Al-Qaeda/Terrorism Thread

In this thread, I would like to offer you all news about various happenings, developments, and situations regarding terrorism around the world. I will admit that my main focus and areas of knowledge falls in Islamic terrorism and the Middle East, al-Qaeda and their network in particular. I think it is important for the general public to be aware of these happenings as non-state actors have become extremely, extremely important in the late 20th Century and now into the second decade of the 21st Century. Specifically speaking, transnational advocacy networks (TANs) like al-Qaeda, are very instrumental in how state-actors develop and implement various aspects of their foreign policy. With the War on Terror approaching it's 13th year, threats of terrorism emanating from al-Qaeda is as prevalent as ever (although it could be argued their capabilities to conduct a large-scale attack on the United States is diminished). One reason I believe this war has dragged on for so long is a lack of understanding of what the group is, what they want, and how they operate. In this thread, along with various pieces of news, I will layout these three things. I also wish to destroy the notion that al-Qaeda is "on the path to defeat". It will become quite evident in this thread that is simply not the case. I abide by the "expansionist" viewpoint on al-Qaeda; this means I believe the network comprises of much more than just publicly recognized affiliates. Feel free to ask questions, debate, comment on any piece of news/articles, and/or debate what I have said in the OP. I wish to present an environment for a public debate on the network as I feel that is one way to finally reach a consensus on what this group actually is. I also wish to provide you with information and sources on various general terrorism-related topics; these can also be discussed and/or debated and I encourage this to happen. Thanks.