Eye on Extremism
February 12, 2020
The
Washington Post: US To Seek More Help From NATO To Counter Islamic
State
“US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday he is looking to NATO
allies for more help countering the Islamic State extremist group in
Iraq and in bolstering U.S. defense efforts in the Middle East more
broadly. In an interview while flying to Brussels to attend a NATO
defense ministers meeting, Esper told reporters he wants NATO
countries to do more to help Iraq’s security forces. “As they put more
forces in, that could allow us to decrease” the U.S. military’s
workload there, he said. Esper is looking for ways to reduce the U.S.
troop presence in Iraq so that some can be brought home to focus on
longer-term challenges, particularly from China. Similarly, he is
considering pulling some troops out of Africa. The U.S. now has about
5,000 troops in Iraq, continuing a years-long effort to train and
advise Iraqi security forces to prevent an ISIS resurgence. There also
are about 12,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan more than 18 years after
the U.S. invaded to topple the Taliban. NATO leads a training mission
in Iraq, but that contingent is at leas than full strength. Esper will
be discussing Iraq, Afghanistan and other major defense issues at NATO
headquarters on Wednesday and Thursday before attending an
international security conference in Munich, Germany where some of the
same issues will be on the agenda.”
Reuters:
Tehran-Backed Hezbollah Steps In To Guide Iraqi Militias In
Soleimani's Wake
“Shortly after Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani was killed in
a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, the Tehran-backed Lebanese organization
Hezbollah urgently met with Iraqi militia leaders, seeking to unite
them in the face of a huge void left by their powerful mentor’s death,
two sources with knowledge of the meetings told Reuters. The meetings
were meant to coordinate the political efforts of Iraq’s
often-fractious militias, which lost not only Soleimani but also Abu
Mahdi al-Muhandis, a unifying Iraqi paramilitary commander, in the
Jan. 3 attack at Baghdad airport, the sources said. While offering few
details, two additional sources in a pro-Iran regional alliance
confirmed that Hezbollah, which is sanctioned as a terrorist group by
the United States, has stepped in to help fill the void left by
Soleimani in guiding the militias. All sources in this article spoke
on condition of anonymity to address sensitive political activities
rarely addressed in public. Officials with the governments of Iraq and
Iran did not respond to requests for comment, nor did a spokesperson
for the militia groups.”
The
New York Times: US Military Downgrades Efforts Against Extremists In
Sahel
“The U.S. military has switched from trying to degrade Islamic
extremist groups in West Africa’s sprawling Sahel region to merely
trying to contain them as their deadly threat increases, a new U.S.
government report says. The quarterly report by the inspectors general
for the Pentagon, State Department and USAID released this week is the
first to be unclassified as interest surges in the U.S. military’s
activities in Africa. Security allies are worried as the U.S.
considers cutting troops on the continent to counter China and Russia
elsewhere in the world. Top concerns in Africa include the
fast-growing threat from multiple extremist groups in the Sahel region
just south of the Sahara Desert and the enduring threat by the
al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab in Somalia, which killed three Americans in
an unprecedented attack against U.S. forces in Kenya last month.
Consistent pressure on extremist groups is needed to weaken them, the
report says, citing Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has compared it
to “mowing the lawn.” That need, along with the often slow development
of local partners' militaries, “could require ongoing commitment of
U.S. military resources,” the report adds.”
Associated
Press: White Supremacist Propaganda Spreading, Anti-Bias Group
Says
“Incidents of white supremacist propaganda distributed across the
nation jumped by more than 120% between 2018 and last year, according
to the Anti-Defamation League, making 2019 the second straight year
that the circulation of propaganda material has more than doubled. The
Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of
circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups, including fliers,
posters and banners, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018. The printed
propaganda distributed by white supremacist organizations includes
material that directly spreads messages of discrimination against
Jews, LGBTQ people and other minority communities -- but also items
with their prejudice obscured by a focus on gauzier pro-America
imagery. The sharp rise in cases of white supremacist propaganda
distribution last year follows a jump of more than 180% between 2017,
the first year that the Anti-Defamation League tracked material
distribution, and 2018.”
United States
The
New York Times: We Once Fought Jihadists. Now We Battle White
Supremacists.
“As a former soldier and F.B.I. agent, we both risked our lives to
fight Al Qaeda. But the enemy we currently face is not a jihadist
threat. It’s white supremacists — in the United States and overseas.
