Iran
The National: Hamas And Islamic Jihad Leaders Visit Iran As West Bank Tensions Increase
“Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, has been leading a delegation of the Palestinian movement on a visit to Tehran where they met Iranian officials, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Mr Haniyeh held talks with the Iranian president on Tuesday after arriving in Tehran a day earlier on a visit to discuss several key issues related to the Palestinian cause, according to a statement by Hamas. ‘Even those who once sought to negotiate with the Zionist regime and its supporters have come to the conclusion that it is useless to talk to the Israelis and that resistance is the only way to deal with the regime,’ Mr Raisi told the Iranian Irna news agency after his meeting with the Hamas leader. Mr Haniyeh affirmed Iran’s continued support for the Palestinian cause and said that the ‘Resistance Front is today expanding its power not only in the Gaza Strip, but also in the occupied West Bank and in the lands occupied since 1948.’”
Iran International: Germany Claims Regime Employing State Terrorism To Eliminate Opposition
“Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution claims the Iranian regime employs ‘state terrorism’ to intimidate and eliminate opposition members. It cautioned that Iranians residing in Germany could be targeted by Iranian intelligence and security services for abduction and espionage operations. ‘Fighting opposition groups and individuals at home and abroad is the focus of Iranian intelligence activities,’ reads the Constitutional Protection Report 2022, which has just been released. The report further claimed that spying activities against (pro-)Israel and (pro-) Jewish targets in Germany are still part of Iran's field of espionage.”
Turkey
Daily Sabah: German Intel. Chief Calls PKK Biggest Foreign Terror Group In Country
“The top German intelligence chief said the PKK is the biggest foreign terrorist group in the country, with around 14,500 supporters. Türkiye has complained that despite the group's illegal status, European Union countries have long turned a blind eye to its activities on their soil, including media outlets, pro-terror demonstrations, and violence threatening Turkish diplomatic offices and Turkish nationals abroad. ‘Extremists use crises to make connections with the middle classes and also share conspiracy myths, disinformation, and propaganda,’ said Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) during a joint news conference with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Berlin. Right-wing extremism continues to be the greatest extremist threat in the country, he remarked. ‘We also see a high level of radicalization in violent left-wing extremism,’ Haldenwang added.”
Pakistan
Samaa English: Punjab CTD Arrests Four Alleged Terrorists In IBO
“The operation led to the arrest of four individuals suspected of being involved in terrorist activities. The CTD officials have confirmed that the apprehensions took place in Rawalpindi, Sheikhupura, Sargodha, and Sahiwal. The arrested individuals are affiliated with a banned organization, against whom cases have already been registered. The CTD’s swift action in apprehending these suspects has potentially averted any potential threats they might have posed to public safety.”
Middle East
Outlook: Palestinian Man Kills 4 Israelis In West Bank, Injures Several Others
"…PIJ is dedicated to eradicating Israel and establishing an autonomous Islamic Palestinian state in the lands currently comprising Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. PIJ believes that the land of Palestine is consecrated for Islam, that Israel usurped Palestine, and, therefore, that Israel is an affront to God and Islam and that Palestine’s re-conquest is a holy task," notes think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP), adding that the PIJ does not participate in the political process.”
i24 News: Palestinians Identify Terrorist Responsible For Death Of 4 Israeli Civilians
“Palestinian social media accounts affiliated with terror groups identified the attacker as 25-year-old Muhannad Shehadeh, from the town of Orif near Nablus. Shehadeh is reportedly from the ranks of Hamas and a released security prisoner. He carried out a terror attack in the West Bank, initially at a restaurant, where they opened fire with a semi-automatic M16 rifle. From there they fled and attacked a gas station. In total, four Israeli civilians were killed, and four were wounded, one critically, two moderately and another lightly.”
The Jerusalem Post: Hezbollah Infiltrates, Sets Up Armed Position In Israel
“Hezbollah infiltrated Israel and set up an armed military position within Israeli territory in the last few weeks, Kan revealed on Wednesday morning. The IDF told Kan that ‘the matter is known and being dealt with together with the relevant authorities.’ Kan reported that the relevant authorities were UNIFIL and the UN. Due to the sensitivity of the area, the IDF has decided not to take any military action against the terrorists for now. The incident was discussed in a security government meeting last week, and according to what was said, Hezbollah terrorists crossed the border at Har Dov and set up two tents on Israeli land. The tent is manned by three to eight armed terrorists.”
Somalia
AFP News: AU Force In Somalia Starts Reducing Troop Numbers
“The African Union's mission in Somalia said Wednesday it had begun reducing troop numbers in line with plans to eventually hand over security to the troubled country's national army. ‘The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia has started to drawdown in compliance with (UN Resolutions) which mandate ATMIS to drawdown 2,000 soldiers by the end of June 2023,’ it said in a statement. The move comes despite continued deadly attacks by Al-Shabaab in the face of a major offensive by pro-government forces backed by ATMIS against the jihadist group. Only last month, 54 Ugandan peacekeepers were killed when Al-Shabaab fighters stormed an AU base located southwest of the capital Mogadishu in one of the deadliest attacks since the offensive was launched last year. Al-Shabaab has been waging a bloody insurgency against the fragile government in Mogadishu for more than 15 years, carrying out attacks both in Somalia and neighbouring countries.”
