Countries - The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Spotlight on Iran (September 15, 2022 – September 29, 2022)

Iran International channel, which is aligned with the Iranian opposition, reported that the strike attributed to Israel, carried out near Damascus targeted the Iran's logistics unit of the Lebanon Corps of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Iran informed its willingness to provide Lebanon with 600,000 tons of fuel over the span of five months. The Iraqi national security adviser met with the deputy commander of the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC and discussed ways to bolster intelligence cooperation between the two nations. Read more...

Spotlight on Iran (September 1, 2022 – September 15, 2022)

The website Nour News, denied the report that Russia demanded the pro-Iranian militias to withdraw from military positions in Syria. Iran denied the claims concerning strikes on Iranian military targets in Syria and claimed that Iran maintains a presence of advisers in Syria, based on the request of the government of Syria. Iranian freight flights to Syria have persisted, despite the repeated strikes on airports in Syria. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad stated in Tehran that the decision to start the last round of conflict with Israel from the Gaza Strip was taken solely by the organization, and Iran was not involved in the decision. Read more...

Spotlight on Iran (August 18, 2022 – September 1, 2022)

A senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officer was killed in Syria. Iran condemned the American strikes carried out against targets belonging to pro-Iranian militias in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria. A delegation made up of give IRGC commanders arrived in late August to Syria . The Commander of the IRGC, declared that is insufficient and ought to be bolstered, alongside the ground fighting capability against Israel. Salami argued that the West Bank ought to be armed as well, and that this process is already ongoing. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 21-15 , 2022)

This week, there was relatively limited ISIS activity around the globe. In spite of the severe blow sustained by the leadership of ISIS’s Sinai Province, the organization continued its activity . ISIS continued to attack the Kurdish forces in the Deir ez-Zor-Al-Mayadeen region In Nigeria, there were clashes between operatives of ISIS’s West Africa Province and Boko Haram operatives. ISIS claimed responsibility for the organization’s activity in Benin. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism : Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria(September 5-19 , 2022)

Senior Hezbollah figures continued relating to the dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the delineation of the naval border. Villages in south Lebanon imposed limitations on the movement of as a way to decrease criminal activity and prevent smuggling. The permission given for Israelis to enter the village of Ghajar is liable to be considered a violation of Lebanese sovereigntyIran proposed the construction of two power plants in Lebanon to provide 1,000 megawatts of electricity each. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism : Hezbollah, Lebanon and Spotlight on Terrorism : Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (August 21 – September 5 , 2022)

Hezbollah's militant rhetoric has escalated significantly due to concerns that disputes over the Israeli-Lebanese naval border will lead to an outbreak of fighting. On the second anniversary of the explosion in the Beirut harbor there was an increase in public outcry regarding those responsible, presumably Hezbollah. The UN Security Council renewed the UNIFIL forces' mandate in south Lebanon. In the wake of Operation Breaking Dawn in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah has been collaborating with the PIJ. Read more...

Spotlight on Terrorism : Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (June 26 – July 9, 2022)

Senior Hezbollah figures and the Hezbollah-affiliated media continued to justify the July 2, 2022, launching of drones to the area of the Karish gas rig. To mark the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah's founding, tourist routes were opened along sites of important events in the organization's history. Hezbollah's civilian activity in south Lebanon continued., A Syrian army commander was killed in an aerial attack in the Golan Heights village. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 8-14, 2022)

This week there was a moderate decrease in ISIS’s activity around the globe. There were successful targeted killings in Turkey and Sinai. Turkey: A senior ISIS leader by the name of Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai was detained. He was initially identified as ISIS’s leader. Under interrogation, he admitted that he had held a senior position in ISIS. Several ISIS commanders who were planning an attack in Turkey were also detained. The Sinai Peninsula: Three senior operatives and a number of other operatives in ISIS’s Sinai Province were killed in a counterterrorism operation by the Egyptian army and the Sinai Tribal Union. Syria: ISIS continues to operate against the Kurdish SDF forces in the Deir ez-Zor-Al-Mayadeen region. There were clashes in the Al-Hawl camp in the Al-Hasakah region. In the desert area, ISIS operatives killed three fighters of the Fatemiyoun Brigade. Iraq: A decrease in the scope of ISIS’s activity during the week. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (September 1-7, 2022)

This week, ISIS carried out two large-scale terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. The first, a suicide bombing attack at the entrance to the Russian Embassy in Kabul. In the Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian security forces continued their intensive counterterrorism activity. At least 10 ISIS operatives were killed. In Iraq, ISIS carried out several attacks against the Iraqi security forces, mainly IED attacks. In Nigeria, the security forces continued their activity against ISIS and Boko Haram. Read more...

