Fazle-ur-Rahman Khalil, the longtime emir of the Pakistan-based Harakat-ul-Mujahideen that was listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997, was finally added to the US list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Khalil signed Osama bin Laden's infamous 1998 fatwa, or religious edict, that declared war on the US and Israel.

Today, the Department of the Treasury added Khalil, two Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, and two businesses associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

"Both LT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] and HUM [Harakat-ul-Mujahideen] are violent terrorist organizations that train militants and support the activities of many of the best known and brutal extremist groups, including al Qaeda," Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen is quoted as saying in the Treasury designation.

Khalil's designation takes place less than two months after the State Department updated the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen Foreign Terrorist Organization designation to include the alias Ansar ul-Ummah. In that update, State noted that HUM "operates in Pakistan, and engages in terrorist activity in Kashmir, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan" and "also operates terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan."

A follow-up inquiry to State by The Long War Journal confirmed that the HUM camps in eastern Afghanistan are still in operation. The exact locations of the camps were not disclosed. [See LWJ report, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen 'operates terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan'.]

Khalil is an established jihadist leader in Pakistan

Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen operates freely inside Pakistan, with the permission of the Pakistani establishment, including the military and the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Khalil lives openly in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad.

After founding HUM in 1997, Khalil remained at the helm of the Pakistani terror group and its various aliases. "In 2008, Khalil was leader of the HUM shura council," Treasury notes. "As of mid-2003, Khalil was the chief of Jamiat ul-Ansar in Pakistan, the name under which HUM had reorganized at the time. As of October 1997, Khalil was the leader of Harkat ul-Ansar (HUA) and renamed HUA as HUM after HUA was listed by the United States as a terrorist organization. As of late 2006, Khalil was appointed as the emir of a trust that, as of mid-2007, was being used by HUM to raise funds for the group."

Khalil is the man Osama bin Laden consulted before issuing his infamous fatwa declaring war against the US in 1998. According to the Associated Press, Khalil has "dispatched fighters to India, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chechnya and Bosnia," and "was a confidante of bin Laden and hung out with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed."

Khalil "has maintained a close relationship with al Qaeda, including with Osama bin Laden prior to his death," Treasury notes. He "visited al-Qaida training camps" and "sent Pakistani militants to support OBL's operatives in Somalia and OBL sent funds to unidentified Pakistan-based individuals via Khalil prior to September 2001."

HUM has been involved in numerous acts of terror in the region, including the hijacking of an Indian airplane, an attack on the US Consulate in Karachi, and the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. [See LWJ report, New investigation into murder of Daniel Pearl released.]

Several al Qaeda leaders have risen from the ranks of HUM. One of the most prominent is Badr Mansoor, an al Qaeda commander who was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in February 2012. In one of the 17 documents that were released by the US from Osama bin Laden's collection of thousands seized during the Abbottabad raid, Mansoor was identified as a commander of a "company" of al Qaeda's forces operating in Pakistan.

At the time of his death, Mansoor was described as al Qaeda's leader in Pakistan who was closely linked to other Pakistani terror groups. Mansoor was able to funnel in recruits from Pakistani terror groups such as the Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, with which he was closely linked. [See LWJ reports, Bin Laden docs hint at large al Qaeda presence in Pakistan, and Commander killed in drone strike 'funneled Pakistani jihadists' to al Qaeda.]

HUM likely part of al Qaeda's newest branch, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent

HUM is one of several jihadist groups that are part of what former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates described in 2010 as a "syndicate" in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the region.

"A victory for one [member of the syndicate] is a victory for all," Gates cautioned. Gates mentioned groups such as the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, as well as Lashkar-e-Taiba, as belonging to this "syndicate." Other groups that figure in this syndicate are the Haqqani Network, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and its offshoot the Islamic Jihad Union, Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, among others.

This syndicate has pooled resources to wage jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The group has fought under the banner of the Lashkar-al-Zil, or the Shadow Army, al Qaeda's military organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or the Khorasan. The US State Department recognized the existence of al Qaeda's "paramilitary brigades" in the designation of 'Abd al Hamid al Masli, an IED faciitator based in Pakistan. [See LWJ reports, Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army' and US adds al Qaeda explosives expert to list of global terrorists.]

Al Qaeda formalized this relationship with the various jihadist groups based in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India when it formed al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent on Sept. 3.

In his statement announcing the group's formation, al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri noted that AQIS "is the fruit of a blessed effort for more than two years to gather the mujahideen in the Indian subcontinent into a single entity to be with the main group."

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent's spokesman, Usama Mahmoud, stated that the group "was formed by the gathering of several jihadi groups that have a long history in jihad and fighting ... so they united and came together and applied the directives of their beloved emir, Sheikh Ayman al Zawahiri, may Allah preserve him, on the ground."

An Islamic State fighter stands on top of a US-made M1 Abrams tank.

The Islamic State released photographs of last week's rout of an Iraqi Army unit in the Saqwaliya area north of Fallujah in Anbar province. More than 300 Iraqi troops are reported to have been killed in the attack.

The pictures from the assault on Camp Saqwaliya were released on Twitter by fighters and supporters of the Islamic State. Recently the Islamic State has begun to release its propaganda on Twitter via its supporters. Twitter has taken an active role in suspending official accounts associated to the Islamic State's wiliyats, or administrative districts.

While the authenticity of the photographs cannot be confirmed, the captions bear the title of Wilayat Fallujah. In the past, photographs released using this method by the Islamic State have proven to be authentic.

The Islamic State took control of the Alsigir area of Anbar two weeks ago, and then laid siege to the nearby Iraqi Army base at Camp Saqlawiya. Most of the base was overrun on Sept. 21 after Islamic State fighters launched a complex suicide assault. [See LWJ report, Islamic State overruns Iraqi military base in Anbar.]

The photographs show numerous Iraqi Army soldiers who were killed in the fighting (these photographs have not been included below as they are extremely graphic).

Based on the photographs, the Islamic State seized or destroyed at least one M1 Abrams tank, four M113 armored personnel carriers, 15 Iraqi Army Humvees, a BMP infantry fighting vehicle, and other trucks. At least three of the US-donated M113s appear to be operational; an Islamic State fighter is shown driving one M113. The M1 tank appears to have caught fire.

According to the Islamic State, the Iraqi unit that was overrun was from the 30th Brigade. The 30th Brigade is subordinate to the 8th Mechanized Division, which is based south of Baghdad. The Iraqi Army has been forced to deploy units from other provinces, as much of the Anbar-based 1st and 7th Divisions have been rendered combat ineffective.

The 30th Brigade has been hit hard by the Islamic State over the past few weeks. A company or battalion from the 30th Brigade also was ambushed and routed just north of Ramadi on or about Sept. 28. [See LWJ report, Islamic State ambushes Iraqi military column near Ramadi.]

Another Iraqi armored unit was destroyed in the town of Khalidiya in July during a complex ambush by the Islamic State. Khalidiya is between the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Habbaniyah. [See LWJ report, Islamic State routs Iraqi armored column in Anbar.]

The Islamic State has maintained the initiative against the Iraqi military in Anbar province more than seven weeks after the US began launching airstrikes against the jihadist group inside Iraq on Aug. 7.

Photographs of the Islamic State's operation in Saqlawiya

An Islamic State fighter fires on Iraqi troops:

A captured Humvee:

Islamic State fighters inspect three captured M113s:

An Islamic State fighter drives an M113:

A dead Iraqi soldier outside a Humvee:

An Islamic State fighter walks past a burning M113 and a Humvee:

Burning buildings at the Iraqi Army camp:

A destroyed Humvee:

A destroyed Humvee in front of a trench:

Sanafi al Nasr is sitting on the far left in the picture above. The photo was circulated on Twitter following erroneous reports of his death earlier this year. Nasr claims on his Twitter feed that one of his al Qaeda comrades, Muhsin al Fadhli, has been killed by US airstrikes in Syria.

A senior al Qaeda leader known as Sanafi al Nasr (a Saudi whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Sharikh) has claimed on his Twitter feed that Muhsin al Fadhli is now an al Qaeda "martyr." Al Fadhli has been publicly identified by US officials as a key operative in the so-called "Khorasan group," which was dispatched to Syria by al Qaeda's senior leadership.

The al Qaeda group, which is suspected of planning mass casualty terrorist attacks in the West, was struck last week as part of the US-led bombing campaign in Syria.

As The Long War Journal first reported, Nasr himself is a member of al Qaeda's Khorasan group in Syria.

Although Nasr's tweets indicate that al Fadhli is dead, they should not be treated as authoritative.

Earlier this year, senior officials in the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, and other al Qaeda-allied jihadists reported on Twitter that Nasr had been killed.

Nasr was most likely wounded while fighting against forces loyal to Bashar al Assad, but he survived the battle. Weeks after he was reportedly killed, Nasr began tweeting once again, thereby confirming that he was in fact alive.

In a pair of tweets posted on Sept. 29, Nasr asked Allah to accept al Fadhli as a martyr and said the time has come for him to rest.

Nasr also tweeted a picture of a young child, saying he was killed in the American ("Crusader") bombing campaign. Nasr described the boy as the "son of our brother Abu Basir" and prayed that Allah accept both of them as martyrs.

