In a new 28-minute Arabic-language audio message posted to the Internet, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani warned Jews and Christians that they could either “convert to Islam or pay the ultimate price when your armies are expelled from Muhammad’s peninsula, from Jerusalem, and all Muslim lands.” He went on to say “if Jews and Christians continued on their current path, they would soon regret having done so and be incapable of preventing the surge to the caliphate.”

Al-Adnani also indicated that ISIS had major plans:

“We want Kabul, Karachi, Riyadh, Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo, Sana’a, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Amman. The Muslims will return to power, to be the vanguard and lead in every place.”

ISIS ATTACKS IN TUNISIA, US EMBASSY WARNS

On Wedensday AlertsUSA subscribers were notified of a warning message from the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia advising American citizens traveling to or in Tunisia to exercise extreme caution following a terror attack on the popular Bardo Museum in the capital. Late this week, the Islamic State formally claimed responsibility for the attack.

20 foreign tourists, mostly Europeans, were killed in the attack. While this is the worst terror attack in the country since a 2002 suicide bombing in the city of Djerba, it is important to note that Tunisians make up a significant contingent of the foreign fighters currently operating in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

According to an Islamic State spokesman in an audio recording posted the Internet,: “We tell the apostates who sit on the chest of Muslim Tunisia: Wait for the glad tidings of what will harm you, o impure ones, for what you have seen today is the first drop of the rain.”

The U.S. Embassy in Tunis is reminding U.S. citizens of the importance of increased vigilance and the need for caution while in the country, and in particular, while visiting public venues frequented by large numbers of foreigners, such as hotels, shopping centers, and tourist sites and restaurants.

IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH REMOVED FROM LIST
OF STATE SPONSORS OF TERROR

In a stunning move which has many in the U.S. military and intelligence communities shaking their heads, it was revealed this week that the Obama Administration has removed Iran and Hezbollah from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This, despite their being responsible for the killing of hundreds of U.S. Marines, giving sanctuary to numerous members of al Qaeda and providing arms, financing, training, and other means of facilitating terror-related activities to numerous groups,

Why would he do this? One glaring reason is optics. It would look pretty bad for President Obama to ink a nuclear deal which ultimately allows Iran a pathway to developing nuclear weapons if they were still listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. Being on the list also means a host of economic and trade sanctions.So there is potential that such a designation was tabled as a chip in negotiations.

We remind readers that Iran was behind Hezbollah’s bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 which killed 241, the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847 from Cairo to San Diego during which U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem was murdered, and the 1988 capture, brutal torture and hanging of U.S. Marine Colonel William R. Higgins. Then we have the estimated 1,000+ U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq by Iranian proxies. In 2007 during hearings before congress, then Army General David Patraeus testified that Iranian Republican Guard Quds Forces had been provided training, equipment, arms, and funding to terrorists in Iraq. Then there is the ongoing influx of funding, weapons, and training provided by Iran to Syrian government forces and Iran’s backing of the Houti rebels who brought down the government in Yemen just weeks ago. And this week in an article appearing in the Washington Post, David Patraeus argues that the foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State; but rather, the Iranian back Shiite militias. And finally, to this very day, Iran continues to declare they ultimately seek to destroy the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

In the end, the removal of Iran and Hezbollah from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism is a stunning development which will have dramatic global and regional implications for for U.S. citizens and interests and that of our allies.

As always, AlertsUSA continues to monitor developments in this region, as well as its impact on the domestic terrorism threat environment and will immediately notify service subscribers of changes in the overall threat picture as it applies to U.S. citizens and interests as events warrant.

AlertsUSA continues to monitor developments in this region, as well as its impact on the domestic terrorism threat environment and will immediately notify service subscribers of changes in the overall threat picture as it applies to U.S. citizens and interests as events warrant.

On Thursday Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said thatthe number of troops taking part in the exercises has gone up to 80,000, and the number of aircraft participating in the exercises had increased to 220. This also includes the deployment of Tu-22M3 nuclear-capable bombers to Crimea and “Iskander” missile systems to Kaliningrad.

Late this week the U.S. Army began deployment of Patriot air defense units to Poland for exercises. Currently, the United States Army has three different sets of troops in Poland for training exercises, as part of “Operation Atlantic Resolve.” American troops have been training continuously in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to NATO and Article 5 (collective defense) responsibilities.

A very dangerous situation is unfolding in Eastern Europe with more than 200,000 military personnel, hundreds of aircraft and literally every other modern implement of war involved in complex, agressive military training exercises on land, sea and in the air. Both sides are feeling pressured. Both sides are feeling threatened. The potential for misinterpreting actions or accidents is high.

AlertsUSA continues to monitor developments in this region 24/7 and will immediately notify service subscribers of announcements of additional significant force deployments or any other changes in the overall threat environment, as events warrant.