Countries - The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Spotlight on Global Jihad (December 5-11, 2019)

In the Syrian arena, local clashes continued between the Syrian army and the rebel organizations in the Idlib region, accompanied by airstrikes and artillery exchanges, with no significant change in the situation on the ground. In the Iraqi arena, ISIS has continued its intensive activity, mainly in the Diyala Province, north of Baghdad. The most common attacks were mortar shell fire, activation of IEDs, light weapons fire and sniper fire. Read more...

Spotlight on Iran (November 17, 2019 – December 1, 2019)

In response to the launch of rockets from Syria toward Israel on November 19, the next day, the IDF struck targets of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Syrian Army. Iran maintained ambiguity with regards to the IDF strike on IRGC targets. The American TV network, Fox News, published satellite imagery showing that Iran is rebuilding the Imam Ali base near Albu Kamal, on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Iraqi border. As part of the ongoing protests in Iraq, on the night of November 27, protesters torched the Iranian consulate in Najaf, southern Iraq. The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, spoke with the Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Read more...

Spotlight on Iran (November 3, 2019 – November 17, 2019)

Iran vociferously condemned the IDF’s targeted killing of the senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad Commander, Bahaa’ Abu al-‘Ata. In early November, Iran and Syria signed an agreement on cooperation in the electricity sector, which includes the expansion and rehabilitation of Syria’s electrical grid by Iranian firms. Iran is working to mediate between the Shi’ite factions in the Iraqi parliament to end the ongoing crisis. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (November 28 – December 4, 2019)

In the Syrian arena, the Syrian army repulsed counterattacks by the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham and the rebel organizations in the area southeast of Idlib. The Iraqi arena has seen an increase in the intensity of ISIS’s attacks this week, with an emphasis on the Diyala Province north of Baghdad. ISIS’s main activity abroad was a stabbing attack carried out in London by a jihadi operative (two dead, three wounded). Among ISIS’s provinces abroad Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (November 21-27, 2019)

In the Syrian arena, the pressure on the two rival jihadi organizations, the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham and ISIS, has increased over the past week. In Afghanistan, ISIS’s Khorasan Province suffered a severe blow in light of the success of the large-scale operation of the Afghan security forces, with the support of the United States and the Coalition. US and Afghan government officials claim that ISIS’s Khorasan Province has been eliminated. Read more...

News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (November 26 – December 3, 2019)

On November 29, 2019, for the third consecutive week, the return march in the Gaza Strip was postponed. The Supreme Authority called on the Palestinians to participate in the return march events this coming Friday (December 6, 2019), whose theme will be "The march continues." Despite the postponement of the march events, several young Palestinian rioters gathered in the southern Gaza Strip and threw Molotov cocktails, IEDs and stones at IDF forces. A field hospital is currently being constructed by an American NGO in the northern Gaza Strip near the Erez Crossing. Its construction has been severely criticized, especially by Fatah. Read more...

Soccer in the use of terrorism: Hezbollah’s Al-Ahed soccer team is used as a means by Hezbollah to increase its popularity and acquire legitimacy

As part of this extensive activity, in the 1990s, Hezbollah adopted the Al-Ahed Sport Club, which operates one of the leading soccer teams in Lebanon. The club maintains a close connection with Hezbollah’s Sports Mobilization and is possibly subordinate to it. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is described as a great fan of the Al-Ahed soccer team. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (November 14 – 20, 2019)

ISIS continues focusing its activity on the Syrian arena, This past week the activity of the ISIS province in Iraq returned to full-scale attacks. The ISIS provinces outside of Syria and Iraq continue their ongoing attacks. Almost a month after the targeted killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ISIS apparently functions as usual, both on the military-operational level and on the media level Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (November 7-13, 2019)

About two weeks after the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s intensive activity in Syria continues. In Syria, attacks continue to focus on the SDF forces, the Kurdish military force. In Iraq, ISIS’s activity continues, at low intensity. Among ISIS’s various provinces around the world, one of the main events of the past week was a series of attacks against Nigerian army bases and vehicles in the northeast of the country. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (October 24-30, 2019)

The main event of the week was the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by an elite force of the US Army in northwestern Syria, near the border with Turkey. A few hours after the killing of Al-Baghdadi, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir was also killed. Even after the killing of Al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s routine activity on the ground continued in Syria and Iraq and in the various provinces in Africa and Asia. Read more...