Although some anonymous US officials have told the press that they believe al Fadhli was killed during the American airstrikes last week, there has been no official confirmation of his death by either the US or al Qaeda.

And while Nasr's tweets indicate al Fadhli is dead, recent history tells us to be skeptical of such claims on social media, especially without martyrdom photos or other firm evidence. The fog of war often makes it difficult to confirm if a specific al Qaeda leader has been killed, or has survived, or has escaped an American airstrike entirely unscathed.

Nasr's new tweets were the first he posted since Sept. 18, just days before the US struck the facilities where al Qaeda members were believed to be plotting attacks against the West.

In his first tweet on Sept. 29, Nasr wrote, "Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah." Assuming Nasr wrote this, and someone else did not take control of his Twitter account, the post was confirmation that Nasr had survived last week's airstrikes against al Qaeda's positions.

In two other tweets, Nasr encourages jihadist unity against their common enemies. "The Arab and non-Arab tyrants have gathered together to wage war on the Muslims," Nasr wrote. "When will we gather?"

"I will stand beside any Muslim in the war against the Crusaders, whether he be Sufi or Mughal," Nasr wrote in another tweet.

Nasr has been a vocal critic of the Islamic State, the former al Qaeda branch that was disowned by al Qaeda's senior leaders earlier this year. In addition to being a senior al Qaeda official, Nasr has been embedded within the Al Nusrah Front and he serves as a senior strategist in the group. The Islamic State has fought against Al Nusrah since last year.

Most of the US-led bombing campaign has focused on positions controlled by the Islamic State. But some of the airstrikes conducted within the first 24 hours of the campaign also hit Al Nusrah positions where members of al Qaeda's Khorasan group were thought to be stationed.

For more on Sanafi al Nasr, who is a third cousin of Osama bin Laden, and his al Qaeda pedigree, see LWJ reports: Head of al Qaeda's 'Victory Committee' in Syria and Treasury designates 2 'key' al Qaeda financiers.

*Oren Adaki, an Arabic language specialist and research associate at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, contributed to this article.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an official branch of al Qaeda's international organization, has released a video calling on the rival jihadist factions in Iraq and Syria to set aside their differences and jointly confront the West. The video, which was released online on Sept. 30 by AQAP's Al Malahem Media, features Sheikh Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, a leader in the group.

Al Ansi connects the fighting in Iraq and Syria to events in Yemen, saying that all of the fronts are part of a common war involving Iran's proxies and allies as well as the West.

"What the Islamic ummah [worldwide community of Muslims] is witnessing today by way of developments in Iraq and Sham is the enabling of Iranian agents running parallel to a fierce war waged on the mujahideen as well as aerial, land, and sea bombardment on our brothers, the mujahideen in the Islamic State and [the Al Nusrah Front] and the other jihadi factions," al Ansi says.

"This is the same plan that is being executed in Yemen by enabling Iranian agents and handing over the capital Sana'a to them without any resistance mentioned from the military," the AQAP ideologue adds.

Al Ansi says the jihadists must unite to face the West. "As for the Crusader coalition that has shown its teeth in Iraq and Sham, in the face of this plan and plot the Muslims must forget their differences, unite their efforts, and join their ranks against their Crusader enemy."

The jihadists "must form a coalition to strike the leader of invalidity and the head of disbelief," al Ansi says, referring to the US. No "conditions" must be placed on the fight against the US, and "every faction must strike America and its interests everywhere."

"For we have come to know the main enemy, and America has for decades supported the occupying Jews in Palestine," al Ansi says. "And American drones bomb Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen. And they have killed mujahideen and their leaders as well as many among the Muslim public, and destroyed houses and terrorized children and women."

Al Ansi refers to the US in the same terms used by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other al Qaeda leaders. "It must be known that America is the head of the snake," al Ansi says. "She is the one who mobilizes against the mujahideen and their Islamic project ... and if the head falls, its tails fall as well."

The infighting between rival jihadist groups in Syria has pitted the Islamic State, which was once part of al Qaeda's international network, against the Al Nusrah Front and its allies. Al Nusrah is al Qaeda's official branch in Syria. Ahrar al Sham, which fights alongside Al Nusrah regularly, is also an al Qaeda-linked organization. Ahrar al Sham is the most powerful group in the Islamic Front, a coalition of several rebel organizations that is opposed to both Bashar al Assad's regime and the Islamic State.

According to al Ansi, all of the jihadist factions should now form a "coalition" to counter the West and move beyond the vicious infighting of the past.

Al Qaeda's messaging: Attacks in Syria are part of "crusade" against Muslims

Al Qaeda officials and groups have previously called for unity in light of the US-led bombing campaign in Syria. They have used language similar to al Ansi's, portraying the bombings as part of a US-led conspiracy against Muslims.

In mid-September, AQAP and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) issued a joint statement denouncing the bombings in Syria, saying they are part of a "Crusader campaign to fight Islam and the Muslims."

The two al Qaeda branches went on to urge the warring jihadist factions to "[s]top the infighting between you and stand as one rank against America's campaign and that of its satanic alliance that lies in wait ... to break us stick by stick."

Some media outlets have incorrectly reported that AQAP, AQIM, or both have sided with the Islamic State in its rivalry with al Qaeda. However, this is clearly not the case, as both groups remain loyal to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri. And al Ansi's video should not be viewed as a break from al Qaeda in favor of the Islamic State either.

Even some of the Islamic State's rivals in the Al Nusrah Front are calling for unity against the jihadists' common enemies. They have not, however, gone as far as to say that they are willing to set aside their differences entirely.

In a series of tweets in September, a top al Qaeda and Al Nusrah Front sharia official known as Abu Sulayman al Muhajir criticized the US-led bombing campaign in Syria. Abu Sulayman has been highly critical of the Islamic State, and he made it clear that all would not be forgiven between the groups. "Our stance against the U.S and the global crusade alliance does not mean others have been acquitted of their crimes," he wrote. But Abu Sulayman also portrayed the airstrikes as part of a conspiracy against all Muslims, and not specific jihadist factions.

"Those that believe that the new coalition is against one particular group are sorely mistaken," Abu Sulayman wrote in one tweet. He wrote in another: "The US is not fighting [the Islamic State] as they claim. It is a war against Islam, the latest sequel to their crusade. Muslims must stand united!"

More recently, another senior al Qaeda and Al Nusrah Front leader in Syria, Sanafi al Nasr, argued on his Twitter feed that all Muslims need to unite against the West. "The Arab and non-Arab tyrants have gathered together to wage war on the Muslims," Nasr wrote in a tweet on Sept. 29. "When will we gather?"

"I will stand beside any Muslim in the war against the Crusaders, whether he be Sufi or Mughal," Nasr wrote in another tweet.

Like Abu Sulayman, Nasr is an al Qaeda loyalist and has been an outspoken critic of the Islamic State. Although Nasr did not say that he would fight alongside the Islamic State, specifically, that is the clear implication of Nasr's tweets.

Al Qaeda veteran who served Osama bin Laden

In November 2013, Abdul Razzaq al Jamal, a Yemeni journalist who has contacts inside AQAP, published an interview with Sheikh Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, who is the star of AQAP's new video. The interview was published in al Wasat, a Yemeni newspaper, and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

An extensive biography revealing al Ansi's al Qaeda roles was provided at the beginning of the interview.

In 1993, al Ansi enrolled at the Iman University, which is headed by Sheikh Abdul Majid al Zindani, a longtime ally of bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Two years later, in 1995, al Ansi went to Bosnia, where he received military training and fought against the Serbs. He stayed in Bosnia for nearly a year before returning to Yemen.

In 1996, al Ansi tried to fight in Kashmir, but was prevented from doing so by the Pakistani government. He went to Afghanistan instead and met with two senior al Qaeda officials, Abu Hafs al Masri and Saif al Adel. Al Masri, who headed al Qaeda's military committee, was killed in US airstrikes in 2001. Saif al Adel has been a senior al Qaeda official since the 1990s and remains a leader in the organization.

Along with other al Qaeda members, al Ansi tried to join the front in Tajikistan, but failed to reach the country "due to the heavy snow."

He went home to Yemen in 1997, but returned to Afghanistan in 1998. He was "received by Osama bin Laden," who sent al Ansi "to Kabul and placed him as Emir of the Kabul Reception, where he stayed as its emir for a long time."

Al Ansi joined al Qaeda's forces on the battlefield and was selected to "participate in the most intense course held in Afghanistan," called the "Qualification of the Forces" course. Senior al Qaeda leaders taught the course and among his fellow trainees was Qassim al Raymi, who is AQAP's military commander. Al Ansi and al Raymi then received training at the Al Farouq camp.

Bin Laden had al Ansi travel to the Philippines, where he was to "qualify the mujahideen ... in Sharia and militarily," in 2001. That same year, according to SITE's translation of the interview, al Ansi assisted As Sahab, al Qaeda's propaganda arm, in creating two productions: the "American Intervention" and the "State of the Islamic Ummah."

Al Ansi completed his mission for bin Laden in the Philippines, and tried to return to Afghanistan after the US-led coalition responded to the 9/11 attacks. However, al Ansi was detained in Yemen en route to Afghanistan in early 2002. Yemeni authorities kept him imprisoned for six months before he was freed.

