Eye on Extremism
January 30, 2020
Voice
Of America: US Officials Say They Know True Identity Of New IS
Leader
“U.S. defense officials believe they have unmasked the Islamic
State terror group’s current leader, until now known by his nom de
guerre, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. IS announced the selection
of Qurashi as its new caliph this past October, just days after the
death of former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. raid, but his
true identity has been a question. The chief of the Islamic State
group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly appears for the first time in
five years in a propaganda video in an undisclosed location, in this
undated TV grab taken from video released April 29 by Al-Furqan media.
Now, the U.S. has determined with confidence Qurashi is actually Hajji
‘Abdallah, according to a defense official who spoke to VOA on the
condition of anonymity. ‘Abdallah, who also went by the name Amir
Muhammad Said Abdal Rahman al-Mawla, is religious scholar who rose
through the ranks of IS’ predecessor organization, al-Qaida in Iraq to
eventually become, one of Baghdadi’s top deputies. According to U.S.
intelligence officials, ‘Abdallah was also a key architect of the
Islamic State’s slaughter of the Yazidi religious minority and was
charged with overseeing some of the terror group’s global
operations.”
The
Wall Street Journal: Syrian Government Captures Strategic Town In Last
Opposition Stronghold
“Syrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes captured a
strategic town in the country’s northwest, as the Assad regime presses
a monthslong military campaign to retake one of the last remaining
opposition strongholds after nine years of conflict. Regime forces
aided by Iran-allied militias seized Maarat al-Numan and 28
surrounding villages and towns after intensifying their offensive in
recent weeks, the Syrian military said Wednesday. Rebel fighters
withdrew from the town once their defenses crumbled. The shelling and
airstrikes have forced more than 350,000 civilians to flee their homes
and head to tents, schools and unfinished buildings in the midst of a
frigid winter, according to the United Nations and aid workers on the
ground. Syrian rebels took over Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province in
2012. It sits on an important highway linking the capital Damascus to
Aleppo, two of Syria’s biggest cities that are under government
control. President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has
long vowed to retake every inch of Syria. His forces have carried out
regular strikes since the end of April 2019 on Idlib province, the
last large rebel-held territory in the country. The U.N. has warned
that an offensive in Idlib would cause a major humanitarian
disaster.”
The
Washington Times: Pentagon's Push To Reduce U.S. Troops In Africa Met
By Surge In Terror Attacks
“The Pentagon is facing a firestorm of opposition to plans to cut
troop levels in Africa. Regional analysts and military insiders from
Capitol Hill to the capitals of Europe are warning that any reductions
could fuel a resurgent terrorist goal of making mincemeat out of the
continent. Defense Secretary Mark Esper reiterated this week that he
is considering a drawdown of the roughly 5,000 U.S. forces stationed
across Africa as part of a broader fundamental shift of military
resources toward the Pacific to contain China. Officials say the
redeployment is still in the review phase. Meanwhile, terrorist
attacks across Africa have shaken weak governments, and an assault by
al-Shabab on a military base in Kenya recently killed three Americans.
Attacks have been even deadlier in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and
elsewhere across Africa’s impoverished Sahel region, which specialists
say has become one of the world’s most fertile breeding grounds for
terrorism. Al-Shabab operates mainly in eastern Africa, but the Sahel
region has experienced a resurgence of violence from groups such as
the Islamic State, al Qaeda and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen
(JNIM).”
United States
Voice
Of America: Minnesota Men Who Joined Al-Shabab Now
Remorseful
“More than a decade ago, some 20 young Somali-Americans shocked
their families when they left behind jobs and schools and returned to
their native Somalia to join jihadist group al-Shabab. Now at least
two of them have defected, and say their deadly adventure ruined their
future. Ahmed Ali Omar and Abdulkadir Ali Abdi left al-Shabab 16
months ago, but are now hiding in the Somali capital, afraid of being
hunted down by the group's assassins. In an exclusive interview the
two men gave to the VOA Somali program Investigative Dossier, Omar
says he would have been killed or jailed if he stayed with the group.
“They found out we were going against their extremist, rigid views and
they were plotting to arrest us,” he said. Investigative Dossier
confirmed Omar's and Abdi's defections with government officials and
other defectors. The two men are now living in a house provided by the
Somali government's National Intelligence and Security Agency. Omar
sounded remorseful in the over one-hour phone interview conducted last
week. He said their future is ruined but wants to warn others from
joining jihadist groups.”
