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A media group called the Supporters of the Islamic State posted its first release on the Internet, which consisted of three short videos of sniper attacks targeting U.S. troops.

The newly-formed “Army of the Nineteen for Media Distribution” released its first statement Thursday to announce that it completed the formation of its four media committees named after Sept. 11th hijackers Mohammed Atta, Abdel Aziz al Zahrani, Marwan al Shehi and Ziad Jarrah.

A senior member of one of the militant Islamist Internet forums, Abu Dajana al Azdi, has been named as the leader of the group, which also appointed a deputy, a correspondent and a spokesperson, who are all active members of the forums.

Leaders of the four committees were also asked to pledge allegiance to their new leader and begin their work which consists of spreading jihadi propaganda and thwarting all forms of online activities against jihadi propaganda and forums.

Members of militant Islamist Internet forums who are supporters of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, formed three committees named after Sept. 11th hijackers Mohammed Atta, Abdel Aziz al Zahrani and Marwan al Shehi.
Each committee counts a number of senior forum members, and is tasked with spreading Jihadi propaganda across the forums.

The committees have been formed based on the request of a senior member called “Hafid al Hussein.”

To announce the official launch of the group, a logo was designed, featuring a horse, along with the Qur’an and a black banner bearing the umbrella name of the committees, “The Army of the Nineteen for Media Distribution.”

The Media Jihad Brigade posted a statement on a militant Islamist Internet website containing details of the alleged losses of the U.S. army in Iraq between April 2005 and December 2008.

The statement claims that 7323 Hummers, 1506 armored vehicles, 1260 minesweepers and 480 tanks have been destroyed. It also claims that the U.S. army lost 129 helicopters, 101 drones and one F16 plane during that period.
The same organization claims that over 10 thousand U.S. soldiers have been killed between July 2006 and December 2008.

Iraqi insurgent groups have often exaggerated the number of casualties and damage caused by their attacks for propaganda reasons. Several groups, as well as sympathizers with insurgents, had issued similar statements in the past.

The Jihadi media outlet, al Yaqeen media, released a new study on the recent Mumbai attacks. The 18-page study includes a review of facts about the attacks and its repercussions. It does not place the responsibility on any group. The study examined the strategic gains achieved by the militants from such attacks, such as involving India directly in the war against terror and "creating a new crusader enemy" in an area that has a sizable population of Muslims, which could push many of them to join the Jihadi front.

As part of its online campaign to support Palestinians in Gaza, the jihadi media outlet Al Yaqeen Media, called on Egyptians to observe a general strike to pressure the government to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza. Al Yaqeen compared the Rafah crossing to the Wall of Berlin, and said that if Germans were brave enough to destroy the wall, then Muslims should be able to do the same with the Rafah border crossing. “Wake up from your sleep, from your coma, from your death…This is a special appeal to Egyptian people…we shall accept no excuses from you…go on strike until the wall of shame collapses.”

As part of its online campaign to support Palestinians in Gaza, the jihadi media outlet Al Yaqeen Media, called on Egyptians to observe a general strike to pressure the government to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza. Al Yaqeen compared the Rafah crossing to the Wall of Berlin, and said that if Germans were brave enough to destroy the wall, then Muslims should be able to do the same with the Rafah border crossing. “Wake up from your sleep, from your coma, from your death…This is a special appeal to Egyptian people…we shall accept no excuses from you…go on strike until the wall of shame collapses.”

Al Ansar Media Center strongly criticized Arabic television channels, which it claimed was polishing the American image in Arab states, misrepresenting Muslims and promoting a culture that denigrates the Muslim faith, released a video in which it strongly criticized Arabic channels, whose mission had become to polish the American image in Arab states, misrepresent Muslims, and promote a culture that denigrates the Muslim faith.
The 19-minute video contains samples of television programming from al Arabiya, al Jazeera and al Hurra television channels, in which Islamist militants were being criticized, Muslim civilization ridiculed and other religions being recognized as valid and legitimate ones.

Al Yaqin Media Center, one of the sources of militant Islamist propaganda materials, warned members of al Hesbah Internet forum against logging on websites that look similar to the popular website using the same template design and bearing the same logo. The warning came in a statement distributed yesterday on several militant Islamist forums. “In order to protect your security and your personal information, we would like to warn you against logging into any website that uses the same name and appears to have the same interface as Al Hesbah, unless they’ve been advertised by al Fajr media, or al Yaqin,” the statement said. “We are making huge efforts to bring the website back online in the shortest delays.”

On November 18, Al Hesbah, one of the main forums for al Qaeda supporters, and its 11 mirror websites, were all knocked offline. The sudden disappearance of the popular forum followed a wave of cyber attacks on other similar websites such as al Ekhlaas, al Buraq and al Firdaws, who went out of action on September 10, 2008. The shutting down of the websites came a day before the release of the annual al Qaeda propaganda video commemorating the Sept. 11th attacks.

Al Fajr Media claimed at the time that the websites were down because of technical problems, and would be back online very shortly. In spite of that, the websites remained shut down.

A “whois” domain name search of al Ekhlaas and all its mirror websites returned the same result: “domain name is not currently registered,” which means that all websites have been shut down by the Internet Registry for the domain names under which the website had been registered.

William McCants, a consultant at West Point ’s CTC, told the Guardian he believes such attacks were more the kind of concerted action undertaken by governments, not by individuals. "I think it's probably being orchestrated by several governments and it would have to be on the black operations (illegal but deniable) side," McCants said. "Whoever is doing this knows what they are doing. They are being surgically precise."

Some second-row Islamist forums are using the current circumstances to promote themselves by negotiating to acquire Al Fajr Franchise, which would make them official outlets for al Qaeda propaganda.

A message posted by a senior member on al Hesbah militant Islamist website promised a “big media surprise that will shake the foundations of the crusaders.” The user, who goes by the name “Obada Ben al Samet” said the surprise, which he dedicated to al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman Zawahiri, and other prominent jihadi figures and organizations, will be revealed within approximately one month. He requested from other forum members to pray for all those who “sacrificed their time, effort and personal security, in order to accomplish this work.”