He then studied for "a long time" at Iman University, where he "received a certificate in Sharia jurisprudence." In addition to attending lectures at Iman, he preached "among the young" and conducted "some special training."

There are few details in the biography offered for al Ansi between 2002 and 2011. But he eventually became a senior official in AQAP and has now been tasked with delivering an important message to the warring jihadists in Syria.

Leading jihadist ideologues, including several openly allied with al Qaeda, have proposed a truce between the Islamic State and its rivals. The initiative, which is being promoted on Twitter, aims to bring together the warring jihadist factions in Iraq and Syria against the West.

The proposal, titled "An Initiative and Call for a Ceasefire Between Factions in Syria," was released online on Sept. 30. "Due to the Crusader attack on our Muslim brothers in Syria and Iraq," the authors argue, the jihadists must set aside their violent disagreements.

They claim that the US-led bombing campaign is part of a war "against Islam and not against a specific organization."

The Islamic State, headed by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, has been warring with the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, and other jihadist organizations since last year. Some of the signatories were involved in previous efforts to reconcile the Islamic State with its rivals. Those efforts failed, but the jihadist ideologues are trying once again.

"We call on all factions in Syria and Iraq to cease fighting among themselves no later than the evening of [Oct 3, 2014], for perhaps Allah most high will descend his mercies upon Syria and its people in the prayer of Muslim crowds on that great day," the proposal reads.

The document continues: "And we request from all the factions that they announce their position regarding this initiative in their manner in three days from the date of the publication of this statement, so that it can be made known and clear who rejects this blessed initiative."

The authors argue that "forty countries have united and gathered together to wage war against" Islam itself. They ask: "[S]o does our loyalty to Islam and its people not require of us to stop the infighting under the bombardment of this Crusader campaign at the very least if a permanent [final] end to it is not possible?"

The authors say that the territories the jihadists are currently fighting over can be transferred to an impartial body as long as the truce is in effect.

Authors' backgrounds indicate proposal likely has al Qaeda's approval

The proposed truce's signatories include: Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, Abu Qatada al Filisṭini, Umar al Haddoushi, Abu al Wafaa al Tunisi, Dr. Tariq Abdul Haleem, and Hani al Sibai. The initiative has also been endorsed by Abu Muhammad al Dagestani, who is the emir of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate.

Several of the signatories are well-known critics of the Islamic State. And the authors' backgrounds indicate that the proposal likely has the support of al Qaeda's senior leadership.

Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini is a Saudi cleric who is closely allied with the Al Nusrah Front. He tried to reconcile the Islamic State with other jihadists late last year and into early 2014.

Muhaysini offered a reconciliation proposal in late January that received wide support, but was ultimately rejected by the Islamic State. When Muhaysini released his proposal on Jan. 23, he specifically noted that it was consistent with a call for unity made by Zawahiri just hours earlier. "In the morning, the Mujahid Sheikh Doctor [Ayman al Zawahiri] gave a speech in which he called to the same cause to which we have been intending to call," Muhaysini said at the time. The Saudi cleric said he interpreted Zawahiri's words as "good tidings."

It appears that the Islamic State's rejection of Muhaysini's peace offering was one of the final acts that led al Qaeda's general command to disown the group. Indeed, al Qaeda's senior leaders disassociated themselves from the Islamic State just days after Muhaysini's offer was declined.

Both Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi and Abu Qatada al Filisṭini have been released from prison in Jordan. Their blistering critiques of the Islamic State have been marketed by the Al Nusrah Front on at least several occasions. Maqdisi and Qatada have also backed Ayman al Zawahiri in the dispute with Baghdadi's group.

In late May, Maqdisi released a statement calling the Islamic State a "deviant organization." Maqdisi revealed that he had personally attempted to broker a peace deal between the jihadist factions in Syria, saying that he been in touch with both Baghdadi and Zawahiri. Maqdisi referred to Zawahiri as his "beloved brother," "the Sheikh," and "the Commander" in the statement. Maqdisi blasted the Islamic State for rejecting his reconciliation attempts.

Hani al Sibai is highly regarded by Zawahiri. So when Sibai and others called on the al Qaeda master to detail some of the specific problems with the Islamic State in mid-April, Zawahiri publicly responded just weeks later, in early May. Zawahiri said he decided to address the conflict with the Islamic State out of his respect for Sibai.

In a video address in late June, Abu Muhammad al Dagestani, the emir of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate, described Zawahiri as "our leader" and said that his organization was following Zawahiri's guidelines for waging jihad. In a video released on Sept. 23, Dagestani addressed the "scholars of the ummah [worldwide community of Muslims]." Zawahiri, Maqdisi, Hani Sibai, and Abu Qatada were four of the six "scholars" praised by Dagestani, who said that he had "benefited" greatly from reading their "books, research, sermons and lectures," as well as fatwas (religious edicts).

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, two official branches of al Qaeda that remain loyal to Ayman al Zawahiri, have also urged the jihadists in Syria to fight their common enemies and not one another.

A smoke plume rises from the military headquarters in Ramadi after an Islamic State attack. Image from Iraqi Spring Media Center.

The Islamic State continues its offensive to consolidate control of Iraq's Anbar province. Today, the jihadist group is reported to have taken control of the town of Hit and has launched assaults on the Anbar Operations Command north of Ramadi and the 7th Division headquarters at Al Asad Airbase in Al Baghdadi.

Iraqi officials confirmed that much of Hit, a town just 20 miles west of the provincial capital of Ramadi, is under the control of the Islamic State.

"Ninety percent of Hit has been overrun by militants," a member of the Anbar provincial council told Reuters. Witnesses stated that "scores" of heavily armed fighters are patrolling the town and the Islamic State's black flag is flying over several government buildings, including the mayor's office and the police station. Sporadic fighting between Islamic State fighters and the local Albu Nimr tribe has also been reported.

The Islamic State began its attack on Hit with a complex suicide assault, according to the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).

"The elements of the [Islamic State] attacked, at dawn today, Hit district from three directions," NINA reported. Islamic State fighters first took control of the roads leading to the town, then deployed three suicide car bomb attacks on key checkpoints. Afterwards, the group targeted other checkpoints and the military headquarters in the town.

The Islamic State captured "a battalion of tanks, the headquarters of the Infantry Regiment, the headquarters for the leadership of the border guards of the Fourth Region, the Police Department of Hit and 5 police stations in the district," NINA reported. At least 24 soldiers are said to have been killed and "dozens" more are missing.

Unconfirmed reports from Iraqi officials claimed that the Islamic State fled the town "as a result of international coalition [US and allied country's] aircraft's bombing to the gatherings of militants in the region." The US has not released a press release announcing airstrikes in Hit. Yesterday, one airstrike was reported by CENTCOM "in the vicinity of the Haditha Dam."

Islamic State attacks on military headquarters in Ramadi, Al Baghdadi

In addition to assaulting Hit, the jihadist group launched attacks nearby at the Anbar Operations Command and Al Asad Airbase.

Iraqi troops are said to have "repulsed an attack" on the Anbar Operations Command just north of Ramadi, NINA reported. Additionally, unconfirmed reports indicate that the Al Mua'almin neighborhood in southern Ramadi has fallen to the Islamic State.

Also, the Iraqi Army reportedly repelled another assault on the headquarters element of the depleted 7th Division, which is based at Al Asad Airbase near the town of Al Baghdadi.

The fall of Hit and attacks on the Iraqi Army headquarters in Ramadi and Al Baghdadi are the latest in a series of setbacks suffered by the Iraqi military in Anbar province at the hands of the Islamic State.

Just days ago, the Islamic State routed a mechanized unit in Albu Aytha, a village just north of Ramadi. And two weeks ago, just north of Fallujah, the jihadists overran Camp Saqlawiya and took control of the nearby town of Alsigir. The group controls much of Anbar province, including Fallujah, areas of the provincial capital of Ramadi, and the border crossing at Al Qaim. [For more details, see LWJ reports, Islamic State ambushes Iraqi military column near Ramadi, Islamic State overruns Iraqi military base in Anbar, and Islamic State photos detail rout of Iraqi Army at Camp Saqlawiya.]

The Al Nusrah Front posted this image on one of its official Twitter feeds earlier today. It portrays Hezbollah as a sinking ship that is bringing down Lebanon. The ship is colored to look like Hezbollah's flag.

The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, continues to use hostages in its custody as bartering chips in its negotiations with the Lebanese government. The group captured Lebanese soldiers and policemen in August, and has executed some of them in its standoff with the government.

Al Nusrah's propaganda explaining its hostage campaign has focused on the influence of Iran and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, in Lebanon and Syria. In particular, Al Nusrah is trying to incite Sunnis in Lebanon to rise up against the Shiite forces by portraying them as the aggressors.

Al Nusrah says the families of the hostages should blame the Iranian axis for the executions of their sons, because it is Iran, through its proxies, that is refusing to negotiate. The al Qaeda branch is also attempting to tie the fate of its hostages to the plight of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, thereby portraying itself as the guardian of the Sunni populace. Lebanon has experienced a massive influx of refugees since the beginning of the Syrian war.

In a statement released on one of its Twitter feeds on Sept. 29, the Al Nusrah Front claimed that Lebanon's general security services had agreed to turn over ten Syrian refugees to Bashar al Assad's regime.

