Terrorist & Rebel COVID-19 Messaging Country Focus: Spread Across 20 Countries, Afghanistan in Top Slot

As of 1 Apr. 2020, a total of 229 written statements, photos, graphics, publications, videos and audio messages on COVID-19 have been officially released by terrorist and rebel groups around the world. The first official communication by a terrorist or rebel group on COVID-19 identified by IntelCenter was on 23 Jan. 2020 from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Across the 229 messages, 20 different countries have been the focus. This has largely been driven by where the groups producing the messages are located. Afghanistan is in the lead by far. It accounts for 61% (140) of those messages. Syria came in second at 14% (32). The third highest were those messages with a more global focus at 9% (20). The other countries include: China, Colombia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, UAE and US.