Iraq
Syria: Nusra Front merge with Iraq Qaeda wing
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, “emir” of al-Qaeda in Iraq, announced a merger with Syria’s Nusra Front to form a new organization, the “Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.”
Tag: al-Qaeda
Afghanistan
US transfers full control of Bagram to Afghanistan
The US turned over full control of Bagram Prison to Afghanistan, after long maintianing a special secretive wing for high-level Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees.
Greater Middle East
Syria massacres: regime, rebels blame each other
In a new massacre near Homs—one of several in Syria over the past weeks—the regime blames the Nusra Front rebels, while the opposition blames the pro-regime Shabiha militia.
Iran
Did Iran shelter Sulaiman Abu Ghaith?
Reports that Obama bin Laden’s co-conspirator and brother-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was sheltered in Iran could lubricate the war drive—but how credible are they?
North Africa
Mali: Tuareg rebels call for ICC war crimes probe
Tuareg rebels called on the International Criminal Court to investigate what they called war crimes committed by Malian government forces during the current conflict.
North Africa
Renegade AQIM commander killed in Mali?
Chad’s military announced that its forces in Mali killed renegade AQIM commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar in an assault on a “terrorist base” in the Adrar de Ifhogas mountains.
North Africa
Al-Qaeda ‘moderates’ seek breakaway state in Mali
A supposed AQIM document found in Timbuktu criticizes jihadists for destroying Sufi shrines and alienating the local populace, calling for a more pragmatic Islamist state.
North Africa
France faces Mali insurgency; US troops to Niger
Some 100 US troops have been mobilized to Niger to establish a drone base, while across the border in northern Mali French-led forces face growing jihadist resistance.
Southeast Asia
Borneo stand-off: whither Sulu sultanate?
Security forces in Malaysian Borneo are in a stand-off with some 100 men they say are insurgents from the Philippine island of Sulu raising an ancestral claim to the territory.
North Africa
AQIM manifesto found in northern Mali: report
A document found in a demolished building in Timbuktu purports to reveal plans by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to establish "command and control" over northern Mali.
North Africa
Mali: France’s Chadian proxies to battle Tuaregs?
Troops from Chad have been sent in to take Kidal, the town in northern Mali that remains under the control of Tuareg separatist rebels, as France seeks to avoid confrontation.
Watching the Shadows
Press was prone on drones, but cover blown
The media are abuzz with reports that the CIA has a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia—but the New York Times and Washington Post admit they sat on the information for two years.