"We warn of a deal that has been reached and of its ramifications on the general security services and its chief, who is under the sway of the Iranian party," meaning Hezbollah, the statement reads.

The Lebanese government immediately denied that it had agreed to turn over the refugees to the Syrian regime, adding that Sunni jihadists had attempted to assassinate general security chief Abbas Ibrahim four times in the past two years.

According to The Daily Star, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic State have been behind these attempts as they try to "push Lebanon into a similar chaotic situation" as "that of Syria and Iraq."

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades is an al Qaeda-linked group that has taken part in joint operations with Al Nusrah inside Lebanon. The Islamic State was once a branch of al Qaeda, but was disowned by al Qaeda's general command earlier this year and has fought against Al Nusrah inside Syria.

In its statement on Sept. 29, Al Nusrah went on to claim that the Lebanese government was "lying" to the families of its hostages. The group said it had "declared a halt to the negotiations until the issues of Arsal have been completely resolved" and there has been "no progress in the negotiations." Lebanese security forces fought against Al Nusrah and the Islamic State in Arsal, Lebanon in early August.

The al Qaeda branch claims it does not want to kill any more of the hostages, but the Lebanese government is forcing its hand by "increasing the pressure" on Syrian refugees. This is allegedly part of a "trap," Al Nusrah says, that is intended to demonstrate that the jihadist organization is the one responsible for "disrupting the negotiations."

The Lebanese government is "steered by the Iranian party [Hezbollah]," Al Nusrah argues, and the people need "to stop this government in its tracks."

In a separate statement released via Twitter earlier today, Al Nusrah denied Lebanese media reports that it had agreed not to execute any more of its hostages.

The Lebanese government "continues to arrest and torture" Sunnis in Lebanon, the statement reads, while Iran and Hezbollah continue to murder and bomb Sunnis in Syria. Nothing has changed since the hostages were first captured, Al Nusrah says, and there will be no deal until certain prisoners are released and the fate of the refugees in Arsal is resolved.

The Lebanese army has raided refugee camps in Arsal, claiming that it is tracking down members of the Al Nusrah Front and other jihadists who have been living there. Al Nusrah is trying to tap into the resentment caused by those raids.

Similar to the Al Nusrah Front, other parts of al Qaeda's international network are attempting to build popular support for the Sunni jihadists' ideology by focusing on Iranian influence.

For instance, Sheikh Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, a top official in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), recently released a video in which he connected the war in Yemen to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have made substantial gains in recent weeks. Thus, according to al Ansi, "Iranian agents" are the common enemy across these jihadist theaters.

The Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council has taken responsibility for a series of suicide bombings in and around the restive city of Benghazi yesterday that targeted forces loyal to former Libyan general Khalifa Haftar. The attacks killed dozens of Libyan soldiers at the Benina International Airport and four more in a separate attack on a checkpoint in Qubah, east of Benghazi.

Al Arabiya reported that "two cars loaded with explosives targeted a military checkpoint near Benina International Airport in Benghazi." According to Al Jazeera, the airport houses "heavy weaponry" which the militants are fighting to obtain. Al Jazeera also claims that up to "four separate suicide attacks targeted the Benina air base." Following the suicide bombings, heavy clashes occurred near the airport, with government airstrikes allegedly being used in defense.

This attack came hours after the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council rejected a government plan for peace talks to end the violence in Libya. Middle East Monitor reports that the Council released a statement saying, "The initiative held in Ghadames [a city in western Libya], which called for political dialogue, was not based on legitimate foundations. Rather, it is a weak attempt to convince the people to surrender their rights and to allow tyrants to return to power under the guise of national reconciliation."

This new attack by the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council is the latest in a months-long campaign by Islamist forces to seize control of Benghazi.

The Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council is the umbrella under which Ansar al Sharia, the al Qaeda-affiliated group implicated in the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, and other allied groups fight. The alliance has been fighting against troops loyal to Haftar, who earlier this year launched "Operation Dignity," an offensive to defeat jihadist forces in Benghazi.

In July, the alliance was able to overtake a Libyan special forces base in Benghazi. On its official Twitter feed (now suspended), Ansar al Sharia posted a video of its leader in Benghazi, Mohammad Ali al Zahawi, discussing his group's "victory." The group also posted photos of the weapons, or "booty," it has taken into possession, as well as scenes from the assault on the base. [For more on Ansar al Sharia overtaking the base, see LWJ's report Ansar al Sharia, allies seize Libyan special forces base in Benghazi.]

The airport is one of the few remaining bases controlled by the government in Benghazi. Ansar al Sharia has consolidated its authority in conquered territory and has enacted sharia, or Islamic law, in the areas it controls.

Ansar al Sharia is part of the al Qaeda network

A Library of Congress report from August 2012 noted that Ansar al Sharia Libya "has increasingly embodied al Qaeda's presence in Libya." The report also says that "it is probable that Ansar al-Sharia in Libya and in Tunisia are communicating."

Some of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's most senior leaders have known al Qaeda ties, and at least two of them previously served as important al Qaeda operatives in Europe. The group's leadership openly praises al Qaeda and the organization's social media is littered with pro-al Qaeda messages. Ansar al Sharia Tunisia's Twitter account, before it was suspended, was known to re-tweet official messages disseminated by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's (AQIM) official media wing, Al Andalus Foundation. AQIM leaders have repeatedly praised and offered advice to Ansar al Sharia Tunisia. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda and the threat in North Africa.]

The report also mentions that it is more than likely that al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has made contact with Ansar al Sharia leaders. In addition, al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar has met with several leaders of Ansar al Sharia-allied militias in public. Belmokhtar reportedly met with Wisam Ben Hamid, who is the leader of Katiba al Ahrar Libya (Free Libya Battalion), a group the report notes is likely part of "al Qaeda's clandestine network in Libya." That same network is headed by al Qaeda operatives who report to al Qaeda's senior leadership in Pakistan, including Ayman al Zawahiri.

The leaders of Ansar al Sharia are openly pro-al Qaeda and have denounced the capture of Abu Anas al Libi, a top al Qaeda operative. Sufian Ben Qumu, the leader of Ansar al Sharia forces in Derna, Libya, was a former Guantanamo Bay inmate. [See LWJ report, Ex-Gitmo detainee reportedly tied to consulate attack.]

A leaked Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment describes Ben Qumu as an "associate" of Osama bin Laden. JTF-GTMO found that Ben Qumu worked as a driver for a company owned by bin Laden in the Sudan, fought alongside al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and maintained ties to several other well-known al Qaeda leaders. The US State Department added Ben Qumu to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in January 2014 and said his branch of Ansar al Sharia as well as the Benghazi branch was involved in the attack on the US diplomatic compounds in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. [See LWJ report, State Department designates 3 Ansar al Sharia organizations, leaders.]

A blast at an Afghan military base in the Reg district in Kandahar. The photograph was published on Junood al Fida's Twitter feed.

The Taliban claims to have captured the Registan district in the southern province of Kandahar. In a statement released on Oct. 2, the Taliban said it had routed Afghan forces in Registan, forcing them to flee to the neighboring "Shorawak district after dozens were killed and wounded." This "led to [the] Mujahideen liberating the district center, unfurling the sublime white flag of Islam over it and bringing the entire district under their complete control."

Afghan officials quickly denied the Taliban's claims.

Pajhwok Afghan News reports that Afghan "authorities rejected the assertion as exaggerated," saying that the Registan district remains under the government's control. Afghan officials insisted that the district center was moved for "administrative reasons," because it was difficult for people to reach it, and not because the Taliban had overrun security forces.

Whatever the truth is behind the Taliban's disputed claims, it appears that Junood al Fida, a group that is loyal to both the Taliban and al Qaeda, has played a significant role in the fighting.

In a series of tweets on the group's official Twitter account, Junood al Fida also claimed that the Registan district had fallen. The organization heralded it as good news for the "Commander of the faithful," Mullah Omar, and also honored al Qaeda master Osama bin Laden.

One tweet by the group's media arm reads: "Glad tidings O Ummah - the den of Shaykh Osamah will fall to the lions of the #Islamic_Emirates - by the will of Allah!" The accompanying hashtags are #Kandahar and #Afghanistan.

"Allahu Akbar, Mujahideen of #Junood_al_Fida have made enormous gains in the dessert [sic] of Kandahar!" another tweet reads. A third post claims: "Today is a great day for the lions of Ameerul Mu'mineen [Commander of the Faithful] Mullah Umar, the Mujahideen have attacked the enemy camps giving them severe blows." And a fourth tweet cheers Junood al Fida's ability "to gain much territory from the Murtad [or Apostate] army."

Still other tweets (included at the end of this article) show a base the group claims to have assaulted, as well as scenes from the fighting.

Other online jihadists are crediting Junood al Fida with capturing the district, which may very well be an exaggeration.

The Taliban have taken control of several districts in Afghanistan during the fighting season. In July, the Taliban overran Sangin district in Helmand province. Afghan officials negotiated a peace agreement with the Taliban in August, and the district remains contested to this day. Also in July, the Taliban took control of Char Sada district in the central province of Ghor.

Baloch group that pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar calls Ayman al Zawahiri its 'emir'

In mid-July, Junood al Fida released a statement explaining its approach to waging jihad.