One American group, The Base, peppered a recruitment video with
footage of our faces, intercut with shots of masked men
machine-gunning a spray-painted Star of David. The Scandinavia-based
Nordic Resistance Movement called us out by name, referring to us in a
recent statement as “the Jew Max Rose” and “Arab F.B.I. agent Ali
Soufan.” Defenders of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, which the F.B.I.
calls “a paramilitary unit” notorious for its “association with
neo-Nazi ideology,” accuse us of being part of a Kremlin campaign to
“demonize” the group. Why the sudden attention? Because we, along with
dedicated colleagues from across the political spectrum, are working
to expose the truth about so-called domestic terrorism: There is
nothing domestic about it. Over the past several months — at
congressional hearings, in a report by the Soufan Center, and in a
letter to the State Department signed by 40 members of Congress — we
have documented the existence of a global network of white supremacist
extremists that stretches across North America, Europe and
Australia.”
Syria
Reuters:
Widowed, Imprisoned, Detained: Remnants Of Islamic State In Limbo In
Syria
“In northeastern Syria, prisons and detention camps hold thousands
of men, women and children whose lives are in limbo nearly a year
after the final defeat of Islamic State to which they once belonged.
The area around Qamishli city is mainly controlled by Kurdish fighters
who helped defeat the Islamist militant group. They have since been
pushed into a small pocket of northeastern Syria by Turkish-led forces
who consider them a security threat. Kurdish forces bear the brunt of
looking after those captured as Islamic State collapsed, including
hundreds of foreigners who fought alongside local militants to create
a self-declared caliphate in the Middle East. What to do with the
remnants of Islamic State, whose fighters tortured and executed
thousands of people during its zenith from 2014, is a thorny issue for
countries whose citizens went to fight with the group. Many European
countries, for example, have hesitated to repatriate nationals,
fearing a public backlash if they do. Europeans comprise a fifth of
the roughly 10,000 Islamic State fighters held captive in Syria by
Kurdish militias. Kurdish officials say they lack the resources to
properly detain, investigate and prosecute the large number of
prisoners as well as their families in camps.”
RFI:
What Happened To 8,000 Islamic State Captives?
“The international agency Human Rights Watch has called on the
Syrian and Kurdish authorities to investigate the fate of thousands of
people who went missing while in the custody of the Islamic State
armed group. More than 8,000 people, detained by IS when the terrorist
militia controlled swathes of north and east Syria, remain unaccounted
for, the New York-based watchdog said, citing figures from the Syrian
Network for Human Rights. Among them are the British reporter John
Cantlie and Italian Jesuit priest Paolo Dall'Oglio. Human Rights Watch
said the Syrian government and the Kurdish authorities who now control
former IS territory have so far failed to prioritise the search for
the truth about what happened to the missing. Kurdish authorities in
the northeast “rarely” provide answers to those in search of their
relatives, HRW said. “People whose relatives had been in areas now
under the control of Syrian government forces similarly said they
received only speculation that Islamic State killed all its captives,
or blanket denials of any knowledge,” the report said. US-backed
Kurdish-led forces overran the jihadists' last pocket of Syrian
territory in the eastern village of Baghouz in March last year.”
Afghanistan
The
Washington Post: Suicide Bombing Shatters Relative Calm In Kabul,
Killing Six
“After months of relative calm in the Afghan capital, a suicide
bombing Tuesday morning outside a military academy left at least six
dead and 12 wounded, according to the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
Bombings in Kabul have dropped off in recent months as peace talks
between the United States and Taliban insurgents have reached a
critical stage. In addition, large-scale military operations in the
country's east have disrupted the extremist Islamic State group's
ability to plan and carry out attacks. The military academy in Kabul
that was attacked Tuesday has been the target of attacks in the past
claimed by the Islamic State. No group immediately claimed
responsibility for the latest attack. Two civilians and four military
personnel were among the dead, the ministry said in a statement.
Afghan security forces cordoned off the area, and ambulances rushed in
and out to evacuate casualties. The demand for a reduction in violence
in Afghanistan has become central to now-stalled peace talks between
the United States and the Taliban. Taliban negotiatiors have offered a
plan to reduce violence, but their U.S. counterparts have not yet
formally resumed talks. The last round of formal talks was “paused” in
December by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad following a complex Taliban
attack on the U.S. military base at Bagram, north of Kabul.”