Syria
CNN:
UN Report Warns ISIS Is Reasserting Under New Leader Believed To Be
Behind Yazidi Genocide
“ISIS has begun reasserting itself in Iraq and Syria under a new
leader assessed to be an Iraqi operative who was a driving force
behind the terror group's genocide against the Yazidi people,
according to a report submitted to the UN Security Council which was
made public on Wednesday. The wide-ranging report, compiled by the UN
Monitoring Team that tracks the global jihadi terror threat, refers to
the group by its alternate name stating the “Islamic State in Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL), following its loss of territory, has begun to
reassert itself in both the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq, mounting
increasingly bold insurgent attacks, calling and planning for the
breakout of ISIL fighters in detention facilities and exploiting
weaknesses in the security environment of both countries.” It has been
clear for some time that one reason for ISIS's resilience is its deep
pockets, with overheads reduced now the group no longer administers a
large state. The report said that according to one of the more
conservative assessments by UN member states, ISIS still has $100
million in reserves. “The period from July to September 2019 saw an
acceleration of the reconstitution of ISIS as a covert network in the
Syrian Arab Republic, mirroring what had happened in Iraq since
2017.”
Iran
Business
Insider: ISIS 'Sleeper Cells' Are Taking Advantage Of US-Iran Tensions
To Make A Comeback
“The Islamic State group's self-styled “caliphate” across parts of
Iraq and Syria seemed largely defeated last year, with the loss of its
territory, the killing of its founder in a US raid and an
unprecedented crackdown on its social media propaganda machine. But
tensions between the United States and Iran and the resulting clash
over the US military presence in the region provide a comeback
opportunity for the extremist group, whose remnants have been
gradually building up a guerrilla campaign over the past year, experts
say. American troops in Iraq had to pause their operations against
ISIS for nearly two weeks amid the tensions. From the other side,
Iranian-backed Iraqi militiamen who once focused on fighting the
militants have turned their attention to evicting US troops from the
Middle East. In the meantime, Islamic State group sleeper cells
intensified ambushes in Iraq and Syria in the past few weeks, killing
and wounding dozens of their opponents in both countries. Activists
and residents say the attacks have intensified since the US killed top
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike at
Baghdad's airport.”
Iraq
Voice
Of America: UN: Islamic State Militants Not Getting Fair Trials In
Iraq
“A U.N. report says Islamic State militants in Iraq are often not
getting fair trials and the judicial processes in the country are not
up to international standards. The report, jointly published by the
U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq and the U.N. Human Rights Office, is
based on hundreds of trials monitored between May 2018 and October
2019. The report says those responsible for widespread atrocities in
Iraq must be held accountable. At the same time, it says it is
important that those accused of crimes be given a fair trial. It says
justice must be seen to be done. U.N. human rights spokesman Jeremy
Laurence says the report is based on independent monitoring of 794
criminal trials of suspected Islamic State militants who were
prosecuted under Iraq’s anti-terrorism laws. “Prosecutions under the
anti-terrorism legal framework mainly focused on membership of a
terrorist organization, without distinguishing between those who
participated in violence, committed international crimes, and those
who joined ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] for survival
and/or through coercion,” said Laurence.”
Kurdistan
24: ISIS Sleeper Cells Attack Iraqi Army In Disputed Kirkuk, Kill 2
Soldiers
“Islamic State sleeper cells launched an attack on an Iraqi army
position in the southern outskirts of Kirkuk on Wednesday, killing at
least two soldiers, according to security sources. The Islamic State
militants launched their attack late on Wednesday night at an army
post in Kirkuk on the road between Daquq and the Iraqi capital of
Baghdad, security sources told Kurdistan 24. According to the sources,
violent clashes erupted between the terrorists and members of the
Iraqi army. At least two soldiers were killed in the altercation.
Iraq’s security media cell later revealed in a statement that the
Islamic State attack had targeted the fourth company in the first
regiment of the 45th Army Brigade. The statement also confirmed the
two deaths. Neither the security sources nor the media cell mentioned
whether the clashes had caused casualties among the terror group.
Another security source said the Islamic State sleeper cells had
ambushed the army, which prompted the soldiers to respond by opening
fire. This is the second attack by the so-called Islamic State against
the Iraqi army in Kirkuk within a week.”