"We gave our bayat (oath of allegiance) to Ameerul Mu'mineen Mullah Muhammed Omar Mujahid, may God protect him, and we are his soldiers," the statement reads, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal. The group described al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri as "Our Shaykh al Habeeb" [beloved leader] and its "Ameeruna" [our chief].

Junood al Fida's hostility to the US was highlighted throughout the statement. Its members had "migrated to areas in southern Afghanistan to wage jihad against the United States and the 'US puppets' in Afghanistan," the statement reads. "As for the United States' future in Afghanistan," Junood al Fida threatened, "it will be fire and hell and total defeat, God willing, as it was for their predecessors - the Soviets and before them, the British."

The organization, which calls its fighters "The Desert Lions," features anti-American propaganda on its Twitter feed. For instance, a few tweets display an image of a jihadist taking aim at the US Capitol building with a firearm while fighting in the desert.

Junood al Fida has repeatedly said that it is integrated into the Taliban's operations in southern Afghanistan. In August, the Baloch jihadist organization released a video showing its fighters launching raids in the Shorawak district of Kandahar province. The raids were part of the Taliban's "Operation Khayber" offensive.

In August, the group also released a eulogy for its slain leader, Abdul Hafeez, who was from the Baluchistan province of Pakistan. According to the statement, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, Hafeez had waged jihad for four decades. He fought against the Soviets, the Northern Alliance, and against US, Western, and Afghan forces after 9/11. Junood al Fida described him as "a well-known commander in Zabul, Helmand & Kandahar Province of The Islamic Emirates Of Afghanistan," the official name of the Taliban.

Junood al Fida's photos from the recent fighting

A military base in Kandahar's Registan district:

The wreckage after the Taliban/Junood al Fida's attack:

A destroyed building:

The remains of an Afghan police pickup truck:

Jihadists pray in the desert after their assault:

After beheading British aid worker Alan Henning, the Islamic State displayed former US Army Ranger Peter Edward Kassig.

The Islamic State carried through on its Sept. 13 threat to execute British aid worker Alan Henning if Britain did not cease airstrikes against the jihadist group. Afterward, the jihadist group threatened to kill a former US Army Ranger who was captured while running an aid group in Syria.

Today the Islamic State released a short video that showed the execution of Henning. The video opens with a news clip that announces Britain's involvement in US-led airstrikes against the Islamic State. After the news video is played, the words "Another message to America and its allies" is displayed.

Henning, whose hands are cuffed behind his back and is wearing an orange shirt and pants, is shown kneeling in the desert. A masked Islamic State fighter dressed in black and wielding a knife stands to the hostage's side.

Henning issues a single sentence before he is killed.

"I am Alan Henning. Because of our Parliament's decision to attack the Islamic State, I, as a member of the British public, will now pay the price for that decision," he says.

His jihadist executioner, who is certainly the same man who killed two other Americans and a British citizen in the same fashion in previous videos, then speaks.

"The blood of David Haines was on your hands Cameron. Alan Henning will also be slaughtered, but his blood is on the hands of the British Parliament," the jihadist says, and then proceeds to behead Henning.

Henning's bloody body is subsequently displayed, with his head placed on his back.

The executioner is then shown with American hostage Peter Edward Kassig, who, like Henning, is also wearing an orange shirt and pants and is kneeling on the ground with his hands bound behind his back.

"Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment in Sham [Syria], which keeps on striking our people. So it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people," the jihadist says, threatening Kassig.

Kassig is a former US Army Ranger who founded Special Emergency Response and Assistance, an aid group that operated in Syria and Lebanon. The group "temporarily ceased its operations" sometime after Kassig was kidnapped, according to a statement on SERA's home page.

Henning is the fourth Western hostage executed by the Islamic State since the US opened its air campaign against the group in Iraq on Aug. 7.

Kassig may only have a few weeks to live unless US forces are able to identify his location and rescue him. If the past is any indication, the Islamic State will execute Kassig within the next two to three weeks. The Islamic State released its first execution video, of American James Wright Foley, on Aug. 19, and in it threatened Steven Joel Sotloff, another US citizen. The video of Sotloff's beheading was released on Sept. 2, and British citizen David Cawthorne Haines was threatened. Haines' beheading video was released on Sept. 13, and Henning was threatened in that video.

The Islamic State is also known to be holding British journalist John Cantlie and an unidentified female American citizen. Cantlie has been featured in a series of Islamic State videos called "Lend Me Your Ears," which discusses the jihadist group's perspective on the US-led military intervention in Iraq and Syria.

Nine United Nations peacekeeping troops from Niger were killed yesterday in an ambush by unidentified assailants in the Gao region of Mali. No group has yet claimed the attack, but the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and the Al Mourabitoun Brigade have been behind most of the recent attacks in Gao.

According to a UN spokesman, armed gunmen on motorbikes "were targeting a convoy that included a fuel truck, knowing full well that an attack on a fuel truck would cause an even greater number of casualties, which adds to the horrendous nature of the crime." The attack was tactically different than other recent operations conducted by jihadist groups in the area.

The ambush came just two weeks after five Chadian troops were killed when they drove over a mine in the Kidal region of northern Mali.

Yesterday's attack is the worst on MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping force, since it assumed security responsibilities in July 2013 following a French-led operation to oust jihadists from northern Mali. The latest attack brings the total number of MINUSMA fatalities in Mali to 20.

In response to the jihadists' takeover of much of northern Mali in 2012, French forces commenced Operation Serval in January 2013, a joint French and Malian operation to regain control of the area. The successful operation pushed the jihadists and their leaders from the northern cities they had ruled. In July 2014, Operation Serval officially ended and it was replaced by a new counterterrorism operation dubbed Operation Barkhan. In this ongoing effort, 1,000 French troops are currently in Mali assisting MINUSMA, the UN mission, to maintain the stability and security of the northern portion of the country.

Although most UN deaths in Mali have been caused by IEDs or landmines detonated under vehicle convoys, at least 15 suicide bombing attacks have taken place in Mali since the first one in February 2013. In addition to the 12 suicide attacks in Mali tallied by The Long War Journal as of May 2013, suicide attacks were also carried out in September 2013 and in July and August of this year. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Qaeda's official affiliate in North Africa, took responsibility for the Aug. 16 suicide bombing that killed two UN troops in Ber, a town close to Timbuktu. In the same statement, AQIM also claimed two other attacks near Timbuktu in June. AQIM is just one of several jihadist groups known to operate in northern Mali.

Jihadist groups in northern Mali

The Gao region of northern Mali is home to the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an al Qaeda breakaway faction; MUJAO is also known to operate in Kidal, another northeastern region. In 2011, the group officially broke away from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb due to apparent dissatisfaction over the ethnic makeup of the leaders of AQIM. The US government added MUJAO and two of its leaders to the list of global terrorists and entities in December 2012. Two months later, on Feb. 9, 2013, MUJAO conducted the first-ever suicide bombing in Mali, targeting a Malian military checkpoint.

Another group that operates in Gao is the Al Mourabitoun Brigade. In 2013, the brigade was formed in a merger between MUJAO forces and the forces of jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar. A longtime al Qaeda commander who fought in Afghanistan, Belmokhtar disaffiliated from AQIM after a dispute arose between him and the top leadership of the group. Belmokhtar bristled at taking orders from AQIM, and often communicated directly with al Qaeda's central leadership in the Afghan-Pakistan region. In May of this year, Belmokhtar sided with al Qaeda central and its emir, Ayman al Zawahiri (whom Belmokhtar referred to as "his emir"), in the infighting between the group and the Islamic State.

Despite openly breaking with AQIM, Belmokhtar continues to take orders from al Qaeda's central leadership and conducts joint operations with AQIM units in Mali and elsewhere in North and West Africa. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda central tightened control over hostage operations.] The official merger between Belmokhtar's forces and MUJAO in the summer of 2013 was not a surprise, as the two groups had previously conducted operations together. In May 2013, they conducted joint suicide attacks in Niger, targeting a military barracks in Agadez and a uranium mine in Arlit that supplies French reactors. Al Mourabitoun and two other groups affiliated with Mokhtar Belmokhtar were added to the US State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in December 2013.

The Al Mourabitoun Brigade has claimed a suicide attack in the Gao region that killed a French soldier in July. And just a few days ago, four jihadists affiliated with the Al Mourabitoun were arrested in a French military raid in Gao.

The al Qaeda-linked group Ansar Dine is also known to have operated in Gao and Kidal. Throughout 2012, Ansar Dine worked with AQIM, MUJAO, and local Tuareg separatists to push the Malian government from control of northern Mali, in an attempt to form a Muslim state ruled by sharia law. AQIM viewed Ansar Dine as its local arm in Mali; in a "confidential letter" from AQIM emir Abdelmalek Droukdel that was found in Timbuktu in early 2013, he instructed his followers to mask their operations and "pretend to be a 'domestic' movement" under Ansar Dine so as not to draw international attention and intervention. Despite being known to operate in Gao and Kidal, Ansar Dine has not claimed an attack in the region this year.

In addition to MUJAO, Al Mourabitoun, and Ansar Dine, AQIM is also known to operate in Gao and Kidal, but its attacks in Mali this year have been located near Timbuktu.

The Long War Journal has compiled a map of the major attacks in Mali against UN or French troops this year based on reporting from Malian news or wire services such as Reuters.

