Curated playlist
Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States
- Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda's emir, Osama bin Laden, once sent a Portuguese convert to Islam to Rome with orders to kill an exiled king. The target was Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. Bin Laden wanted to stop him from returning home and possibly heading…
- Islamic StateThe Islamic State, known variously as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, governed roughly 12 million people by the end of 2015. Its commanders directed more than 30,000 fighters. No government recognised it as a state, and the United Nations designated…
- HamasHamas is an acronym, and the Arabic word it happens to spell means zeal, strength or bravery. The letters stand for Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, which means Islamic Resistance Movement. The group's own 1988 covenant pointed out the…
- Jalisco New Generation CartelThe Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known by its initials CJNG, lost its founder on the 22nd of February 2026. Mexican soldiers killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho, in Tapalpa, Jalisco. He had founded this Mexican…
- HouthisOn the 31st of October, during the Gaza war, the Houthis launched ballistic missiles from Yemen toward Israel. Israel's Arrow missile defense system shot them down, and Israeli officials claimed it was the first combat ever to take place…
- Los ZetasLos Zetas took its name from a radio call sign. Z1 belonged to Arturo Guzmán Decena, the group's first commander, who had carried that code in the Federal Judicial Police, where it was given to high-ranking officers. In Spanish the name…
- Islamic Revolutionary Guard CorpsThe Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is an Iranian military force that also behaves like a corporation. In September 2009, a consortium affiliated with the Guards bought 51 percent of the shares in the Telecommunication Company of Iran.…
- MS-13MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, is an international criminal gang that began in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. In 2018, its membership in the United States was put at up to 10,000 people. That was less than 1 percent of the 1.4…
- Tren de AraguaIn September 2023-11,000 members of Venezuela's security forces moved on a prison that doubled as the headquarters of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan crime syndicate whose name means Aragua Train. The prison was the Aragua Penitentiary…
- Sinaloa CartelThe Sinaloa Cartel lost two of its senior figures on the 25th of July 2024, when United States authorities arrested Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López in El Paso, Texas. Guzmán López is a son of the better-known Joaquín "El…
- Cartel of the SunsCartel of the Suns takes its name from the small sun emblems that Venezuelan generals wear on their uniforms. In Spanish those emblems are called soles. Journalists turned them into a nickname for officers accused of working with drug…