What happens when members of jihadist online forums get hold of a morphing software? The create small clips that show their favorite propagandized icon of jihad into their most beloved jihad leaders.
In this case, the member of the forum, who calls himself “saw”, a “industrious member”, praises and states his lengthy admiration of the CIA base bomber Abu Dujana al-Khorasani and then ‘morphes’ the portray picture of him (released by Aljazeera) into various prominent jihad leaders:
Zarqawi into Abu Dujana;
And into Hakemullah Mehsud – “saw”, however, does admit, that “there is no similarity between the two pictures, but I uploaded it to support the Mujahideen and to upset the infidel”
AQAP just denied claims of the “Idols and the Crusaders” to have killed six leading members of AQ in an air strike in northern Yemen. “This is just part of a series of lies since the bombardment of Abyan, where the people suffered and witnessed how women and children were sacrificed, until the recent bombing, what was misguided to hit its target, all praise be God. The Yemeni government makes these claims, to undermine the alleged victories and to present its offering to Obama and their allies at the London Conference.” This is of course just done so that the corrupted leaders can get the most of western money offered to fight the Mujahideen on the Arab Peninsula. The statement includes a call to further the activities of online jihad in order to fight, combat and counter-argue the propaganda of the enemy. “An obligation for our ummah today is the public declaration of jihad against the infidel and their henchmen.” And this by all means, including to ‘reveal’ by this ‘media offensive’ how the US has besieged the Gulf of Aden, launching spy planes and drones into Yemen. Thus the need for actions is not restricted to land, but should also be taken onto the sea and the air, for “the fortresses of the warring Crusaders are present in the Gulf of Aden, in the Arabian Ocean, the Red Sea and American spy planes are violating the airspace of the Arab Peninsula, just how they proclaimed a open war against the people of Islam. Therefore it is our obligation to declare a open war on the Crusaders and their traitor henchmen.”
Confirmed by multiple sources: Qasem al-Remy, the military commander of the Yemeni AQ branch was killed in a Yemeni army strike in northern Yemen on Friday along with at least five other high value members of the network.
Al-Quds al-Arabi edition of 16/17 January: “Military leader of AQ on the Arab Peninsula and five of colleagues killed… Al-Zindani renews his calls for jihad”.
The Saudi newspaper Arriyadh announces the death of al-Remy as well, among “three other elements have been captured of the organization.” This was “confirmed by Yemeni governmental sources on Saturday.”
Among al-Remy, Ammar al-Wa’ely, who reportedly killed on Saturday in the air strike, among four other members of AQ, one an Egyptian citizen. Saleh al-Tees, Ayed al-Shabwani and the Egyptian Muhammad Ibrahem Muhammad Saleh al-Banna were killed in the strike.
The title may be misleading, how can I use the term comrade for the Jund Ansar Allah (JAA) ‘martyrs’? Well, with the – as usual – picturesque propaganda machinery of individual users who disseminate their user generated content after acquiring a picture or two, some propaganda posters do seem familiar from historical documents…
On 10 January 2010 more members of the JAA had been killed, according to the propagandistic outlets, and are commemorated in mostly jpeg formats online. The attention turned once again to the JAA, who in August under the leadership of Rafah based cleric Abu Nur al-Maqdisi (Abd al-Latif Musa) declared an Islamic Caliphate following AQ principles and guidelines in Gaza. Naturally, Hamas didn’t like the idea and its al-Qassam Brigades moved in, swept the mosque and killed pretty much anyone they could find. Since then Hamas is clearly just another “idol” serving the “Jews and Crusaders” and so on. The Ibn Taymiya mosque had been seriously damaged by Hamas forces.
An audio file, the recorded testimony of Hasan al-Qartrawi – aka Abu Maslama – was disseminated together with plenty of pictures. All of this material was declared as JAA and part of the August 2009 declaration of the Islamic Emirate in Gaza. He was killed in an Israeli strike together with at least two other Mujahideen (Awd Abu Nasir and Yusuf Musa).
Other outlets, however, have declared that Qatrawi was a member of their brigade, the al-Quds Brigade – the military wing of the Palestinian Jihad, who published a statement on their website. Another pro Palestinian Jihad forum issued the following, probably taken from Arabic news sources:
“Three Palestinians were ‘martyred’ during the evening of 10 January 2010 in Gaza by Zionist strikes targeting a group of fighters in the middle of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources in Gaza said that the three ‘martyrs’ are: Awd Nasir, Hasan al-Qatrawi and Hadhifat al-Hams, members of the al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinian Jihad. The three fighters had been killed, four have been critically wounded in the Zionist air strike in the Abu al-Ajayn region in the middle of the Gaza Strip.(…) Hasan al-Qatrawi (22) was from the al-Barij refugee camp, Hadhifa (23) had been from the al-Nasirat camp.”
