Al-Andalus Media (Arabic: مؤسسة الأندلس, romanized: Muʼassasat al-Andalus), also known as Al-Andalus Media Production Foundation (Arabic: مؤسسة الأندلس للإنتاج الإعلامي, romanized: Muʼassasat alʼndlsmʼssh al-Andalus lil-Intāj al-Iʻlāmī) is the Jihadist propaganda unit for the militant organization Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb that creates video and audio messages that relate to the current conflict and issues with the people, specifically Muslims, in North Africa.[1]
History
The media foundation unit was established in April 2010, named after the Islamic wilayah of Al-Andalus, first releasing the video series "Shadows of Swords", with the video showing the attacks against Algerian soldiers and French soldiers and the addressing issues of Muslims in Algeria, Niger, and Libya. The first video shows operations against Algerian police and military forces with clips of audio and visual representations of Abu Yahya al-Libi and Ayman al-Zawahiri.[2] The establishment of Al-Andalus Media as the official media wing of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb came in with the same as sister-foundations of As-Sahab, Al-Malahem Media, and Al-Kataib Media Foundation.[3][4] The foundation releases media in English, Arabic, Spanish, and French.[5] While producing media in those four languages, they also provide media through video, audio, images, and text while also providing communications to other terrorist affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Al-Qaeda allied organizations.[6] With news releases, Al-Andalus Media collaborated with Al-Fajr Media for news releases.[7]
References
- ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations' Official Media Arms and Violent Extremist Web Forums" (PDF). United States Secretary of Homeland Security. 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
- ^ "Video Capture from al-Andalus Media". Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
- ^ Criezis, Meili; Wicks, Sammie (2022). "Attempts to Co-opt the Hirak and Rehabilitate the Salafi-Jihadi Image" (PDF). Al Qaeda's Algerian Strategy. 5 (1): 8 – via International Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
- ^ "2019 in Review" (PDF). Online Jihadist Report. 4 (1): 19. 2020 – via Europol.
- ^ Soriano, Manuel R. Torres (2009-10-30). "Spain as an Object of Jihadist Propaganda". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. 32 (11): 933–952. doi:10.1080/10576100903259977. ISSN 1057-610X.
- ^ Besenyő, János; Sinkó, Gábor (2021-09-30). "The social media use of African terrorist organizations: a comparative study of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram". Insights into Regional Development. 3 (3): 66–78. doi:10.9770/IRD.2021.3.3(4). ISSN 2669-0195.
- ^ Weimann, Gabriel (2014). "New Terrorism and New Media" (PDF). Research Series. 2 (1): 19 – via Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
