EIC, CTC Sentinel; CEO Cruickshank & Dean Global Intelligence; Partner EMIR; 📚 Nine Lives+Agent Storm which Guardian named one of top ten spy books of all time
New York Times: "Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, held an hourslong online meeting in March with an elite group of strategists from all the Iran-backed militias and told them to get ready for a war with Israel with a scope and reach — including a ground invasion — that
New York Times: "Some people familiar with the operation said that a tight circle of leaders from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas helped plan the attack starting over a year ago, trained militants and had advanced knowledge of it."
My analysis: This extraordinarily detailed new reporting from the New York Times indicates that we may be heading towards a regional war whose architects are Tehran and Hezbollah. With tensions escalating every minute, can the Middle East pull back from the brink?
New York Times: "Training had been taking place in Lebanon and Syria, and a secret joint command center had been set up in Beirut, according to the Iranians and the Syrian familiar with the operation. Hezbollah’s top commandos, experienced in urban guerrilla warfare, trained
New York Times: "Over the past six months, Hezbollah created provocations meant to mislead and distract Israel along its northern border with Lebanon and in Syria so it would think the real threat was coming from those areas, according to two Iranians briefed after the attack."
"On Oct. 3, four days before Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel, Mr. Khamenei’s official account in Farsi posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, that said: “Israel will be gone.”"
Read the full article here:
"In September, Israeli intelligence officials told The New York Times that they had intelligence suggesting Mr. Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, had ordered a wide campaign against Israel including targeting its citizens abroad, conducting sabotage inside its borders, and
New York Times: "In various meetings of Iran’s proxy militias, several attendees said, the emphasis from leaders was that it was time to take advantage of Israel’s seething internal divisions over the judicial overhaul pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right
Deeply concerning development in Germany. Never before to my knowledge has a jihadi in the West successfully produced ricin. If this initial finding is confirmed a new threshold has been crossed in the chemical terror threat.
UPDATE
29 y/o
#Tunesia
|n man arrested in
#Cologne
successfully produced ricin, a biological weapon under German law.
Police probe into preparation of jihadism motivated terrorist attack.
No apparent ties to jihadist organizations.
Federal prosecutor general press release (🇩🇪):
Breaking: Khalid Batarfi, the leader of al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, is under arrest, UN report reveals. The report states he was detained in “an operation” in Yemen in October. Here is my story for CNN
"Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa'ad, to "kill as many people as possible," seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip.""
Twenty years ago today al Qaeda carried out two near simultaneous attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar al Salaam, the first large attack in their global terror campaign. We mourn all the victims of these atrocities.
Big breaking story out tonight by
@NicRobertsonCNN
@TimListerCNN
& me -- a just released UN Security Council report sounds the alarm over an emboldened Taliban still closely tied to al Qaeda.
Extraordinary story. Extraordinary courage. This sort of heroism from within the Muslim world is so often unsung but it is how the fight against jihadi terror will be won.
Authorities may "prefer" this, but is it morally defensible to delay providing young children a viable vaccine? There is gathering outrage from millions of worried and well-informed American parents, whose number one mission in life is to protect their kids.
Politico has sourcing on potential timeline for review of young kids
#covid19
vaccine, suggesting authorities may prefer to review Moderna & Pfizer together, which could push authorization of both to June:
Now al-Zawahiri is dead, this is the man many expect to be the next leader of al-Qaeda. Read this deeply researched and authoritative
@CTCWP
Sentinel profile of Saif al-Adl by
@Ali_H_Soufan
Sigh. This is getting boring. My CNN colleagues don't represent any nation (and nor should they) and a good number have literally put their lives on the line to bring the world the news.
.
@FoxNews
is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!
The accelerating ISIS takeover of swaths of northern Mozambique is now the biggest global terror challenge since the 2014 ISIS takeover of swaths of Syria/Iraq. Many have been warning about the gathering threat. Once again little has been done to stop it.
Early info: A LT Colonel in the French police swapped places with one of hostages and and then placed his phone on a table allowing security forces to understand what going on & take out the ISIS inspired terrorist. Police officer now seriously wounded:
“We are going into a civil war now.”
Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert says the country faces civil war as huge protests have flooded the streets in Israel over judicial overhaul.
Breaking: Significant new information from me and
@NicRobertsonCNN
(who is reporting from Riyadh) on the possible motivation behind the Pensacola, Florida shooting:
This doesn't just cross~it eviscerates the January 3 red line declared by the U.S. and coalition partners. How long can such attacks be tolerated in a key international waterway? The credibility of the United States and allied countries is now on the line.
