Tweet

More from @ToreRHamming

Tore Hamming

@ToreRHamming

2 Sep

With the Taliban's imminent announcement of a new government to rule its Islamic emirate and the prediction that its amir Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada will lead the emirate, I thought it was fitting with a little bio of the future leader of #Afghanistan.

While I'm no expert on Haibatullah, I managed to gather some information over the years.

A Pashtun born in 1961 in Panjwai district in Kandahar Province, Haibatullah grew up in a very religious family with his father occupying the position of imam in the local village mosque.

The young Haibatullah initially studied under his father, but after the Soviet invasion the family fled to Quetta where Haibatullah continued his religious studies in a seminary. No surprise that he later would turn into one of the Taliban's foremost religious authorities.

Read 8 tweets

Tore Hamming

@ToreRHamming

4 Jun

One of my primary interests for a while has been online pro-Islamic State supporter networks. Why? Because I believe they're important and gives unique insight into what resonates among supporters. The Islamic State agrees. This week's editorial in al-Naba is about these networks

The editorial explains how the military battle against the Islamic State is accompanied by a digital battle to destroy its virtual component. No surpriser here, the Islamic State claims to have won this digital battle.

[My comment] This is partly true, partly wrong. Online supporter networks still exist and they perform an increasingly importante duty of the Islamic State's online battle. Yet, operationally the environment is much more restricted than just a few years back.

Read 8 tweets

Tore Hamming

@ToreRHamming

16 Dec 20

On Monday, 1 July 2019 Kenyan national Cholo Abdi Abdullah was in his room in the Rasaca Hotel in the city of Iba, northwest of Manila, when he was arrested. In his possession, police found a pistol, a homemade bomb and a hand grenade. Yet Abdullah's primary aim involved a plane

Reminiscent of 9/11, Abdullah's plan was to hijack an airplane and crash it into a skyscraper, prosecutors speculate. In preparation he had been training for years in the Philippines and already obtained his pilot license. The attack was to be carried out on behalf of.. Al-Shabab

Abdullah's trajectory to become a terrorist started already back in 2012 when he pledged allegiance to the Somali group al-Shabab. At the time, the group had just been accepted into the fold of al-Qaida.

Read 9 tweets

Tore Hamming

@ToreRHamming

1 Nov 20

After 5 years and 3 months of work I finally defended my PhD thesis earlier this week. It was an extremely emotional experience and I am overly happy and proud with the result.

The thesis tells the much neglected story of Jihadis' internal conflict and here's what it is about.

@Hegghammer

First about the defence. Defending in front of a committee comprised of all my academic idols Olivier Roy, Stéphane Lacroix, Thomas @Hegghammer and Virginie Collombier was in itself rather frightening but also the most incredible way to conclude the research. Thank you!

During these 5 years I have learned a lot and I got to know a great group of people and I am truly grateful for all the help I received along the way. Not least from all the Jihadis that were willing to speak to me and with some I established a relationship.

Read 25 tweets

Tore Hamming

@ToreRHamming

13 Sep 20

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.

Read 5 tweets

Tore Hamming

@ToreRHamming

11 Dec 19

@Europol

On 21 Nov, @Europol strongly assisted by @telegram initiated a campaign to ban and delete Jihadis and their material on the platform in the hitherto most successful online counter-offensive. But, as described by several of my colleagues, it also kickstarted several new dynamics!

@tamtamchat

At first, the crackdown was mainly focused on Telegram and targeted both AQ and IS elements - official and supporter accounts.
This led Jihadis to experiment with and migrate to new platforms: @tamtamchat, Hoop, Rocket.chat etc..

@tamtamchat

None of these migrations were particularly successful, however, but for various reasons. @tamtamchat was extraordinarily effective beginning its own crackdown on IS accounts, while the other two platforms appear rather inappropriate for mass consumption.

Read 7 tweets

Share this page!

Tore Hamming

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @ToreRHamming

Tore Hamming

Tore Hamming

Tore Hamming

Tore Hamming

Tore Hamming

Tore Hamming

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?