What began two years ago in Syria as one more manifestation of the pro-democracy Arab Spring, has soon deteriorated into an inter-communal conflict between Sunnis and Shi’as. This change in the nature of the Syrian conflict found the Shi’a forces in the Muslim world – Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah – siding with the beleaguered Alawite regime of President Assad, at the same time that the Sunni forces in the Muslim world, including al Qaeda, were offering increasing political and material support to the Sunni-based anti-regime insurgency. Growing tensions between Iran and al Qaeda were the inevitable result.

Ansaru, a Nigerian Islamist militant group which is an off-shoot of Boko Haram, said it has killed seven hostages it captured in the northern Nigeria province of Bauchi last month. The hostages are from Italy, Britain, Greece, and Lebanon.

Usama bin Laden’s son-in-law, who is one of al Qaeda’s top spokesmen, has been captured overseas and charged in the United States with conspiracy to kill Americans, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. Administration’s sources said he was apprehended “some time ago,” without giving specifics. Abu Ghaith is dues to appear today (Friday) in a federal court in New York City to face the charges. Some GOP lawmakers criticized his court appearance, saying he should have sent directly to Guantanamo.

The Obama administration planned on giving Samira Ibrahim, an Egyptian democracy and women-rights activist, an award – she and eight other women were selected to receive the International Women of Courage award from Michelle Obama in a White House ceremony today — but decided to put the whole thing on hold after it has emerged that Ibrahim sent crudely anti-Semitic and anti-American messages to her Twitter followers.

Marburg hemorrhagic fever is a severe and highly lethal disease with no effective treatments, and it has been classified as a Category A bioterrorism agent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Sarepta Therapeutics announced positive results from a non-human primate study of AVI-7288, the company’s lead drug candidate for the treatment of Marburg virus infection.

The two top leaders of the Islamist militant insurgency in North Africa, Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, were killed over the weekend by a contingent of Chad soldiers, which are part of the African coalition forces fighting Islamist militants in north Mali. The two Islamist leaders were killed in fighting in the rugged Adrar des Ifoghas mountain range of northeastern Mali, where the Islamists, who had controlled north Mali since April 2012, have escaped after France began its military campaign against them in mid-January.

Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all from Birmingham, were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of being “central figures” in a terrorist plot in which, as suicide bombers, they would have carried out an attack which would rival, in scope and destruction, the 7 July and 9/11 terrorist attacks. The prosecution said the three planned to set off up to eight bombs in rucksacks, using timers to detonate the charges. Detectives believe it is the most significant terror plot to be uncovered since the 2006 conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners using bombs disguised as soft drinks.

Officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, aided by scores of Hezbollah officers, have been busy building, equipping, and training a new Alawite militia which will continue to protect Iranian and Hezbollah interests in Syria following the inevitable fall of Assad. The Assad regime already has a paramilitary militia, the shabiha, or “ghost,” units. The shabiha, together with Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, has concentrated on killing Sunni civilians in villages and towns deep inside Alawaite-majority areas. Syria and Hezbollah, however, have been worried for a while that, at the end, the loyalty of the shabaiha is to the Syrian Alawaite minority and its interest. Iran and Hezbollah want to create a well-armed militia which will be loyal to the interests of Iran and Hezbollah. The new, 50,000-strong militia, called Jaysh fighters, is a purely sectarian fighting force overseen by Iranian and Hezbollah commanders and separate from the shabiha paramilitaries.

A Bangladeshi man who triedattempted to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank has pleaded guilty to the charges. Under the plea agreement, he will faces up to life in prison.