Syrian jihadists, including al Qaeda's Al Nusrah Front, form Mujahideen Shura Council

picture from http://www.trackingterrorism.org

By Bill Roggio - December 12, 2012 - LWJ

On the same day the US government announced that al Qaeda in Iraq's Al Nusrah Front was a terrorist organization, Al Nusrah and nine other jihadist groups banded together in the Syrian province of Deir al Zour and formed a Mujahideen Shura Council.
The 10 jihadist groups, headed by the Al Nusrah Front, released a statement yesterday announcing the council's formation "on jihadist forums and pro-Syrian resistance social networking sites," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the message.
"The jihadi Islamic brigades in the city of proud Deir al Zour in the Levant of Islam and garrison announce the establishment of the Mujahideen Shura Council in Deir al-Zour," the statement said, according to SITE. The groups that joined the Mujahideen Shura Council in Deir al Zour are listed at the beginning of the statement, in the following order:

1. Al Nusrah Front
2. Al Ansar Brigades
3. Al Abbas Brigades
4. La Ilaha Ila Allah [There is No God but Allah] Battalion
5. Al Hamza Brigade
6. Al Sa'qah Brigade
7. Jund al Aziz Brigade
8. Izzuddin al Qassam Brigade
9. Abu al Qassam Brigade
10. Brigade of the Da'wa [Preaching] and Jihad Front

The Mujahideen Shura Council in Deir al Zour was formed to "unite the ranks of the jihadi brigades in the Cause of Allah, organize the efforts and the attacks against the soldiers of disbelief and apostasy, and distinguish the ranks of truth from falsehood," the group stated.
"We call upon our sincere mujahideen brothers all over the strong Levant to unite their ranks in groups, pure of the filth of suspicious groups and the infiltration of people who have no qualities or faith, in order to clarify their banner and purify their path," the statement continued.

Read more and the full report: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/12/syrian_jihadists_inc.php#ixzz2EvsFoYyh

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'Brigades of Osama bin Laden' forms in the West Bank

By Bill Roggio - August 14, 2012 - LWJ

A new jihadist group calling itself the Brigades of Osama bin Laden has announced its formation, in a statement that was recently released on terrorist-linked web forums.




The Brigades of Osama bin Laden issued a statement, which was released on Aug. 10 by the Al Minbar Media Foundation and subsequently published on its Internet forum, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
The statement was subsequently "posted on other jihadist forums such as Ansar al Mujahideen," but then "deleted by forum administrators," SITE noted.

"We give you tidings, our people in the beloved West Bank, just as we give tidings to all the people of tawhid [monotheism] all over the world, of the declaration of the formation of the Brigades of Osama bin Laden in the bank of [monotheism], the West Bank," the new jihadist group said, according to SITE.

The Brigades of Osama bin Laden said its focus is on Jerusalem and it was formed to "support the one religion [Islam] under the pure banner of righteousness that is not besmirched by any factional or sectarian or secular mark." It did not overtly threaten to attack Israel or the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank.

"What pushed us to go through with this matter was your love and the love of Jerusalem, and before it, the reason to raise Allah's word, which has been absent from Jerusalem under polytheistic and secular shrines," the statement said.

The statement was signed "Your brothers in the Brigades of Osama bin Laden, may Allah have mercy on him." Bin Laden was al Qaeda's founder and emir who was killed during a US special operations raid on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The Brigades of Osama bin Laden is the latest jihadist group to form in the Palestinian Territories, and the first to announce its formation in the West Bank. Six other jihadist groups -- the Jaish al Islam, Jund Ansar Allah, Jaish al Ummah, Jaish al Mu'minun, Tawhid and Jihad Group in Jerusalem, and Masada al Mujahideen -- have formed over the past several years in Gaza. These groups have clashed with Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated terror group that rules Gaza and is supported by Iran and Syria. [For more information on the jihadist groups in Gaza, see LWJ report, Hamas frees al Qaeda-linked jihadist leader in Gaza.]

Across the border in the Egyptian Sinai, four jihadist groups -- al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula and its military arm, Ansar al Jihad, the Mujahideen Shura Council, and Jund al Sharia -- have all emerged since the Arab Spring. The terror groups have conducted attacks against Egyptian forces and a pipeline transporting natural gas to Israel. Just last week, one of these groups, likely with the help of one of the Gaza-based jihadist groups, attacked an Egyptian military base, killed 16 soldiers and seized two armored personnel carriers, and then attacked the Israeli border. One of the two APCs made it one mile inside Israeli territory before being destroyed by the Israeli Air Force [see LWJ report, 'Global jihadists' overrun Egyptian Army outpost on Israeli border].

