Violence and Security

IS Supporter Gets Life Imprisonment for Murder of British Minister of Parliament

April 19, 2022

A London court has sentenced a 26-year-old British IS supporter to life imprisonment for the 2021 crime of murdering Concervative Member of Parliament Sir David Amess in a lone-wolf knife attack that the perpetrator described as revenge for the MP's support for action against the IS caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
IS Leadership Views Ukraine as Opportunity for New Attacks in Europe

April 19, 2022

The current leadership of the Islamic State (IS) views the Russian war in Ukraine as an opportunity to stage new jihadist attacks against Europe while the "crusaders are fighting each other," with IS social media propaganda calling on supporters of the Islamist group to ramp up violent operations in Europe as revenge for previous IS leader's suicide to avoid capture in Syria by US forces.
AQ Affiliate Al-Shabaab Attacks Somalia's Parliament

April 19, 2022

Somalia's al-Qaeda (AQ) affiliate Al-Shabaab continued the jihadist campaign for control of the geopolitically crucial Horn of Africa region, with a mortar attack on the country's parliament, in an effort to disrupt newly elected officials' efforts to sustain the election process for a new president and prime minister in the war torn country destabilized by Islamist militancy.
Islamist Extremist Threat Intensifies in Nuclear Pakistan

April 11, 2022

The threat of Islamists in Pakistan is intensifying due to IS-led attacks on civil society, corroding the public confidence in the state’s ability to protect its citizens, sowing sectarian divisions resulting from the Sunni IS’ targeting of Pakistan’s large Shiite minority community, as well as the IS project of capturing control of the nuclear-armed Pakistani state.
Islamic State Deepens Regional Presence in Central and East Africa

April 11, 2022

The Islamic State’s transnational presence in Central and East Africa (Islamic State Central Africa Province—ISCAP) continues to intensify, evidenced in a recent video in which the leader of the IS branch in the Democratic Republic of the Congo pledged allegiance to the new global leader of IS.
Taliban-IS Internecine Battles Illustrate Expanding Presence of Islamist extremism in Asia

April 11, 2022

The Islamist extremist Taliban regime in control of Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021 is waging a steady war against its main ideological rival, IS-K (Islamic State in Khorasan Province) at the porous borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan, revealing the expanding presence of a complex network of competing jihadist groups spreading across China, Central Asia, and South Asia.
IS Radicalization in Israel Discussed by Israel’s Defense Establishment

April 08, 2022

The recent spate of attacks perpetrated by IS sympathizers in Israel reflect a mixed profile when it comes to IS radicalization in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, according to a recent threat assessment provided by Israel’s defense establishment, which identified an estimated 20 possible terrorist plotters among 200 IS sympathizers identified by Israeli intelligence and security services.
Evolution in Jihadist Warfare to Include Conventional & Insurgent Models

April 08, 2022

The Islamist extremist Taliban's seizure of Afghanistan in August 2022 was a crucial indicator of the significant evolution in jihadist warfare over the past several decades, as IS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other jihadist groups worldwide remain a longterm security threat because of their demonstrated flexibility in adopting either insurgent or conventional models of warfare, in order to sustain their penultimate goal of territorial capture and governance.
UN Mission in Africa Warns of Expanding Jihadist Operations

April 06, 2022

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is warning about the expanding operations in the African Sahel region of diverse jihadist groups associated with al-Qaeda and IS, with Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso at the epicenter of Islamist violence, with consequent high numbers of civilian casualties and internally displaced populations, as well as weakening state capacity to defend borders and provide human security.
IS Commando Attack Disrupts Regional Security Summit in Israel

April 04, 2022

IS fighters carried out a lethal commando attack in Israel, designed to disrupt the regional summit of key MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, with the attack generating a collective statement of condemnation by the countries aiming to advance their security and intelligence cooperation in the face of threats from radical Islamist groups.