Analysis No. 490 of the Islamic State’s al-Naba weekly
Propaganda and operations of IS provinces
The Islamic State publishes its al-Naba magazine every week, which provides significant information on the group’s military, ideological, and propaganda activities in its provinces.
Analysing the weekly issue of the al-Naba newsletter, the Islamic State's official media product, allows one to assess the jihadist organisation's threat in operational terms.
The weekly newsletter reached number 490 last Thursday.
Operations and propaganda details
Issue 490, eight pages long, covers the week of 5 to 11 Shawwal 1446, from 3 to 9 April 2025.
Al-Naba generally includes most of the statements and photos published daily over the past week on its official channels, although often with new elements or additional details, both written and photographic. However, al-Naba won’t include unpublished statements or messages.
Following the usual editorial line, after the introductory page of the issue, we focus on the topics covered within the weekly. On the second page, we find the main infographic summarising all the operations conducted during the mentioned week. This is followed (on page 3) by the main editorial (which may deal with various topical, religious, ideological, political, geopolitical, etc. issues) and all the operational insights with related photos, which often end with a religious or ideological graphic (sometimes also a graphic with practical or operational advice).
The main infographic summarises the areas affected by military operations during the week mentioned above: Nigeria, Syria, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
IS claims to have conducted 22 operations in all mentioned areas and to have caused 55 deaths and injuries.
On the fourth page, the weekly goes into detail about the type of attacks, operations and targets of the Islamic State fighters, who follow the two main strategies of “war of attrition” and “economic warfare”, in addition to others dedicated to targeting Christians and Shias. Below is a breakdown and account of the attacks by province/area: