Eye on Extremism
February 19, 2020
The
New York Times: Ex-C.I.A. Asset, Now A Libyan Strongman, Faces Torture
Accusations
“A former C.I.A. asset who now controls the most potent military
faction in Libya has been accused of torturing Libyans, and some of
them tried on Tuesday to use the American court system to fight back.
Victims of the military forces led by the Libyan strongman Khalifa
Hifter hope to use his properties in the United States against him,
taking advantage of a little-used American law to accuse him of
torture and sue him in federal court in Virginia on Tuesday. Two
Libyans said their family members were tortured to death by Mr.
Hifter’s forces in October 2014 as chaos engulfed Libya, leading
eventually to a renewed civil war. Those families are seeking
restitution from Mr. Hifter and his sons. Passed in 1991, the Torture
Victim Protection Act allows family members of the victims of
extrajudicial killings and torture to sue the people responsible. The
law is aimed at perpetrators of torture who are acting under apparent
government authority. Many other suits filed under the act have failed
to gain traction because there are few assets for the court system to
seize if a lawsuit succeeds. But Mr. Hifter and his sons own at least
17 properties in Virginia worth a total of at least $8 million,
according to the lawsuit.”
Egypt
Today: Muslim Brotherhood Formed 13 Terrorist Groups In Egypt:
NGO
“An Egyptian human rights group issued a report on Monday stating
that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group is behind establishing 13
armed movements that carried out terrorist attacks in Egypt between
2013 and 2019. The report of the Forum for Development and Human
Rights Dialogue, a non-governmental organization, openly accused Qatar
and Turkey of funding the Muslim Brotherhood group designated by the
Egyptian state as terrorist. The forum described the group as the
“reference group for all violent terrorist organizations in the Middle
East,” saying it “adopts a discourse that incites violence, racism,
hatred and exclusion of women and (people) of other religions.” It
also blamed the two countries of harboring fugitives of the outlawed
group, who are wanted by the Egyptian judiciary over terrorist crimes
that caused the death of many civilians and innocent people. Among
those 13 groups is an organization known as Ansar Al-Sharia Brigades
in Egypt, hosting Muslim Brotherhood fugitives who fled Wadi Al-Naturn
prison in Beheira, north of Cairo, in 2011, the report said, adding
that this prison recruited youth and sent them to Syria.”
The
New York Times: Devices Found In Missiles, Yemen Drones Link Iran To
Attacks
“A small instrument inside the drones that targeted the heart of
Saudi Arabia's oil industry and those in the arsenal of Yemen's Houthi
rebels match components recovered in downed Iranian drones in
Afghanistan and Iraq, two reports say. These gyroscopes have only been
found inside drones manufactured by Iran, Conflict Armament Research
said in a report released on Wednesday. That follows a recently
released report from the United Nations, saying its experts saw a
similar gyroscope from an Iranian drone obtained by the U.S. military
in Afghanistan, as well as in a shipment of cruise missiles seized in
the Arabian Sea bound for Yemen. The discovery further ties Iran to an
attack that briefly halved Saudi Arabia's oil output and saw energy
prices spike by a level unseen since the 1991 Gulf War. It also ties
Iran to the arming of the rebel Houthis in Yemen's long civil war.
Iran denies it had a hand in that assault but has increasingly
promoted its influence over the Houthis and launched a ballistic
missile attack on American troops in Iraq after a U.S. drone strike
killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad last month. “This gyroscope
... we've seen it now enough times in Iranian-manufactured material to
be able to confidently say that the presence of it in a
Houthi-produced item suggests that the material was supplied from
Iran,” Jonah Leff of Conflict Armament Research told The Associated
Press.”
Syria
Voice
Of America: UN Rights Chief Horrified By Violence Against Civilians In
Syria
“The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet, has
expressed horror at the scale of the humanitarian crisis in northwest
Syria, which has resulted in mass deaths and injuries of civilians and
hundreds of thousands of displaced. Bachelet describes conditions
under which civilians are forced to live in Idlib and Aleppo as cruel
beyond belief. She condemns the indiscriminate and inhumane attacks
against civilians and is calling for an immediate end to hostilities.
Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, says civilians, mostly women and
children, are living in terror under scraps of plastic sheeting in
freezing temperatures while bombing is going on. “Entire families,
some who have fled from one corner of Syria to the other over the
course of the past decade, are tragically finding that bombs are part
of their everyday life,” he said. “Civilians fleeing the fighting are
being squeezed into areas without safe shelter that are shrinking in
size by the hour. And still they are bombed, and they simply no
longer have anywhere to go.” The United Nations estimates fighting has
forced more than 900,000 civilians to flee their homes since December.
That represents the largest displacement of people since the civil war
broke out in Syria nearly nine years ago.”
ABC
News: Caliphate Wives Share Their Stories Year After ISIS Defeat:
Reporter's Notebook
“In a cold corner of northwest Iraq, Magboula Bajo is still
homeless. She's Yazidi -- part of a community enslaved and tortured by
ISIS. She was taken from her home, kept as a slave for two years.
“They killed them all in front of our eyes: my father, uncles, our
relatives, my father's uncles,” she recalled. “They blindfolded the
youths and tied their hands and took them near to the river. We heard
them being shot.” Magboula feels like she's been forgotten by the
world. Her people still live in freezing refugee camps, waiting for
their lives to start again. ISIS victims have yet to find peace, and
many of those who joined ISIS have yet to see justice. As I wait
outside her tent, I can hear the distinct north American accent of
Kimberly Polman, the U.S.-Canadian woman who joined ISIS five years
ago. I can hear her laughing and preparing it so that we can come
inside to talk. “I had no idea you guys were coming!” I am at Roj camp
in northeast Syria, where about 2,000 Western European ISIS women and
their children are being kept. Polman shares a tent with Shamima
Begum, the British 20-year-old who joined ISIS when she was just 15.
Next door to them is Hoda Mothana, who lives with her 2-year-old son,
Adam. All three are trying to return to their home countries.”
Iraq
Daily
Mail: ISIS Has DOUBLE The Number Of Soldiers Across Iraq And Syria
Than It Did When It Swept Through The Region In 2014, Kurdish Leader
Warns
“ISIS has double the number of soldiers it had when it began
capturing territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014 and is poised for a
comeback, a Kurdish leader has warned. Masrour Barzani, prime minister
of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, issued the stark warning
amid moves by President Trump to withdraw US troops from the region
after years of fighting. While ISIS has lost all of its territory and
much of its leadership, Barzani believes the terror group still has
20,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria and is trying to recruit more. That
number is double the initial US estimates of ISIS's strength when it
began capturing territory across Iraq and Syria in 2014, sparking an
international crisis. Revised CIA estimates put that number at 31,000,
while Iraqi security advisers estimated it had 100,000 fighters by the
time it announced the formation of a 'caliphate' in July that year.
Nevertheless, Barzani cautions that the modern-day ISIS is still a
force to be reckoned with and 'should not be taken lightly.' Speaking
to The Atlantic, he said: 'ISIS is still very much intact. Yes, they
have lost much of their leadership. They have lost many of their
capable men. 'But they’ve also managed to gain more experience and to
recruit more people around them.'“
Turkey
The
Defense Post: Turkey Arrests Suspected Former ISIS Executioner In
Bursa
“Turkish police have arrested a suspected former executioner for
Islamic State in Syria, who became a gas repairman when he returned to
civilian life in Turkey, local media reported on Tuesday, February 18.
The 50-year-old Syrian, known by his nickname “Abu Taki al-Shami,” was
arrested at a construction site on Monday in the Bursa province of
northwest Turkey, state news agency Anadolu said. The agency described
him as an executioner for a senior ISIS leader in the Deir Ezzor
region of eastern Syria, a former stronghold of the extremist group. A
video of his arrest showed him in work clothes and closely shaved. It
is alleged he is the same man videoed several years ago in Syria with
a full beard, killing a civilian with a shot to the back of the head.
His arrest led to the detention of three others in Bursa on Tuesday
over alleged ISIS links, Anadolu said. ISIS held vast swathes of
territory across Syria and Iraq from its rise in 2014 until its
military defeat last year. Turkey, which supported the rebellion
against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was accused by its allies of
failing to sufficiently crack down on foreign jihadists crossing
Turkish territory to join ISIS. But Turkish authorities cracked down
heavily on jihadist cells after a spate of devastating attacks inside
Turkey in 2015.”
The
Guardian: Turkey Re-Arrests Gezi Park Activist Hours After Acquittal
On Terror Charges
“Turkish authorities have detained a prominent philanthropist, just
hours after a court acquitted him on terrorism-related charges and
ordered his release from jail. Osman Kavala was one of nine activists
accused of terror charges over their involvement in Istanbul’s Gezi
park protests who were acquitted on Tuesday in a surprise ruling. But
within hours, a new warrant from the Istanbul prosecutor’s office
called for his re-arrest as part of an investigation into a failed
2016 coup against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government, and under the
charge of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. After his
release from the the Silivri maximum security prison on the outskirts
of Istanbul, Kavala was taken by police to an Istanbul hospital for
health checks before being formally detained again. The court’s
earlier ruling was greeted by applause and cries of disbelief in the
courtroom where more than a hundred supporters had waited to see
Kavala walk free. But an anxious silence overtook the stunned crowd –
including Kavala’s wife Ayşe Buğra – when word of the new
investigation reached them later on Tuesday.”
Afghanistan
The
Washington Post: Big Questions Surround The Coming U.S.-Taliban Peace
Deal
“This weekend in Germany, everyone expected the United States to
announce a preliminary agreement with the Taliban to establish a path
toward peace negotiations that could end the war in Afghanistan. But
the announcement never came, leaving far more questions than answers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his Afghanistan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad
and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper met with scores of lawmakers and
foreign officials on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference
to discuss the pending agreement. A Taliban official said Monday it
could be signed by the end of the month. The delay has prompted Afghan
officials and U.S. lawmakers from both parties to wonder whether the
deal is sound and whether crucial details will even be made public.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a bipartisan delegation of U.S.
lawmakers in Munich that the deal has four “secret annexes,” according
to four people who were in the room. He also laid out several risks he
sees in the deal, including concerns it could elevate the Taliban’s
stature and boost other violent Islamist groups around the world. “I
sit with Ghani and I hear about four addendums that are secret,” Sen.
Robert Menendez (N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, told me.”
The
New York Times: Will The U.S.-Taliban Deal End The
War?
“The talks between the United States and the Taliban in Doha,
Qatar, which were abruptly canceled by President Trump in September,
are back on track. After several months of diplomatic regrouping,
American and Taliban negotiators are once again on the verge of
sealing a deal. The negotiators haven’t revised the basic transaction
they set out last August — an American commitment to withdraw troops
from Afghanistan for a Taliban promise not to allow the country to be
used by transnational terrorists. Rather, they have added sweeteners
to the bargain: As a Taliban concession, a seven-day “reduction in
violence” before the United States will sign the deal, possibly
followed by further steps to keep violence down, and the release of
prisoners demanded by the insurgents. These measures may help build
confidence in the plausibility of good-faith negotiation, but they are
primarily face-saving devices. The violence reduction allows President
Trump to reverse his repudiation of the talks and the Afghan
government to stop insisting that it would not participate in the next
stage of negotiations unless the Taliban declare and hold a cease-fire
for at least a month.”
