“Thousands of men who worked as intelligence operatives under former president
Omar al-Bashir and have ties to his Islamist movement are fighting alongside
the army in Sudan's war, three military sources and one intelligence source
said, complicating efforts to end the bloodshed. The army and a paramilitary
force have been battling each other in Khartoum, Darfur and elsewhere for 10
weeks in Africa's third largest country by area, displacing 2.5 million people,
causing a humanitarian crisis and threatening to destabilise the region.
Reinforcements for either side could deepen the conflict. The army has long
denied accusations by its rivals in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that it
depends on discredited loyalists of Bashir, an Islamist long shunned by the
West, who was toppled during a popular uprising in 2019. In response to a
question from Reuters for this article, an army official said: ‘The Sudanese
army has no relation with any political party or ideologue. It is a
professional institution.’”











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Eye on Extremism



June 28, 2023



Reuters: Exclusive: Islamists Wield Hidden Hand In Sudan Conflict, Military
Sources Say
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“Thousands of men who worked as intelligence operatives under former president
Omar al-Bashir and have ties to his Islamist movement are fighting alongside
the army in Sudan's war, three military sources and one intelligence source
said, complicating efforts to end the bloodshed. The army and a paramilitary
force have been battling each other in Khartoum, Darfur and elsewhere for 10
weeks in Africa's third largest country by area, displacing 2.5 million people,
causing a humanitarian crisis and threatening to destabilise the region.
Reinforcements for either side could deepen the conflict. The army has long
denied accusations by its rivals in the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that it
depends on discredited loyalists of Bashir, an Islamist long shunned by the
West, who was toppled during a popular uprising in 2019. In response to a
question from Reuters for this article, an army official said: ‘The Sudanese
army has no relation with any political party or ideologue. It is a
professional institution.’”



The National: Sub-Saharan Africa May Soon Replace Mena As World's Least
Peaceful Region, Experts Say
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“Improving peace in the Middle East and North Africa may lead the region to
rise in global rankings, potentially overtaking sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia
and Russia in the next two to three years, experts have told The National. The
2023 Global Peace Index, released on Wednesday, revealed Iceland as the world’s
most peaceful country for the 15th consecutive year. While the Mena region came
last, dwindling conflict in certain countries may point to a slightly more
optimistic future. ‘Countries are realising the cost of conflict is just not
worth it,’ Steve Killilea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for
Economics and Peace, told The National ahead of the index release. He added
that he expected the Mena region to rise in the peace rankings and replace
sub-Saharan Africa and other regions in the coming years, as terrorism gains a
foothold in the Sahel.”




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* Afghanistan Terrorism Report: May 2023
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* CEP-KAS – Sahel Monitoring May 2023
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* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in May 2023
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* Afghanistan Terrorism Report: April 2023
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* ISIS Women in Court: Marcia M. – A Perfect Cover?
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Syria



Anha Hawar News Agency: International Positions On Decision To Prosecute ISIS
Mercenaries
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“On June 10, the Autonomous Administration announced that it had taken the
decision to start trial of ISIS mercenaries, and the decision resonated locally
and internationally, which was reflected in the media interest in this
decision. In this context, Khaled Ibrahim, a member of the administrative body
in the Department of External Relations of the Autonomous Administration of
North and East Syria, stated that ‘most countries are still in the process of
searching to express their positions,’ adding, ‘We tried to ask some
international parties about the administration's announcement of this trial,
but they did not express negative positions.’ Nor positive. In the same
context, he continued, ‘We have contacted some countries of the International
Coalition, and they are in the process of searching to arrange positions
according to what we understood from them.’ ‘We are waiting for these positions
until they crystallize,’ he added.”