Africa
Reuters: Islamic State Affiliate Expanding Reach In DR Congo, UN Experts Say
“A Ugandan armed group that killed dozens of school children last week is expanding its operations in Democratic Republic of Congo with funding from Islamic State, a United Nations group of experts said on Tuesday. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) started as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in neighbouring Congo since the late 1990s. It pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019. The ADF killed at least 37 people in an attack on a school in western Uganda near the Congolese border on Friday night.”
i24 News: Uganda Arrests 20 'Collaborators' In Terror Attack School Massacre
“Ugandan police stated on Monday that 20 people had been arrested as suspected collaborators in a terror attack at a school that killed 42, including 37 students. It was blamed on the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). ‘Twenty arrests have been made of suspected collaborators, suspected ADF collaborators,’ said police spokesman Fred Enanga at a press conference, according to AFP. In a separate statement, he stated that the death toll was 42, including 37 students. The oldest was a 95-year-old woman, and the youngest a 12-year-old girl. He revealed that the arrested included the head teacher and the director of the Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, western Uganda.”
United Kingdom
Evening Standard: Terrorist From Leyton Who Discussed Police Station Attacks On Telegram Jailed
“A young man who shared so-called Islamic State propaganda on Telegram and WhatsApp has been jailed for six years. Ismail Kissa, 24, from Leyton, east London, was stopped at Stansted Airport on March 29 last year and two mobile phones were seized. On the devices, a number of disturbing files and videos linked to Daesh and Islamist terrorism were found by counter-terrorism officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit. Kissa was a member of various extremist chat groups on the Telegram app, the Old Bailey heard on Tuesday.”
Germany
Morning Star: Far-Right Is Germany's Biggest Security Threat – And It's Growing, Security Agency Reports
“…Last year, Alexander Ritzmann, the Berlin head of the Counter Extremism Project, warned that the problem would grow if neonazi groups with ties to Ukrainian fascist militias such as III.Weg (‘Third Path’), which has trained and invited speakers from Ukraine’s neonazi Azov Battalion, sent volunteers to fight Russian forces. ‘If we have groups of highly motivated, combat-experienced far-right extremists with post-traumatic stress disorders, then attacks in European countries may look very different in the future,’ he told an extremism summit.”
Europe
Euronews: The Myth Far-Right Zealots Run Ukraine Is Russian Propaganda
“The West’s inability to properly understand the Azov movement has led to the spread of damaging anti-Ukraine propaganda in the media, Alexander Ritzmann writes. As the war in Ukraine rages on, Europe’s international policy analysts and journalists have turned their attention to the Azov regiment, a former Nazi-insignia-carrying extreme-right street militia that has become integrated into the country's National Guard. Russia's Vladimir Putin himself has claimed one of his reasons for the invasion was to “denazify Ukraine”.”
AFP News: Turk On Trial In Sweden Accused Of 'Terrorist Funding'
“A Turkish citizen appeared in a Swedish court on Tuesday accused of ‘attempted terrorist financing’ of the pro-Kurdish PKK, a first in the Scandinavian country seeking Ankara's approval to join NATO. Turkey has accused Sweden of being a haven for ‘terrorists’, especially members of the PKK, and has asked Stockholm to extradite dozens of people. The accused, in his 40s, was arrested in January after making threats and firing a gun outside a restaurant in Stockholm. Prosecutors say the man's aim was to extort money and use it to finance the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is classified as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, as well as Sweden, the EU and Washington.”
Associated Press: Norwegian Citizen Arrested In Hungary For Alleged Extremist Plot
“Police have arrested a Norwegian citizen in Hungary on suspicion that he was planning an extremist attack modeled after a 2011 massacre in Norway that killed 77 people, authorities said Tuesday. The National Investigation Office of the Hungarian police said the 45-year-old man had posted numerous videos to the internet in which he described his plans to commit the attacks. After analyzing the videos and identifying the suspect, Hungary’s Counter Terrorism Center arrested the man in a Budapest apartment on June 14 and confiscated his electronic devices. In the videos, the suspect speaks Norwegian and English, police said, and threatens to carry out attacks in airports, railway stations and on airplanes. ‘I will destroy the innocent,’ he said in one video, according to police. The suspect also described his desire to surpass the crimes committed by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in bomb-and-gun massacres in Norway in 2011.”
India
Dunya News: CTD Arrests Terrorist Involved In Blasts On Railway Tracks
“Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested a terrorist belonging to proscribed organisation on Tuesday night. According to CTD spokesperson, one terrorist was arrested during the operation whereas the other fled the scene utilising the advantage of the darkness. The CTD claims to initiate a search operation and set-up checkpoints in the area to arrest the fleeing terrorist. The spokesperson said that the arrested terrorist carried out an explosion at Bhulari railway track on March 23, 2023. The spokesperson further mentioned that explosives and hand grenades has been recovered from the possession of the terrorist and a case against him was registered. The law enforcing agency claimed that the process of investigation is underway and further information would be revealed as the proceedings will progress.”
Technology
Fast Company: How Monero Became Extremists’ Privacy Coin Of Choice
“Analysts with the Counter Extremism Project were used to seeing radical groups asking for donations in crypto currencies. Everyone from neo-Nazis to ISIS sympathizers liked Bitcoin, as it helps avoid oversight from banks and regulators. But in 2020 those with the unenviable job of monitoring hate groups online saw a pro-ISIS group switch its donation preference from Bitcoin to a much smaller and lesser know currency called Monero. Other organizations soon followed; suddenly Islamic extremists and white supremacist groups alike were asking for donations in Monero. ‘About a year and a half ago this Monero thing took off, and now it’s pretty widespread,’ Hans-Jakob Schindler, the senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, says.”
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