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Showing posts from September, 2025

Islamic State Supporter Discusses Making Hijra to the Sahel and West Africa

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Islamic State Supporter Discusses Making Hijra to the Sahel and West Africa On 24 September 2026, an Islamic State (IS) supporter in an online chatroom discussed making Hijra (migrating) to join Islamic State fighters in the Sahel and West Africa. Africa has been the main theatre of operations for IS since the fall of their strongholds in Syria and Iraq. The fact that supporters frequently discuss making Hijra to Africa online, underscores its importance. Pakistan is also often recommended in chatrooms to those wishing to join the group.  In Detail The supporter made the post in British English and appears to be a native English speaker. The supporter states he used machine translation to translate the message into Arabic.  1. Theological justification for making Hijra  The writer argues that making Hijra is a test of a Muslim's faith and distinguishes a "true Muslim" from "those who remain in comfort and hypocrisy". He says that since the outcome of making Hijr...

Framing Conflict: The Sahel's Video Propaganda Game

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WARNING: THIS BLOG CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND CONTENT SOME MAY FIND DISTURBING. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.                                                         The Sahel is a noteworthy case study in the use of videos for propaganda by armed groups. Certain parts of the region are information-poor and internet connectivity in many parts of the Sahel is limited or completely inaccessible. This means that any information coming from the region, such as for example from the deserts of Agadez in Niger, is enticing and usually grabs the viewer's attention simply for being somewhat unusual and interesting.  Video propaganda is therefore used by different kinds of players in the Sahel, such as armed political groups and terrorist organisations. Videos are highly effective for propaganda because vi...