Houthi Attack on International Shipping
On Jan. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m. (Sanaa time), Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled
Very significant: France says its troops have killed Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, the leader of the Sahara branch (ISGS) of ISIS West Africa (ISWAP). Among the many victims of ISGS were four U.S. Green Berets killed in an ambush in Niger in 2017.
Friday at 10pm CNN will air an extraordinary one hour documentary presented by
@camanpour
on the story of Aimen Dean, arguably the most important spy Western intel has had inside al-Qaeda. It's based on my co-authored book "Nine Lives" out in early June:
Big story out tonight by
@NicRobertsonCNN
@TimListerCNN
and myself: As the West winds down its 'war on terror,' jihadists are filling the vacuum, the UN warns in a just released report
"The documents were found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists by Israeli first responders and shared with NBC News. They include detailed maps and show that Hamas intended to kill or take hostage civilians and school children."
Utterly compelling. Aimen Dean arguably the West's most vital spy since the Cold War talks to
@nprscottsimon
on NPR Weekend Edition Our fastselling book "Nine Lives: My time as the West's Top Spy inside al-Qaeda" available here:
1. Mega thread a year on from January 6 on CTC Sentinel's spotlight on the nexus to violence of far-right extremism.
@CTCWP
Sentinel is the flagship publication of West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, widely viewed as the nation's leading terrorism research center.
NBC News: "The attack plans, which are labeled "top secret" in Arabic, appear to be orders for two highly trained Hamas units to surround and infiltrate villages and target places where civilians, including children, gather."
Thirty-two Sri Lankan Muslims from “well-educated and elite” families have joined Islamic State in Syria, the Sri Lankan justice minister told parliament in 2016.
Four days ago, this was posted by Iran's Supreme Leader's account. Today, amidst a horrific ongoing attack against its civilians launched from Gaza, Israel is at war.
The usurper regime is coming to an end. Today, the Palestinian youth and the anti-oppression, anti-occupation movement in Palestine is more energetic, more alive, and more prepared than ever during the past 70 or 80 years. God willing, the movement will achieve its goals.
Kudos to counterterrorism agencies on both sides of the Atlantic
for their heroic efforts to thwart terror plots these last days of 2017. They never get enough credit for what they stop. More challenges ahead.
Big: CNN conducted an extremely rare exclusive interview with al Qaeda via intermediaries. I reviewed their answers for this important story by
@NicRobertsonCNN
which sheds vital light on the enduring threat the terror group poses the United States.
First on CNN: Intel indicates al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has potentially serious heart complaint, official says (my just published report also includes key new details on Hamza bin Laden's recent whereabouts)
Given the situation in the Middle East, and after today's deadly stabbing attack in northeastern France, it is clear we are entering a period of elevated terror threats across Europe. Maximum vigilance is required in the coming days and weeks.
1. In the last several years the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
@CTCWP
has published authoritative research on ISK, the ISIS branch which claimed the Kabul airport bombing.
A worrying threshold has been crossed with the Christchurch attack - the first mass casualty terror attack in West in which murders were live-streamed. Must read by
@burke_jason
in
@CTCWP
Sentinel on trend towards this. (Piece focuses on jihadi terror):
1. Is AQ leader Ayman al-Zawahiri alive? The analyst
@abdsayedd
points out that in his new video Zawahiri mourns Abu Muhammad Sudani killed circa 15-Oct 2020. This seems to date the recording to some time after that.
What do you get when you ask some of the brightest minds to tackle the global problem set of extreme far-right violence 6 months after Jan 6? The July/August issue of CTC Sentinel (which is now out).
July/Aug CTC Sentinel is now live w/ articles on the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor; the evolution of the Proud Boys; the globalization of far-right extremism; & analysis of Action Zealandia. Plus an intv w/ the dir of UN's Office of Counter-Terrorism.
Agence France Presse: "We, as Hezbollah, are contributing to the confrontation and will (continue) to contribute to it within our vision and plan," [Hezbollah deputy chief Naim] Qassem told a pro-Palestinian rally in Beirut's southern suburbs [on Friday]. "We are fully prepared,
Paris Attack: The suspect had shouted out “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and told police he was upset because “so many Muslims are dying in Afghanistan and in Palestine”
This follows ISIS air cargo shipment of partially assembled explosive device to Australia from Turkey this past summer. A possibly gamechanging moment in terror threat.