Tore Refslund Hamming Profile picture
Sep 13, 2020 5 tweets 1 min read Read on X
The idea that led to 9/11 as narrated by al-Qaida: The original idea came from an Egyptian pilot who migrated to Peshawar and stayed at one of the Jihadi guest houses. In an informal sitting, he would first air his idea to hijack airplanes to strike iconic building in the US
This idea was shared with AQ's military leader at the time Abu Ubaydah al-Banshiri (also Egyptian) and later recounted by senior AQ figures Abu Hafs al-Masri and Abu al-Khayr. When in Sudan, UBL arranged for two AQ members to attend flight training.
However, plans speeded up after Khalid Sheikh Muhammed approached AQ to air his own idea of hijacking airplanes. AQ was located in Sudan at the time and the country was not considered an appropriated launching pad for such a major attack.
It was thus when AQ had relocated back to Afghanistan in 1996 that the plans started to take form with KSM as the main entrepreneur. The rest is history.
As said, this is AQ's own version. What they forgot to mention is that the majority of the AQ leadership initially actually opposed the attack.

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More from @ToreRHamming

Nov 3, 2023
Sammendrag af Nasrallahs tale:
- Nasrallah starter med at snakke lykønske martyrer (Hezbollahs ord - ikke mine), der er døde i krigen indtil nu og deres familier. De er døde i kampen for gud, siger han.
- "Denne krig er en af de tydeligste eksempler på at kæmpe for Gud."

- "Jeg vil fokusere min tale i dag på den nuværende situation"

- Der vil komme en mere detaljeret tale senere, siger han
Han praiser Irak og Yemen for at allerede at være gået ind i krigen. Her hentyder han selvfølgelig til de raketter, der er sendt mod Israel fra de to lande.
Read 11 tweets
Dec 14, 2022
[THREAD]
On 3 July 2020, Safiyya Sheikh (b. Michelle Ramadan) but better known by her online pseudonym ‘Greenb1rd’, was sentenced to life imprisonment for her plot to bomb St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Safiyya remains one of the most fascinating cases of the Islamic State’s online supporters in the West. A convert to Islam in 2007, Safiyya came under surveillance as early as 2016 (she radicalized in 2015) and was referred to Prevent on several occasions, but...
...her determination to conduct a terrorist attack only grew while she participated in the program. She was eventually arrested in a sting operation. In my research, I have been in numerous of her groups, which were organised as a complex network comprised of concentric circles.
Read 13 tweets
Aug 3, 2022
A short 🧵 on al-Qaida's leadership succession:
The general argument these days is that al-Qaida now finds itself in a leadership crisis that might risk leaving the global al-Qaida organization fragmented. I see it slightly different
Yes, it is true that electing a new leader and the process for him to take on leadership across a scattered secretive organization is always challenging. Especially for al-Qaida who only had two leaders in its 34 years history. The organization is simply not used to this.
However, this is actually quite a good timing for the organization to find a new leader. Al-Zawahiri's tenure from 2011 to 2022 was defined by several crises situations and the old Egyptian proved a good profile for taking AQ through such challenging periods (if you ask me).
Read 7 tweets
Jul 21, 2022
The UN’s monitoring unit has releasef a new report on the Islamic State and al-Qaida based on member states information. It is always a very interesting read. Here’s a running thread on points I find particularly interesting.
The report states that IS has suffered serious leadership losses. That’s a fact. But it is interesting that we actually DO NOT KNOW if that has an impact on its operational health
The report also states that AQ does not pose an immediate intl terrorism threat. Why? Because it lacks the capability and understands that it needs to stay on good terms with the taliban. That’s organisational learning and exactly what I pointed out back in Aug-Sept 2021
Read 7 tweets
May 18, 2022
A short 🧵 on a key difference betw RMVE & Jihadi terrorism

The other day I sat down to read the Buffalo shooter's manifesto. Besides being disgusted by his ideology/motivations, I took myself thinking: Imagine if a jihadi terrorist left behind a similar personal literary corpus
Thing is - they don't. Perhaps a minute and a half video pledging allegiance or some comrade will issue a eulogy, but you don't see several hundreds of pages of the person's inner thoughts and motivations.
Manifestos have many negative consequences (ideological production, a document serving to inspire others etc.) but they are also a treasure trove of information that can be used analytically and thus strategically.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 8, 2022
[Thread]
The UN monitoring team has published its 29th report on al-Qaida and the Islamic State. Over the past years, the monitoring team's analytical reports have developed into key sources on militant groups. This edition is no exception. Here's a summary of the report.
On Central Africa:
The report concludes that member states still don’t see a direct command line between the IS leadership and the group in #Mozambique. Although the group in Mozambique has experienced setbacks, the report says it appears to be “displaced rather than defeated”
The report estimates that ISCAP has between 600-1200 fighters in #Mozambique mainly consisting of locals and foreigners from #Tanzania and the #Comorros
Read 20 tweets

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