists have circulated his writings online. In one essay in particular, Nasr references the teachings of an al Qaeda ideologue known as Abu Musab al Suri. From the point of view of Nasr and other al Qaeda thinkers, ISIS is repeating the mistakes made by jihadists of the past and is alienating the Syrian population. Al Suri warned against such practices.

Nasr's "hearts and minds" approach was openly derided by ISIS followers on Twitter. But the Al Nusrah Front and Ahrar al Sham are attempting to implement the guidelines set forth by al Suri, who argued that jihadists should seek to build a popular base of support.

Abu Musab al Suri may or may not still be imprisoned by Bashar al Assad's regime. There are conflicting reports regarding his status, but much of his written work was compiled a decade or more ago and is still regularly cited.

Abu Khalid al Suri, who was killed in a suicide bombing on Feb. 23, was Abu Musab al Suri's longtime companion. Abu Khalid was one of the two senior al Qaeda leaders within Ahrar al Sham referenced in Nasr's tweets. He advocated the same populist approach as Abu Musab al Suri.

Abu Khalid al Suri served as Ayman al Zawahiri's main representative in Syria and attempted to reconcile ISIS with other jihadist groups, but eventually gave up. Abu Khalid became one of ISIS' fiercest critics inside Syria before his death, presumably caused by an ISIS suicide bomber.

After Abu Khalid al Suri was killed, Nasr honored him on his Twitter feed, changing the small inset picture at the top of his site to a picture of Abu Khalid. Nasr blamed ISIS for Abu Khalid's death and called for vengeance.

An al Qaeda family

Nasr came from a family of al Qaeda members and was a third cousin of Osama bin Laden, according to US intelligence officials.

Most of Nasr's six brothers are known to have joined al Qaeda. Two of Nasr's brothers were once held at Guantanamo. Leaked files prepared by Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) include intelligence reports indicating that the brothers were trained by al Qaeda's operational commanders to execute an attack against US forces at the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) in Saudi Arabia. They were captured in late 2001 before they could go through with the plot, but al Qaeda attempted a similar attack in 2002.

One of Nasr's brothers was killed fighting in Chechnya prior to the 9/11 attacks. His "martyrdom" inspired other members of the family to wage jihad, according to the JTF-GTMO files.

And now Sanafi al Nasr has been killed in Syria.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) recently released the first part of a video series titled "Journey of Jihad" about the life of Sa'id al Shihri, the former AQAP deputy who was killed by a US drone strike in July 2013. This first installment outlines al Shihri's transformation from a guard of Saudi King Abdallah bin Abdul 'Aziz to al Qaeda commander in Yemen by 2008, by way of interviews with several of his jihadi companions, many of whom were formerly imprisoned at Guantanamo.

According to the film's narrative, al Shihri, whose real name is Abu Sufyan al Azdi, was born in Riyadh in 1971 in humble circumstances and "had no other childhood except that shared by children in a simple quarter." As a young man, al Shihri was a member of the Saudi Royal Guard Regiment entrusted with protecting King Abdallah bin Abdul 'Aziz. During this time, al Shihri was affected by the US "occupation" of Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Storm and by Palestine's being "sold to the Jews" during the Oslo Peace Process. In this atmosphere, al Shihri decided to begin his journey to jihad as he grew disgusted by his firsthand exposure to the lavishness of the Saudi royal family.

Following the Declaration of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders issued in 1998 by Osama Bin Laden and other members of the al Qaeda senior leadership, al Shihri traveled to Afghanistan, where he trained in the Khalden camp under Ibn al Shaykh al Libi. During his time there, he fought in numerous battles north of Kandahar against the Northern Alliance.

Shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, al Shihri returned to Saudi Arabia and worked as a recruiter in support of the jihadi network. After the attacks, al Shihri traveled throughout the Islamic world in support of the "cause" and found his way back to Afghanistan after sensing that his movements were compromised by American intelligence. There, he joined the company of Abu Mustafa al Iraqi in Kandahar and was wounded in a battle against the Northern Alliance along with Khalid al Habib, an al Qaeda leader who oversaw the operations of the organization in Afghanistan.

According to the video, al Shihri was taken to Pakistan for medical treatment and soon after was picked up by Pakistani intelligence agents and subsequently handed over to the Americans, who imprisoned him in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The video emphasizes that it was at Guantanamo that "the reality of America became clear ... its slogans of human rights became mere lies that cannot fool a sane person." At Guantanamo, al Shihri served as "an example of a hopeful and patient mujahid."