Some of the pictures disseminated are clearly tagged as JAA, ISI and the usual AQ fashion:
Another example of user generated content, incorporated is AQ Iraq’s logo of the “Islamic State of Iraq”. JAA considers itself part of AQ’s global campaign with Palestine as a future zone of the future-caliphate. But beware, this picture surfaced in the usual AQ affiliated jihadist forums and has been tagged according to the particular JAA and AQ ideology. This must not mean that al-Qatrawi was indeed a member of JAA but his death and his rank are simply being exploited by JAA sympathizers and fueled into pro-AQ jihadist forums.
The forums also disseminated pictures like these:
Again, clearly tagging the killed as JAA members adherent to ISI / AQ global ideology. “Assassinated by the hand of the forces of the Zionists during the evening of Sunday on 20 January 2010.”
Furthermore it is claimed that he was “one of the students of Shaykh Abu Nur al-Maqdisi”.
Marked in this picture
This picture may ‘prove’ the ideological proximity of the fighters to the JAA or perhaps indicate either their sympathy or switch to the JAA? Or is Palestinian Jihad in Gaza cooperating with JAA?
And also untagged pictures like these were published, claiming that these two had been members of JAA as well. Pictures like this one have in the mean time inspired more JAA tagged pictures, reinforcing the claim that JAA is still alive and operating in Gaza despite the Hamas raids in August.
The disseminated testimony of al-Qatrawi, as it is claimed and as it was published in jihadist forums, contains partially the adherence to AQ’s global strategy.
The need for “the sword” is emphasized just as much as his need to fight. This contains the ‘why we fight’ section, where he states that “we don’t fight due to the state of the Arab idol [Arab regimes] or the emplacement of the Western idol, not due to the drawn borders of the Sykes-Picot pact, but we fight for that the highest may be the word of God. So the American Muslim is our beloved brother, the Palestinian apostate is our enemy.”
He sends out a message to the other jihad hotspots naming Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Kashmir and states “that your blood is our blood; your wounded are our wounded. By God we won’t abandon you” fighting till the very end. The leadership of AQ is praised and paid allegiance to, UBL, Zawahiri and Abu Umar al-Baghdadi are named and cherished as “the command of the global Jihad”.
Earlier this week the IMU disseminated a new video, which is part two of the “Soldiers of Allah/God”. The video starts with a sermon by Tohir Yuldashev, who, according to some sources had been killed in a US Drone strike, but could not be verified. Also, in the video, no reference is made to a possible death of Yuldashev who is the unquestioned the leader – as propagandized – of the IMU and a leading ideologue within the group.
Video updates on the recent AQIM and ISI are coming! As usual, the tracking of online jihad stuff is plentiful.
The video starts with a introduction by Yuldashev, who – subtitled in German – addresses his fighters by calling out that now is the time to also be in rows against the infidel in Pakistan, just as much as it is the case for Afghanistan. “The Prophet said, that whoever awakens in the morning without worrying for this umma, does not belong to us. You must burn up due to the anxiety for the umma. And, God willing, He will lead this umma to victory, always be in the first rows of combat!”
The rows of combat/battle and such are a classic concept derived from the rows of the praying that must neither be breached nor fall. It is part of a wider perception of the jihadists that the rows in combat are similar, of course, and bound to key specific concepts of jihadists mindset and ideology.
After the short introduction reinforcing the need to avenge and defend the umma in Afghanistan and Pakistan, various members of the IMU are briefly shown and their corpses are examined in macro shots – a classical jihad video portraying the ‘martyrs’, the “Mujahidin, who died on the path of God”.
All of the captions are in German – “Abdul Hafidh came from Russia in the Summer of 2009. He died on the front of Waziristan-Mehsud” and is examined here, taken care of and such.
Other killed Mujahidin are also shown and later portrayed in the video. The video includes – again with German subtitles – the last testimonies of the killed and in a classical way they reinforce dogmatic concepts of jihadist ideology.
“Mansur Aka: A Fighter, a cook and teacher from Uzbekistan, since more than 15 years at the service of Jihad, fought in Tajikistan and in Afghanistan. He died on the front of Waziristan-Mehsud.”
After making their short statements, addressing their wishes and their firm belief in God and the justice of fighting for the sake of the umma, the corpses are again shown – while a nasheed is playing all the time (in Arabic). Some members are briefly shown, with their function (such as commander, teacher, instructor,…) and then the bodies are portrayed. Suicide bombers, such as “Abdul Azeez” are also shown, who gained some fame within Arab jihadist forums with his suicide operation in Waziristan and the video that comes along with it.
“Student of the Jihad-school “Commander Jumabai” died on the front of Waziristan-Mehsud”.
Also mutilated corpses are shown, that died due to explosions, mines or grenade attacks.
And other fallen Mujahidin, who had been portrayed like “Abdul Azeez” in individual videos are shown again. See my earlier posting on “er kam sah und siegte in jihadist speak” http://bit.ly/4xQ4uR.
“He just arrived early 2009 from Germany and died on the front of Waziristan-Mehsud.”