Pakistan



Dawn: CTD Arrests Nine Militants Of Banned Outfits
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“According to a spokesperson for the CTD, the arrests were made as a result
of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted by different teams of the
department. A total of 35 IBOs were carried out in different districts of
Punjab, leading to the questioning of 36 suspects. Of the interrogated people,
nine suspects were arrested: Adnan Yousaf and Mohammad Luqman from the banned
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan; Abdul Haleem and Salman Iftikhar from the banned
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi; and Sheraz Alam, Abdaho Shah, Bilqees Bibi (Shah’s wife),
Shahid Ahmad, and Muhammad Umar bin Khalid from the banned Daesh. The CTD
registered five first information reports against these suspects in Multan,
Dera Ghazi Khan, and Bahawalpur. As part of the operations, the CTD also
recovered four hand grenades, three prima cards, 42 bullets of a 30-bore
pistol, a laptop, Afghani currency, and flags and stickers associated with the
defunct organizations.”



Middle East



Fox News: Israel Embraces Cutting-Edge AI To Thwart Cyberattacks, Foil
Terrorism
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“Israel continues to explore innovative uses for artificial intelligence (AI)
in various aspects of security and law enforcement, helping to foil numerous
threats. ‘AI technology has been incorporated quite naturally into the Shin
Bet's interdiction machine,’ Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar said in a speech to
the Cyber Week conference in Israel. ‘Using AI, we have spotted a
not-inconsequential number of threats.’ Shin Bet, the Israeli counterpart to
the FBI or Britain’s MI5, has created its own generative AI platform, akin to
ChatGPT, Bar revealed. He explained that the platform has allowed the
intelligence service to streamline its work by flagging surveillance anomalies
and sort ‘endless’ amounts of intelligence. ‘Since the beginning of 2022, ISA
handled 600 ISIS-related cases, many of them consumed similar violent and
dangerous content on social media and on the web. Some were even arrested just
before attacking,’ Bar said. ‘They are added to roughly 800 major attacks we
have foiled since January 2022.’”



The Jerusalem Post: Jordan Arrests Islamists Trying To Smuggle Weapons To West
Bank- Report <[link removed]>



“Four Jordanians allegedly belonging to Islamist movements were arrested last
Thursday in Jordan while trying to smuggle weapons to Palestinians in the West
Bank. Arabic-language reports noted the story in the London-based Rai al Youm
news site and the Beirut-based Al Akhbar newspaper. The sources also noted that
Jordan retracted its rapprochement efforts with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist
group that rules Gaza, following the incident. This latest arms-smuggling
incident comes on the heels of Jordan’s recent indictment of Imad al-Adwan, a
Jordanian member of parliament, on similar charges. Al-Adwan was reportedly
caught by Israeli security forces at a border crossing in late April with 200
guns and turned over to Jordanian authorities.”



Iran International: Islamic Jihad Buys Weapons, Loyalty In West Bank Using
Iran’s Money <[link removed]>



“The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is buying weapons and loyalty in the
West Bank using Iranian money, a Palestinian security source said. The PIJ has
established several armed cells and recruited dozens of gunmen in the northern
West Bank, specifically in Jenin and Nablus. ‘The PIJ has become a dominant
force in the northern West Bank, largely thanks to the financial aid it
receives from Iran,’ a source told Israel's Jerusalem Post. ‘Islamic Jihad is
using Iranian money to buy weapons and loyalty in the West Bank [and] the
organization is paying high salaries to its members.’ Palestinian Islamic Jihad
has stepped up its activity over the last year, largely thanks to extra funding
from Tehran, including an incident in April in which dozens of rockets were
launched in a cross border attack on Israel from Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. Last
August, the PIJ unleashed almost 2,000 rockets and mortars in three days of
fighting.”



Nigeria



Naija News: Boko Haram Faction Executes Its Own Leader Over Alleged Rebellion
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“The Boko Haram group, also known as ‘Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah
wa’l-Jihād’, has reportedly executed one of its top leaders, Abou Hassana,
along with three of his alleged accomplices. These actions were taken in
response to accusations of rebellion within the group. The executions took
place in front of other fighters at the Mandara Mountain in the Gwoza Local
Government area of Borno State, a location previously under complete control of
Boko Haram. Abou Hassana was accused of attempting to establish an independent
faction within Boko Haram to lead his own terror campaigns within the
Koltafirgi village, also known as Gaizuwa in Sambisa. The decision to execute
Hassana and his cohorts came from Ali Ngulde, the second highest-ranking leader
in Boko Haram, following their sentencing for these alleged crimes.”



