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France’s Mali Mission: Has al-Qaeda Already Been Defeated?
The continued assault Monday by French air forces against Islamist targets in the remote reaches of northern Mali served as a new reminder of how remarkably fast and far the Franco-Malian...
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French Family’s Cameroon Kidnapping Stokes Fears of a Pan-African Islamist War
Updated: Feb. 21, 2013, at 6 a.m. EST France began holding its breath Feb. 21 amid unconfirmed news that a French family of seven kidnapped two days earlier in northern Cameroon by suspected Islamist...
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The War in Mali: Does France Have an Exit Strategy?
It’s looking increasingly unlikely that France’s military intervention in Mali will be over anytime soon. Despite comments by French officials earlier this month that Paris hopes to begin withdrawing...
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French Officials Warn ‘Success’ in Mali Won’t End Islamist Threat
As the French-led offensive against Islamist militants in Mali advances, diplomats and intelligence officials in Paris are beginning to tamp down expectations that eliminating al-Qaeda-linked extremism...
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The Terror of Toulouse: How Much Did the French Know About a Spree Shooter?
On March 11, a one-year memorial was held for French parachutist Imad Ibn Ziaten, the first death in an eight-day-long shooting spree in Toulouse and nearby Montauban that ended with a total of seven...
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Jihadi Strike in Timbuktu Reflects Altered Terrorism Threat in Mali
The assault launched late March 31 by jihadi fighters on the northern Mali town of Timbuktu reflects the changing security scenario in West Africa. On the one hand, the Franco-African military...
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No Exit: Syria’s War Through the Eyes of a Fighter on Both Sides
When Siraj heard the news earlier this month that al-Qaeda had embraced Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group recognized in Syria for its discipline and fighting prowess, but deemed a terrorist group by...
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France’s Latest Terrorist Suspect: A French Convert Near Retirement Age
France’s newest prisoner in the fight against terrorism does not fit the profile of the modern jihadi that French investigators have, in recent years, broadly focused on — that of a young, disaffected...
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Mali’s Legendary Musicians Struggle to Be Heard in the Shadow of War
Before the coup d’état that overthrew an elected government, before the French-led war to oust Islamist rebels who had taken over much of the country, Mali was perhaps best known internationally for...
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Al-Qaeda’s Proxies Among Syria’s Rebels Scared by Threat of U.S. Strikes
Correction appended: Sept. 6, 2013 As the U.S. Congress inches closer towards authorizing the use of military force in Syria, rebel groups on the ground are preparing for an offensive that could...
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Syria’s Rebels Turn on One Another, and That’s Not a Bad Thing
Ongoing clashes between rival groups within the armed opposition intensified in Syria’s Aleppo province this past week following protests against the heavy-handed tactics of the al-Qaeda-affiliated...
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Rebels Claim Video Shows Iranian Soldiers Fighting in Syria
Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad is well established, though Iran has denied its troops are engaging directly with Syrian rebels. However, video footage that Syrian rebels claim was...
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Syria’s Breaking Bad: Are Amphetamines Funding the War?
Fifteen days into his job as Lebanon’s top drug-enforcement official, Colonel Ghassan Chams Eddine got a tip-off that something big was going down at the Beirut shipping port this summer. How big?...
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After Three Years in Captivity, French Hostages Are Released
Four Frenchmen who had been taken hostage by Islamic extremists in Niger were released on Tuesday. They had been held in captivity for three years, the French President Francois Hollande announced...
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Jihad for Beginners: Westerners Fighting With al-Qaeda in Syria
The men appeared confused. They huddled around a rotisserie-chicken stand in the Syrian city of al-Bab, 11 of them, dressed in the black tunic and trousers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria...
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Al-Qaeda Claims Yemen Attack, Killing 52
Updated on Dec. 6 at 2:34 a.m EST. Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch al-Mallahem has claimed the Thursday attack on the Defense Ministry complex in the capital of Sanaa, killing 52 and wounding at least 167. The...
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Conflicting Reports After Drone Strike Hits Wedding Convoy in Yemen
An air strike reportedly killed at least 13 people traveling to a wedding in Yemen on Thursday, but there were conflicting reports about the number of casualties. Citing unnamed officials in Yemen,...
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Syrian Rebels Battle With al-Qaeda Fighters as Iraq Implodes Next Door
There is no surer sign of a liberated city than the release of prisoners. But in the case of Raqqa, in northern Syria, the 50 prisoners in question were not captives of the government, but of the...
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Why al-Qaeda Kicked Out Its Deadly Syria Franchise
Early Monday morning the leadership of al-Qaeda disowned Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the most effective of its two franchises fighting in Syria, in a maneuver that could alter the...
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Al-Qaeda Rebels in Syria Tell Christians to Pay Up or Die
Radical Islamist rebels running the northern Syrian city of Raqqa have made the Christians living in the area an offer they can’t refuse: pay for protection, convert to Islam, or “face the sword.” In a...
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