Afghanistan
The
New York Times: Despite Calm In Afghan Cities, War In Villages Kills
Dozens Daily
“Over the past couple of months, as American and Taliban
negotiators have resumed talks to try to complete a peace deal, an
unusual calm has settled over major Afghan cities. Deadly terrorism
attacks, once frequent, have suddenly dropped in urban centers. But a
series of bloody assaults in the countryside suggests that the calm in
the cities could be misleading. The war continues to kill dozens
daily. And the patterns of violence in recent months have been tied
closely to how negotiations between the United States and the Taliban,
held in the Gulf state of Qatar, have played out. With talks now
seeming to bog down, some diplomats and political leaders fear that
violence could grow deadlier — even if much of it plays out in the
countryside, away from the headlines. The sticking point in the
negotiations: What reduction in violence is needed to move the peace
process forward? The negotiators’ ultimate goal is the gradual
withdrawal of American troops, and the establishment of talks between
the Taliban and other Afghans over power-sharing. The drop in urban
attacks most likely stems from an unacknowledged understanding with
the Taliban to reduce high-profile violence in order to pave the way
for an agreement.”
The
Washington Post: Afghan Forces Rescue More Than 60 Hostages From
Taliban Prison In Night Raid
“Late Tuesday night, four helicopters carrying 50 Afghan special
forces commandos touched down just outside a Taliban compound on
Afghanistan’s western edge. Intelligence collected by U.S. and Afghan
forces indicated the buildings were being used as a prison, holding
dozens of Afghan security forces. The Afghan commandos were launching
an attempt to rescue more than 60 hostages held by the Taliban. “We
took positions on the hilltops and sealed off the area,” said Maj.
Sayed Rahimullah, the Afghan special forces commando who led the raid.
As his men moved down into the compound, he said, they caught the
Taliban guards by surprise. “We didn’t give them enough time to use
heavy weaponry. They were firing light weapons as they were fleeing
the scene,” he said in an interview Wednesday. As Taliban fighters
fled, American aircraft circling above the scene targeted the men with
at least four airstrikes, he said. U.S. and Afghan officials hailed
the operation as a major success for Afghanistan’s special forces, who
have struggled to regularly conduct operations without close American
support.”
Reuters:
Taliban Kill At Least 29 Afghan Security Personnel In Renewed
Clashes
“At least 29 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed
in Taliban attacks that followed air and ground assaults by government
forces on the Islamist group at the weekend. The surge in hostilities
signals deadlock at stop-start peace talks involving U.S and Taliban
negotiators in Doha. The Defense Ministry said on Sunday government
forces had killed 51 Taliban fighters in the weekend assaults. But the
Taliban hit back, carrying out attacks on security checkpoints in the
northern province of Kunduz on Tuesday night in which a security
official who declined to be identified said 15 members of the Afghan
army were killed. The Taliban also attacked a police station on Monday
night in Pul-e Khomri, capital of the neighboring Baghlan province,
killing 14 policemen, said Safdar Muhseni, head of the provincial
council. Taliban said it was responsible for both attacks. The group’s
spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said 35 members of the Afghan security
forces had been killed in the attack in Kunduz and 17 in Baghlan.
Sources close to the talks in Doha said the Taliban had agreed
internally to halt attacks against U.S. forces and “reduce” assaults
against Afghan government interests, but clashes between the Taliban
and Afghan forces have risen.”
Pakistan
Associated
Press: Terror Attacks Drop, But Pakistan ‘Not Out Of The
Woods’
“Terror attacks in Pakistan plummeted by more than 85% over the
last decade. It’s a welcome statistic for the country, but one that
risks being overshadowed by international concern over its efforts to
curb terror funding and lingering militant activity that could test
any future peace agreement in neighboring Afghanistan. The tally, put
together by Pakistani think tanks, found terror attacks dropped from
nearly 2,000 in 2009 to fewer than 250 in 2019, a steady decline that
underscores the long-haul nature of fighting terror. But a Paris-based
international watchdog said in October that Pakistan was not doing
enough to stop terror financing. The group meets next month to decide
whether the country should be downgraded from a “gray” status to
“black,” alongside Iran and North Korea, a step that could pose a
challenge to Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan’s militant groups are often
interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan, so its
progress at reining in terror is critical, particularly as Washington
seeks to secure a deal with the Afghan Taliban to bring an end to the
18-year war, America’s longest military engagement.”
