Eye on Extremism
April 19, 2023
AFP News: UN Says 34 Million Afghans In Poverty Under Taliban Rule
“The number of Afghans in poverty nearly doubled to 34 million as the nation was racked by the collapse of the US-backed government and the Taliban takeover, the United Nations said Tuesday. Vast foreign subsidies were halted and aid programmes dramatically cut back after the US-backed republic fell in 2021 as many countries refused to deal with the Taliban authorities in Kabul. Those NGOs still providing vital help were dealt a further blow in December last year by a Taliban government order barring Afghan women from working for them. The curb was extended this month to the UN's Afghan women employees and the organisation said it faces an ‘appalling choice’ over whether to continue its aid schemes.”
AFP News: Over 150 Civilians Killed In DR Congo In Two Weeks: UN
“Attacks in the eastern DR Congo province of Ituri have left more than 150 civilians dead in the past two weeks, the United Nations said Tuesday. The province and its southern neighbour of North Kivu have been wracked by increasing violence between several militia groups in the mineral-rich region along the border with Uganda. One group, CODECO, or Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, says it is protecting the Lendu community from another ethnic group, the Hema, as well as the DR Congo army. The Hema meanwhile, are defended by the Zaire militia -- while the province is also targeted by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) linked to the Islamic State jihadist group.”
United States
Anadolu Agency: US Offers Up To $7M Reward For Hezbollah Leader
“The US offered a reward of up to $7 million Tuesday for information leading to the identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction of Hezbollah leader Ibrahim Aqil. The announcement by the State Department came on the 40th anniversary of Hezbollah’s bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Aqil, also known as Tahsin, serves on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, the State Department said. Also on Tuesday, the Department of State and the Department of Treasury announced new sanctions targeting the network that facilitates the payment, shipment and delivery of cash, art and luxury goods for the benefit of alleged Hezbollah financier Nazem Said Ahmad.”
Syria
The Jerusalem Post: The IDF Attacked Hezbollah Positions And Iranian Militias In Syria - Report
“Syrian journalists and opposition figures accused the IDF of attacking positions identified with Hezbollah members and members of pro-Iranian militias in the town of Kunitra in the eastern Golan Heights, Walla reports. According to those reports, shells were fired at various areas on the outskirts of the town - where the members of the Hezbollah and the militias have had previous activity.”
Iraq
TRT World: Turkish Soldiers Seize Terrorist Hideout In Northern Iraq, 'Neutralise' 12
“Turkish soldiers have seized a cave that served as a terrorist hideout in northern Iraq, said the Turkish national defense minister. Speaking at an event in Kayseri province on Tuesday, Hulusi Akar said that 12 terrorists were neutralised after an attack targeting a Turkish military base in northern Syria. ‘Terror hideouts and camps continue to be destroyed. Yesterday, Turkish soldiers also entered a cave called Cemco in the Zap region in northern Iraq, which terrorists see as a so-called fortress and described as ‘unassailable’,’ Akar said. He said many weapons and ammunition were seized in the cave, adding: ‘By neutralising the last terrorist, we will save our noble nation from this terror scourge.’”
Afghanistan
Time: United Nations To Withdraw From Afghanistan If Taliban Won’t Let Women Work
“The United Nations is ready to take the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to pull out of Afghanistan in May if it can’t persuade the Taliban to let local women work for the organization, the head of the U.N. Development Program said. U.N. officials are negotiating with the Afghan government in the hope that it will make exceptions to an edict this month barring local women from U.N. work, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner told The Associated Press. ‘It is fair to say that where we are right now is the entire United Nations system having to take a step back and reevaluating its ability to operate there,’ Steiner said. ‘But it’s not about negotiating fundamental principles, human rights.’ The UNDP said Tuesday that it ‘reaffirms its long-standing commitment to stay and deliver for the people of Afghanistan.’ Secretary-General António Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the United Nations continues ‘to push back on this counterproductive, to say the least, edict by the authorities.’”
Voice Of America News: Top UN Official Proposes Meeting To Discuss Recognition Of Taliban
“The United Nations deputy secretary-general said Monday that the organization plans to arrange a conference in the coming days to discuss granting recognition to Afghanistan's Taliban, stressing the need for engagement with the fundamentalist authorities. Amina Mohammed's remarks come as the reclusive Taliban chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, renewed his resolve Tuesday to achieve his goal of ‘the religious and moral reform of the [Afghan] society’ through the vigorous implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah. Mohammed told an audience at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs that the international meeting would bring envoys for Afghanistan from around the world to the table, among others. ‘What we are hoping is that we'll gather them now in another two weeks in the region, and they will have that first meeting of envoys across the board — the region and internationally — with the secretary-general for the first time,’ she said.”
Middle East
AFP News: Israeli Forces Shoot 7 In West Bank Raid: Palestinian Ministry
“Israeli forces shot and wounded seven people in a raid Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said as the Israeli army confirmed an operation was underway. The ministry reported ‘six minor injuries from live fire’ reached Jenin governmental hospital, while another person shot had been admitted to a nearby hospital following the raid in the northern West Bank city. A statement from the Israeli military said ‘security forces are currently operating in the Jenin (refugee) camp’, without giving further details. There was no immediate confirmation of the identity of those wounded in Jenin, a hotbed for Palestinian armed groups.”
