Jane's Intelligence Review - Terrorism & Insurgency

Terrorism & Insurgency

*Marriage of convenience - Colombian insurgents agree alliance
The old adage that 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' appears to have been taken to heart in Colombia, where the country's two largest left-wing...
28-Jan-2010

*Return to arms - Hizbullah and Israel's preparations for war
On 3 November 2009, Israeli navy commandos intercepted 500 tonnes of weapons unknowingly being ferried from Egypt to Syria by the cargo ship Francop ....
14-Jan-2010

*Greek fire - The revival of Greece's radical left
Greece has experienced a remarkable escalation in left-wing violence since December 2008, when a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot by police during rioting in Athens....
31-Dec-2009

*Borderline crisis - Saudi Arabia intervenes in Yemen
In November 2009 an already multi-faceted rebellion gained yet another layer of complexity. The Huthi rebellion in northwest Yemen, which involves tribal, religious and vague...
11-Dec-2009

*Conflict of interest - The Taliban's relationship with Al-Qaeda
"We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have any such agenda today," declared the Taliban in a...
11-Dec-2009

*Good education - Sri Lankan military learns insurgency lessons
Sri Lanka's victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009 offers insights and lessons in confronting an intractable and formidable insurgency....
13-Nov-2009

*Fighting talk - Myanmar threatens dry season offensive
The end of October saw the expiry of the latest in a series of ultimatums laid down by Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council...
12-Nov-2009

*On the MEND - The politics of surrender in Nigeria
The Nigerian government's decision to offer an amnesty to Niger Delta militants was a bold one, and one that so far appears to have paid...
12-Nov-2009

*Archipelago attrition - Philippine army targets militant group ASG
Amid the Philippines' many Islamist insurgent groups, the smaller Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is proving surprisingly resilient to military pressure. Perhaps the most radical Philippine...
23-Oct-2009

*Top target - Militant deaths hit extremism in Indonesia
The death of the Malaysian Noordin Mohammed Top, Southeast Asia's most wanted militant, in a police raid on 17 September near Solo, Central Java, was...
15-Oct-2009

*Out in force - Military operations in Helmand province
Taken together, the recent United States Marines Corps and British Army operations in Helmand were the largest carried out in Afghanistan since 2001. The International...
22-Sep-2009

*Northern explosion - Violence escalates in the North Caucasus
Statistics surrounding the conflict in the Russian North Caucasus paint a stark picture. By August, the total number of damaging attacks in all of ...
17-Sep-2009

*Explosive evolution - Thai bomb-makers adapt
In the late morning of 17 July 2009, a large vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) concealed in a parked Ford Ranger pick-up truck exploded in...
11-Sep-2009

*Filling the vacuum - Mystery of AQIM in the southern Sahara
On 31 May, the Al-Qaeda franchise claimed its first Western victim in Mali when British tourist Edwin Dyer was executed. Captured across the Niger border...
14-Aug-2009

*Tipping the balance
The ethnic violence that killed at least 197 people in Ürümqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in early July is a stark...
14-Aug-2009

*Enemy of the state - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and militancy in Pakistan
Pakistani military operations against Taliban forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are unlikely to weaken Pakistan's intricately interwoven militant network. Beyond the country's...
31-Jul-2009

*Swat team - Pakistan targets militants in tribal areas
Military operations in the Swat Valley and its neighbouring districts between April and June were intended as an assurance that Pakistan was not, in the...
17-Jul-2009

*Generation kill - Jihadist youth movements
Child soldiers have been a feature of warfare throughout history and remain a key tactic in modern conflicts from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan...
16-Jul-2009

*Trouble brewing - Three decades of insurgency in Assam
The northeast of India has been among the country's most restive regions for the past three decades. In particular, the state of Assam has been...
18-Jun-2009

*Path finder - Peru's military combats resurgent rebel group
Seventeen years after Peruvian insurgent leader Abimael Guzmán was captured, his Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) group is continuing to launch attacks in Peru's mountain and...
04-Jun-2009

*Nowhere to turn - The failing strategy of suicide terrorism
Suicide attacks have come to characterise jihadist campaigns in various theatres. From Bali to Baghdad, Jerusalem to Jalalabad, the images of suicide bombers, often accompanied...
14-May-2009

*Settling Sons - Sunni groups fear Iraqi government repression
The arrest of the Sons of Iraq leader, Adil al-Mashhadani, in Baghdad's Fadhil district on 28 March sparked fighting between local Sunni Arab citizens and...
07-May-2009

*Delta force - Nigerian militant group's aims remain blurred
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) sent out an email statement on 3 April írejecting an offer of amnesty from Nigerian...
16-Apr-2009

*Fresh troubles - Dissidents rise again in Northern Ireland
Two fatal attacks in three days in March highlighted the threat from hardline republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. While the 'dissident' republicans have proved...
02-Apr-2009

*The long goodbye - Closing time at Guantánamo Bay
New United States President Barack Obama has promised to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility by the end of January 2010. The closure highlights how...
12-Mar-2009

*Cornered Tigers - The LTTE evolves as guerrillas
The Sri Lankan military has destroyed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a conventional military force. Deprived of territory, the separatist group has...
11-Mar-2009

*Safe haven? Radical Islam's Scandinavian links
Radical Islamists are increasingly using Scandinavian countries for financing and logistical purposes. While Sweden and Norway have yet to uncover any serious domestic plots, Denmark...
13-Feb-2009

*Shoots of recovery - Israeli operation leaves Hamas weak but alive
The clash between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia: HAMAS) and Israel that occurred in the Gaza Strip between 27 December and 18 January...
12-Feb-2009

*Safe haven? - Radical Islam's Scandinavian links
Radical Islamists are increasingly using Scandinavian countries for financing and logistical purposes. While Sweden and Norway have yet to uncover any serious domestic plots, Denmark...
04-Feb-2009

*Tribal tribulations - The Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan
Pakistan's once little-known Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region has steadily risen to international prominence following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Of the seven...
13-Jan-2009

*Generation games: Basque separatists fight for ascendency
Basque separatist group Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) is at its weakest point since it was established in 1959. Nearly 800 ETA operatives are now behind...
13-Jan-2009

*In the line of fire - Could Mumbai happen again?
Shortly after 2100 local time (1530 GMT) on 26 November 2008, an inflatable dinghy slipped into the fishing port on the west coast of Mumbai. ...
11-Dec-2008

*General disorder: Ethnicity and resource conflict in DRC
Laurent Nkunda appeared to be withdrawing his rebel fighters from two battlefronts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in early December as newly appointed UN...
04-Dec-2008

*Fight and flight - The LTTE's air cargo ambitions
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is losing its war for an independent state in Sri Lanka. Since the effective resumption of the conflict...
13-Nov-2008

*No peace to Moro - Agreement with Philippine militants collapses
A final peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) now looks remote. On 4 August 2008, the Philippine Supreme...
17-Oct-2008

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