Aug 25 2018
Does the reappearance of the IS leader signal the start of Stage 2? By Abdel Bari Atwan It may be pure coincidence that both the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group Abu-Bakral-Baghdadi and the head of Hay’at Tahrir ash-Sham (formerly the Nusra Front), Abu-Muhammad al-Joulani, resurfaced at the same time last week. The former […]
By mahaburbar1 • ISlamic State •
Aug 9 2018
Targeting civilians has become a deliberate policy of the Saudi-led coalition By Abdel Bari Atwan It is hard to comprehend the logical and moral criteria on which spokesmen for the Saudi-UAE coalition base their defence of the air-strikes their warplanes – the world’s most modern, expensive and precision-killing – launch against civilian targets in Yemen. […]
By mahaburbar1 • Islamic emirate of the Caucasus, Saudi Arabia, Yemen •
Feb 8 2018
Israel is trying to pick a fight. But the Lebanese won’t to be intimated. By Abdel Bari Atwan Israel’s leaders have unintentionally achieved a great accomplishment. They have united the people of Lebanon, of all sects and shades, against Israel’s repeated border provocations, whose escalation in recent days has reminded the Lebanese of its expansionist […]
By mahaburbar1 • Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon •
Dec 28 2017
Saudis seek to enlist Palestinians in their anti-Hezbollah campaign By Abdel Bari Atwan According to the New York Times, Saudi Arabia has devised a long-term plan to combat Hezbollah in Lebanon. In a lengthy report published on Monday, the paper said the Saudis were trying to establish and arm militias in the country’s Palestinian refugee […]
By mahaburbar1 • Hezbollah, Palestine •
Nov 2 2017
As Trump escalates against Iran, the Saudis up the ante against Hezbollah By Abdel Bari Atwan It is becoming clearly apparent that a new chapter in Saudi Arabia’s vendetta with Iran is about to begin unfolding in Lebanon, and that it will take many forms: involving the political, economic and media spheres. This was made […]
By mahaburbar1 • Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia •
Mar 23 2017
The fingerprints of Islamic State were all over the incident outside the British parliament, and more of the same can be expected By Abdel Bari Atwan As a journalist, it is the height of good luck to find yourself, purely by coincidence, at the site of a major breaking news event. […]
By mahaburbar1 • al-Qaeda, Islam, ISlamic State, United Kingdom •
Mar 14 2017
If the US really knew where the IS leader was, why didn’t it kill him? By Abdel Bari Atwan Psychological operations are an integral part of warfare. They are one of the most effective means of misleading the enemy and undermining its morale as well as countering and discrediting its media narrative. […]
By mahaburbar1 • al-Qaeda •
Feb 15 2017
Openly calling for the murder of top Saudi other and clerics is part of the group’s post-Mosul strategy By Abdel Bari Atwan One of Islamic State (IS)’s propaganda outlets released a videotape last week which featured strongly-worded calls for the killing of a number of well-known Muslim religious figures. It conveyed the unmistakeable […]
By mahaburbar1 • al-Qaeda •
Sep 2 2016
By Abdel Bari Atwan There can be no doubt that the Islamic State (IS) group was dealt a major blow by the assassination of Abu-Mohammad al-Adnani, its official spokesman who proclaimed the establishment of its ‘Caliphate’ in June 2014. Both as a propagandist and military commander with two decades’ experience of ‘jihad’, he was […]
By mahaburbar1 • al-Qaeda, ISlamic State, Islamic State, Jihad, Syria •
Mar 9 2015
The political landscape of the Middle East has never been as unstable and every day produces a new surprise By Abdel Bari Atwan | Special to Gulf News Published: 16:22 March 8, 2015 Image Credit: Iran is overtly engaged in the battle to retake the Iraqi city of Tikrit from Daesh (the Islamic State of […]
By su • ISlamic State •
Feb 5 2015
The group needed to reassert its credentials as the ‘meanest kid on the block’ following the loss of Kobani By Abdel Bari Atwan | Special to Gulf News Published: 16:23 February 5, 2015 Image Credit: Ramachandra Babu/©Gulf News I thought I was inured to the horrific excesses of violence perpetrated by Daesh (Islamic State of […]
By su • ISlamic State, Islamic State •
Jan 13 2015
