January

January 2001: A Tunisian was arrested for fundraising on behalf of al-Qaeda and based in the UK.

January 2002: Nizar Nawar dispatched Tariq Hidiyya (Tahar), one of his associates from his hometown of Ben Gardane, to France with money to purchase a satellite phone through his brother Walid Nawar to use in the final planning of the Djerba Synagogue bombing

January 2003: Twelve Tunisians were arrested in Cremona, Italy in relation to the Cathedral bomb plot including providing funding through fraud, document fabrication, and logistics.

January 2003: A Tunisian was arrested in Turin, Italy relation to a Libyan Islamic Fighting group funding and logistics coordination cell. They were involved in document forgery, fundraising, and propaganda.

January 2005: Bubakr al-Hakim was deportated back to France after fighting in Iraq with Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi. He had been arrested in Syria.

January 2005: Malik Sharahili, the head of al-Zarqawi’s recruitment and facilitation network in Turkey (March 2005-August 2006), was arrested in Syria

January 10, 2006: Five Tunisians were arrested in Italy in relation to a cell that plotted to attack American interests in the Rome area such as an American Army cemetery and also sent money from Europe to Kurdistan and recruited for the Iraq jihad.

January 2007: End of three week low-level insurgency in Soliman, conducted by AQIM front group Jund Asad Bin al-Furat

January 2007: A group of Tunisians that joined Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahidin in Somalia were involved in a battle in a forest near Kolbio, Kenya, against Ethiopian forces. During the battle Abu Hafs al-Tunisi (‘Umar Faruq Shilindi) was killed.

January 10, 2007: Murad (Abu Wahid), Abd al-Salam (Abu Ayman), and Muhammad (Abu al-Walid) from Ben Arous as well as Haytham (Abu ‘Umar) from Tunis arrived in Iraq to join the Islamic State of Iraq.

January 24, 2007: Eight Tunisians from Bizerte were convicted by a Tunisian court for attempting to travel to Algeria to join up with the GSPC

January 25, 2007: Tawfiq Muhammad al-Akhdar al-Rayhimi (Abu ‘Ubaydah) from Ben Arous arrived in Iraq to join the Islamic State of Iraq

January 27, 2007: Muhammad Bin Qarqah (Abu Mujahid) arrived in Iraq to join the Islamic State of Iraq

January 2009: Shaykh al-Katib al-Idrissi was released from prison after providing juristicial support to the Jund Asad Bin al-Furat insurgency

January 9, 2010: A Tunisian was arrested in Zouerate, Mauritania, 475 miles northeast of Nouakchott, for being a member of AQIM

January 6, 2011: The Tunisian Bashir Sinun (Abu Dujanah al-Tunisi), originally from Tataouine in southern Tunisia and a member of AQIM, threw an explosive grenade at a French Embassy building in Mali, injuring two people.

January 25, 2011: The arrest on of a group of Tunisians and Libyans in Egypt attempting to fight in Iraq with the Islamic State of Iraq

January 23–28, 2012: Ahmad Bin ‘Umar al-Hazimi’s visited Tunisia and lectured at al-Rahmah Mosque in Hay al-Khadra’, Tunis on Nawaqid al-Islam (Nullifiers of Islam) and Nazm al-Waraqat Li-l-Umrayti (System of Papers for ‘Umrayti), which is on legal theory.

January 11, 2013: Abu Ziyad al-Bahar appeared in the Islamic State of Iraq video “Clanging of the Swords,” Part 3.

January 16-19, 2013: Tunisian foreign fighters (among others) under the direction of Mukhtar Bilmukhtar conducted the In Amenas gas facility attack in Algeria

January 17, 2013: Tunisia seizes weapons from terrorists including Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in Medenine.

January 29, 2013: Katibat ‘Uqbah Bin Nafi Armed Clashes with the Tunisian military in Kasserine Governorate

January 2014: Shadad al-Tunisi, an IS commander was killed in al-Bab, Syria, as fighting between IS and other Sunni insurgent factions began to take form.

January 6, 2014: The Tunisian military bombarded suspected KUBN positions in Jabal Chambi.

January 9, 2014: Khalid Hamadi al-Shayeb (Luqman Abu Sakhr) (now dead) was placed on Tunisia’s terrorism most wanted list.

