May, 2021

• 11 May

  Taliban Declare Three-day Afghan Ceasefire for Eid Holiday

  The Taliban have announced a nationwide cease-fire in Afghanistan that will take effect when the three-day annual Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr begins Thursday, marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. The announcement follows a spike in attacks by the Islamist insurgent group against government forces across many …

  Read More »
• 11 May

  Gunmen in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province Kill 3 Soldiers, Wound 5

  Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and five wounded in two attacks on military vehicles by unknown assailants Sunday night. Both attacks took place in Balochistan, the Montana-sized province in the southwest of Pakistan where Baloch nationalist groups have waged a decadeslong campaign for independence. The insurgency, which has seen an …

  Read More »
• 11 May

  Iraqi Protesters Set Fire to Iranian Consulate Over Killing of Activist

  Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday that his government had delivered a “letter of protest” to the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran condemning a raid by Iraqi protesters on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Karbala. Activist Ehab al-Wazni, who organized protests against corruption and Iran’s influence on the Iraqi …

  Read More »
• 11 May

  Islamist Party Holds Key to Impending Israeli Unity Government

  In stark contrast to the violence boiling over on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, a right-center-left coalition of parties opposed to the rule of longtime Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could be formed as early as Tuesday with support from an Islamist party, the United Arab List. Yair Lapid, chairman of the …

  Read More »
• 11 May

  300 Injured in Jerusalem Day Riots

  Violence broke out again on Monday at Al-Aqsa Mosque as Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police squared off on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, sending at least 206 people – 205 Palestinian protesters and one Israeli police officer – to local hospitals for treatment. An additional 100 demonstrators and eight …

  Read More »
• 9 May

  IntelBrief: United to Fight Terrorism? Reviewing the UN’s Global Counterterrorism Strategy

  

  Counterterrorism experts and diplomats at the United Nations are currently negotiating the biennial review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Although the resolution lacks the force of law, it does provide a framework for the UN and shapes the operations of nearly forty different UN funds, agencies, and programs. This year, …

  Read More »
• 9 May

  10 years after death, Bin Laden still mobilises jihadists

  

  A decade after he was hunted down and killed in Pakistan by US special forces, Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden retains the capacity to mobilise extremists even in a polarised jihadist scene that has radically changed in the last years. Even though Bin Laden’s body was buried in the Arabian …

  Read More »
• 9 May

  Afghanistan to Discuss Fate of Foreign IS Prisoners with Their Countries

  

  The Afghan government said it plans to begin talks with 14 countries to discuss what to do with hundreds of their citizens who have been captured while fighting alongside the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). Ahmad Zia Seraj, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), said …

  Read More »
• 9 May

  IntelBrief: Challenges to the Forward Momentum of U.S.-Iran Diplomacy

  

  U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in Vienna are making progress, but remain threatened by Israel-Iran conflict, Iranian naval challenges in the Persian Gulf, and political infighting in Tehran. Israeli officials insist to the Biden administration that they will continue to act unilaterally against Iranian nuclear facilities, if necessary. A backlash due to …

  Read More »
• 9 May

  IntelBrief: Water Wars: Tensions between Ethiopia and its Neighbors Persist Over Dam Project

  

  Tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have regional security and development implications. Sudan’s military incursion into al-Fashaga took advantage of Ethiopia’s preoccupation with combating an ongoing rebellion in the Tigray region. Negotiation efforts over the dam are underway, and broader military conflict between Egypt, Sudan, …

  Read More »