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/08/brigades_of_osama_bi.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz23bNubxYm

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Al Qaeda-linked group claims responsibility for attack in Israel

Members of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, from a propaganda video obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group.

By Thomas Joscelyn - June 19, 2012  - LWJ

A jihadist organization calling itself the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC) has claimed responsibility for yesterday's cross border attack in Israel, according to the SITE Intel Group.
The attack was launched near a security fence that Israel is constructing along its border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. One Israeli civilian was killed after the attackers detonated an improvised explosive device and then opened fire on two vehicles carrying construction workers. At least two terrorists were killed during the raid.
In videos released by the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center, MSC members stand in front of al Qaeda-style flags. And, in a statement, the MSC dedicated the attack to slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "We present this blessed invasion ... to the soul of the lion of Islam, the reviver of jihad, and the raiser of the banner, Sheikh Mujahid Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden," the MSC says, according to a translation by SITE.

The MSC also dedicates the attack to "the Syrian Muslim jihadi people," to "all the mujahideen and their commanders and emirs in all the battlefields of jihad," and to the "Salafi Jihadi oppressed lions in the land of the Gaza glory."
The MSC repeats common jihadist talking points, saying it is waging jihad "to become a building block in the global project aiming for the return of the rightly-guided Caliphate and the institution of the pure Shariah."
The MSC identified the two fighters who led the raid in Israel as an Egyptian named Khalid Salah Abdul Hadi Jadullah (a.k.a. Abu Salah al Masri) and a Saudi named Adi Saleh Abdullah al Fudhayli al Hadhli (a.k.a Abu Hudhayfa al Hudhali).

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/06/al_qaeda-linked_grou.php#ixzz1yHPl3o5S

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video:

by Al Arabiya News translated to English:

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/19/221590.html

“We announce the formation of the Shura Council of the Mujahideen of Jerusalem as the foundation of a blessed Jihadi operation, with a clear path and features to be a brick in the global project of bringing back the [Islamic] caliphate,” one masked gunman said in the video.

“To the foes of God - the Jews - we say, you infidels must know that what is coming is different than what has preceded and we shall make you drink from the same poisonous glass you gave to the people of Islam in Jerusalem,” the gunman added.

The final part of the video contains recorded statements made by two individuals in armed uniform, one claiming to be an Egyptian and the other insinuating to be a Saudi.

“I am the living martyr by God’s will Abu Huthaifa al-Hathly from the Peninsula of Muhammad (PBUH). We shall leave shortly to undergo a double martyr operation on the border of Egypt with Occupied Palestine today Monday 28 Rajab 1433 coinciding 18-06-2012,” said one of the two armed men who – contrary to the same video - were recording unmasked.

The two reportedly opened fire towards a convoy of vehicles carrying Israeli construction workers to the place where they were building part of the vast border fence along the frontier, prompting Israeli troops in the area to fire back.

Initial reports said two of the gunmen were killed along with one of the Israeli construction workers.

The Israeli army confirmed that gunmen had opened fire on construction workers in the area of the border, but did not immediately confirm the toll.

“A terrorist squad opened gunfire and possibly also fired an anti-tank rocket at an area where (Israel) is constructing the border fence,” Israeli military spokesman Yoav Mordechai told Army Radio.

“Soldiers arrived on the scene and killed one terrorist,” he said.

Army Radio said that an Israeli workman was killed by the militants.

An Israeli military source confirmed one of the workmen, an Arab citizen of Israel, was killed by the gunmen.

In the most serious attack in the area since the Egyptian popular uprising, militants crossed over the Egyptian border and killed eight Israelis in August 2011.

On Saturday, at least two rockets were fired deep into southern Israel, causing no damage or casualties. It was not clear whether they were launched from Gaza or Sinai.

Overnight on Sunday, Israeli aircraft carried out a series of strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the enclave. Medical sources in Gaza said seven people were wounded.


Related articles

• Al Qaeda-linked group claims responsibility for attack in Israel (longwarjournal.org)
• Islamic group claims responsibility for attack on Egypt border (timesofisrael.com)

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