January 11, 2014: Katibat ‘Uqbah Bin Nafi Border Post Attack in Bou Chebka in Kasserine Governorate

January 16, 2014: The French Tunisian ‘Abd al-Qadir Talibah was arrested attempting to sneak into Europe via Greece and Italy as part of the Cannes returnees plot.

January 22, 2014: Kamal Bin al-Tayib Bin Muhammad al-Qadhqadhi (now dead), Ali Bin Mustafa Bin Sa’d al-Qali’i, and Ala’ al-Din Bin ‘Abd al-Wahab Bin ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Najahi were placed on Tunisia’s terrorism most wanted list.

January 27, 2014: Abu Hamzah al-Tunisi died fighting with ISIS in North Baghdad

January 2015: Katibat ‘Uqbah Bin Nafi for the first time publicly acknowledged that it was part of AQIM

January 4, 2015: Jihadis slit the throat of a Tunisian policeman in Zaghouan

January 9, 2015: Abu Ibrahim al-Tunisi, Abu Muslim al-Tunisi, Abu Hafs al-Tunisi, Abu Talhah al-Tunisi, and Abu Aswah al-Tunisi died fighting for IS in Libya in Benghazi

January 15, 2015: An on-duty Tunisian soldier was attacked with a sharp object in the neck by two attackers in Mourouj

January 18, 2015: The Tunisian Abu Malik Shaybah al-Hamad, and a member of IS in Libya, assisted Boko Haram’s media official with the creation of al-Urwah al-Wuthqa Media Foundation

January 27, 2015: The first attack a Tunisian carried out with IS in Libya was by Abu Ibrahim al-Tunisi, alongside Abu Sulayman al- Sudani, against the Corinthia Hotel Tripoli, which led to the deaths of ten individuals and injury of five others.

January 1, 2016: Ra‘uf al-Ayab conducted the Valence soldier attack in France

January 2, 2016: Four jihadis stormed the home of a family and seized foodstuffs and blankets in Mazreg Chames/Sbitla

January 3, 2016: Tunisian security units shot and killed a terrorist between Jabal Serj and Jabal Balluta in Zneg/Siliana. They seized a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a hand­ grenade and another explosive device. The terrorist killed was a foreign national.

January 6, 2016: The IS auxiliary media outlet, al-Wafa’ Media Foundation, released the following tract titled “The Atlantic Breeze from the Tunisian Messages”.

January 7, 2016: Tariq Bilqasim conducted the Rue de la Goutte d’Or police attack in France

January 12, 2016: Four jihadis burst into two homes and grabbed foodstuffs in Selta/Jelma

January 12, 2016: A weapons workshop was discovered in Tebourba. Two shotguns, ammunition and gunpowder were seized in this workshop. This workshop was in the house of a jihadi who visited Syria since 2011.

January 16, 2016: Abu al-Yaqin al-Tunisi appeared in the IS in Libya video “Benghazi: The Meaning of Stability #2”.

January 19, 2016: Three jihadis attacked a house to seize food, blankets, and also tried to steal a vehicle in Douar Zyetnia/Sebbala/Sidi Bouzid

January 19, 2016: The wife of a Warrant Officer of the National Army was the victim of an attack by a jihadi who broke into her home in Bou Khzar/Sousse and asked her to give her the military clothes of her husband, threatening her with a knife. The jihadi wrote the phrase taghut on the wall of the house before fleeing.

January 19, 2016: Abu Yusuf al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “Land of the Conquests”; Abu Layth al-Tunisi, Abu Ishaq al-Tunisi, and Abu Ibrahim al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “They Bewitched the Eyes of the People and Struck Terror into Them”.

January 20, 2016: Aerial bombardment by the Tunisian military against jihadis in Kasserine

January 20, 2016: Abu Sayf al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “Then There Is to Be No Aggression Except Against the Oppressors”; Abu al-Walid al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “To the Knights of the Islamic Maghrib”.

January 21, 2016: Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Ifriqi appeared in the IS video “The Countries of the Islamic Maghrib: The New Mardin”; Abu Yusuf al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “Message to the Land of the Islamic Maghrib”; Abu Hudhayfah al-Tunisi, Abu Ayub al-Tunisi, and Abu Isma’il al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “Message from the Vultures to the Brave in the Islamic Maghrib”.