Africa



AFP News: Burkina Troops, Allied Militiamen Killed In Attacks: Security Sources

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“At least 31 Burkinabe soldiers and three allied volunteer militiamen (VDP)
have been killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in the country's north,
security sources said Tuesday. Dozens were also killed in a separate attack on
Monday, the latest in one of the world's poorest countries as it struggles with
a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015. In the
first attack, a supply convoy escorted by military units that was returning
from Djibo, a town besieged for months by insurgents in the northern Sahel
region, "was the target of an ambush", the military said. It said ‘more than 40
terrorists were neutralised’ in the fighting, while around a dozen soldiers
were still missing after the ‘particularly violent’ clash.”



Garowe Online: Kenyan Being Investigated Over Al-Shabaab-Bound Weapons Seized
In Somalia
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“A Kenyan national is being investigated over a cache of weapons which were
recently seized in Aden Adde International Airport in Somalia, it has emerged,
with authorities in the East Africa nation taking control of the case, which
could be possible smuggling through international borders. Zakariya Kamal Sufi
Abashiek could face charges including but not limited to belonging to a terror
organization according to the Director of Criminal Investigations [DCI. The DCI
team has sought 10 more days to hold him in the middle of investigations.
According to the sleuths, the is enough evidence linking Zakariya to aiding
Al-Shabaab militants, a group which has been wreaking havoc in the country. The
evidence, DCI said, associates Zakariya with transportation of a container from
China to Somalia containing sophisticated weapons. Further reports show that
the same container marked MSMU826114145G1 shipped to Somalia from China was the
same one flagged by security agencies in Mogadishu. Somalia's state minister
for Security Mohamed Haga announced, on May 9 that authorities had seized a
cache of weapons at Aden Adde Airport leading to the arrest of 10 suspects.”



Europe



The National: Far-Right Rise Challenges Europe's Leaders To Show 'Democracy
Works' In Crisis
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“…The far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) made a historic
breakthrough when it won a district election on Sunday thanks to an
‘unfortunate intersection’ of flashpoints over immigration and the Ukraine war
coinciding with the vote, extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler said. Germany's
handling of climate change has been blamed for worsening public discontent,
while the Covid-19 pandemic is credited with having boosted conspiracy
theorists on the extreme right. The far-right has entered government in Italy
and Finland in recent months while fringe parties won seats in the Greek
parliament in elections on Sunday. Mr Schindler, a director at the Counter
Extremism Project and former German diplomat in the Middle East, said several
crises had ‘deeply ingrained a sense of insecurity into society’. ‘There was
Covid, and then when Covid was slightly more under control, the Ukraine war
started,’ he said. He said the AfD, which won the local election in the central
state of Thuringia at the weekend, benefited from the recent debate about a
migration crackdown in Europe.”



India



India Today: Hi-Tech Surveillance System, Specific Intel Help Army Kill 11
Pakistani Terrorists In 15 Days
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“Use of new hi-tech surveillance equipment along the Line of Control (LoC)
and specific intel provided by agencies have helped the Army eliminate 11
terrorists in three encounters within a fortnight. The agencies provided
specific intel on the routes the terrorists would be using through the Kupwara
area in Kashmir valley to infiltrate into India as they had inputs about the
movement of terrorists near Pakistani army camps, senior security officials
told India Today. The inputs were validated by the new surveillance system and
other equipment, which showed new faces emerging in the areas opposite Indian
positions and villages. Their movements were tracked throughout by security
forces, leading to three infiltration bids being foiled in the last fortnight,
the officials said.”



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