Palestinian reactions to Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Turkey

turkey,israel,palestinian,palestinian authority,islamic jihad,israel,hamas,gaza strip,herzog,erdogan Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (March 5-11, 2020)

On March 5, 2020, an agreement was signed in Moscow between Russia and Turkey, which is intended to end the fighting in the Idlib region. In the ITIC’s assessment, this is a shaky ceasefire (like its predecessors). In the Euphrates Valley, ISIS’s intensive attacks continued, mainly in the form of activating IEDs. In Iraq, ISIS’s activity consisted mainly of activating IEDs, sniper fire and targeted killings. With regard to noteworthy ISIS activity abroad, the Khorasan Province recently resumed its activity and carried out two showcase attacks in the capital Kabul Read more...

ISIS attacks a strategic facility in Sinai – Significance and possible implications

On the morning of May 7, 2022, a group of operatives of ISIS’s Sinai Province attacked a military post securing a water pumping facility in the northwestern Sinai Peninsula, about 26 km east of the Suez Canal. According to the Egyptian army spokesman, the Egyptian security forces thwarted an attack by Salafist-jihadi operatives directed at the facility. An officer and 16 soldiers were killed. Read more...

Senior ISIS Sinai Province Figure Surrenders Event and Implications

On the night of September 10, 2021, Muhammad Sa'ad Kamel al-Sa'idi, aka Abu Hamza al-Qadi ("the judge") surrendered to a tribal militia cooperating with the Egyptian army after promises that he and his family would not be harmed. 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...

ISIS spokesman releases an audiotape calling on the operatives to intensify their attacks, lashing out against Iran, Turkey and the leaders of the Arab states, and expressing support for the Palestinians but not for Hamas

ISIS Spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurashi. The tape, which lasts about 38 minutes, is entitled “You are the sublime ones if you believe.” It mainly contains words of encouragement to ISIS’s fighters around the world, calls on them to intensify their activity and asks them to choose more substantial targets for their attacks (Telegram, June 22, 2021). Read more...

Analysis of the new statement of ISIS spokesman following the normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain

On October 18, 2020, ISIS’s Al-Furqan Media Foundation released an audiotape of the organization’s spokesman Abu Hamza Al-Qurashi. The title of the tape is a verse from the Quran – “So narrate to them stories of the past, so perhaps they will reflect ”. In the 32-minute tape, the spokesman calls for the overthrow of the “tyrannical” rulers in Arab countries, following the normalization agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain. Read more...

Spotlight on Global Jihad (August 18-25, 2022)

This week, ISIS’s activity around the globe continued on a relatively low scale. The Egyptian army and the Sinai Tribal Union continued to fight against ISIS in the area of the village of Jalbanah. On August 23, 2022, after 13 days of fighting, they regained control of the village. Afghanistan: two attacks in Kandahar, and on a mosque in Kabul, apparently carried out by ISIS. In Somalia, Al-Shabaab operatives carried out an attack on a hotel in Mogadishu. Read more...

The killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri – reactions and implications

On August 1, 2022, US President Joe Biden announced that the CIA had killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri on July 31, 2022, by a UAV airstrike on the balcony of a house where he was staying with his family in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Zawahiri, aged 71 when he was killed, had been Al-Qaeda leader since June 16, 2011, after succeeding Osama bin Laden . For Al-Qaeda, the killing of its leader mainly dealt a blow to the morale of its rank-and-file since Zawahiri, one of Al-Qaeda’s founders, had been a most outstanding symbol of the organization Read more...