January 2017: 70 Tunisians were placed on an IS wanted list for extreme takfiri beliefs

January 2017: The Tunisian Wanas al-Faqih who had been captured by Nigerien security forces in November 2016 was extradited from Niger to Tunisia on twenty-nine charges related to terrorism

January 3, 2017: Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “The Caravan of Light”.

January 4, 2017: During a parliament session the Tunisian Interior Minister Hadi al-Majdoub revealed the presence of a Tunisian security office in Damascus and said daily security coordination was taking place between Tunisia and Syria.

January 5, 2017: A Tunisian aged 26 and living in Ravenna, Italy expelled back to Tunisia for jihadi-related reasons

January 6, 2017: Four jihadis conducted a robbery at someones home by stealing all her food and blankets in Jabal Maghilah. The jihadis then threatened one of the neighbors saying they would liquidate him if he informed the security and military units of their presence after they asked him about the addresses of security and military in the region.

January 8, 2017: Abu Khatab al-Tunisi died fighting with IS in Mosul, Ninawa, Iraq.

January 13, 2017: A Tunisian aged 32 and living in Ancona, Italy expelled back to Tunisia for jihadi-related reasons

January 13, 2017: A landmine exploded during a military raking operation in Kasserine and a soldier was wounded during the explosion

January 14, 2017: A landmine exploded in Jabal Samama in the Sidi Zarrouk region. The explosion injured a shepherd grazing his flock in the locality of Zaouia Ouled Marzouk and had to amputate his left leg. He also had a serious fracture in his right leg.

January 14, 2017: A Tunisian aged 46 and living in Augusta , Italy expelled back to Tunisia for jihadi-related reasons

January 15, 2017: The police fired tear gas at dawn in Sidi Ali Ben Aoun to disperse nearly 200 jihadis who threw stones at the post of the National Guard. The assailants waved the IS banner and shouted Allah Akbar before throwing stones at the police station.

January 17, 2017: Five jihadis stormed a house in Douar Jfafleya in the region of Ain Zayen, and the delegation of Sbiba. They seized the provisions of the inhabitants of the house before returning to the mountains

January 19, 2017: A Tunisian aged 53 and living in Latina, Italy expelled back to Tunisia for jihadi-related reasons

January 19, 2017: Jihadis were able to change the location of weapons hidden in the region of Oued Rebaï in Ben Gardane. The police found the fingerprints of known jihadis on excavation tools in the region. Residents of Ben Gardane alerted the police about the presence of suspects who were hiding weapons in the Oued Rebai area, but the weapons were no longer in the cache where the tools were located.

January 29, 2017: There was a landmine explosion in Jabal Samama, which was set off by two animals passing by it and they were killed. The explosion took place when a shepherdess was driving her flock to pasture.

January 30, 2017: Eight jihadis stormed three houses in Tal al-Swaysiyah in the delegation of Jelmaan near Jabal Maghilah. The attackers took provisions and blankets without touching the inhabitants.

January 3, 2018: The terrorist Noureddine Chouchane was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison. He was found guilty in a case of sending young Tunisians to conflict zones and was sentenced to the maximum penalty. Chouchane is also suspected of having contributed to the preparations for the attacks at the Bardo Museum and that of Sousse.

January 4, 2018: Wanas al-Faqih, a cleric in Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia and later a member of AQIM, was designated as a foreign terrorist by the U.S. Department of State

January 5, 2018: A security reinforcement deployed for two days in the city of El Kef in the hunt for terrorists who would have come down from the mountains to take refuge in some houses in the city.

January 5, 2018: Hatim Bin al-‘Id Bin Muhammad Basduri was placed on Tunisia’s terrorism most wanted list.

January 6, 2018: The Tunisian military captured IS in Tunisia member Borhène Boulaâbi after clashes in Kasserine

January 8, 2018: The Tunisian military captured IS in Tunisia member Hafedh Rhimi who was wounded after clashes in Kasserine

January 19, 2018: A Tunisian aged 35 and living in Bolzano, Italy expelled back to Tunisia for jihadi-related reasons

January 20, 2018: The Tunisian military killed KUBN leaders Bashir Neji (Hamza El Morr/Hamza Nemer) and Mourad Bouzid/Bilal Kobi in Khmouda

January 22, 2018: The National Guard’s anti-terrorist brigade disclosed that after arresting a KUBN member in Kasserine he admitted that a cell operating in that area was planning to assassinate a number of politicians including Aymen Aloui (Popular Front), Mohamed Kamel Hamzaoui (Nidaa Tounes) and Walid Bannani (Ennahdha).