Jewish News Syndicate: Israeli Forces Arrest Islamic Jihad Terrorists Planning Imminent Bombing
“The Israel Defense Forces’ undercover Duvdevan Unit on Tuesday arrested two wanted Islamic Jihad terrorists in Jenin who were planning an imminent bombing attack, the army said. During the raid on the refugee camp in northern Samaria, there was an exchange of gunfire, with the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry reporting six wounded. No casualties were reported to Israeli troops, who exited the area after making the arrests. Intense firing was reported during the raid and a significant quantity of smoke was seen. Helicopters and jets operated overhead.”
The Times Of Israel: Palestinian Who Injured 12 Soldiers In Jerusalem Ramming Gets 30 Years
“A Palestinian man was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment on Wednesday for the attempted murder of 12 soldiers in a Jerusalem car-ramming terror attack in 2020. Prosecutors indicted Sanad al-Turman on terror charges of attempted murder for the attack. The Jerusalem District Court also ruled that Turman will pay financial compensation to each of the injured soldiers — NIS 20,000 (approximately $5,500) to 11 soldiers and NIS 80,000 ($22,000) to the platoon sergeant, a total of NIS 300,000 (approximately $82,000). In the predawn hours of February 6, Turman drove his car into a group of soldiers standing on Jerusalem’s David Remez Street outside the First Station, a popular entertainment hub in the capital.”
United Kingdom
Associated Press: UK, US Sanction Art Dealer With Suspected Ties To Hezbollah
“A diamond and art dealer was sanctioned Tuesday by the U.K. and U.S. governments for allegedly funding Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The U.K. Treasury said it froze Nazem Ahmad’s assets in the U.K. because he financed the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Under the sanctions, no one in the U.K. or U.S. will be able to do business with Ahmad or his businesses. ‘The firm action we have taken today will clamp down on those who are funding international terrorism,’ said Joanna Penn, U.K. treasury minister. She said the move would strengthen the U.K.’s economic and national security.”
The Guardian: French Publisher Arrested In London On Terrorism Charge
“A French publisher has been arrested on terror charges in London after being questioned by UK police about participating in anti-government protests in France. Ernest Moret, 28, a foreign rights manager for Éditions la Fabrique, was approached by two plainclothes officers at St Pancras station on Monday evening after arriving by train from Paris to attend the London book fair. He was questioned for six hours and then arrested for alleged obstruction in refusing to disclose the passcodes to his phone and computer. His treatment was condemned as an attack on the right to demonstrate, amid calls for protests outside the UK embassy in Paris and the French Institute in London.”
Europe
Daily Sabah: PKK Terrorists Put Banners In Swedish City As NATO Process Continues
“PKK terrorist group members hung banners at several locations in the Swedish city of Gothenburg Tuesday in a new incident that could draw Ankara's ire. Two of the banners were raised in front of the city hall while others were placed at strategic locations in the city center. Local authorities let the terrorist group's banners stay up for two days before they were removed. The group that hung the banners said they were protesting ‘against the Swedish government's proposal to introduce a new offense in the Terrorist Crimes Act making participation in a terrorist organization a criminal offense.’ Michael Sahlin, a former Swedish ambassador to Türkiye, told a local radio station that this incident affects relations between Sweden and Türkiye.”
Southeast Asia
Inquirer: Islamist Militants Eyed In Kudarat Bus Bombing
“Authorities were looking at the involvement of Dawlah Islamiyah in the bombing of a Husky Tours bus at the terminal of this capital town of Sultan Kudarat province at noon Monday. Col. Dennis Almorato, the spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the bombing could be the handiwork of Dawlah Islamiyah, an Islamist militant group, based on the shrapnel that bomb experts recovered from the blast site. Almorato said bomb experts found parts of a blasting cap, cut concrete nails, a 9-volt battery, and a circuit board. Police Col. Christopher Bermudez, Sultan Kudarat police provincial director, said police and military bomb experts also discovered an unexploded improvised explosive device (IED) on the second deck of the passenger bus.”
Technology
Vice News: Neo-Nazis Hacked Porn Star Riley Reid And Tried To Recruit From Her Millions Of Followers
“…The targeting of Reid fits into the neo-Nazi group’s ideology as they view pornography as a Jewish plot to weaken society. Joshua Fisher-Birch, an analyst at the Counter Extremism Project, told VICE News that while it’s not the main message, ‘anti-pornography propaganda is commonly found in various extreme-right communities’ and fits into their ‘extreme sexism.’ There has been a war against the adult industry raging for years now. Figures, and not just those in neo-Nazi communities, have called for the death of porn performers, and others who work in the industry. In April of 2021, the CEO of Pornhub’s $20 million Montreal mansion went up in flames in an apparent arson—the neo-Nazi group who hacked Reid has shared the photograph celebrating the violence on their Telegram page.”
Sahara Reporters: How Al-Qaeda-Linked Terror Group Uses Facebook, Other Social Media To Recruit Members In Nigeria, Spread Propaganda
“An Al-Qaeda-linked terror group in Nigeria has been caught violating social media regulations while spreading jihadi propaganda, recruiting members, and gathering sympathisers. Despite social media companies' efforts to remove terror-related content, the terrorist group Ansaru discovered ways to circumvent the platforms' weak human and automated monitoring systems. They have had the freedom to gather audiences and create a false image of themselves by using local languages to push themselves on potential recruits through propaganda messages reaching millions of young people in the country, HumAngle reports. Ansaru meets Facebook's definition of a terror organisation and leaked internal documents obtained by The Intercept in 2021 show that Ansaru is on the platform's watchlist of 1,050 terror organisations and violent non-state actors.”
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