Reuters:
U.S.-Taliban Pact To Cut Violence About To Start, Afghan Minister Says
Amid Clashes
“An agreement between the Taliban and U.S. forces to reduce
violence will come into force within the next five days, Afghanistan’s
acting interior minister said on Tuesday, amid continued clashes
between the militants and Afghan forces. A senior U.S. administration
official said last week negotiations with Taliban representatives in
Qatar had resulted in an agreement in principle for a week-long
reduction of violence, but that the seven-day period had not yet
started. “The RIV (reduction in violence) period will begin in the
next five days, which will be based on the negotiations between the
U.S. and the Taliban,” Masoud Andarabi, Afghanistan’s acting minister
of interior, told a gathering of provincial police commanders in
Kabul. Taliban fighters attacked Afghan government forces on Sunday
night and militant commanders said on Monday insurgency operations
would go on until they receive fresh instructions based on any deal
with the United States. The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996
until their ouster by U.S.-led troops in 2001, have refused to
negotiate directly with the Afghan government, which they see as a
puppet of the United States.”
Somalia
All
Africa: Somalia: 13 Alshabaab Militants Killed In Lower Shabelle By
Danab Forces
“Newly recruited HirShabelle State Police personnel demonstrate
skills during a passing out ceremony to mark the completion of
training in Jowhar, Somalia on 29 August 2019. Danab forces have least
13 militants of Somali-based al-Shabab and several others wounded in a
military operation against the group in lower Shabelle region on
Monday, an official said. Somalia's specially-trained forces known as
Danab conducted a military operation at al-Shabaab facilities near the
town of Leego, located in the northwest of the capital Mogadishu,
according to Somali military radio. Ismail Abdimalik Malin, a senior
military commander in the region said they conducted an operation
against terrorist group al-Shabaab that killed 13 militants and
wounded several others.” The operation came days after some special
forces units which were trained in Turkey returned to the country.
Gen. Adawa Yusuf Rage, a Somali armed forces commander, said: “I want
to thank our Turkish brothers for their help to train these special
forces, this unit will help us fight against al-Shabaab.”
Africa
All
Africa: Kenya: Civilians Bear Brunt Of Terror As Operation Against
Al-Shabaab Continues In Forest
“Kenya launched an operation to flush out al-Shabab terrorists from
the northeast Boni Forest on the border with Somalia in 2015. The
operation was meant to last a few months but — nearly five years later
— security forces are still struggling to stamp out the Islamist
militants. Villagers are afraid to venture into the forest and a
deadly January attack on a joint Kenya-U.S. military base has
highlighted ongoing insecurity. Twenty-year-old Bilai Abdi said she
was excited about getting her two children new clothes one afternoon
in 2017. She and six other civilians got into a police vehicle to get
to the next town. They never reached their destination, as the car hit
a roadside bomb and was then attacked with gunfire, killing all the
civilians except Abdi. The mother of four dragged herself out of the
bullet-ridden car. “My leg was bleeding and one man aimed at me,” she
says. She also says she tried to duck but the bullet hit her in the
neck. “The man came down and passed by me, thinking I was dead,
without even looking at me.” A few hours later police helicopter was
hovering above her head. Abdi says she saw security moving around me
but couldn’t see clearly. She says an officer recognized her but
another pointed his gun at her and called her al-Shabab. Abdi says she
replied that she was not al-Shabab.”
France
Deutsche
Welle: France To Curb Foreign Imams To Counter Islamic
Extremism
“French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that he
would restrict other countries from sending imams and Islamic teachers
to France in what he said is an attempt to prevent “separatism.”
Macron said he would gradually put a stop to the practice in which
foreign countries, including Algeria, Morocco and Turkey, deploy imams
to France to preach in mosques. “This end to the consular Islam system
is extremely important to curb foreign influence and make sure
everybody respects the laws of the republic,” Macron said in a news
conference during his visit to the eastern city of Mulhouse. Macron
said that his administration had asked the French Muslim Council
(CFCM), the body representing Islam in France, to instead focus on
training imams on French territory and ensuring they can speak French
and not spread radical Islamist views. France is home to Europe's
largest Muslim community. According to Macron, 300 imams are sent to
France each year. Those who come in 2020 would be the last intake, he
said. “The problem is when in the name of a religion, some want to
separate themselves from the Republic and therefore not respect its
laws,'' Macron said.”