Besides the usual bunch of explosive experts, ideologues, snipers and particularly firm believers the IMU video also highlights its diversity:
“Talha Aka: Fighter and stablehand from Kyrgyzstan, who also died on the [same] front of…” His testimony contains the usual and he speaks out directly to his brothers and sisters:
“to remain steadfast on this path, after recognizing, that it is the true path and that you have been chosen by God from millions of Muslims in this world. God enabled to live with this honor, which value is only known by God and those, who tasted it. We are carrying arms with our hands and should thank God. God will reward the thankful. And those, who do not value the worthiness of being chosen and who leave this path due to some people or needs, must know that the retaliation of God is harsh. Is there another grace after this one? Or is there a bigger honor after this one? Know that this life is a “karama” [a life of dignity in the proper context of alleged correct interpretation of religious sources] and the death that follows it, is a shahada. This is the meaning of “two most beautiful things”, as referenced in the Quran, and our prophet already told us that Jihad is the best of all things.”
After portraying several ‘martyrs’ briefly, the video after 10 minutes shows the IMU leader again, marching proud or sitting in meetings and during prayer. The video continues with military operations, firing grenades, anti-tank weapons and sniper missions (mostly in Waziristan). Also wounded Mujahidin are shown, being taken care of and removed from the battlefield.
“God willing this one will fly to Berlin, or even better, to Washington and God willing it will fall exactly on the White House, destroying it. Cry the takber!” No such video without the usual threats…
… or the usual show of force. One fighters face is not shown, must have forgotten to mask it?
With Mujahidin moving out into the battlefields, there hugged by their brothers after a planning phase and mostly undertake mortar/grenade attacks and in some cases show the impacts.
The video is concluded with another sermon by IMU leader Yuldashev who this time is dubbed by a fluent German speaker. “Our prophet already claimed the victory of the umma, and now it is us, who will pass through this stage. (…) By our sacrificies and our will the Islamic caliphate will be founded. (…) Our goal is not only to conquer Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, no, our is the whole world, the rule is at a whole only Gods and by His rule it must be judged. The idols have taken His rule and shared it among them, with borders they have created. We do not accept this rule and we are conducting a jihad and for us, there are no borders.”
He then goes on to cite a historic source in regard of the ‘paradise women’, who every Mujahid will get once they perish in this world. These ‘women’, the al-Hur al-‘ayn are, quite interestingly, “watching you, so do not make them ashamed” by any lack of energy. “Because when the Mujahidin are on the battlefield and have shaped a row, then the al-hurr al-‘ayn are present and are watching. They are proud when their future partner is breaking through the rows of the enemies like a lion. He who is a wimp, his hurr will be ashamed. The Mujahid lives in a totally different world”, as everything by God is not visible “except when firmly believing it” and cannot be perceived.
The al-Furqan video “Crusher of the Peshmerga”, or the “destroyers”, the “conqueror” if you will, just went online by ISI’s media outlet, al-Furqan.
As announced yesterday, there is a lengthier posting coming forth sometime this week, when I have the time to do so. It will, however, include the IMU and AQIM video besides this al-Furqan publication.
The IMU video is more or less simply another eulogy of more fallen fighters and it is subtitled in German. Interesting, but nothing that new – most of the killed died, according to the video, in Weziristan and in “Weziristan-Mehsud”. The killed are being portrayed and their corpses shown – some had been trainers and coordinators, other had been simple Mujahidin who are shown in short sequences / testimonies.
The AQIM video (2h total running time) is a bit more interesting and consists of the usual ideological measures with the usual trainings sequences somewhere in the countryside. The usual AQ senior leadership figures come to light and reinforce the over extending ideology and bind this to practical and military implications: fulfilling the true command of God to move out into jihad, as defined by AQ and ideologues such as Abdallah Azzam.
The video is entitled in German as well, published by IMU’s media outlet “Jund Allah.”
This week there will be some updates on this video and a new posting regarding AQIM’s video “Join the Caravan” and when the ISI is available, there will be some comments as well.
AQIM has just issued their demands for the release of the kidnapped Frenchman. In this statement
“the two governments, Mali and France are addressed by the Mujahidin with their conditions and demands to release P.K., the kidnapped Frenchman.
First, we demand the release of four of our prisoners, who have are imprisoned by the state of Mali since a number of months. We are giving France and Mali an ultimatum of 20 days, starting with the date of this statement to fulfill our demands. If by the end of it, the two governments are solely responsible for the faith of the life of the French hostage… “
The short statement is concluded by the usual imaginative hope, namely that AQIM is “calling upon the French public and the family of the kidnapped to exercise pressure on the government Sarkozy” unlike the errors made by the British government Brown in the past.
“Crusher of the Peshmerga” – al-Furqan, the media outlet of the Islamic State of Iraq announced today a new video will be forthcoming soon. In the past al-Furqan has already published various filmed operations against the Peshmerga, in and around Mosul and Kirkuk, which belong to the Kurdish, according to their understanding. The last ISI video was – as mostly – a quite comprising show of its ideology bound to alleged operations, lets see what this video has in store this time.
Didn’t take long for the video being uploaded on YouTube – by multiple users on multiple channels, re-publishing the video over and over again. Abu Dujana’s video as it was published within the jihadist forums and Abu Dujana repeats his statement to “strike at the US, within and without” its territory.
Online Jihad: Monitoring Jihadist Online Communities 