Yahoo
News: Police Say Gunmen Kill 2 Female Polio Workers In NW
Pakistan
“Gunmen on motorcycles killed two polio vaccination workers in
northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, local police said. Police official
Ijaz Khan said security forces in the town of Swabi were searching for
the attackers. Both of the killed health workers were women, he added.
Swabi is in the deeply conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan regularly carries out anti-polio
drives, despite threats from the Taliban who claim the campaign is a
Western conspiracy to sterilize children. The latest attack came hours
after Pakistan launched a new drive against the disease. Militants
have stepped up such attacks after it was revealed that a CIA fake
hepatitis vaccination campaign was used as a ruse in the U.S. hunt for
Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In 2011, American commandos killed the
al-Qaida leader in the country's northwest. Pakistan is one of three
countries in the world where polio is still endemic. Pakistan was
hoping to eradicate the disease in 2018 when only 12 cases were
reported. But there was a sudden surge in polio cases the following
year when 135 children tested positive for the disease, shocking
health officials.”
Middle East
Fox
News: Most Wanted Female Terrorist Lives In Freedom In Jordan Despite
Extradition Request For Bombing That Killed Americans
“Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi is the most wanted woman in the world, with
a $5 million bounty for information that leads to her arrest or
conviction. Tamimi is accused by U.S. officials of conspiring to
use--and using--a weapon of mass destruction, and masterminding a
brazen Hamas terrorist attack that killed 15 – including eight
children and two Americans, one of whom was pregnant. Despite being on
the run from American authorities, Tamimi has been hiding in plain
sight for years-- under the eye of one of the United States' longest
and closest allies in the Middle East: Jordan. Despite requests from
Washington, the Kingdom has been publicly steadfast in its refusal to
extradite Tamimi, who at just 20 years old masterminded the suicide
bombing on the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem three weeks before
planes struck the U.S on Sept. 11, 2001. The attack claimed the lives
of two Americans, 15-year-old Malki Roth, and Shoshana Yehudit
Greenbaum, who was five months pregnant with her first child at the
time. In addition to the two murdered Americans and the unborn infant,
four more U.S. nationals were among the some 122 injured. At least one
of the victims remains in a vegetative state.”
Nigeria
The
New York Times: Study: Smuggled Arms Aid Nigeria’s Farmer-Herder
Conflict
“Weapons that have been used in intercommunal violence that has
killed thousands of people in northern Nigeria have been trafficked
from Ivory Coast, Libya and Turkey, according to a new report by the
Conflict Armament Research group. Fighting between farmers and
semi-nomadic herders over land has gone on for decades in Nigeria’s
central belt and north. Attacks on civilians by armed groups aligned
with the communities have killed more than 3,600 people and displaced
300,000 since 2014, according to the study. Armed groups involved in
the fighting in Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states possessed
“significant numbers of factory-produced small arms manufactured in
Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and North America,” according to
the three-year study. Some of the weapons were from Turkey and were
linked to a major organized trafficking network, the group said.
Assault rifles from Iraq and similar to ones used by Islamic extremist
groups in Mali and Niger also were found. However, the organization
said that while weapons may have come from the same illicit source,
that did not demonstrate a connection between the conflict in Nigeria
and Islamic extremist groups.”
The
Punch Nigeria: Boko Haram Kills Two, Steals Fish At Military
Checkpoint
“Boko Haram on Tuesday night slaughtered two people sleeping at
a military checkpoint on the outskirts of Maiduguri, carting away
part of their frozen fish. According to a security source, the driver
of the truck conveying frozen fish from Kano to the Borno State
capital was forced to stop at the checkpoint a few minutes to the
closure of the security gates as the vehicle developed a fault. The
soldiers at the checkpoint were said to have advised the driver to
leave the DAF truck proceed to town to sleep with the two other
people with him. They were said to have rejected the advice and chose
instead to sleep inside the vehicle. The source said they were
attacked by insurgents, who killed two of them. The corpses of the
deceased were deposited at the Borno State Specialist Hospital,
Maiduguri, by the Rapid Response Squad, with their wounded
colleague receiving treatment at the hospital. The source said,
“The RRS were told about the Boko Haram attack about 7am on
Wednesday. There was information that some armed men suspected to be
insurgents had intercepted a DAF truck with number plate Yobe PKM
665 X driven by one Yusuf Mohammed, who was with his motorboy
Abdullah Mohammed.”
