Mohamed Elshinawy is a 30-year-old alleged Islamist operative arrested on December 14, 2015 in Edgewood, Maryland, and charged with pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), "attempting to provide material support" to ISIS, and accepting ISIS funding to carry out such a terrorist attack inside the United States. [1] [2] [3]
According to the United States Department of Justice, Elshinawy received $8,700, which was allegedly sent to him by an ISIS operative in Egypt. [1] [2] [3] The receipt, made by a U.S. resident, is a new development among people in the U.S. charged with supporting ISIS. [2] According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Elshinawy used multiple email identities, social media, and "pay as you go" phones to communicate with ISIS operatives. The FBI also stated that Elshinawy was caught because he received suspect foreign funds. [4]
According to the legal complaint, federal investigators claim that earlier in 2015, Elshinawy said to his brother that he pledged to support ISIS and wanted "to die as a martyr for the Islamic State." [1]
Elshinawy is the first person in Maryland to be charged by federal prosecutors with having ties to ISIS. [2] 75 court cases have been brought in the United States in 2015 on charges of supporting ISIS. [1] [5]
In February 2006, three men in Toledo, Ohio were arrested and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists in Iraq and engage in violent jihad in their home town, as well as making verbal threats against the President of the United States. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Toledo Joint Terrorism Task Force, with the cooperation of an informant called 'The Trainer' who has a U.S. military background in security. The Cleveland FBI Special Agent in Charge C. Frank Figliuzzi and the U.S. attorney's general office credited the local Muslim and Arab-American community for passing along the information that lead to the arrest of the three terror suspects.
Michael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam, is an American convert to Islam and a part-time cook who attempted to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in downtown Springfield, Illinois, on 24 September 2009. He pleaded guilty in federal court on 9 May 2011 and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert, also known by his stage name Deso Dogg and his nom de guerreAbu Talha al-Almani, was a German rapper who became a member of Islamic State.
The International reactions to ISIL has widely been condemnation and declaration as a terrorist group, however, there have been pockets of support for the group shown in opinion polling in July 2014 conducted at the request of the Russian state news agency Rossiya Segodnya by ICM Research in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Further support arises from factions of Al Qaeda, and other radical elements both inside and out of governments.
The military of ISIL is the fighting force of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The total force size has been estimated from tens of thousands to over two hundred thousand. ISIL's armed forces grew quickly during its territorial expansion in 2014. The ISIL military, including groups incorporated into it in 2014, openly operates and controls territory in multiple cities in Libya and Nigeria. In October 2016, it conquered the city of Qandala in Puntland, Somalia. It conquered much of eastern Syria and western Iraq in 2014, territory it lost finally only in 2019. It also has had border clashes with and made incursions into Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan. ISIL-linked groups operate in Algeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and in West Africa. In January 2015, ISIL was also confirmed to have a military presence in Afghanistan and in Yemen.
The core of the territory of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was in Iraq and Syria where the proto-state controlled significant swathes of urban, rural, and desert territory. The Islamic State also controls territory in Afghanistan as well as Nigeria, possibly holds areas in Somalia, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and used to control land in Libya, the Philippines, Egypt, and Yemen. The group also has insurgent cells in India, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, the Caucasus, and Saudi Arabia that do not control territory. By late March 2019, ISIL territory in Syria was reduced to only the besieged 4,000 km2 (1,550 sq mi) Syrian Desert pocket. The enclave was surrounded by Syrian government forces and its allies. The Syrian military conducted combing operations and airstrikes against the pocket, but with limited success.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.
The Curtis Culwell Center attack was a terrorist attack on an exhibit featuring cartoon images of Muhammad at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on May 3, 2015, which ended in a shootout with police guarding the event, and the deaths of the two perpetrators. The attackers shot an unarmed Garland Independent School District (GISD) security officer in the ankle. Shortly after opening fire, both attackers were shot and killed by an off-duty Garland police officer.
An attack was plotted by Boston-area resident Usaama Rahim. Rahim initially planned to behead Pamela Geller but when that proved too difficult, he told his nephew David Wright on June 2, 2015, that he had decided to behead a police officer instead. However, Rahim was under 24-hour police surveillance, and the police moved that day to arrest Rahim. During the attempted arrest, the police shot and killed Rahim. Wright was arrested and initially charged with attempting to destroy evidence. Later, a third man, Nicholas Rovinski, was arrested, and both Wright and Rovinski were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Joshua Ryne Goldberg is an American terrorist, convicted of attempting a bombing on the 14th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, while posing as an Islamic terrorist affiliated with ISIS.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Sinai Province is a militant Islamist group active in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.
This article contains a timeline of events from January 2015 to December 2015 related to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS). This article contains information about events committed by or on behalf of the Islamic State, as well as events performed by groups who oppose them.
In the late evening of January 7, 2016, in a sudden attack with no precipitating event, Edward Archer rushed towards and shot Philadelphia police officer Jesse Hartnett while he drove his patrol car, inserting the gun into the window of the car and firing at point blank range. Despite being shot multiple times in the left arm, Hartnett was able to exit his car and shoot the fleeing suspect, Edward Archer. Later in the hospital, Archer claimed he pledged allegiance to ISIS. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the shooting as a terrorist attack.
Al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, or AQSP, is an Egyptian militant jihadist organization possibly formed by a merger between al-Qaeda operatives in Sinai and Ansar al Jihad. It is Al-Qaeda's branch in the Sinai peninsula, and is composed of many Al-Qaeda factions in the area. Despite sharing similar ideology and possibly some resources, AQSP and the Islamic State have never formally affiliated with one another.
Jaelyn Delshaun Young is an American woman from Vicksburg, Mississippi, who, in 2015, attempted to move to Syria with her fiancé, an American man named Muhammad Oda "Mo" Dakhlalla, to join ISIS to work as a medic. She was apprehended by the FBI and ultimately pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Young to 12 years in federal prison on August 11, 2016.
Collaboration with ISIL refers to the cooperation and assistance given by governments, non-state actors, and private individuals to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during the Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Civil War, and Libyan Civil War.
On September 17, 2016, Dahir A. Adan, a 22-year old, Kenyan-born American man, stabbed ten people while wielding two knives at the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He was shot dead inside the mall by an off-duty law enforcement officer who intervened. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the incident to uncover a possible motive, such as stabbing as a terrorist tactic. Authorities said Adan may have been inspired by radical Islamic groups, but they did not assign a motive for his actions.
True Faith and Allegiance is a political thriller, written by Mark Greaney and released on December 6, 2016. In the book, President Jack Ryan and The Campus must contain a massive intelligence breach that has been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks on American military and intelligence personnel. True Faith and Allegiance is Greaney's last book in the Jack Ryan series, which is part of the Tom Clancy universe. It debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list.
Kuwait has been frequently accused of supporting terrorism financing within its borders. Kuwait has been described as the world's biggest source of terrorism funding, particularly for ISIS and Al-Qaeda. In 2014, David S. Cohen, then Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, accused the Kuwaiti government of supporting terrorism. Since the early 1990s, accusations of Kuwait funding terrorism have been very common and come from a wide variety of sources including intelligence reports, government officials, scholarly research, and renowned journalists. Kuwait is listed as sources of militant money in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kuwait is described as a "source of funds and a key transit point" for al-Qaeda and other militant groups.