Homeland Security News

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, one of two al Qaeda affiliates operating in Syria, announced that it would coordinate with other Syrian rebel groups, including the Free Syrian Army, to take revenge for a chemical weapons attack last week in the capital that is said to have killed more than 300 people.

The ISIL released a statement yesterday that was signed by seven other "jihadi factions" operating in Eastern Ghouta, a district in the Syrian capital where the chemical attack is said to have taken place.  The statement, which was released yesterday on an official Twitter account associated with the ISIL, was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The decision to conduct joint operations against the Syrian government and military was made "after the meeting that was called for by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant for all the jihadi factions in Eastern Ghouta," the ISIL said, according to SITE.

Read more:  Long War Journal

The security agencies of the countries of the Maghreb, the Sahel and southern Europe have warned of major terrorist operations that may surpass the January 2013 Tigantourine operation. The warning came after the inception of a new terrorist organization called al-Mourabitoun. The security reports indicated that there are efforts underway to merge al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and the Sahel, Ansar al-Din and terrorist battalions active in Tunisia.

Security reports circulating in several countries, including Algeria, claimed that terrorists in the new al-Mourabitoun organization, which was founded by merging the Masked Battalion with the Tawhid wal-Jihad group in West Africa, is planning a major terrorist strike against an important Western target in the countries that the takfiri group considers legitimate targets: Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Egypt.

High-level security sources said that the announcement of al-Mourabitoun’s birth is a sign to sleeper cells and terrorist elements in the desert to carry out operations that have been agreed upon in advance between the leaders of the Masked Battalion and Tawhid wal-Jihad, just as occurred eight months ago, when the establishment of the Undersigned in Blood Battalion was announced. A few weeks after that announcement, the Tigantourine operation took place in Algeria.

Read more: Al-Monitor