January 29, 2018: A Tunisian aged 41 and living in Palermo, Italy expelled back to Tunisia for jihadi-related reasons

January 3, 2019: After the targeting of two banks and a security patrol in Kasserine, the Tunisian government announced a new security plan for the country, with the creation of a special “joint security force” with a “unified command structure” and focus exclusively on fight against terrorism. It will consist of both police and National Guard forces. It will first be launched in the central- western province of Kasserine and later expanded to the country’s other border provinces, in particular Jendouba and El Kef.

January 9, 2019: The Tunisian military killed leaders of IS in Tunisia, Ezzedine Ben Lazhar Ben Sassi Aloui and Ghali Omri in Jelma

January 9, 2019: Five death sentences and sentences of 15 to 36 years in prison were handed down to those accused of murdering the shepherd Mabrouk Sultani.

January 10, 2019: Abu Huda al-Tunisi is a signatory of a statement signed by a number of foreign fighters in Syria in support of Huras al-Din against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham

January 11, 2019: An overwhelming majority of the Tunisian Assembly of the Representatives of the People have voted in favor of a law to “amend and complete” the basic law on fighting terrorism and money laundering.

January 11, 2019: A court issued 42 verdicts including 41 death sentences to those involved in the attack on Tunisian soldiers in Henchir Talla in Kasserine on July 16, 2014.

January 20, 2019: Abdul Rahman al-Kharrat, the head of the International Organization of Young Leaders and Imam al-Khatib in al-Kawthar Mosque in al-Qayrawan, confirmed that he received death threats against himself and his family by phone calls from an unknown number. He noted that extremist elements are behind these threats, which he attributed to his explicit response to the thought of IS and the extremists in his sermons and the religious program in the rehab of Islam, which he presents in a radio station.

January 24, 2019: A landmine exploded in the region El Klim in the Touiref delegation near Jabal Zarzoura, causing three individuals to be injured from Zgougou. One of them had a leg amputated.

January 24, 2019: Sentences for twenty terrorism suspects including the leaders of AST were submitted related to the financing of the group.

January 7, 2020: Tunisian security forces seized 35 assault rifles and large sums of money in Medenine. The weapons were going to be used in terrorist attacks in Tunisia.

January 18, 2020: A Tunisian court has issued death sentences and handed down prison terms ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment to 10 people who stand accused for their involvement in an attack that targeted a presidential guards bus in the capital Tunis in 2015. Six of the 10 are at large.

January 22, 2020: The Islamic State set off an IED at 9:30am on a Hummer of the Tunisian Army on their patrol in Tal al-Swaysiyah in Jabal Maghilah, which IS claimed killed five individuals and wounded others.

January 23, 2020: Landmine Explosion A landmine exploded in Jebel Chambi while a shepherd in the Faj Bouhssine area was walking through, which caused an injury to his leg that needed to be amputated.

January 25, 2020: Tunisian security forces uncovered places IS elements were hiding mines and raw materials for making explosives and ammunition that were buried in Jabal Orbata in Gafsa governorate. There were 96 landmines that were ready to be used and 390 cartridges for Kalashnikovs, among other items.

January 28-29, 2020: A training course for five civil society associations on how to plan, design, follow-up, and evaluate CVE projects was organized between the National Counter-Terrorism Committee and the Global Fund to engage local communities and help them.

January 30, 2020: A consultation meeting was organized on “activating the asset freeze system” in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 ″ to improve the technical aspects of the internal procedures followed during the implementation of the freeze decisions and the extent to which this affects the implementation agencies, supervisory authorities and persons involved in the freeze. This consultative meeting brought together a group of United Nations experts, members of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee, and representatives of the main ministries concerned and regulatory authorities, and it was an opportunity to identify good practices that are appropriate to the Tunisian context and as a starting point to start work on preparing a guide on the guidelines for a system of freezing funds that will be directed to all parties concerned.