Former Guantanamo inmate and al Qaeda commander 'Uthman al Ghamdi claims that during his time in Guantanamo, al Shihri "comforted his brothers" and served as a spiritual teacher and guide. Al Shihri reportedly taught lessons on a variety of topics, including Islamic law, military and intelligence, covert operations, political affairs, and even child-rearing and social interaction.

After five years at Guantanamo, al Shihri was handed over to the Saudis, who jailed him for seven months in Ha'ir prison in Riyadh and then released him pending trial. After his release, al Shihri traveled to Yemen, where he was embraced by Nasir al Wuhayshi and Qasim al Raymi. Those who knew him during this time say that "he gave a huge push to the course of jihad in the Arabian Peninsula."

Al Shihri reportedly served as a recruiter and a coordinator between al Qaeda's bases in Yemen, and was also respected as an inspiring preacher during this time. Qasim al Raymi, the current military commander of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, says in the video that al Shihri championed the idea that "the real enemy is America who has corrupted people and lands."

A charity known as İMKANDER has praised Doku Umarov, the former emir of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate whose death was announced by the jihadist group just last week, during recent rallies in several Turkish cities.

The rallies, which took place on March 21 "in several cities," including at the "Fatih Mosque in Istanbul," were attended by "thousands of Muslims," according to Kavkaz Center, a media outlet for the Islamic Caucasus Emirate. İMKANDER released several photographs of the rallies as well as a description of the events on its Turkish-language website.

Photographs show hundreds, if not thousands of people, including women and children, attending the rallies. Many are waving the black banner of jihad. Professionally made banners with İMKANDER's name as well as with images of Doku Umarov are seen throughout the rally.

Murat Ozer, İMKANDER's president, addressed the large crowd in Istanbul. Ozer "emphasized in his speech that the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate in 2007 was not something new for the Caucasus, as the opponents try to present, but an act of restoration of an Islamic state, uniting the Caucasian Muslims under the common flag of Monotheism, which was lost as a result of aggression and capture of Caucasus by Russia," Kavkaz Center said.

Photographs of other rallies organized by İMKANDER, with hundreds of people in attendance, were also taken at Ankara, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Diyarbakir, and Eskisehir.

İMKANDER, which runs an English-language website where it prominently solicits donations, is clearly supportive of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate. The Turkish charity was "founded in 2009 in order to help the refugees and asylum seekers who have been the victims of the ongoing wars and the occupations, particularly in Caucasus and generally in the whole İslamic world," the NGO says on its 'About' page on its English-language website.

İMKANDER declaries that it is aiding 150 families "at 98 houses," presumably inside Turkey.

"Almost all of these families are the wives of martyrs and the fighters, including their orphans," the group claims.

Al Qaeda often uses charitable organizations to provide financial and other support for the families of slain fighters and leaders.

In September 2013, İMKANDER celebrated the defeat of a Russian initiative to have İMKANDER and other NGOs blacklisted by the United Nations Security Council. Russia's ambassador to the UN said that İMKANDER has "links to an al Qaeda entity on the list," but did not disclose the name of the al Qaeda entity.

Doku Umarov's death was announced on March 18. According to Kavkaz Center, he "was seriously wounded in a battle and died 10 days later." It is unclear as to the exact date Umarov was killed.

Doku Umarov was unequivocal about his group's involvement in the global jihad and his desire to establish an Islamic state in the Caucasus. In a July 2013 statement calling for further attacks aimed at disrupting Russia's plans for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Umarov said that his group is "part of the global jihad."

Umarov had led the jihad in the Russian Caucasus since he declared the establishment of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate in November 2007. He admitted to planning and executing numerous terror attacks in the Caucasus and in Moscow, the Russian capital. The US added Umarov to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in June 2010. The Islamic Caucasus Emirate was added to the US' list of global terrorist groups the following year.

In a statement released to jihadist forums on March 23, Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) confirmed the deaths of six of its fighters in clashes with Egyptian security forces on March 19. Egypt's Interior Ministry had originally said that the raid, which took place about 20 miles north of Cairo, resulted in the deaths of five Ansar Jerusalem members and two Egyptian security personnel, as well as the arrest of four jihadists; the ministry later stated, however, that six jihadists had been killed and eight arrested.

The six members of Ansar Jerusalem who were killed in the clashes were identified by the jihadist group as: Fahmi Abdul Raouf Muhammad (Abu Dujana), Samir Abdul Hakim (Abu al Bara), Muhammad Mohsen Ali Muhammad (Abu Musab), Muhammad Sayed Mahmoud Ahmad (Abu Musab), Osama Saeed Abdul Aziz (Abu Omar), and Abdul Raouf Fahmi Abdul Raouf (Abu Mu'adh). At least two of those named had previously been identified by Egyptian authorities as suspects in recent attacks in Egypt.

