Extremist Content Online: Al-Qaeda Releases Propaganda Video on 25th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks; ISIS Al-Naba Editorial Reflects on Global War on Terror, Encourages Acts of Terrorism
(New York, N.Y.) — The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports on the methods used by extremists and terrorist groups on the Internet to spread propaganda and incite violence. In this week’s issue:
- Al-Qaeda Releases Propaganda Video on 25th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks
- ISIS Activity Roundup
- ISIS Al-Naba Editorial Reflects on Global War on Terror, Encourages Acts of Terrorism
- ISIS-K-Linked Propaganda Group Releases Pamphlets
- Swedish Active Club Entity and Hammerskins Chapter Promote October Event
- Active Club Movement Creates New Substack Account After Older Account Momentarily Removed
- Two Members of Active Club England Encourage Recruitment During YouTube Podcast Interview
- Midwest Active Clubs Celebrate Boxing Competition and Network Event
Al-Qaeda Releases Propaganda Video on 25th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks
On September 10, al-Qaeda released an approximately 52-minute video, titled “A Quarter Century of the 11 September Raids,” from the group’s Al-Sahab Media Foundation, honoring the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and noting the group’s continued threat.
The video contained previously released news footage of the attacks, news reports, and television interviews with various U.S. and European commentators, academics, and former officials discussing the long-term impact of the attacks and the continuing danger posed by al-Qaeda and jihadist terrorism.
The video also included previously unseen footage of an individual identified as Hamza bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s son, whose death was announced by the U.S. in 2019. The video did not contain information that would have identified Hamza bin Laden as having been killed. In his segments, he claimed that the enemies of Islam were waging a full-scale war on the battlefield, as well as in terms of religion, economy, and culture, and called on others to engage in the fight. Additionally, he memorialized al-Qaeda casualties.
The video also included a voiceover from senior al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel, who claimed that al-Qaeda was still capable of launching attacks against the U.S.
An individual identified as Hamza bin Laden in an al-Qaeda Al-Sahab video memorializing the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
ISIS Activity Roundup
Between September 6 and 12, ISIS claimed credit for seven attacks. The terrorist group claimed responsibility for four attacks in Mozambique, two in Nigeria, and one in Pakistan.
The main article in ISIS’s al-Naba newsletter claimed that ISIS fighters in Burkina Faso had killed over 200 al-Qaeda combatants in the Dori region. The article, which branded al-Qaeda fighters apostates, also stated that several commanders had been killed, and that four vehicles, allegedly 200 motorcycles, and hundreds of small arms and light weapons were captured. The article called on al-Qaeda fighters to abandon the group and join ISIS.
ISIS also noted an attack on a tourist facility in Mozambique’s Niassa province. A media report stated that ISIS militants attacked a safari camp, killing a woman and wounding a member of the Mozambique security forces, in addition to burning a tourist lodge and other buildings.
ISIS Al-Naba Editorial Reflects on Global War on Terror, Encourages Acts of Terrorism
The editorial in issue 564 of ISIS’s al-Naba newsletter reflected on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent Global War on Terror. The editorial stated that the U.S. was waging a conflict against all of Islam. The authors claimed that it was a major accomplishment to have gotten the U.S. involved in wars, or to continue to engage in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and multiple other countries, exposing the futility of these interventions and depleting the U.S. of resources. The editorial noted that these conflicts have shown that the U.S. military can be defeated, and that the current U.S. war with Iran has further demonstrated that the U.S. cannot defend its Middle Eastern allies. The authors stated that the U.S. is in economic and moral decline, noting that U.S. elites have been implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The article concluded by calling for its readers to fight against the U.S. and its allies worldwide.
On September 11, pro-ISIS communications channels on Telegram and RocketChat praised the 9/11 terrorist attacks, posting short videos and messages of support.
ISIS-K-Linked Propaganda Group Releases Pamphlets
On September 5, the ISIS-K-linked propaganda outlet al-Azaim Media released two pamphlets that accused the Taliban of not following religious law and creating alliances with foreign governments. The first pamphlet, 10 pages in length and titled “The Emirate of Fools,” argued that the purpose of human reason was to understand religious law, not to create new codes and rules. The pamphlet argued that so-called religious leaders who did not follow divine law were fools, as well as their supporters. The authors also noted that religious law could not be changed and that those who claimed human reason allowed laws to be modified had insufficient faith.
The second pamphlet, which was seven pages in length and titled “A Military-Technical Agreement or a Crusader Alliance?,” noted the Taliban’s efforts to reach agreements and forge alliances with global powers since taking control of Afghanistan in August 2021. The pamphlet specifically accused the Taliban of seeking to create relationships with the United States, Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran. The authors accused the Taliban of serving as mercenaries for the U.S., fighting against ISIS in Afghanistan. The pamphlet accused the Taliban of killing civilians, including children and the elderly, taking prisoners, and destroying homes in this anti-ISIS fight. The authors noted a May 27 agreement between Russia and the Taliban for maintenance of weapons systems currently in Afghanistan. The pamphlet claimed Russia would send additional military equipment and military trainers to the country. The authors noted U.S. and Russian fears of attacks from ISIS-K. They asserted that other regional powers, specifically Pakistan and India, also supported the Taliban as an anti-ISIS proxy force. The pamphlet claimed that the Taliban did not follow the correct religious path and did not follow religious law, but were instead hired guns, loyal to their financial supporters.
