Spotlight on Global Jihad: January 15-21 2015

Spotlight on Global Jihad: January 15-21 2015

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Global Jihad

Main events of the week

  • Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed formal responsibility for the attack at the editorial offices of the weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The weekly was in AQAP’s crosshairs. The Kouachi brothers had previous links to AQAP, one of them had visited Yemen (2011); during the shooting at the editorial offices, they announced their affiliation with the organization. At the same time, ISIS operatives continued to call on the organization’s supporters in France and the West (via Twitter): “Do all in your power, kill them, slaughter them, burn their cars and their homes …” A similar call was issued by AQAP.
  • ISIS posted a new video threatening to execute two Japanese hostages unless the organization receives the sum of USD 200 million within 72 hours. The Japanese Prime Minister, who was visiting Israel, decided to shorten his stay in the region and return to Japan to deal with the issue.
  • In Iraq and Syria, fighting continued in the known locations. The intensity of the fighting was low and there were no significant developments.

Estimated number of ISIS operatives

  • According to a report on the Al-Mayadeen channel (affiliated with Hezbollah), the number of ISIS operatives is estimated at over 20,000. This is after the organization took over the province of Deir al-Zor and forced the combatants who fought against it to join its ranks. According to the report, the number of operatives in the rival jihadi organization, the Al-Nusra Front, is around 15,000. It is also reported that ISIS has expanded its deployment in the cities of eastern Syria, after eliminating its adversaries from the Al-Nusra Front, and now controls about 35% of the territory of Syria (Al-Mayadeen, January 14, 2015).
  • The number of ISIS operatives that appears in the article is close to the ITIC’s estimate (as of November 2014), whereby ISIS has about 25,000 operatives in Iraq and Syria. In the ITIC’s assessment, this figure has increased since then, by at least several thousand operatives, in view of ISIS’s recruitment and training efforts.

“Educating” the younger generation in the Islamic State

  • On January 13, 2015, a posting on a Twitter account affiliated with ISIS announced the opening of Quran memorization classes in the Tell Abyad area (in the northern part of the province of Al-Raqqah). The announcement included photos from one of the classrooms, showing young students listening to a teacher, probably an ISIS operative (Twitter account affiliated with ISIS, January 13, 2015).
  • On January 15, 2015, a Twitter account that publishes news about the Islamic State posted photos of boys and girls (probably in Al-Raqqah) holding plastic rifles in combat positions, under the caption “Lion Cubs are being raised on the soil of the Caliphate” (Twitter account affiliated with ISIS, January 15, 2015).

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  • In the areas under its control, ISIS has established a formal education system at state schools that are not operating normally. At the same time, the organization is setting up its own new educational institutions that teach mainly ideological content in the spirit of ISIS, centering on the religious studies and religious indoctrination. In addition, ISIS maintains an informal education system consisting of training camps for children and teenagers. At these camps, the children undergo semi-military training, and various events of a Muslim nature are held (such as Quran reading contests).

Threat to execute two Japanese hostages

  • ISIS posted a new video threatening to execute two Japanese hostages unless the organization receives the sum of USD 200 million within 72 hours. The video was published two days after the Prime Minister of Japan had promised to transfer a similar amount for non-military support of the coalition.
  • The video showed the British jihadi operative known as Jihadi John, who served as the executioner of Western hostages. The two Japanese hostages were shown dressed in orange. One of them is a Japanese journalist who went to report on events in Syria last year. The identity of the other is unclear. The Japanese Prime Minister, who was visiting Israel, decided to shorten his stay in the region and return to Tokyo to deal with the issue.

The battle for hearts and minds conducted by ISIS – ISIS’s new TV channel

  • ISIS has begun experimental broadcasts of a new TV channel on the internet.The TV channel is aimed at an international audience and is supposed to broadcast 24 hours a day. It is not yet clear what language it will broadcast in. Social networks and forums affiliated with ISIS have begun to show videos which they claim will be broadcast on the new channel, named The Islamic Caliphate Broadcast.
  • The new channel’s broadcasts will include news reports. It was reported that the broadcasts will also feature reports by John Cantlie, the British journalist and photojournalist who was abducted by ISIS and has appeared in ISIS propaganda films since his abduction. It also will air a program called Recruiting Time, which deals with recruiting new operatives for ISIS. The program will air every Wednesday at 17:00 (Islamic State Time) (www.vocativ.com, January 18, 2015).
  • ISIS’s activity is accompanied by a widespread campaign for hearts and minds, using all existing media. ISIS directs its propaganda messages to diverse audiences in the Arab/Muslim world and in Western countries. This campaign, which has turned ISIS into an international brand, also includes psychological warfare campaigns designed to frighten its enemies and rivals and to inspire terror among the general public throughout the world (featuring the execution of captives, beheading of Western hostages, etc.).
  • ISIS has an extensive propaganda infrastructure that includes a massive presence on social networks.The organization recently launched a radio station called Idha’at al-Bayan(Radio Al-Bayan), which broadcasts a daily program summarizing the events of the day at the various arenas of the Islamic State. It was also reported that ISIS has launched a satellite TV station called Tawhid, which has been operating since October from Sirte, Libya. Setting up a TV channel on the internet, if it is implemented, reflects the broadening and deepening of ISIS’s propaganda capabilities at a time when it is under attack by US and coalition forces.

Written by: The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center