So far, Ansar Jerusalem has confirmed dead only 25 named members, according to a tally maintained by The Long War Journal. Earlier this month, the jihadist group confirmed the deaths of two of its members, including a top commander, Tawfiq Mohammed Freij.

According to yesterday's statement, Fahmi Abdul Raouf Muhammad and Samir Abdul Hakim had fought in the ongoing conflict in Syria. They are the third and fourth confirmed members of Ansar Jerusalem to have fought in Syria before returning to Egypt, according to a tally maintained by The Long War Journal.

Previous Ansar Jerusalem statements have disclosed that Walid Badr and Saaed al Shahat fought in Syria before returning to Egypt, where they died. And on March 10, Egypt's Interior Ministry announced the arrest of Mohammed Durri Ahmad al Taliawi, claiming that he was involved in the January bombing of the Cairo Security Directorate and that he had fought in Syria. Ansar Jerusalem has not confirmed that Taliawi was a member, however.

In its latest statement, Ansar Jerusalem said that those killed had fought admirably against Egypt's security forces on March 19 as they were outnumbered and outgunned. Ansar Jerusalem's fighters "taught the tyrants a lesson they will never forget," the communique declared. The jihadist group further claimed that its fighters could have detonated explosives that would have blown up the area of the clashes but chose not to for the sake of residents.

Ansar Jerusalem

Ansar Jerusalem, which was founded by Egyptians, is the dominant jihadist group operating in the Sinai Peninsula today. The group, whose fighters are often seen with the al Qaeda flag, has claimed credit for a number of attacks against Israel and Egypt since 2011.

In September 2013, Ansar Jerusalem, which releases material through the jihadist forums of Al Fajr Media Center, al Qaeda's exclusive media distribution outlet, declared that "it is obligatory to repulse them [the Egyptian army] and fight them until the command of Allah is fulfilled." Recent reports in the Egyptian media have suggested that Ansar Jerusalem may have links to Muhammad Jamal and the Muhammad Jamal Network (MJN), which were added to the US government's list of designated terrorists and the UN's sanctions list in October 2013.

Jamal, whose fighters have been linked to the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi terror attack, is said to have established "several terrorist training camps in Egypt and Libya" with funding from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In late August, Ansar Jerusalem was lauded by an AQAP official as "our mujahideen brothers in Sinai."

The nascent insurgency

Since July 3, 2013, there have been more than 315 reported attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, most of which were carried out against Egyptian security forces and assets, according to data maintained by The Long War Journal. A good number of these attacks, including the Nov. 20, 2013, car bombing that killed 11 Egyptian security personnel, have been claimed by Ansar Jerusalem. On Jan. 26, Ansar Jerusalem released video of its fighters using a surface-to-air missile to take down an Egyptian helicopter operating in North Sinai. Five Egyptian soldiers were killed in the attack.

Attacks by Sinai-based jihadists, Ansar Jerusalem specifically, have also taken place outside North Sinai. On Sept. 5, 2013, the jihadist group used a suicide car bomber in an assassination attempt in Nasr City on Egypt's interior minister, Mohammed Ibrahim. A month later, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide bomber unleashed a blast at the South Sinai Security Directorate in el Tor, which killed three security personnel and injured more than 45. On Oct. 19, 2013, the Sinai-based jihadist group targeted a military intelligence building in the city of Ismailia in another car bombing. And on Nov. 19, 2013, the group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack on Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Mabrouk, a senior national security officer, in Cairo. In late December 2013, an Ansar Jerusalem suicide car bombing attack outside the Daqahliya security directorate in Mansoura killed over a dozen people and injured over 130 more. Five days after the attack in Mansoura, Ansar Jerusalem carried out a car bombing outside a military intelligence building in Anshas in the Sharkiya governorate.

More recently, Ansar Jerusalem took credit for a series of bombings in Cairo, including a car bombing at the Cairo Security Directorate on Jan. 24 that left at least six people dead. On Jan. 28, the group said its fighters were responsible for the assassination of an aide to Egypt's Interior Minister in Cairo.

The al Furqan Brigades, which are not believed to be based in the Sinai, have also claimed responsibility for a number of shootings and rocket attacks in the Egyptian mainland since July 2013. In addition, a group calling itself Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for seven attacks in the Cairo area in recent months. And most recently, a group calling itself Kataeb Ansar al Sharia fi Ard al Kinanah (Brigades of Ansar al Sharia in the Land of Egypt), claimed responsibility for a slew of recent shooting attacks in the governorates of Sharkiya, Beni Suef, and Giza.