Omar Khalid al Khorasani, from a 2012 propaganda video in which he called for the establishment of a global caliphate and said he wanted to take possession of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

A senior leader of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, urged the Islamic State and the Al Nusrah Front, "and other mujahideen of the region" to put aside their differences and fight together against the US and allied countries that are launching airstrikes against jihadists in Iraq and Syria. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is the latest al Qaeda-linked group to call for reconciliation between jihadist factions in the region.

Omar Khalid al Khorasani, who is on the executive ruling council of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, released a videotape "suggesting Islamic State (IS,ISIS), Jabhat al Nusrah (JN) and other mujahideen of the region to reconcile among each other," his spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihshan, wrote in an email sent to The Long War Journal. Khorasani's video was published on YouTube but has since been removed for violating the video service's terms of publishing.

"As Kuffar [a derogatory term for non-Muslims] and their helper Murtadeen [apostates, or Muslims who support the West] have formed a coalition to attack the Muslims of Iraq and Sham [Syria], it is important that the Mujahideen of the region and of the whole world are united together against this aggression," Ihsan said.

"Omar Khalid Khorasani has also offered his influence to mediate between Islamic State, al Qaeda and Jabhat al Nusrah," Ihsan continues. "He has urged the Muslims of the whole world to become united like a fist against the Kuffar and their Murtadeen helpers."

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is the latest al Qaeda-linked jihadist group to call for the Islamic State and the Al Nusrah Front and its Islamist allies to put aside their differences. The Afghan Taliban, Shabaab (al Qaeda's official branch in Somalia), al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and various pro-al Qaeda ideologues have all called for the jihadist groups to accept mediation and unite over the past year.

The Al Nusrah Front and its allies have said they are willing to reconcile, but the Islamic State, which declared a caliphate after taking control of large swaths of Iraq this summer, has refused. The Islamic State has declared its leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, as the emir of the caliphate and has insisted that other jihadists swear allegiance to him.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar formed in late August after splitting from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan over a leadership dispute. Factions from Mohmand, Arakzai, Bajaur; Khyber, Charsadda, Peshawar, and Swat broke away from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan after claiming that its emir, Mullah Fazlullah, and other leaders, strayed from the path of jihad. The jihadist group signaled its affinity with al Qaeda and the global jihad when it released a graphic that celebrated the 9/11 attack on the US. [See LWJ report, Taliban splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar forms in northwestern Pakistan, and Threat Matrix report Jamaat-ul-Ahrar celebrates 9/11 attack.]

Omar Khalid is a powerful commander who was in the running to take over the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan after the death of then emir Hakeemullah Mehsud in a US drone strike late last year. Omar Khalid is close to al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, and has said that the Taliban seek to overthrow the Pakistani government, impose sharia, or Islamic law, seize the country's nuclear weapons, and wage jihad until "the Caliphate is established across the world." [For more information on Omar Khalid al Khorasani, see LWJ report, Quetta airbase attacks carried out by Pakistani Taliban, IMU.]

The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, has released a video and a series of photos documenting its recent operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, is fighting alongside Bashar al Assad's forces against Al Nusrah and other rebels in Syria. But the two sides have also repeatedly fought one another in Lebanon as well.

In the video above, Al Nusrah shows footage from its raid on a Hezbollah outpost in the town of Brital, which is close to the border with Syria. In text displayed during the video, the al Qaeda group claims its fighters killed 11 Hezbollah jihadists, wounded tens of others, and forced the remaining Hezbollah forces to flee.

Al Nusrah says its fighters captured a variety of weaponry, including an American-made rocket launcher. And the group also claims that only one of its members was killed and one other wounded during the raid.

Skirmishes also took place elsewhere inside Lebanon. And the total number of Hezbollah casualties varies greatly in the reporting, with some reports saying that 10 Hebollah fighters were killed.

Hezbollah sources, meanwhile, have given their version of events to the press. Citing a "person close to Hezbollah," Reuters reports that at least 16 Nusrah Front fighters were killed. While Hezbollah temporarily lost control of the outpost, Hezbollah sources say, Al Nusrah's fighters were pushed back into Syria.

According to Reuters, the Al Nusrah fighters "attacked at least 10 Hezbollah bases along a mountain range close to the Syrian border." Their assault covered "a large area stretching from south of the town of Baalbek to areas close to the border town of Arsal."

In August, Al Nusrah and the Islamic State, a jihadist group that was disowned by al Qaeda's general command in February, fought against Lebanese forces in Arsal. In addition to killing a number of Lebanese security officials and soldiers, the jihadists took others hostage. Al Nusrah and the Islamic State have killed at least three of the Lebanese hostages. And the Al Nusrah Front continues to use the captives in its anti-Iranian propaganda.

Al Nusrah claims that its attack on the Hezbollah outpost near Brital is revenge for attacks on refugees and others in Arsal.

In addition to the video above, Al Nusrah has released several photos from the fighting. For example, the photos below purportedly show several Hezbollah fighters who were killed during Al Nusrah's raids in Lebanon.

The US launched two drone strikes against jihadists operating in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan over the past two days. Thirteen people, including a "high level target" are reported to have been killed in the two strikes.

Yesterday's strike took place in the Kand Ghar area of the Shawal Valley in South Waziristan. The CIA-piloted Reapers or Predators fired a pair of missiles at a compound, killing five people, including an unnamed "high level target," Dawn reported. It is unclear if the jihadists who are targeted in the strike were local Taliban fighters, al Qaeda, or members of other terrorist groups that are known to operate in the area.

In today's attack, US drones launched several missiles at a compound in the Mangroti area of the Shawal Valley that belongs to a Taliban commander known as Habib, Dawn reported. Eight "suspected militants" were killed and six more were wounded, according to local officials. It is unclear if Habib is among those killed.

The Shawal Valley, which spans both North and South Waziristan, is a known haven for al Qaeda and other terror groups operating in the region. A host of Taliban, Pakistani, and foreign terrorist groups gather in the Shawal Valley and then enter Afghanistan to fight US, NATO, and Afghan government forces.

The US has now launched three airstrikes in South Waziristan since the end of September. A strike on Sept. 28 in the Wana area of South Waziristan reportedly killed two "Arabs" and two local jihadists.

The Sept. 28 strike in South Waziristan was the first recorded in the tribal agency since April 17, 2013, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. In the time between those two strikes, the US launched 30 strikes in North Waziristan and one more in the district of Hangu.

The US has carried out 11 drone strikes inside Pakistan this year; all 11 have taken place since June 11. The US drone program in Pakistan was put on hold from the end of December 2013 up until June 11, 2014 as the Pakistani government attempted to negotiate a peace deal with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, an al Qaeda-linked group that wages jihad in Afghanistan and seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state.

The US launched two more airstrike in Pakistan's lawless tribal agencies today, killing 10 more "militants," according to reports from the region.

In the first strike, the remotely piloted, CIA operated Reapers or Predators fired missiles at a compound and a vehicle in the village of Kund Ghar in the Shawal Valley in North Waziristan. The compound is owned by "militant commander Mustaqeem," according to Dawn.

In the second strike, the US killed three more "militants" and wounded five more, according to Dawn. Two missiles were fired at a compound in the village Madakhel Kunar Sar in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan.

The targets of the strikes have not been disclosed. It is unclear if Mustaqeem or senior jihadist leaders or operatives were killed in the first US airstrike. The Taliban and al Qaeda have not released statements announcing the death of its leaders or operatives.

The US has carried out 13 drone strikes inside Pakistan this year; all 13 have taken place since June 11. The US drone program in Pakistan was put on hold from the end of December 2013 up until June 11, 2014 as the Pakistani government attempted to negotiate a peace deal with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, an al Qaeda-linked group that wages jihad in Afghanistan and seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state.

Three of the last four strikes have taken place in the Shawal Valley. The US killed eight militants on Oct. 6 and five more on Oct. 5. Six out of the last 10 strikes in Pakistan have occurred in the Datta Khel area.

Shawal Valley, Datta Khel are known havens for al Qaeda and allied jihadist groups

The Shawal Valley is a region that spans the jihadist-infested tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan. The valley is used as a staging point for fighters entering eastern Afghanistan to battle US and Afghan forces.

Al Qaeda and other allied jihadist groups are also know to shelter in the Shawal Valley. A strike on July 29, 2013 killed three al Qaeda military "training experts." The al Qaeda fighters were identified as "Abu Rashid from Saudi Arabia, Muhammed Ilyas Kuwaiti from Kuwait, and Muhammed Sajid Yamani from Yemen."

The three al Qaeda trainers killed in the July 29, 2013 strike were members of the Lashkar-al-Zil, or the Shadow Army, al Qaeda's paramilitary force that fields small conventional units in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is known to operate training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The US Treasury Department officially acknowledged the existence of this unit when it added one such Pakistan-based trainer and commander of al Qaeda's "paramilitary brigades" to the list of global terrorists in June 2013. [See LWJ reports, 3 al Qaeda military 'training experts' killed in US drone strike in Pakistan, US adds al Qaeda explosives expert to list of global terrorists, and Al Qaeda's paramilitary 'Shadow Army,'.]

