DEVELOPING: Just as #ISIS' spox releases the group's latest message, @StateDept announces $3 million reward for Muhammad Khadir Musa Ramadan - a senior ISIS leader & propagandist who plays "played a key role in ISIS's propaganda operations to radicalize, recruit, and incite"
This new speech from #ISIS spox Abu Hamza al-Qurashi comes as #Iraq has been touting successes in its crackdown on the terror group
Earlier this week, @IraqiSpoxMOD said the ISIS governor of Iraq Moataz al-Jabouri, aka Hajji Taysir, was killed
The +39 minute speech by #ISIS spokesman Abu Hamza al Qurashi is titled, "And the Disbelievers Will Know who Gets the Good End" per @siteintelgroup translation
It's his 3rd speech since becoming the group's spox last October, following the death of ex-spox Abu Hassan al-Muhajir
Per @siteintelgroup, Abu Hamza al Qurashi juxtaposes the biblical story of the ten plagues w/#COVID19, saying #Daesh's enemies are being punished like Pharoah
#ISIS' Abu Hamza al Qurashi also calls on the group's fighters to escalate attacks on Iran-backed militias in #Iraq
On #ISIS-#Khorasan, Abu Hamza al Qurashi references November's defeat in #Nangarhar province but says: "their operations...are still continuing in the heart of the capital of the tyrant and in other areas of Khorasan"
#ISIS spokesman Abu Hamza al Qurashi accuses #alQaida in #Africa of trying to stifle ISIS' growth - "Today, they kill those who leave them to join the caliphate"
More: #ISIS spokesman Abu Hamza al Qurashi makes a mention of new leader Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Qurashi, saying he gave the go-ahead to the latest "battle of attrition" in #Iraq#Syria
Of #ISIS' future, spokesman Abu Hamza al Qurashi says, "what you are seeing today is nothing but indications of major transformations that the Muslim countries will witness in the coming period"
ISIS-Somalia has dug in - operating out of Buur Dhexaad, described by the UN sanctions monitoring team as "a strategic base secured by natural caves and defensive structures safe from aerial and ground offensives"
ISIS-Somalia leader Abdul Qadir Mumin has also sought to limit unnecessary exposure while focusing on boosting the affiliate's finances thru increased extortion campaigns, per the UN report
Some of that money has been poured into advanced weaponry and drones
ISIS-Somalia has "employed unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and limited explosive deployment" per the UN. with an aim at "building suicide unmanned aerial vehicles"
NEW: "Growing confidence" that the global leader of ISIS is Abdul Qadir Mumin, also the head of ISIS-Somalia, per new UN sanctions monitoring team report
"But doubts continued to be expressed by other Member States"
If Somalia's Mumin is ISIS leader Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, "it may signify a deliberate pivot towards a more decentralized operational structure, further from the core conflict zone" per the UN report
Of the 9 regional offices set up by ISIS, only 2 remain active in Africa:
- the al-Karrar office in Somalia, which serves as a key financial hub
- the al-Furqan office in Nigeria
HAPPENING NOW: Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Tulsi Gabbard to serve as US Director of National Intelligence
"It’s fair to say Ms. Gabbard’s nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than do most nominees before this committee" per Senate Committee Chairman, Tom Cotton
"But I want to stress that Ms. Gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration, and professionalism that we have extended to every other nominee" per Cotton
NEW: US intelligence agencies pushing back vs claims health ailments linked to Havana Syndrome were caused by a foreign adversary
"The intelligence does not link a foreign actor to these events. Indeed, it points away from their involvement" per a US intelligence official
"5 elements of the intelligence community continue to assess that it's very unlikely of foreign actors responsible" per the US intelligence official
BUT 2 intelligence agencies have reevaluated - "shift from unlikely w/low confidence to roughly even chance with low confidence"
The US intelligence official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, describe the shift in view about the possible involvement of foreign adversaries as "subtle" - "They have a low confidence in their judgments"
NEW: Islamic State-Somalia getting boost from an "influx of foreign fighters"
A just-issued UN sanctions monitoring team report warns the foreign fighters "have expanded and enhanced the group’s capabilities against al-Shabaab"
Influx of foreign fighters to IS-Somalia " has coincided with the re-emergence of the Al-Karrar office as a
key administrative and financial hub for [ISIS] globally" per the UN report
IS-Somalia being led by "a cadre of former al-Shabaab
militants based in the Bari region of Puntland" per UN report
Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud is the emir of IS-Somalia, per report, "responsible for [ISIS] operations in Somalia"
NEW: Senate Democrats ask @DeptofDefense @TheJusticeDept to look at Elon Musk's reported contact w/Russian officials - "determine whether this behavior should force a review of Mr. Musk’s
continued involvement in SpaceX’s varying contracts" w/the US government
"Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security
clearance have the potential to put our security at risk" per @SenatorShaheen @SenJackReed
"We urge you to take appropriate action immediately"
Musk's alleged contacts with Russian officials was first reported by @WSJ, which cited current and former U.S., European and Russian officials