While Al Zawahiri’s star has been eclipsed and Mullah Omar has yet to speak on the issue, the old guard can still create problems for Al Baghdadi By Abdel Bari Atwan | Special to Gulf News Published: 16:32 December 30, 2014 Image Credit: REUTERS Members of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces take up positions during […]
By su • ISlamic State •
Sep 26 2013
The atrocious attack by Somali al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi points to a renewed emphasis on internationalizing 'jihad', and a closer co-operation between the various 'branches' and al-Qaeda 'central' led by Ayman al-Zawahiri. While al-Qaeda remains horizontal in structure, with its many branches and affiliates largely maintaining their autonomy, al-Zawahiri […]
By su • al-Qaeda • • Tags: al-Hijra, al-Qaeda central, al-Shabaab, al-Zawahiri, Boko Haram, extremism, icreasing ruthlessness, Kenya, violence, Westgate, Zubayr, Zubeyr
Sep 11 2013
On the 12th anniversary of 9/11 even I am amazed by how accurate the predictions I made in my 2012 book, After bin Laden: al-Qa'ida, the Next Generation have proved to be, especially in Syria, the Sahel, and in regard to the opportunities afforded by the Arab Spring. I also wrote a backgrounder on al-Qaeda […]
By su • al-Qaeda • • Tags: Abu Jandal, books by Abdel Bari Atwan, information about al-qaeda, Nasser al-Bahri, Osama bin Laden's bodyguard memoir, recommended books about al-qa'ida, recommended books about al-qaeda, Thin Man Press
Sep 11 2013
Wednesday marks the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that changed the course of world history and dragged the US into wars in the Middle East which have brought her to the brink of bankruptcy, both financially and morally, and rocked her foundations. The prestigious British Economist said, in an editorial commenting on the attacks, that […]
By su • al-Qaeda • • Tags: 9/11 anniversary, al-Qa'ida stronger, al-Qaeda stronger, Islamic Maghreb, Libya, Sahel, Somalia, Syria, Taliban, Yemen
Aug 12 2013
Al-Wuhayshi, leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the current target of US drone strikes, was a personal favourite of Osama bin Laden and was his right hand man in Tarnak Farm and Tora Bora, Afghanistan. You can read more about him, and the history of AQAP, in my latest book 'After […]
By su • al-Qaeda, Books • • Tags: Al Qaeda in the arabian Peninsula, al-Qaeda, al-Wuhayshi, AQAP, Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's closest, Guarding bin Laden, Osama bin Laden
Aug 12 2013
As Arab and Western capitals follow developments in Egypt after the ouster of elected president Mohammed Morsi, south of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is being pounded by US drone missiles. In the last ten days of the holy month of Ramadan, US drone strikes killed 30 people, with officials claiming that the victims were al-Qaeda-affiliated […]
By su • al-Qaeda, Yemen • • Tags: Al Qaeda in the arabian Peninsula, al-Wuhayshi, AQAP, Osama bin Laden, Yemen
May 2 2013
Today marks the second anniversary of the assassination of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, at the hands of US special forces units. Al-Qaeda, founded by bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1996, has not diminished in the way the Americans expected – neither after the occupation of Afghanistan in October […]
By su • al-Qaeda • • Tags: al-Golani, al-Nusrah, al-Qa'ida, al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mali, Osama bin Laden, Syria
Apr 17 2013
The Boston marathon bombing, in which three died and hundreds were wounded, has triggered a state of panic all over the US and its European allies, especially Britain. Britain has two highly targettable events coming up; the first of which is today's funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which will be attended by dozens […]
By su • al-Qaeda, United States of America •
Sep 14 2018
Conceding Defeat in Iraq
The US has only itself to blame for Iran’s growing influence in the country By Abdel Bari Atwan The war between the US and Iran has begun moving markedly onto the Iraqi stage, with the US government increasingly treating the Iranian regime as though it were Iraq’s de facto ruler. This was underlined by the […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iran, Iraq, Jihad •