Another senior jihadist killed by the US in the Shawal Valley is Abdul Shakoor Turkistani, the former emir of the al Qaeda-allied Turkistan Islamic Party. Abdul Shakoor, who was killed in a US drone strike in on Aug. 24., 2012, was given command of al Qaeda's forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the spring of 2010. [See LWJ report, Turkistan Islamic Party leader thought killed in US drone strike.]

The Datta Khel area is administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the top Taliban commander for North Waziristan. Bahadar provides shelter to senior al Qaeda leaders as well as terrorists from numerous Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups.

Datta Khel is a known hub of Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda activity. While Bahadar administers the region, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and allied Central Asian jihadist groups are also based in the area. The Lashkar al Zil is known to operate a command center in Datta Khel. Some of al Qaeda's top leaders have been killed in drone strikes in Datta Khel, including Mustafa Abu Yazid, a longtime al Qaeda leader and close confidant of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri; Abdullah Said al Libi, the commander of the Shadow Army; and Zuhaib al Zahibi, a general in the Shadow Army.

Local security officials in the central Yemeni city of Baydah reported a series of attacks carried out by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) early this morning. AQAP fighters attacked several military targets in the city, including a Special Forces headquarters, a police station, and two military checkpoints. While initial reports from the main hospital in the city claimed that at least 10 police officers were killed in the attacks, security officials later said that 11 soldiers were killed in addition to 12 AQAP fighters.

AQAP was quick to take credit for the operations via a Twitter account affiliated with the terrorist group. The statement claimed that the attack against the Special Forces headquarters was carried out by a suicide bomber named Abu Dajjana al Lahji and that the mujahideen had also attacked various security headquarters and a government complex, as well as the Zaher and Izza military checkpoints in the city. In this preliminary statement, AQAP claimed that tens of Yemeni soldiers were killed and injured and that clashes in the city were still ongoing.

The AQAP statement also noted that today's attacks in Baydah reflect the Houthi rebellion and determination to "fight the Sunnis ... with the pretext of combating al Qaeda." The statement added that it was this determination that legitimized the Houthis in the eyes of the Sana'a government.

In a secondary statement released just two hours after the first, AQAP provided more details about today's offensive. This statement claimed that AQAP fighters began their "coordinated attacks" at midnight on Wednesday with an initial assault on the main gate of the Special Forces base in order to clear the path for the suicide bomber, Abu Dajjana al Lahji. In order to maximize casualties, al Lahji stormed the base and detonated his explosives beside a building housing Yemeni soldiers. The mujahideen then stormed the base's command center and set it on fire along with military vehicles that were at the site.

The second statement also alleges that AQAP fighters attacked the Izza checkpoint in the city, but does not mention the attack at the Zaher checkpoint noted in the initial statement. However, AQAP claimed that two soldiers were killed in this assault and that its fighters took full control of the checkpoint and managed to seize two military vehicles as well as anti-aircraft weaponry.

Later in the day, AQAP released a third and final statement , claiming that its fighters had withdrawn from Baydah "following successful attacks carried out simultaneously that lasted for hours against military and security targets." The statement asserted that today's operation lasted for nearly five hours, from midnight until dawn, and caused massive material and human losses among the ranks of the Yemeni military.

AQAP's final statement on the matter concludes with the terrorist group's justification for the attacks. The statement reads: "[T]he attack came as a result of confirmed reports that the mujahideen received regarding joint meetings held between the rafidi [Shi'ite] Houthis and the military and security leadership in order to arrange the handover of the Special Forces base along with all of its military hardware to the Houthis, under the direct supervision of the military." The AQAP statement also noted that this alleged "handover" is not the first of its kind, and accuses the Yemeni military of handing over both Amran and Sana'a provinces to the Houthis.

Local sources said that the series of attacks followed a meeting of tribal leaders in the city, some of whom are linked to AQAP, that concluded with a decision to challenge the Shiite Houthi presence in Baydah province. Many of the tribal leaders believe that elements of the security forces in Baydah are sympathetic to the Houthi rebels, and the offensives may have been timed to follow the tribal meeting.

This most recent series of attacks in Baydah underscores the intensification of AQAP's activity in Yemen in light of the ongoing Shiite Houthi rebellion rocking the country. The Houthis staged a lightning sweep of Sana'a on Sept. 22 and quickly consolidated their power in the capital in the following days. Since then, AQAP has declared an open war against the Houthis and called on Sunnis to take up arms against the Shiite rebels.

AQAP routinely accuses the Yemeni military of collusion with the Houthis, and has begun using the term "the Houthi-turned-military" when referring to the Yemeni armed forces. In a video released last week, AQAP claimed that Yemeni "soldiers have grown used to raising their voices with the rafidi [Shi'ite] Houthi cry during battle." Exploiting the current political and security chaos in the country, AQAP has been stepping up its attacks against both the Yemeni military and the Houthi rebels.

Today, the US launched its fifth drone strike in Pakistan's Waziristan region in the past five days. Four people are reported to have been killed in today's strike.

Pakistani officials said that the CIA-operated, remotely piloted Reapers or Predators fired missiles at a vehicle as it traveled in the village of Loman in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, Dawn reported.

Of the five strikes reported in North and South Waziristan in the past five days, three took place in the Shawal Valley, which spans both tribal agencies, and two occurred in Datta Khel in North Waziristan. Both Datta Khel and the Shawal Valley are known havens for al Qaeda and also serve as transit points for jihadists entering or leaving Afghanistan.

The flurry of operations in such a relatively short time period indicates the US is hunting for a senior al Qaeda or allied jihadist leader in Pakistan's tribal areas. No senior jihadists leaders or operatives have been reported killed in the five strikes.

US intelligence officials familiar with the drone program in Pakistan who were contacted by The Long War Journal would neither confirm nor deny that the CIA is hunting a top-level al Qaeda leader in the tribal areas.

The US has carried out 14 drone strikes inside Pakistan this year; all 14 have taken place since June 11. The US drone program in Pakistan was put on hold from the end of December 2013 up until June 11, 2014 as the Pakistani government attempted to negotiate a peace deal with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, an al Qaeda-linked group that wages jihad in Afghanistan and seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state.

Background on Datta Khel, an al Qaeda hub

The Datta Khel area, where today's strike took place, is administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the top Taliban commander for North Waziristan. Bahadar provides shelter to senior al Qaeda leaders as well as terrorists from numerous Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups.

Datta Khel is a known hub of Taliban, Haqqani Network, and al Qaeda activity. While Bahadar administers the region, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and allied Central Asian jihadist groups are also based in the area. The Lashkar al Zil, al Qaeda's Shadow Army, is known to operate a command center in Datta Khel. Some of al Qaeda's top leaders have been killed in drone strikes in Datta Khel, including Mustafa Abu Yazid, a longtime al Qaeda leader and close confidant of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri; Abdullah Said al Libi, the commander of the Shadow Army; and Zuhaib al Zahibi, a general in the Shadow Army. Yazid, al Libi, and al Zahibi were killed in 2010.

Despite US government claims that al Qaeda's core has been "decimated" in Pakistan's tribal areas, leaders of the terror group continue to operate in the region, including in Datta Khel.

The US killed six al Qaeda leaders and operatives in a drone strike in Datta Khel on July 10. Their deaths were reported by Sanafi al Nasr, a senior al Qaeda leader based in Syria who communicates with al Qaeda's leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He identified three of those killed as Taj al Makki, Abu Abdurahman al Kuwaiti, and Fayez Awda al Khalidi. [See LWJ report, 6 al Qaeda operatives thought killed in recent drone strike in Pakistan.]

Another strike, on July 19, killed eight militants, including two commanders from the Punjabi Taliban, a conglomeration of jihadist groups from Pakistan's Punjab province. The Punjabi Taliban commanders' names were not disclosed by Pakistani officials. Asmatullah Muawiya, the leader of the Punjabi Taliban, also serves as an al Qaeda commander and he has been agreeable to conducting peace talks with the Pakistani government. [See LWJ report, US drones target 'Punjabi Taliban' in North Waziristan strike.]

And an Aug. 6 strike killed five jihadists, including unnamed "foreigners," a term reserved for al Qaeda and other allied groups not originating in Pakistan.

The aftermath of the suicide attack in Sana'a. Source: Al Arabiya.

Arabic media outlets are reporting the deaths of at least 63 individuals as the result of two suicide attacks in Sana'a and eastern Hadramout province in Yemen today. The attacks came only a few hours after the latest development in the country's ongoing political crisis, when Prime Minister-designate Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak rejected his nomination by Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi under heavy pressure from the Houthi rebels.

The suicide attack in Sana'a took place this morning as supporters of the Shiite Houthi rebels, who seized the Yemeni capital on Sept. 22, were preparing for demonstrations in Tahrir Square. A suicide bomber detonated his explosive device at a checkpoint at the northeastern entrance to Tahrir Square, in front of the Yemeni Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Medical officials told the Arabic press that at least 43 people were killed in the attack, and that the number of casualties is expected to rise due to the severity of the wounds suffered by the victims of the attack. At least 75 people were reported injured from the explosion. Body parts and pools of blood were scattered throughout the square as first responders reached the scene.