Germany
The
Atlantic: The Perils Of Allying With The Far
Right
“The far right in Germany may be confined to the opposition
benches, but they are proving just how disruptive they can be. Earlier
this month, in the country’s eastern state of Thuringia, the
Alternative for Germany (AfD) joined Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling
center-right Christian Democrats and the pro-business Free Democrats
to elect the latter party’s candidate for state governor. That a
regional leader was elected with far-right support prompted a national
uproar. Within days, Merkel condemned the result as “unforgivable,”
the winning candidate stepped down, and the Christian Democrats’
leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer—thought to be Merkel’s anointed
successor when the chancellor steps aside next year—resigned. This
saga demonstrated just how much of a disruptive force the far right in
Germany has become, but the lessons from the episode ought to be
heeded by mainstream parties elsewhere in Europe too. As politics
becomes more fragmented, and as established parties lose votes to
emerging smaller ones, mainstream groupings can no longer count on
ruling alongside like-minded allies, let alone by themselves. They
must begin to form broad coalitions with opposition parties elsewhere
on the political spectrum to avoid being forced into alliances with
the far right. Although far-right parties have surged across Europe,
the response to their gains has varied widely.”
Europe
The
New York Times: Uzbekistan Detains 21 On Suspicion Of Syrian Militant
Links
“Uzbek police have detained 21 people suspected of being linked to
an Islamist militant group operating in Syria, police said on
Wednesday. Police said the detained men were under the “ideological
influence” of another Uzbek man who was a member of the Katiba
al-Tawhid wal-Jihad group comprised mostly of Central Asians. They
planned to finance the group and join it, police said in a statement.
Thousands of people from the predominantly Muslim ex-Soviet region
joined various Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq when Islamic State
temporarily seized part of their territory.”
Time:
This Researcher Juggled Five Different Identities To Go Undercover
With Far-Right And Islamist Extremists. Here's What She
Found
“Wearing a blond wig and walking through the streets of central
Vienna in October 2017, Julia Ebner reminded herself of her new
identity: Jennifer Mayer, an Austrian philosophy student currently
studying abroad in London. It was one of five different identities
that Ebner, an Austrian researcher specialized in online
radicalization and cumulative extremism, adopted in order to
infiltrate far-right/Islamist extremist networks. That day in October,
she met a local recruiter for Generation Identity (GI), the European
equivalent of the American alt right, which is mostly an online
political group that rejects mainstream politics and espouses ideas of
white nationalism. GI is the main proponent of the Great Replacement
Theory, the baseless idea that white populations are being
deliberately replaced through migration and the growth of minority
communities. The theory has inspired several recent extremist attacks,
including the murder of 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand last
April, and the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas last
August, which left 22 people dead. The meeting with GI’s local leader
proved to be significant. Ebner learned about how important the group
considered social media for their strategy to expand and recruit
members in schools, public baths and other public venues that young
people visit.”
China
The
Washington Post: U.S. Designates Major Chinese Media Outlets As
Government Entities
“The State Department on Tuesday designated five Chinese media
outlets as official government entities under the Foreign Missions
Act, meaning they will be treated as though they are diplomatic
outposts of the Chinese government and subject to the same
constraints. The move is the latest in a series of U.S. efforts to
tackle China’s influence in the United States. It will be sure to
anger Beijing, which generally views U.S. government actions — such as
the trade war, accusations against tech firm Huawei and criticism of
the country’s human rights record — as efforts to thwart China’s
global rise. The media outlets are the U.S. entities of the official
Xinhua News Agency; China Global Television Network, known as CGTN,
the international arm of state broadcaster CCTV; China Radio
International; the China Daily newspaper; and the People’s Daily, the
mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China. The 1982 Foreign Missions
Act covers matters such as license plates for embassy vehicles and
diplomatic immunity, but it also governs how foreign governments
operate in the United States. Practically speaking, Tuesday’s decision
was likely more symbolic than punitive. The news outlets will be
required to provide lists of their staffs, including names, ages and
addresses, and update them when there are changes.”
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