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- Trend snippet: Al-Qaeda has again displayed its intent and ambition to strike Western targets
Trends in Security Information
The HSD Trendmonitor is designed to provide access to relevant content on various subjects in the safety and security domain, to identify relevant developments and to connect knowledge and organisations. The safety and security domain encompasses a vast number of subjects. Four relevant taxonomies (type of threat or opportunity, victim, source of threat and domain of application) have been constructed in order to visualize all of these subjects. The taxonomies and related category descriptions have been carefully composed according to other taxonomies, European and international standards and our own expertise.
In order to identify safety and security related trends, relevant reports and HSD news articles are continuously scanned, analysed and classified by hand according to the four taxonomies. This results in a wide array of observations, which we call ‘Trend Snippets’. Multiple Trend Snippets combined can provide insights into safety and security trends. The size of the circles shows the relative weight of the topic, the filters can be used to further select the most relevant content for you. If you have an addition, question or remark, drop us a line at info@securitydelta.nl.
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Al-Qaeda has again displayed its intent and ambition to strike Western targets
However, in recent years, al-Qaeda affiliated groups have mainly attacked regional or local targets in countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Al-Qaeda again displayed its intent and ambition to strike Western targets, while its regional affiliates aim to integrate and coordinate with populations and armed factions in conflict areas in line with its overall strategy of building local support bases.
However, in recent years, al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have mainly attacked regional or local targets in countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Under its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden in 2011, al-Qaeda has mainly concentrated on establishing itself in local conflicts, by providing security and services to local Sunni Muslim populations in an effort to win local support and acceptance. Consequently, the organisation has repeatedly rejected the extreme violence used by IS, accusing it of killing innocent Muslims. By contrast, al-Qaeda affiliates have publicly apologised in cases in which Muslim bystanders were killed as a result of al-Qaeda attacks. In general, on the local level, al-Qaeda aims to be seen as targeting military rather than civilian targets. In his September 2019 speech, al-Zawahiri stressed that targets needed to be ‘permissible under Islamic law’ and that ‘no harm shall accrue to Muslims’ (with the implicit exception of those directly targeted, as these are not considered to be Muslims under jihadist ideology). He specifically encouraged the targeting of Israeli, British, French, Russian, NATO and European military forces and bases.