Weekly Analyst Review

17 August 2022

TRAC Insight:

Islamic State (IS) Mandarin Chinese Language News Channel

Sets Up a Vast Network of IS Chinese Propaganda

Image: An unofficial Islamic State poster, created in Mandarin, celebrating Khalid Lughari’s attack on Rahimullah Haqqani.

On 12 August 2022, Islamic State supporters started a network of new Mandarin Chinese channels that is a mirror image of how the vast, official IS Arabic channels network.

Official IS Arabic channels operate in a unique way, creating multiple channels to evade deletion and to control the IS supporter environment. Only the IS channel administrators allow vetted supporters into these channels and only the administrator is allowed to communicate in the official IS Arabic channels. 

This new Chinese IS network operates in the exact same way. At the height of the Caliphate, there were at least 300 Chinese nationals who had traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight as foreign fighters for Islamic State. TRAC contends that this new channel network is an attempt to spread IS propaganda to the Mandarin Chinese-speaking population and to further expand its influence in China, ripe for exploitation because of the “re-education camps” in Xinjiang province in China. 

Along with this newly created Chinese channel network, Islamic State also translates into the Uyghur language to attract the discontented Uyghur population, a minority ethnic group primarily concentrated in the eastern province of Xinjiang who have faced state-mandated persecution and cultural genocide under the guise of counter-terrorism.

TRAC Insight:

Rumor Circulating that Islamic State Central Command Sent

6 Top Commanders From Syria And Iraq to Meet with

Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) Leaders, with the Goal of Directing Its Expansion, North East of Sabon Tumbun,

Marte LGA, Borno State, Nigeria

Image:  Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) expansion map

Local sources recently reported that Islamic State Central Command has sent at least six top commanders from the Iraqi and Syrian theatre to Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin, specifically Sabon Tumbun in Marte LGA. These leaders have been sent to consolidate power and direct the expansion of Islamic State West Africa (ISWA).

The pace of ISWA expansion has increased exponentially since Ramadan 2022, when Islamic State began to claim attacks outside their traditional stronghold in the northeast, ultimately besieging the Federal Capital Territory in recent weeks. The clear objective is to stage a large-scale event inside the capital of Abuja before the Presidential election in February 2023.

It is important to note that IS Central Command has not only been supporting, but also directing ISWA activity since the death of Boko Haram’s leader Shekau. In October 2021, IS Central sent a delegation to Nigeria to appoint the new Wali of Wilayat Gharb Ifriqiyah (West Africa aka Nigeria), as well as to deploy at least 200 seasoned foreign fighters to Nigeria. It should be assumed that large amounts of funding also would have been given to ISWA leadership at the same time.

There is also, reportedly, an effort by the Islamic State to establish an network of militants from the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) and West Africa (Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon), connecting them with North Africa (Libya, Algeria) by co-opting current, and reactivating old smuggling routes. 

Despite TRAC’s assessment that ISWA is numbered upward of 10,000 fighters, and ISGS likely around 5,000 fighters, sources claim that they are not yet strong enough in Africa to hold onto this expansive of a territory. However, Islamic State is already embedded in the smuggling of illicit goods through these smuggling axes. It would only take a moderate influx of foreign fighters to begin to hold areas around the smuggling routes.

TRAC Incident Report:

Islamic State Sinai (Jamaat Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi

Bayt al-Maqdis) Fighters Allegedly Captured Jelbana &

Large Parts of the International Highway near the Suez Canal, Northern Sinai, Egypt

Image: IS writing found in Jelbana

Islamic State Sinai (ISS/Jamaat Ansar al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Bayt al-Maqdis) activities are normally isolated in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, but recently the group has committed an assault as far south as Wadi Maghareh, which could indicate that the group is trying to establish a foothold further south. 

ISS is closing in on controlling important routes to the internationally relevant Suez Canal. Only last week, ISS elements committed a large scale attack just east of the Suez canal. The group has allegedly captured and now controls  the village of Jelbana, which is located only 15 km from the Suez canal. In addition to the village, they have also taken control of of the international highway which leads to the canal. This can have serious implications on international trade. 

Distracting the Egyptian army and militias from certain locations, such as the al-Magharah area and the Rafah area, is one of the main objectives of the Jelbana attack. Even if the fighting only lasted a few hours, ISS taking control of Jelbana is a significant development that demonstrates the group's adaptability to the environment.

TRAC Incident Report:

Woman Stripped Naked & Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ on Jet2 flight from Larnaca to Manchester, Forced Landing in Paris, France

Image: Woman being escorted off the plane and taken into custody

On 14 August 2022, shortly after the take-off, a woman supposedly to be in her thirties stripped herself to underwear and spread panic among the passengers and cabin crew after claiming to have explosives.

The woman was then restrained by a male tourist from Manchester after she tried to enter the cockpit shouting ‘Allahu Akbar.’

Following the incident the plane was promptly diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, where police officers took the woman into custody and the woman reportedly claimed her parents were Islamic State (IS) members.

TRAC Incident Report: Security Forces Deal a Historic Blow to Organized Crime by Detaining 164 Members of the 'Carteles Unidos' Criminal Group, Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico

TRAC Insight:

The Domestic Security Implications of the Appointment of a New Zulu King Amid Royal Family Feud, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

TRAC Insight: Uncovering Connections between the Suspected Boogaloo Boi Supporter Matthew Rogers & the 3D Gun Printing Scene, United States