NBC
News: U.S. Ready To Sign Peace Deal If Taliban Abide By Promise To
Reduce Violence
“The United States and the Taliban are poised to clinch a deal that
would see the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the start of peace talks
between the insurgents and the Afghan government. But the agreement
will go ahead only if the Taliban abide by a pledge to reduce violence
over a seven-day period, according to a Western official, an Afghan
official and two former U.S. officials briefed on the talks. The two
sides have revived the same draft agreement that came close to being
signed in September, which calls for a timeline for a U.S. troop
pullout in exchange for the Taliban agreeing to cut ties with
terrorist groups and entering into peace talks with their foes in the
Afghan government. If the agreement goes ahead, it would potentially
bring an end to America’s longest war by launching direct peace talks
between the Taliban and the Afghan government for the first time. A
deal would give President Donald Trump a talking point in his bid for
re-election, allowing him to argue he fulfilled a campaign promise to
extricate America from “endless” wars abroad.”
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Taliban Deny Suicide Attack That Killed Six In
Kabul
“A suicide attack near a military academy in the Afghan capital,
Kabul, left six people dead on Tuesday, the interior ministry said.
“Six people including two civilians and four military personnel were
killed,” interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said, adding that
12 people were wounded, five of them civilians. The bombing which took
place near the government-run defence university, early in the
morning, was the first major attack in the capital this year. The
Taliban denied involvement in the blast and there was no immediate
claim of responsibility for the attack. “It wasn't our work,” said
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, Reuters reported. This comes at
a time of heightened uncertainty in the country as US and Taliban
negotiators try to pursue talks towards a peace deal to end 18 years
of war. The Marshal Fahim Military Academy, modelled after European
war colleges to train Afghan cadets, has been the scene of several
attacks in the past, including an assault last may claimed by ISIS.
For his part, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack in a
statement released by his office. “The great nation of Afghanistan
wants an end to violence, an end to the war, a ceasefire and an
enduring peace,” the statement said.”
Yemen
Xinhua:
2 Yemeni Gov't Soldiers Killed In Al-Qaida Ambush
“Two soldiers or Yemen's newly-recruited forces were killed during
an ambush set up by suspected al-Qaida militants in the country's
southern province of Abyan on Tuesday, a security official told
Xinhua. “Suspected militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch set up
an armed ambush and killed two pro-government soldiers in Al Mahfid
district, southeast of Abyan,” the local security source said on
condition of anonymity. The ambush targeted a military vehicle
carrying food supplies for the pro-government soldiers stationed in
the area, he said. Earlier this week, members of the al-Qaida group
blew up a residential building belonging to a commander of the local
security forces in Al Mahfid. Other local security sources based in
Abyan confirmed to Xinhua that activities of the Yemen-based al-Qaida
branch have increased recently in Abyan. Sporadic armed attacks are
targeting the military checkpoints of the pro-government forces
stationed in Abyan's areas. The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) network, which mostly operates in eastern and
southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks
against security forces in the country.”
Egypt
The
Times Of Israel: Egyptian Forces Kill 17 Jihadists In North
Sinai
“Egyptian police have killed 17 jihadists in a shootout in the
restive northern Sinai, the interior ministry said Tuesday. Security
forces are battling a long-running insurgency in the peninsula,
spearheaded by the Islamic State group. The shootout flared as police,
acting on intelligence, raided a hideout in North Sinai’s provincial
capital of El-Arish, the ministry said in a statement. They found
“terrorist elements” who were planning “hostile operations” and had
weapons and explosives, the ministry added. The date of the raid was
not specified. Egypt has for years been fighting an Islamist
insurgency in north Sinai, which escalated following the military’s
2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Scores of policemen
and soldiers have been killed in jihadist attacks. The army said
Sunday that seven soldiers were killed or wounded and 10 jihadists
killed following an attack on a north Sinai army post. A local
affiliate of the Islamic State group later claimed responsibility.
Earlier this month, the group said it had blown up a gas pipeline in
the Sinai Peninsula that it claimed was connected to Israel.”
Libya
Egypt
Independent: Libyan Military Police Arrest Egyptian Terrorist In
Benghazi
“Military police in the Libyan city of Benghazi have detained a
terrorist named Mohamed Sobhi, who holds Egyptian citizenship and is a
former officer of the Islamic State (IS) in the al-Naqleya district.
The Libya 24 newspaper on Monday quoted military sources saying that
Sobhi confessed to crimes such as the abduction and rape of Libyan
women, in addition to demanding ransoms from the families of kidnapped
hostages. According to one source, Sobhi was arrested in a checkpoint
on the road to the Musaid border crossing between Libya and Egypt. He
had been planning to travel from Benghazi to Cairo. Sobhi was an
officer in a militia led by IS terrorist leader Muhammad Salem
Bahroun, also known as “al-Faar” (the rat), the source added. The
Libya 24 report wrote that Sobhi entered Libya illegally and had
previously worked as an electrician in Cairo. Sobhi detailed how
Bahroun recruited hundreds of African immigrants from Chad and Sudan,
and convinced fighters from the Boko Haram terrorist organization to
fight alongside IS against the Libyan army.”
