On Tuesday, 22 March 2016, Belgium witnessed the worst terrorist attack carried out on its soil. While the full identity of the attackers is still under investigation, Belgium has a history of being the victim of both international and homegrown terrorism. 

Over recent decades we have witnessed several successful attacks and attempts by terrorist organizations to strike trains around the world. Most of these attacks were carried out in Asia and Europe where the rail infrastructure is a common means of transportation. An attack and/or successful threat against train function is liable to disrupt the country’s normal activity, damage its economy and even harm people.

Written by Nir Tordjman and Oren Elimelech

Challenges and Coping Mechanisms An assessment of the situation as of January 2016.

Written by Dr. Eitan Azani, Col. (Res.) Jonathan Fighel and Lorena Atiyas Lvovsky.

The evolution of terrorism throughout the 20^th and 21^st century has led to the increasing involvement of children in terrorism. Traditionally, children have been treated as expendables and signal desperation on behalf of the terrorist organization, thereby commonly participating in suicide operations.

During 2014, the Al-Malahem media institution, belonging to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), published a series of eight recorded lectures about military strategy and combat methods. The lectures – which were produced and presented by a senior official in the organization, Nasr bin Ali al-Ansi – were featured in the framework of publications by the "Jihadist Military Academy". In order to make the lectures more approachable, in November, 2014 a 26 page document was published, briefly summarizing the main points of each lecture.

The introduction to the lectures indicates that "military strategy" is only one of many (33) topics covered in over 60 lessons, about a wide variety of military issues – in the areas of history, tactics, training, naval warfare, military engineering, and more (see appendix) – which the AQAP transmits to its students in lectures at the "Jihadist Military Academy". In addition, the introduction clarifies that the target audience of the videos is the fighters with battlefield experience who "are qualified for taking responsibility for commanding, guiding, and planning". This sits well with the fact that most of the principles detailed in the lectures apply more to management of the combat system in the battlefield, and not to attacks carried out by lone terrorists or small cells.

28 years since its establishment, and 10 years since its entrance into the political arena, Hamas continues to enjoy widespread public support and to cast a shadow on the entire region. This article is intended in part to examine where Israel erred in its handling of Hamas as a terrorist organization, for all intents and purposes, and how it must act in the face of the challenges that Hamas poses. Hamas is the most brutal perpetrator of human rights offenses in the region, between Jordan and the sea. All sides in the conflict would benefit from the replacement of Hamas rule. However, it will only be successful if it occurs as an internal process in a protest by the residents of Gaza. While some may argue that such a step is virtually "science fiction", that is not to say that it is not an option for the people of Gaza.

Based on an article first published in the Jerusalem Post.

Two recent hacks by Hamas into satellite TV transmissions of Israel’s popular Big Brother show herald a whole new level of cyber confrontation.

First published in the Times of Israel

The status of the Al-Azhar Institute at local, regional, and even international levels has been improving significantly since Abdel Fatah al-Sisi was elected President of Egypt in 2014 – due to the fact that it is a strategic partner in the battle against the rising tide of Islamic terror and the religious rhetoric of terrorist organizations. The institution has been an active supporter of the regime’s political agenda ever since the 1952 revolution of the Free Officers Movement, with the understanding that preserving good relations with the regime would ultimately earn power for Al-Azhar, and serve to boost its image in the eyes of Egyptian society. In the 1970’s, for example, Al-Azhar participated in the propaganda war lead by Anwar Sadat against the Communists in the country, who were viewed as a threat to the regime’s stability. It wasn’t for naught that in December 2014, al-Sisi announced his intent to wage his war against Islamic terror from Al-Azhar. From his perspective, the Al-Azhar Institute held a key role in creating a counter narrative and an alternative interpretation of Islamic law, which could suppress the trend of radicalization in society, and challenge the radical discourse emanating from the Islamic terror organizations’ study halls. Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Muslim Brotherhood were specifically targeted. Al-Sisi surpassed himself when he ruled that there was an urgent need to lead a “religious revolution” to make the religious discourse apply to modern times.

On early reports, at least 72 people have been killed and more than 300 injured in a suicide blast inside the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in the Iqbal Town area of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab Province, on March 27, 2016. Lahore's District Coordination Officer Muhammad Usman stated, "The bomber managed to enter the park and blew himself up near the kids' playing area where kids were on the swings”. Significantly, a large number of people, mostly Christians were present in the park, celebrating Easter [Christendom's holiest day].

First pubslidhed in South Asia Intelligence Review

The terrorist attacks that took place on March 22 in Brussels, the “heart of Europe”, killed over 30 people and injured more than 200. Barely half a year after the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, Europe was suffering another round of major terrorist attacks. If what happened in Paris seemed merely an isolated incident, then the Brussels attacks fully testified to the fact that Europe is now facing a new wave of terrorist attacks.

Republished from the Hong Kong China-US Focus

Since Al-Mourabitoun merged with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in December 2015, the latter has experienced significant momentum.[1] Its increased number of terrorist attacks, its intensified operations in Mali, the move of its activities to other parts of the African continent (especially in the Sahel region[2] and Western Africa, such as Burkina Faso), and its success in attacking Western-affiliated institutions as well as claiming many lives and destroying property, indicates an increase in AQIM’s power. The strengthening of AQIM stands out against the backdrop of the Islamic State’s weakening power in various fronts due to latter’s strategic distress as a result of strikes by coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.  Abu Abdul Ilah Ahmad, a senior AQIM leader, acknowledged in an interview given to the Palestinian jihadist magazine, Al-Masra, in March 2016 that the merger of the two organizations had significantly increased the organization’s power.[3]

Foreign fighters during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan did not play a big role in the actual conflict. However, they did develop critical skills and networks during this time that allowed some of these individuals to disseminate radical ideology and technical know-how, join in other jihadist conflicts, and establish terrorist organizations which severely impacted global security. By examining the post-conflict roles of foreign fighters in Afghanistan, it is possible to see potential paths that can be taken by foreign fighters currently in Syria and Iraq. Taking into account contextual changes, it is possible to use this information to assess the risk of post-conflict foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq on global security. Due to the technological and social changes, large swaths of ungoverned territory and the sheer number of fighters, the foreign fighters leaving this theater will be a risk to global security particularly in regions that lack the resources to monitor returned fighters.