The Global Jihad

The International Union of Muslim Scholars issued a fatwa calling for military Muslim support for the Gaza Strip

On October 31, 2023, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a radical Islamist organization based in Qatar, held a press conference to announce a fatwa entitled "The duty of Islamic governments regarding [the necessity to respond to] the Zionist invasion of Gaza." It called on the regimes and armies of the Muslim countries for urgent military intervention to save the residents of the Gaza Strip and provide material, religious, political and legal assistance. It was the second fatwa issued by the IUMS since the beginning of the war. On October 21, 2023. On October 7, 2023, the organization issued a message supporting Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack. The IUMS was founded in 2004 by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who directed it until 2018, and who for many years was considered one of the leading Sunni Muslim jurists..The most recent fatwa makes it clear that although Qatar, which has represented itself as actively mediating the issue of humanitarian relief for the Gaza Strip and the release of the kidnapped, in reality serves as a shelter for an extremist, militant Islamist organization which calls on Muslims for military-terrorist activity against Israel. Read more...

The Iron Swords – The war in the south of Israel (Updated to 1 p.m., October 15, 2023)

IDF forces continued to operate, primarily carrying out aerial attacks, against terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip. Several squads, including anti-tank squads, were captured on the border. A number of operatives of Hamas' military-terrorist wing were killed in the attacks, some of them released from Israeli jails in the Gilad Shalit exchange deal (2011). Rockets attacks continued, most of them targeting the Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip border and Ashkelon. A rocket was also fired at the Haifa area. Israel called on the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate their homes and move to the central and southern Gaza Strip. Hamas tried to prevent the evacuation. In northern Israel several anti-tank missile and rocket attacks were reported from Lebanon and Syria. One Israeli was killed and several were injured. The IDF returned fire. As of now, tensions remain high. In Judea and Samaria Israeli security forces continued counterterrorism activities. The ministry of health in Ramallah reported 55 Palestinian deaths and approximately 1,200 wounded since the beginning of the war. The Iranian foreign minister held a round of meetings in Syria, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 14-20, 2023)

This week, there was a decline in ISIS’s activity around the world. The organization’s activity focused on Syria and Africa. In the Idlib area, fighting continued between the forces of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS and the Syrian army. In the desert area, three pro-Iranian militia fighters were killed in an ISIS attack. In Nigeria ISIS attacked Nigerian army targets in the northeast of the country. In Somalia operatives of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab continued to attack targets of the Somali army and the forces supporting it. Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have formed a new defense alliance to jointly fight jihadi terrorist organizations headed by Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) renewed the publication of the magazine Sada al-Malahim, apparently to enlist support and operatives. Unofficial media arms affiliated with Al-Qaeda published posters threatening the United States and its allies and Sweden and its “sisters.” Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 7-13, 2023)

This week, there was an increase in ISIS’s activities around the world. The organization’s activities were concentrated in Syria and Africa. In ISIS’s activity in the desert area, nine members of the forces supporting Syria and three civilians were killed. In the rebel enclave in Idlib, exchanges of fire continued between the Syrian army and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS. An operation by the Kurdish SDF forces against ISIS in the Deir ez-Zor area killed 29 militants and 25 SDF fighters. In Iraq ISIS operatives attacked the building of a government company engaged in mining east of Rutba, in western Iraq. This is the most significant attack carried out by ISIS in Iraq in recent times. The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen (JNIM) announced that it had attacked a Burkina Faso army force near the border with Mali. According to the organization, at least 50 soldiers were killed.Al-Qaeda and ISIS marked the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by glorifying the event and inciting violence against the “infidels.” Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (August 31-September 6, 2023)

This week, there was a decline in the scope of ISIS’s activity around the world. Most of the organization’s activity focused on Africa. In the rebel enclave in Idlib, clashes intensified between the Syrian army and the rebel organizations led by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated HTS. ISIS operatives in Deir ez-Zor threatened the Kurdish SDF forces and the Syrian army that they would liberate their operatives and their families detained in the Al-Hol camp. In Nigeria ISIS continued to attack the Nigerian army in Borno State, in the northeast of the country. In Somalia: Operatives of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab continued their attacks against Somalia’s security forces. The Somali army, alongside its regional partners and the US army, continued its activity against the organization. Al-Shabaab reportedly sustained around 200 fatalities. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (August 24-30, 2023)

This week, the scope of ISIS’s activity around the world increased. The organization’s activity focused on Africa. In Israel an indictment was filed against a resident of Rahat for membership in ISIS and an attempt to enlist support for the organization.The Salafist-jihadi organization Ansar al-Tawhid in Syria claimed responsibility for detonating a booby-trapped tunnel under Syrian army positions on the outskirts of Idlib, killing at least 11 soldiers and wounding 20 others. Two Syrian soldiers were killed and six wounded while attempting to infiltrate the rebel enclave in Idlib. ISIS prisoners reportedly escaped from Ghuwayran Prison in Al-Hasakah. In Nigeria: ISIS carried out several attacks against Nigerian security forces in the northeast of the country. Clashes between Boko Haram and ISIS continued. A total of 49 women kidnapped by Boko Haram were released for ransom paid by their families.In Somalia Operatives of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab attacked three bases of Somali army special units and militias supporting the army. According to the organization, following the attack, it managed to retake several cities and towns in the region. Read more...

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The Global Jihad

The global jihad is the name given to the international network of Islamist terrorist organizations sharing Al-Qaeda’s ideology. In fact, all the Muslim fundamentalist terrorist organizations in the world regard themselves as part of Islamic jihad. These groups have many supporters within the Islamic world, who adhere to a compelling religious justification for a military interpretation of the term jihad.

The full name of the global jihad is the “World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders.” It serves as an umbrella organization for coalitions of terrorist organizations and independent terrorist networks with common ideologies and shared operational ties.

The global jihad organizations base their activities on Islamist ideology, which regards the religion of Islam as a way of life, determining not only the individual’s way of life but also the character of the regime and society. The Islamic jihad organizations regard Western culture as the complete opposite of Islam. They consider the free world as the enemy of all Muslims. They despise the values of the West, especially democracy, secularism, equality and human rights. The Islamist terrorist organizations advocate all-out war, jihad, against those perceived as their enemies (in various places, Islamist terrorist organizations fight against different enemies), and perpetrate mass killings and massacres, mostly against unarmed random victims.

All the organizations in the global jihad strive to spread Islam and establish Islamic law in all the countries in the world through a jihad against the West and its allies (among them Israel and the pro-Western Arab states). Global jihad organizations advocate a total, uncompromising battle in which the ends justify any and all means. Some of the global jihad networks carry out independent terrorist attacks and others cooperate with each other at various levels.