Jihad Media Battalion is a jihadist organization active in South America. The group is among a number of Jihadi groups active in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.Trevisi, A. F. "Assessing the terrorist threat in the Tri-Border area of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina." International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. (2013).
Founding The group was founded following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The group's primary aim was to disseminate videos of insurgents in Iraq, including videos of suicide bombings as well as messages from leaders of the insurgency. Jihad Media Battalion's video messages are understood to have been of somewhat better quality than the videos produced in Iraq.Nauta, Arjen. "Radical Islam, Globalisation and Social Media: Martyrdom Videos on the Internet¹." Margaret and Frank (2013): 121.
Leadership According to the Brazilian Federal Police, the head of the group is a Lebanese national known as K. H. Ali who was arrested by the Brazilian authorities in 2009.Tavares, Rodrigo. "South America." Handbook of Governance and Security (2014): 228. Ali, who was based in Brazil, was suspected of financing terrorism.Zaia, Sophia Luiza. "Autonomy and Foreign Policy: the Brazilian Case on the Fight Against Terrorism in the Lula administration." Meridiano 47-Journal of Global Studies 19 (2018). According to the Brazilian magazine Veja, Ali ran an internet cafe in São Paulo while running what is described as "Al-Qaeda's online communications arm." They reached 17 countries, disseminating communications from Al-Qaeda's leadership and publicizing terror attacks.
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