David Sterman

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InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional

On February 9, National Intelligence Director James Clapper testified that 6,900 Westerners have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight for foreign terrorist organizations -- an increase since the last time the United States released an official foreign fighter count.

Though the number sounds alarming, it reveals less than it may seem. The official foreign fighter count cited by Clapper can only get larger and so risks stoking public fear unnecessarily. The total number of foreign fighters who have ever gone to Syria doesn't matter nearly as much as stemming the flow and reducing the current number of fighters. Recent advances and policies may have begun doing just that.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional,

Much attention is being devoted to analyzing the significance of the death of Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the No. 2 leader for al Qaeda globally, in a reported U.S. drone strike last week.

After all, he was the organization's second-ranking leader and headed the al Qaeda affiliate that has been consistently portrayed as the one that poses the greatest threat to the United States -- even more dangerous than ISIS, the breakaway al Qaeda affiliate and center of media focus, according to former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell.

That view was shared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which tweeted: "We continue to assess that AQAP remains the al-Qa'ida affiliate most likely to attempt transnational attacks against the United States" as the President laid out his justification for strikes on ISIS.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional,

Wednesday's terrorist attack, which killed 23 people, hit Tunisia where it hurt by targeting its flourishing tourism industry.

The deadly attack on the prominent Bardo Museum near Tunisia's parliament in the country's capital, Tunis, is the latest instance of an armed assault carried out by gunmen willing to fight to the death, a tactic that has been widely adopted by jihadist terrorists in recent years, including in North Africa.

Such attacks mimic the 2008 Mumbai assaults in which 10 gunmen from Pakistan went on a rampage in the massive Indian port city. They took hostages and killed more than 160 people over a three-day period, in an attack that drew sustained global TV coverage.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional, ,

One of the most successful hostage rescues of the modern era took place on July 4, 1976, when Israeli commandos stormed Entebbe Airport in Uganda to rescue dozens of Israeli hostages held there by a Palestinian terrorist group.

In key ways the raid on Entebbe differed from the raid on Saturday in Yemen to free Luke Somers, the American photojournalist held hostage by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and that resulted in Somers' death.

Jonathan Netanyahu (the older brother of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu) led the Entebbe raid. An officer who read Machiavelli to relax and an intense Israeli patriot, Netanyahu paid close attention to the smallest details of any operation he commanded.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalTerrorismo Internacional

On Wednesday, a propaganda video appeared on the Internet featuring Moner Abu-Salha, the U.S. citizen from Florida who died conducting a suicide bomb attack in Syria for al Qaeda in May.

The video -- the third in a series of al Qaeda videos about Abu-Salha--underlines the importance of militant networks in Turkey that have enabled many hundreds of fighters from the U.S. and other Western nations to travel to fight with jihadist groups in the civil wars that are tearing apart Syria and Iraq.

Abu-Salha says he travelled from the States to Turkey where he eventually connected with representatives of the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, explaining, "From tons of research I knew that mujahideen [holy warriors] come from all around the world, they come to Istanbul.…  Seguir leyendo »