My New Article: "Egyptian Salafis Protest Warming Relations with Iran amidst Rising Regional Sectarian Tensions" at Tahrir Squared

I have a new article that was published today at Tahrir Squared, a web site dedicated to covering issues related to the ongoing "Arab Spring."  Since my own research doesn't really focus on Egypt, I normally wouldn't have thought to write on this topic.  However, I was recently invited to by Dr. Hisham Hellyer, an Egypt specialist and one of the site's editors. 

The piece is centered on recent, growing protests by Egyptian Salafi Sunnis against warming diplomatic and economic ties with Iran as well as against Shi'ite Muslims generally, whom they view as not being Muslim. 

I also analyze the religious and political roots of their animus against both the Iranian government and Shi'ite Islam generally.

"Egyptian Salafi criticisms of Iran and Shi’ites generally are rooted in both religion and politics. On the political side, they are highly critical of the Iranian government’s continued alliance with the besieged Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, which continues to wage a brutal war against both Syrian civilians as well as rebel factions, a war which has killed an estimated 70,000 according to the United Nations.  Indiscriminate air strikes, shelling, and summary arrests, torture, and executions by government forces and allied militias have rallied most  of the region’s governments and predominantly Sunni populations against al-Assad and his government’s few remaining international supporters, namely the Iranian, Russian, and Chinese governments and various Arab Shi’ite political movements such as Hizbullah in Lebanon and Iraqi Shi’ite political parties. Political opposition to political positions vis-à-vis Syria taken by the Iranian government and other Shi’ite political actors in the region is certainly not unique to Salafis, in either Egypt or elsewhere."

Read the rest at Tahrir Squared.

My New Article on Shifts in Al-Shabab's Military and Media/Information Operations Strategies (February 2011-February 2013)

I have a new article that was just published today in the March issue of the CTC Sentinel,
 a journal published by the Combating Terrorism Center, an academic unit
 housed at West Point.  The article examines notable shifts in both the
military and media/information operations strategies of the Somali
Islamist insurgent movement Al-Shabab (Harakat al-Shabab
al-Mujahideen).  I look at, for example, the movement's self-portrayal
of its "insurgent governance," its shift back to (re)becoming a
primarily underground guerilla force, and the impact of defections on
its ability to wage its insurgency.

"In 2009-2010, the Somali militant group al-Shabab controlled most of
central and southern Somalia south of the autonomous region of Puntland.
 Since the February 2011 military offensives by the African Union
Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Somali government troops, and Somali Sufi
militia forces, al-Shabab has suffered a series of significant
territorial and strategic setbacks. Pressures on the insurgent
movement increased when Kenya and Ethiopia, together with client Somali
militias, invaded its southern and western strongholds in October and
November 2011. The Kenyan military’s goal from the onset of its campaign
 inside Somalia was to seize the vital port city of Kismayo, one of
al-Shabab’s most important economic centers. Kenya seized control of
that city in October 2012. Ethiopian troops and their Somali allies
quickly captured the Ethiopia-Somalia border town of Beledweyne, and
within two months had also captured the city of Baidoa in western
Somalia.

These setbacks necessitated a shift in al-Shabab’s military strategy.
 This article assesses the trajectory of both al-Shabab’s military and
political strategies, explains how defections have weakened the group,
and reviews its information and media operations during the past two
years in the midst of its relatively rapid territorial losses."

Read the rest HERE.

Jihadi Photographs Confirm the "Martyrdom" of Khalid al-Husaynan, Al-Qa'ida Central's Missionary Preacher

Khalid al-Husaynan, Al-Qa'ida Central's "missionary preacher" and da'wa outreach official, has been confirmed killed in photographs released on global jihadi web sites.  Reports of his killing emerged in early December 2012.  A former employee of the state of Kuwait, al-Husaynan was a personable speaker with bona fide credentials as a religious scholar.  I detailed his background in an article for Foreign Policy magazine's AFPAK Channel HERE.

He was one of the few AQC officials with a prominent public persona.

My New Article at Foreign Policy's AFPAK Channel: "The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan: Down but Not Out"

"The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a militant group based in Pakistan's tribal agencies, has suffered a series of major battlefield setbacks over the past year. But despite the loss of several senior leaders and a key media operative since 2011, the group remains one of the most militarily capable and media savvy militant outfits operating in the region.  It maintains working relationships with a number of other Sunni militant groups active in the region including al-Qaeda Central, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the Afghan Taliban.  The IMU has particularly close ties to the TTP, with whom it has launched joint military operations against Pakistani military targets inside Pakistan, as well ISAF and Afghan government targets in Afghanistan.  In April, an estimated 150 IMU and TTP fighters launched a successful attack on Bannu Prison in northwestern Pakistan, freeing nearly 400 prisoners, including Adnan Rashid, who was convicted in 2008 of involvement in an assassination plot against then-Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. Rashid was subsequently featured in videos released by the IMU and TTP."

READ THE REST AT AFPAK CHANNEL.