This month’s In Focus analyzes IS core’s recent announcement regarding the death of the group’s leader and the new spokesman’s unusual remarks on the circumstances of his death and the alleged involvement of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in it. The series of photosets documenting the pledges of allegiance of the provinces sheds light on the status and changes undergone by the global caliphate, which overall, has not improved for the terrorist group. From the shadows, the new caliph will have to manage the tricky inheritance he was given and mitigate old problems and challenges left unresolved by his predecessors.
In Somalia, while the first phase of the Somali operation against the Al Qaeda-aligned Al-Shabaab jihadi group was quite successful in pushing the terrorist group out of several territories, the second phase of the operation saw some major setbacks. The movement of Al-Shabaab fighters caused an uptick in raids and IED attacks on both sides of the Kenya-Somalia border. The group carried out several successful attacks against the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia amid the latter’s gradual withdrawal, scheduled to be completed by December 2024. Additionally, Al-Shabaab fighters managed to capture several towns in Galguduud region, inflicting heavy losses to Somali Army forces and their allied militias.
In recent months, lone wolves have been apprehended across Europe, charged with intent to carry out attacks on the continent using cold weapons, poisons, IEDs and even PBIEDs. Concurrently, Western intelligence agencies have thwarted organized plots in Europe possibly guided by global jihad affiliates based in different locations around the globe. Western counterterrorism efforts have been successful until now. However, the threat of global jihad attacks in the West seems to be slowly growing, whether inspired by jihadi propaganda, or coordinated and guided by global jihad affiliates.
As an example of this threat in the West, our Who’s Who? analyzes a social media account belonging to a radical who likely resides in the US. The profile appears to be a Salafi radical who frequently publishes content regarding sensitive topics that are generally the main areas of interest and focus of the Salafi jihadi Islamic thought. Although there are no clear indications regarding his adherence to a specific jihadi group, he has published several posts with IS content.
In our Instant Messaging Applications Monitoring, using the Codex IMATM system, we investigated two phone numbers, Maldivian and Kenyan, that are members of several radical WhatsApp groups, mostly IS-affiliated. Further investigation, using additional tools and systems, revealed their social media presence and associated accounts.
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