Nigeria
The
New York Times: Nigeria Governor Pleads For Military's Help After 30
Killed
“The governor of Nigeria's Borno state has urged the military to
better defend a town where suspected Islamic extremists killed more
than 30 people who had been left to sleep in their cars over the
weekend after being locked outside the city gate. Gov. Babagana Zulum
visited the scene Monday where some of the cars were still smoking
with corpses inside them. The violence Sunday night marked the sixth
time since June that the town of Auno had come under attack by
suspected Boko Haram militants. While the governor put the death toll
at 30, the military said only 10 people had died and that the
motorists had defied a military warning that the highway would be
closed at 5 p.m. The governor accused the military of failing to
protect the stranded travelers and pleaded again for soldiers to
re-establish a base there. “The fact is that we have made several
attempts for the Nigeria military to establish their unit in Auno but
nothing was done,” he said. “As soon as it is 5 o’clock and they
closed up their gate, they abandon the people and move over to
Maiduguri,” the capital of the northeastern state. Witnesses said the
locked-out travelers came under attack around 10 p.m. and the assault
lasted 45 minutes.”
Somalia
The
Defense Post: Somali Troops Still Vulnerable To Al-Shabaab Outside
Mogadishu, Pentagon Says
“Troops loyal to Somalia’s Federal Government in Mogadishu are not
yet ready to stand on their own against al-Shabaab militants in the
country’s south, the U.S. Defense Department said in a new report.
Despite some successes, the Somali National Army – backed by African
Union and U.S. forces – have made little progress in recent months on
Operation Badbaado, a joint effort to secure rural areas south of the
capital, according to a Pentagon Office of the Inspector General
report presented to Congress on Tuesday, February 11. The assessment
comes ahead of a potential limited drawdown of both U.S. and A.U.
military forces contributing to the fight against the al-Qaeda-linked
Islamist militants who still control swaths of southern Somalia. It
also calls into question the feasibility of U.S. Africa Command’s goal
of significantly degrading the militant network’s capabilities by
2021, despite a blistering drone strike campaign and American Special
Operations Forces’ assistance on the ground.”
Africa
Reuters:
Islamic State Claims Algeria Border Attack
“Islamic State said on Tuesday that it was behind Sunday’s attack
on an Algerian military barracks near the country’s border with Mali
that killed one soldier. The militant group sent the bomber in a
vehicle rigged with explosives, but a sentry stopped him before he
could enter the compound and the blast killed both men, according to a
Defence Ministry statement. The group’s Algerian leader is a
47-year-old militant known as Abu Walid el-Sahrawi. “The martyred
brother Omar al-Ansari ... entered the base and exploded his car
against them,” the group said in a statement. Algeria, in common with
other countries in the Sahel and Sahara regions, is growing
increasingly concerned about the risk of militant groups taking
advantage of the escalating conflict in Libya and chaos in Mali to
expand their presence. In Mali, the government has said it is ready to
talk with jihadist groups in the hope of ending an insurgency that has
made swathes of the country ungovernable and stoked ethnic violence.
In Libya, chaos in parts of the country since the 2011 revolution has
created space for Islamic State, which launched a cross-border attack
against a Tunisian town in 2016, but which is now mostly active in
Libya’s south.”
The
New York Times: Malian President Acknowledges Talk With Extremist
Leaders
“Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has confirmed that his
government is in contact with al-Qaida-linked extremist leaders as the
West African country faces some of the worst violence since its crisis
began in 2012, according to an interview with French media. While
attending an African Union summit in Ethiopia, Keita also confirmed
that Mali's military would soon be returning to the northern rebel
stronghold town of Kidal, where it has not had a presence in six
years. Keita told Radio France Internationale and France 24 that he
had a duty “to do everything possible so that, by one means or
another, we can achieve some sort of appeasement.” He added on Monday:
“Because the number of deaths in the Sahel today is becoming
exponential. And I think it is time that certain paths were explored.”
“We in Mali have tried the challenge of an inclusive national
dialogue, and among our recommendations is this aspect,” he said. “Why
not try contact with those who we know are pulling the strings of the
situation in Mali?” Keita was asked about media reports that he had
allowed former President Dioncounda Traore to meet with extremist
leaders Amadou Koufa and Iyad Ag Ghali.”
