Since at least February 20, Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, has mounted a sizable offensive in southern and central Somalia between the Middle Shabelle and Hiraan regions. In some areas,...
Over this month, the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al Qaeda’s branch for West Africa, has publicized its da’wah (proselytizing) activities in local communities in Mali and Burkina...
In the latest issue of the Islamic State’s weekly Al-Naba newsletter, the global jihadist organization describes in detail a fierce campaign its so-called Somali Province waged against Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s...
In a joint statement released online, al-Qaeda’s branches in North Africa and West Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), respectively,...
In September 2023, Somalia suffered the most suicide bombings (and attempts) in a single month since Shabaab began utilizing the tactic in 2006. At least 14 attempted and successful suicide bombings were...
Late last week, German national Jorg Lange was freed in the Sahel after spending the last four years being held by the Islamic State’s Sahel Province (more commonly known as the Islamic State in the Greater...
Through its weekly Al-Naba newsletter earlier this week, the Islamic State officially claimed its first two operations inside Benin. The attacks now join the chorus of strikes committed inside the littoral...
As Washington has assessed the implications of Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, a crisis has loomed in another critical maritime e...
Buried beneath the news’ cycle of the Arab Spring is a much overlooked and potentially r...
A response to Lindsey Graham
The United States became painfully aware of the threat posed by global jihadism after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Until that day, Iranian-backed terrorist networks, such as Hezbolla...
Last week, the United Nations Security Council rescheduled for mid-May a planned fact-finding mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Officially, the trip was cancelled because of the...
In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush issued a call for the United States to "replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025" and to "make...
Co-Authored with W. Thomas Smith, Jr. The African continent - vast, remote, and perhaps strategically unimportant in the minds of many unknowing Americans – is one of the...