Africa
Financial
Times: Governments Are Failing In The Fight Against Jihadis In The
Sahel
“It must be the least known epicentre of global terrorism. Burkina
Faso, a landlocked country in west Africa, is now home to the world’s
fastest-growing Islamist insurgency. Only last weekend, suspected
militants attacked a market not far from the lightly patrolled border
with Mali, killing some 50 people. That was merely the latest in a
gruesome string of attacks on targets soft and hard. Thousands of
people were killed last year and some 560,000 displaced in a country
of 19m. On Christmas Eve, 35 civilians — 31 of them women — were
slaughtered when dozens of militants on motorbikes rode into town in
Soum province, where last weekend’s attack took place. A few days
later, 11 soldiers were killed at a military base, again in Soum. As
the crisis escalates, the Norwegian Refugee Council predicts the
number of displaced people will rise to 900,000. Burkina Faso borders
six countries. Two of them, Niger and especially Mali, are centres of
Islamist insurgencies themselves. They are home to a potpourri of
homegrown rebellions, foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda and Isis,
criminal gangs and weapons pouring out of Libya.”
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Cameroon: Five Killed In Terror Attack By Boko
Haram
“Boko Haram militants carried out overnight attack in north Cameron
killing five people. The militants were hunting for soldiers in a
village near Lake Chad. “Five civilians were killed by Boko Haram in
Blaram,” a village in the Blangoua district of Cameroon's Far North
region, a local official said. Two soldiers were also injured in the
assault and a military base set on fire, the officer said, AFP
reported. “Boko Haram fighters attacked the post around 1 am. Fighting
erupted between them and the soldiers, but the troops made a strategic
retreat because they were outnumbered,” a Blangoua district official
said. The civilians were killed in their homes by attackers searching
for soldiers, the official said. The village of Blaram is located on
dry land near Lake Chad. Based in neighbouring Nigeria, Boko Haram has
stepped up attacks from bases hidden in the Lake Chad area, where the
borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge. Cameroon says
the group has carried out nearly 13,000 attacks on its territory since
2014, with the loss of “several thousand” lives. The insurgency has
forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes and triggered an
influx of 60,000 people from Nigeria.”
Institute
For Security Studies: Time To Rethink The Prevention Of Violent
Extremism In Africa
“The past year has seen an uptick in terrorism and efforts to
counter it in Africa. On the last day of 2019, al-Shabaab claimed
responsibility for an attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, that killed over
80 people. More recently, a violent extremist attack in Burkina Faso’s
Sanmatenga province left 36 civilians dead. Southern Africa has also
seen a rise in terrorism with more than 350 incidents carried out by
extremist groups in Mozambique since 2017. So what have interventions
to prevent and counter violent extremism achieved in the past decade,
and how can they be improved for the next 10 years? Research by the
Institute for Security Studies (ISS) shows that West and Central
African countries have received a total of US$144 228 644 and East
African countries US$172 385 324 from local and international donor
organisations to prevent violent extremism in the past five years. The
most popular theory of change among those working to prevent violent
extremism in these three regions is that raising awareness among
communities about the problem and what makes people vulnerable to
recruitment, will reduce the chance that they are exploited by groups
such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab.”
United Kingdom
BBC
News: Men Admit Terrorism Charges After MI5
Surveillance
“Seven men have pleaded guilty to terrorist charges arising from a
covert MI5 operation against the Continuity IRA (CIRA). The undercover
bugging operation focused on a house in Newry, County Down, in 2014.
The men were due to go on trial on 3 February 2020. They were
re-arraigned at the request of their defence lawyers at Belfast Crown
Court on Wednesday. Patrick Joseph 'Mooch' Blair, 64, of Lissara
Heights, Warrenpoint, County Down; Liam Hannaway, 50, of White Rise,
Dunmurry, Belfast; John Sheehy, 35, of Erskine Street, Newry, and
Colin Patrick Winters, 48, of Ardcarn Park, Newry, admitted belonging
or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation, providing
weapons and explosives training, conspiring to possess explosives,
firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. They further
admitted conspiracy to possess explosives, firearms and ammunition
with intent, and preparing acts of terrorism. Blair, Hannaway and
Winters also admitted collecting information likely to be of use to
terrorists. Sheehy further pleaded guilty to attending a meeting at
Ardcarn Park for terrorist training.”
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