Studies

ISIS’s media response to the imminent defeat in the village of Al-Baghouz

While the fighting in Al-Baghouz is drawing to a close, ISIS released a video entitled “The significance of the steadfastness in Al-Baghouz.” The messages of the video are intended to cope with the (additional) blow sustained by ISIS, by emphasizing that the loss in the battle does not indicate a loss in the campaign, which is not over yet, and it is too early to declare ISIS’s defeat (a video released by ISIS’s Al-Barakah Province through Shabakat Shumukh, March 11, 2019). Read more...

Reactions to Britain’s decision to ban Hezbollah

On March 1, 2019, the British Parliament approved the decision to recognize Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. According to the decision, any person charged with belonging to or supporting Hezbollah in British territory is liable to imprisonment for up to 10 years. This is a significant decision as up to now only Hezbollah’s military wing (since 2001) and foreign security unit (since 2008) have been designated in Britain as a terrorist organization. Read more...

Estimate of Hezbollah’s fatalities during the Syrian civil war and the conclusions arising from the analysis of their identity

As part of a study on the fatalities (shahids) of Hezbollah in Syria, the names of 1,139 operatives, killed in 2011-2018, were identified. To this number, the ITIC believes that we can add a possible deviation range of 10% of fatalities whose names were not found due to various reasons. Thus, the number of Hezbollah fatalities in Syria may reach about 1,250 (updated to late December 2018). The study is based on dozens of sources, mostly Facebook pages and Internet websites affiliated with Hezbollah and dedicated to commemorate the organization’s fatalities. Read more...

Funding Terrorism: ISIS raises funds through an affiliated website, using bitcoins

ISIS continues to solicit money to fund its activities by means of a campaign on an affiliated website. On March 6, 2019, the ISIS-affiliated website Akhbar al-Muslimin (a mirror website apparently used because the original site was closed) issued an appeal for donations to what was referred to as "the activities of the website." Donors were again asked to use bitcoins, and the website gave the address of a virtual wallet for depositing donations. Read more...

Funding Terrorism: The method for transferring donations to Hezbollah through the Islamic Resistance Support Association

Hezbollah recently launched a campaign to raise money for its military activities. The campaign was waged by the Islamic Resistance Support Association (IRSA), Hezbollah's main fund-raising institution. The campaign is waged in the Shi'ite communities in Lebanon and abroad at the beginning of every year. The funds collected are mainly used to buy weapons for Hezbollah operatives (through what is called the "equip a jihad fighter" project). Read more...

Terrorism and the Media: Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip who also worked as media personnel were involved in recruiting a terrorist network exposed in Judea and Samaria.

The Israel Security Agency recently exposed a Hamas network in Judea and Samaria whose operatives were recruited and handled by Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip. The recruits were given instructions to carry out terrorist attacks in Judea, Samaria and Israel. Interrogation revealed the methods used by the handlers in the Gaza Strip. The recruiters represented themselves as journalists, and covert messages were passed to the recruits though al-Aqsa TV, Hamas' most important media outlet (in order to verify the authenticity of their handlers in the Gaza Strip). Read more...

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