United Kingdom
BBC
News: Emergency Terror Law Presented To Parliament
“Emergency legislation designed to end the release of people
convicted of terrorism offences halfway through their sentence has
been presented to Parliament. The measures - which would apply to
England, Scotland and Wales - were drawn up after the attack in
Streatham, south London, earlier this month. The attacker, Sudesh
Amman, had been freed from prison 10 days earlier. The government
wants the measures to become law by the end of the month. MPs will
consider all stages of the Terrorist Offenders Bill on Wednesday,
before the Commons goes into recess on Thursday. The bill will then
move to the Lords in time, ministers hope, for it to become law by 27
February. The aim is to prevent the 28 February release of Mohammed
Zahir Khan, who is the next convicted terrorist due to be freed after
serving half his sentence for encouraging terrorism. Under the
government's proposals, people given a fixed or determinate sentence
for a terror-related offence would be freed only with the agreement of
the Parole Board - and after serving at least two-thirds of their
term.”
The
Guardian: Six Terrorists Freed From Jail Committed Further Terror Act,
Figures Reveal
“Six convicted terrorists have been released from prison and
convicted of a further terrorist offence within seven years, it has
been revealed, as parliament heads into a debate over emergency laws
designed to keep extremist prisoners in jail for longer. Between
January 2013 and December 2019, 196 individuals convicted of a
terrorist offence were released from prison in England and Wales with
3.06% of them going on to be convicted of a further terrorist offence.
The figures, which were released to Lord Anderson, the former
independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, through a written
question to the government, come as parliament is set to debate
emergency legislation announced less than 24 hours after the convicted
terrorist Sudesh Amman stabbed two people in south London. The
proposals, which the government hopes to rush through parliament in a
single day, will block the automatic release of about 50 serving
terrorist prisoners at the halfway point of their sentence. Human
rights experts have warned applying a change in the conditions of a
sentence retrospectively is potentially unlawful and the figures
uncovered by Anderson are further evidence of a knee-jerk response by
the government.”
Europe
The
National: On The Fate Of ISIS Prisoners, The West Is Wrong To Pass The
Buck
“The final fall of ISIS’s false caliphate in March 2019 after the
liberation of the Syrian town of Baghouz was greeted with relief by
every sane person. It left behind, however, the problem of what to do
with the tens of thousands of fighters and family members who were
detained in the aftermath. Everyone agreed they should be prosecuted –
or dealt with more humanely, in the cases of children and those who
could prove they had been held against their will. The questions were:
where, and by whom? The issue was – and remains – particularly
pressing when it comes to the thousands of foreigners who had flocked
to ISIS’s black banner. Some countries were prepared to take their
nationals back. Malaysia, for instance, has repatriated a small
number. Two who returned last November are currently being tried and
face up to 30 years in jail if convicted, while others have gone
through rehabilitation programmes and are being monitored. European
governments, on the other hand, have been extremely reluctant to do
the same. Along with the US, they have held discussions about western
nationals captured in Syria being transferred to Iraq, which has long
been trying and convicting ISIS terrorists. Last summer, 11 French
defendants were sentenced to death in an Iraqi court – with the full
approval of President Emmanuel Macron’s administration.”
Southeast Asia
Reuters:
Indonesia Will Not Take Back Nationals Who Joined Islamic State:
Minister
“Indonesia has decided not to take back nearly 700 of its nationals
who left home to join Islamic State in Syria and other countries, the
chief security minister said on Tuesday. The minister, Mahfud MD, said
the government needed to ensure the security of 267 million Indonesian
citizens by keeping the fighters out of the country. The minister
said, however, authorities would try to get more accurate data on the
Indonesians who had joined Islamic State and might take back children
aged 10 and younger, although this would be reviewed on a “case by
case” basis.”
Yahoo
News: 2 Maids Sentenced To Jail In Singapore For Financing Terrorism
In Separate Cases
“Two Indonesian maids pleaded guilty to financing terrorism and
were sentenced to jail on Wednesday (12 February). Turmini, who only
goes by one name, was jailed for three years and nine months after the
31-year-old maid admitted to providing $1,216.73 to terrorist group
Jemaah Anshaut Daulah (JAD), which is affiliated to the Islamic State
in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), over five months. Turmini had used her
employer, whom she worked for six years, to unwittingly transfer the
monies to a bank account of a supporter of the terrorist group, whom
she had believed she loved and wanted to marry. The other maid,
36-year-old Retno Hernayani, was sentenced to one year and six months’
jail after she similarly remitted $140 to a supporter of the same
terrorist group whom she loved and intended to marry. She had
collected the money from other foreign domestic workers for the
donation. Retno and Turmini, who did not know each other, had pleaded
guilty to two and three charges respectively under the Terrorism
(Suppression of Financing) Act, with remaining charges of a similar
nature taken into consideration for their sentencing.”
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