In recent decades, the taking of hostages has proven to be a particularly effective tactic for Islamic terrorist organizations worldwide, including al Qaeda. The global jihad movement regards citizens of foreign (mainly Western) countries as prime targets for abduction, although in fact local residents have constituted the majority of kidnapping victims. This book analyzes Islamic terror abductions over the last 30 years in the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia), Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines), Africa (the Maghreb, the Sahel regions,...

This book investigates abductions, hostage taking, beheadings, and global jihad influences in four theaters in the Middle East in the past 25 years: Israel, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. Noting that terrorist organizations use abduction as a tool for promotion of their and their patrons' interests, the book examines Middle East abductions and the relations/correlations between Islamic terrorist organizations and Iran, before demonstrating Iran's role as a terror supporting state, and the promotion of Iranian interests by its terrorist surrogates. The research then examines the challenge posed by...

Kidnapping constitutes a central component in the "attack repertoire" of terror organizations. It is a means of promoting the goals of their organizations and their patrons. Since the 1960s, Israel has been extorted by terrorist organizations holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage, only to be returned in a deal securing the release of imprisoned members of these terror organizations. Since the 1980s, in the wake of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the ascent of a terror-supporting regime in that country, Islamic terror entities such as the Lebanese Hezbollah organization and the...