The sister of one of the victims of the infamous Islamic State group dubbed the Beatles – an Execution cell responsible for the murder of at least 27 of their hostages – has called for two of the gang; Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, recently captured while trying to cross into Turkey, to be … Read More
In May 2015, ISIS seized the city of Palmyra, the UNESCO World Heritage Site that lies in the Syrian Desert 215km north east of the capital Damascus. Another World Heritage Site the city of Hatra in northern Iraq has already become a casualty of the fanatical group. The question is; will ISIS destroy ancient Palmyra? … Read More
The new warning on air travel is for checks on electronic equipment, but is there more behind the new threat to airline in the form of a ‘digital bomb’ that could have played a part in the missing Malaysian flight MH370. Further security checks have been advised for airline passengers with the emphasis now being … Read More
Two Cardiff men have been big news lately, their faces captured on a video enticing other young Muslim men to join in the fight in Syria. Reyaad Khan (20) and his friend Nasser Muthana also 20, have been missing since late last year, and now according to Nasser’s father, his 17-year-old son Aseel is … Read More
Iraq, three years after the withdrawal of Western Coalition forces is falling apart. Is it a straightforward result of Western intervention or is there more? Lets consider the wider context of Iraq, ISIS and the Sunni- Shia Split. As the ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) juggernaut gathers pace, it seems that the Iraq … Read More
I was amazed to read this article in the Daily Mail about how the trainer of the 7/7 bombers was allowed to open a primary school in Ilford, Essex. Spending on counterterrorism in the UK has grown significantly from £1b in 2001, to £3.5b in 2010, but even with this huge sum being used to mitigate this … Read More
Having just read Marc Sagemans‘ acclaimed book ‘Understanding Terror Networks’, and then reading this article, one can help but see a a pattern emerging. It is widely accepted, that the last part of the radicalisation processes of violent jihadists is that of joining a training camp. There they can meet likeminded individuals, gain terrorist skills … Read More
