Terrorist & Rebel COVID-19 Messaging: Trending Up Significantly Over Past 2 Weeks

Written By Ben Venzke
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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). As of 31 Mar. 2020, a total of 208 written statements, photos, graphics, publications, videos and audio messages on COVID-19 have been officially released by terrorist and rebel groups around the world.

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Six groups have released COVID-19 messages so far. The Taliban have been in the lead with 59% (122) of those messages. HTS came in second at 22% (45) and al-Shabaab in third with 10% (21). Islamic State (IS), National Liberation Army (ELN) and Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) have also all released messages.

Ben Venzke
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