Arabic media sources claimed that the pro-Houthi demonstration targeted by AQAP was originally intended to take place at Sab'een Square in Sana'a, but was relocated to Tahrir Square following bin Mubarak's rejection of his nomination. The attack has been described as the largest suicide operation in Sana'a since AQAP's May 2012 bombing of a military parade that killed nearly 100 Yemeni soldiers.

The second attack, which occurred "almost simultaneously" with the first, took place at a military checkpoint on the outskirts of Hadramout's provincial capital, Mukallah. A military source in the area claimed that an AQAP suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint near the town of Buroom at the western entrance to Mukallah, immediately killing 10 soldiers.

Medical sources said that following the attack, four additional Yemeni soldiers were found dead at the site of the explosion and six others died from their wounds, raising the casualty figure to 20 soldiers. AQAP fighters also reportedly set fire to several vehicles and a small building at the checkpoint. Other sources reported that the AQAP fighters managed to seize two military vehicles and a tank during the course of the assault.

Today's attacks are the latest in an ongoing AQAP offensive throughout the country. AQAP is capitalizing on the political and security vacuum resulting from the Houthi rebellion, which is challenging the authority of the Sana'a government. Although AQAP has not yet claimed credit for the operations, the terrorist group has carried out similar attacks against Houthi and military targets in the past.

AQAP has declared an open war against the Houthis and routinely accuses the Yemeni government of collusion with the Shiite rebels. On Oct. 8, AQAP carried out a series of attacks in Baydah province against the Yemeni military. AQAP claimed that the military was in the process of handing over a Special Forces base in the city to the Houthis. In a video released last week, AQAP claimed that Yemeni "soldiers have grown used to raising their voices with the rafidi [Shi'ite] Houthi cry during battle." Exploiting the current political and security chaos in the country, AQAP has been stepping up its operations against both the Yemeni military and the Houthi rebels.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, released several photographs of a training camp in the northwestern province of Idlib. The al Qaeda group is operating camps in Syria despite US air operations in Syria, which have not targeted the group since Sept. 22.

The photographs were released on a Twitter account associated with the Al Nusrah Front's wiliyat, or administrative district, in Idlib. The logo on the pictures is the same one used by the Al Nusrah Front and bears the name Al Manarah al Bayda, or The White Lighthouse, which is the group's official media outlet. The words "Idlib Correspondent" are also included on the logo.

The photographs show Al Nusrah Front fighters in training. The jihadists are photographed while marching in formation, receiving firearms instructions, and firing handguns and AK-47 assault rifles. In each photograph, the Al Nusrah Front's black banner of jihad is flying.

The Al Nusrah Front has released videos and photographs of its training facilities in the past. In March, the group released videos from the Ayman al Zawahiri and Abu Ghadiya camps. The Ayman al Zawahiri Camp was located in the city of Deir al Zour and was named after al Qaeda's current emir. Nusrah likely abandoned this camp when the rival Islamic State took control of the most of Dier al Zour province last summer. 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 was killed in a US special operations raid in 2008. [See LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front names training camps after top al Qaeda leaders.]

The Al Nusrah Front has been known to be running training camps in eastern Syria since December 2012, when the US added one of its camp commanders to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

The Treasury Department added Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al Juburi to the list of global terrorists the same day that the State Department added the Al Nusrah Front to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Al Juburi is an Iraqi citizen who has been involved in attacking US forces in Iraq since 2004 as part of al Qaeda in Iraq. According to Treasury, al Juburi "moved from Mosul, Iraq to Syria in late 2011 to exploit Syria's more permissive security environment with the objectives of transferring al Qaeda's ideology to Syria and forming likeminded terrorist groups." He became Al Nusrah's "religious and military commander" in eastern Syria and ran a training camp. [See LWJ report, US adds Al Nusrah Front, 2 leaders to terrorism list.]

US has targeted Al Nusrah Front camps in Idlib

The US is known to have targeted training camps run by the Al Nusrah Front in northwestern Syria. On Sept. 22, the opening day of US airstrikes in Syria, the US "fired 46 cruise missiles at eight locations" belonging to the Al Nusrah Front, The Associated Press reported. At least one of the strikes is thought to have targeted Idlib, as civilians were reported killed in the province.

In a press release announcing the strikes, the US military said it targeted more than one training camp associated with the "Khorasan Group," which is merely a name for a cadre of established Al Nusrah Front leaders and al Qaeda operatives who are coordinating attacks against the West. [See LWJ reports, Senior al Qaeda strategist part of so-called 'Khorasan group' and Al Qaeda leader claims key operative in so-called 'Khorasan group' was killed.]

"In total, US Central Command forces conducted eight strikes against Khorasan Group targets located west of Aleppo, to include training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communication building and command and control facilities," CENTCOM reported. Idlib is southwest of Aleppo.

Abu Yusuf al Turki, an Al Nusrah Front "commander" who trained fighters how to become snipers, was killed in the Sept. 22 airstrikes. Al Turki, whose real name is Ümit Yaşar Toprak, was involved in a 2004 plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush during a NATO summit in Instanbul. He also fought in Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front trainer suspected of plotting against 2004 NATO summit killed in US airstrikes.]

The Al Nusrah Front and the so-called Khorasan Group remain in operation despite the Sept. 22 airstrikes. The US and allied countries have launched 111 strikes in Syria since Sept. 23, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal and Qualitative Military Edge. None have targeted al Qaeda's network in Syria since the first day of airstrikes in Syria.

Photos from the Al Nusrah Front camp in Idlib

Ansar al Sharia Libya, the jihadist group notorious for its role in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, has released a 42-minute video highlighting its recent operations. The video, titled "Enter Upon Them By The Gate," focuses on Ansar al Sharia's opposition to General Khalifa Haftar's forces. Haftar is a former Libyan general who has opposed the jihadists' advances in eastern Libya.

In the video, Ansar al Sharia's leaders again emphasize their goal of establishing Islamic governance inside Benghazi.

And the production also features Wissam Bin Hamid, a jihadist leader US officials once considered an ally in post-Muammar Qaddafi Libya.

Bin Hamid is shown twice in the video.

A photo of Bin Hamid is first displayed during Ansar al Sharia's discussion of the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council [BRSC], which is a coalition of several Islamist and jihadist factions currently fighting against Haftar and his allies. Ansar al Sharia is likely the dominant organization in the BRSC.

Bin Hamid is shown sitting in front of the black flag first popularized by the Islamic State of Iraq [ISI], an al Qaeda branch that evolved into Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's Islamic State, which has been disowned by al Qaeda's general command. The ISI's flag was adopted by other jihadist groups long ago, including some that are openly loyal to al Qaeda. In its media productions, Ansar al Sharia typically uses an even simpler black banner similar to that flown by al Qaeda and its branches. See, for example, the upper right hand corner of the image Bin Hamid below.

"The mujahideen in Benghazi announced the formation of the [BRSC], gathering together the words and uniting the ranks," a narrator says. "And it has combined a group of battalions, brigades, factions and jihadi groups from among those who had experience and history fighting the tyrant Qaddafi before and after the revolution."

Bin Hamid is one of the key leaders in this coalition, according to Ansar al Sharia. Indeed, the group has previously published photos of Bin Hamid fighting alongside other jihadists, including Ansar al Sharia's emir, Mohammed al Zahawi.

After halting Haftar's offensive, Ansar al Sharia's narrator says in the new video, the "leadership of the BRSC met and drew up precise plans for a military operation aiming to liberate the city of Benghazi" from Haftar's forces. "And so the efforts have united, and the soldiers assembled; the tasks have been allotted, and the operations distributed."

Bin Hamid is shown a second time during footage celebrating the fall of Camp Thunderbolt in July. The base was controlled by special forces loyal to Haftar until the jihadists overran it in short order. [See LWJ report, Ansar al Sharia, allies seize special forces base in Benghazi.]

Bin Hamid praises Allah for the jihadists' successes at Camp Thunderbolt, saying it was a "base of evil which has corrupted the country and harmed the worshipers [i.e. Muslims]."

"And we will not leave it, with Allah's permission," Bin Hamid continues, "until Allah's law [sharia] is established."

Zahawi, Ansar al Sharia's leader, echoes Bin Hamid's argument moments later. As can be seen in the image below, Zahawi is standing to Bin Hamid's left as he speaks at Camp Thunderbolt.

In "the name of the fighters of the BRSC, and in the name of all free young men in Benghazi: we will fight and struggle until the law of Allah [sharia] is ruled in this land," Zahawi says.

The close alliance between Zahawi and Bin Hamid, who are both fighting to implement a harsh version of sharia law, underscores the degree to which American officials misjudged their allies in Libya.

Bin Hamid was supposed to be a key guarantor of security in eastern Libya, but his name has surfaced time and again in the investigation into the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack. He admittedly met with American officials in Benghazi just days before the assault to discuss security. Once the assault was underway, however, Bin Hamid refused to provide assistance. Even a call from a personal friend of Ambassador Christopher Stevens did not move Bin Hamid to act. [For a summary of reports concerning Bin Hamid's role, see LWJ report: Ansar al Sharia ally a key figure in Benghazi security failures.]

While Bin Hamid claims to have stood idly by as the US compound was ransacked and four Americans were killed, Zahawi's fighters joined known al Qaeda branches in overrunning the US Mission and Annex.

Today, Bin Hamid and Zahawi advertise their alliance in Ansar al Sharia's videos.