The significance of the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Initial assessment)

The killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdad by an elite American force is a serious blow to ISIS. A charismatic, authoritarian leader, he was the dominant figure in the ISIS leadership. His uniqueness was his unsuccessful attempt, the first of its kind, to establish an Islamic Caliphate, here and now, which would restore to Islam the glory of its beginnings. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (October 31 – November 6, 2019)

On October 31, 2019, four days after the killing of ISIS leader Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s new spokesman officially announced the appointment of a new Caliph, codenamed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. An audiotape released by ISIS’s new spokesman calls on Muslims around the world to pledge allegiance to ISIS’s new leader and to rally around him. Even after the killing of Al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s intensive activity in Syria continues, mainly attacks against the Kurdish military force (SDF). The “routine” attacks in ISIS’s other provinces around the world continued this week, albeit at a relatively low level of intensity. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 26 – October 6, 2019)

The unilateral ceasefire in the Idlib region declared by the Syrian army continues. Intensive guerilla activity by ISIS continues in the Euphrates Valley, in the area of Al-Raqqah and in the area between Deir ez-Zor and Albukamal. In the northern Sinai Peninsula, ISIS continues its high-intensity terrorist and guerrilla activities against the Egyptian security forces and local residents who collaborate with them. Apart from Egypt, noteworthy activity took place in two provinces: In the states of Borno and Yobe, in northwestern Nigeria and Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan, Read more...

Wave of orchestrated ISIS terrorist retaliation attacks around the globe: overview and assessment

During four days, between April 8 and 11, 2019, the various ISIS provinces in Syria, Iraq and around the globe carried out a wave attacks in retaliation for the blow ISIS suffered in Syria. ISIS reported that eight of its provinces carried out more than 92 attacks in more than 80 areas. The attacks were accompanied by a media campaign and claims of responsibility entitled "Battle of vengeance for blessed [Province of] Sham" [Syria]. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (19-27 September 2017)

The Islamic State is disintegrating in Syria and Iraq. Its territorial areas of control Iraq are falling to the two anti-ISIS coalition forces one after another, although in some important strongholds ISIS operatives continue stubborn fighting. Read more...

Strong condemnation of Iran for its support of terrorism and calling Hezbollah a terrorist organization at an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo

On November 19, 2017, the Arab League's foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Cairo at the request of Saudi Arabia. The meeting focused on Iranian intervention in the internal affairs of the Arab states. Saudi Arabia complained of the launching of an Iran-manufactured ballistic missile into Saudi territory by the Iranian-supported Houthis. Read more...

ISIS- Inspired Stabbing Attack in London and Its Significance

The stabbing attack near London Bridge (two killed and three wounded) was the first attack carried out in Britain and the West in general in 2019 for which ISIS claimed responsibility. The attacker was Usman Khan, a British citizen of Pakistani origin, with the familiar profile of terrorists who are liable to carry out ISIS-inspired attacks in Europe: he was of Muslim origin, had a Salafist-jihadist ideology, and had served time in prison (where prisoners often undergo radicalization). Read more...

News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (November 6 – 9, 2019)

Before dawn on November 12, 2019, the IDF carried out a targeted attack killing Bahaa Abu al-Atta, commander of the northern Gaza Strip brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). During the two days of the round of escalation (November 12 and 13, 2019), about 560 rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel. The IDF responded by attacking PIJ targets. American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States recognized that the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in Judea and Samaria "is not per se inconsistent with international law Read more...