Imad Mughniyeh was born in 1962 in the Lebanese Shi'ite village of Tayr Dibba to a poor family of olive and lemon harvesters. He moved to Beirut as a child and despite his religious affiliation, he became active in the predominantly Sunni Palestinian al-Fatah movement. In Lebanese Palestinian reports, Mughniyeh was even described as participating in the unit of bodyguards protecting then-PLO chief Yasser Arafat. But after the PLO chairman and his fighters were forced to leave Lebanon following the Israeli invasion in 1982 - just three years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran - Mughniyeh...

About 7,000 nationals of former Soviet republics are fighting for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq, Yevgeny Sysoyev, deputy head of the Russian Federal Security (FSB), said on Tuesday, Nov. 12. "The number of IS militants stood at some 80,000 in mid-2015, including 50,000 in Syria and 30,000 in Iraq, which can be compared with armies of some countries," Sysoyev said at a security conference in Sochi. "Among them about 30,000 are foreign terrorists. Most of them come from the Middle East and North Africa," he added. About 7,000 people from ex-Soviet countries, including...

L'Etat Islamique que l'on connait aujourd'hui provient en fait d'un groupe dhjihadiste cree par Abou Moussab al-Zarqaoui au moment de l'intervention americaine en Irak, en 2003. Apres avoir un temps prete allegeance a al-Qaida, cette organisation s'allie a differentes tribus pour renforcer son ancrage local. C'est en 2006 qu'apparait l'Etat islamique en Irak. Peu apres la mort de Zarquaoui, Abou Bakr al-Bagdadi, l'un des fondateurs, reprend le flambeau. A l'heure ou eclate le conflit syrien, il y envoie des troupes rassemblees sous le nom de Front al-Nosra. En 2013, Bagdadi les fusionne pour...

The Armed Islamic Group, known by its French acronym, Armed Islamic Group, waged a violent war against Algeria's secular military regime during the 1990s. Though terrorism continues to plague Algerian society, the GIA's role in current violence appears to have abated. The GIA grew out of a 1992 decision by Algeria's military government to cancel an election in which it appeared that a moderate, mainstream Muslim party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was headed for victory. The backlash took many forms, including formation of the Islamic Salvation Army, a militant group linked with the...

33 years ago, three spectacular attacks in Beirut over an 18-month period announced the debut of a potent new force in Lebanon-the Shiite Hezbollah militia- and defined its relationship with the United States for years to come. The October 1983 bombings of Multinational Force bases took the lives of 241 Americans and 58 French. Beirut, a city battered by war, was experiencing a period of relative calm in fall 1983. U.S. diplomats and soldiers were still coming to terms with the suicide bombing that struck the U.S. embassy in April, and U.S. Marines wore their combat uniforms everywhere they...

Since its establishment in the early 1980s, Hizbollah has viewed Israel as a bitter foe to be destroyed. With this mindset, it waged a stubborn military struggle against the presence of the Israeli military in Lebanon until Israel's withdrawal from the security zone in May 2000. As part of this campaign, Hizbollah gathered intelligence on the security forces operating in Lebanon. Analysis of Hizbollah's activities in those years suggests that the information was gathered primarily through lookouts; the goal was to become familiar with the routine operations of the Israeli forces in the region...

Following Iran's apparent role in kick-starting the long-delayed formation of a government in Baghdad, Tehran is seen by many as the most influential external power in Iraq. While this may or may not be true, it is clear that Iran has a proven ability to commission violence inside Iraq. Yet while the covert programs run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force is a source of influence in Iraq, paramilitary operations come at a cost. The militarization of Iranian influence is often counterproductive in Iraq, reinforcing Iraqis' generally negative attitudes toward Iran....

The involvement of Hezbollah in the Syrian civil war has become one of the most well-known basic facts about the conflict. The group's intervention inside Syria first gained widespread public attention in the battle for Qusayr in Homs province-bordering Lebanon-in late May 2013, clearly playing a leading role ahead of the regular Syrian armed forces. The most notable subsequent campaigns for Hezbollah in Syria have included clearing out rebel strongholds in rural Damascus province, such as Nabk and Yabroud, fighting in East Ghouta areas like al-Mliha, clearing out the rebels from Homs city,...