Al-Azaim online pamphlet “The Emirate of Fools,” released on September 5.
Swedish Active Club Entity and Hammerskins Chapter Promote October Event
An entity associated with the Swedish Active Club movement promoted an October 24 event, co-hosted with the neo-Nazi skinhead gang Hammerskin Nation. The event, the fourth annual “KontraKultur” gathering, is to be held at an undisclosed Scandinavian location. The third KontraKultur event was held in March 2025. Tickets, available only to vetted individuals, were announced at 300 SEK (approximately $31). The event, billed as a crucial event in the “3.0” white supremacist counterculture, promised networking opportunities, physical events, lectures, merchandise, tattoo booths, music, and food and beverages.
Multiple Active Club-affiliated Telegram accounts shared the event information, including central movement accounts and chapters in Scotland, England, Switzerland, and Poland, as well as a Telegram channel connected to the under-18 United Youth Club movement.
On September 8, a Telegram channel affiliated with the Swedish Hammerskin chapter shared a video promoting the event. Members of the Hammerskins or their support group Crew 38 participated in the fifth annual networking and combat sports event Frontier. On August 7, a Polish Active Club Telegram account made a post honoring Wade Michael Page, a former member of the Hammerskins, who murdered six people and wounded four others in an attack on a Wisconsin Sikh Gurdwara in 2012.
Active Club Movement Creates New Substack Account After Older Account Momentarily Removed
On September 8, a central account for the white supremacist Active Club movement announced that they had started a new account on Substack, in an attempt to “get on a platform other than Telegram.” The movement’s main Substack account was removed in late August for undisclosed reasons, but was reinstated on September 10. The previously removed account did not have its original posts, but it still maintained its 2,500+ subscribers.
Substack likely removed an account connected to Active Clubs in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota, in late August. It was not available on Substack as of September 14.
As of September 14, the new account had two posts. The first, dated September 6, consisted of an essay on how movement leaders should set an example for others to follow, abandon their ego, and endure hardship if it would benefit others in their Active Club chapter. The second essay, posted on September 11, outlined the core principles of the Active Club network, identifying it as, firstly, a white supremacist movement that did not endorse or promote a specific religion. Other core principles included embracing ethnonationalism, support for those deemed allies or movement icons who might not be part of the specific network structure, and allowing members of different specific neo-fascist political orientations under the banner of white supremacism. The essay concluded with the final point of communicating “our beliefs through action and aesthetics.”
Posts that were not available on Substack as of September 14 included essays encouraging violence, identifying perceived enemies, suggesting movement strategy, and offering advice on anonymity, operations security, and counter-surveillance. The initial Substack account was created in January 2025 and publicly announced in February of that year to increase the movement’s reach.
Other white supremacist and neo-Nazi accounts are still present on Substack as of September 14, including those connected to the under-18 United Youth Club movement and militant accelerationism.
A post on the new Active Club movement Substack after an earlier account was removed from the platform. Screenshot taken on September 10.
Two Members of Active Club England Encourage Recruitment During YouTube Podcast Interview
Two members of Active Club England were interviewed in a YouTube podcast posted on September 8, in the first conversation with that chapter’s members in extreme-right media. The two individuals, who used the names Alec and Nelson, explained the history of the Active Club movement in the United Kingdom and the U.S., promoted “3.0” white supremacist counter-culture, and described the difficulty of finding individuals who would join the movement and stay involved. They noted that the group primarily recruited through the Telegram communications app, which limited its recruitment pool to people already engaged in similar spaces on the platform. They also stated that recruitment and retention relied on person-to-person communication through existing connections. The two individuals claimed that combat sports and self-improvement were the main draw for young men, and noted the importance of a shared white supremacist worldview for all members. They noted their attempt to foster community within the broader white supremacist scene while allegedly not adopting a specific political platform.
The two Active Club members said they received increased interest after the 2024 Southport riots, but claimed that interest from so-called “casuals” did not translate into a recruitment bump, noting that many who initially expressed interest dropped out or stopped responding during the vetting process. During the Southport riots, Active Club England’s main Telegram account was deleted, but they created a new one the same day. The group’s recruitment contact account remained online.
The two interviewees also discussed Active Club England’s links with other clubs, especially in Scotland, Germany, Italy, and France. One interviewee noted that he had participated in a recent movement combat sport event in the Netherlands, likely held in July.
The podcast ended with a recruitment call for the group. The podcast had over 7,500 views within five days of being posted on YouTube. One of the leaders of the United Youth Club movement appeared on a different YouTube podcast on August 9, recruiting for the under-18 white supremacist network.
Midwest Active Clubs Celebrate Boxing Competition and Network Event
On September 12, an Active Club regional chapter representing smaller statewide clubs in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota, announced it held a regional boxing competition and networking event in New Ulm, Minnesota. A Telegram account connected to the regional chapter first posted photos from the event, named Hermannfest, on September 7. The group claimed that this was “the first nationalist boxing tournament in the American Heartland.”
In January, Active Club movement founder Robert Rundo stated that holding more private events was a stated goal for the network in 2026, in addition to operating private gyms and creating businesses.