“As a child studying in a madrasa in Afghanistan, Mohammad Khalid Tahir dreamed
of waging jihad. By the time he was a teenager, he had joined the Taliban and
celebrated when they seized power from the U.S.-backed government two years
ago. But the high from that victory did not last. Reassigned as a soldier in
the capital, he frequently complained that he was bored and longed to return to
his life’s purpose, according to his family. So this spring, he did — but
across the border in Pakistan. “Our only expectation is to be martyred,” Mr.
Tahir says in a video of him en route to Pakistan that was viewed by The New
York Times. About a month later, he was killed by Pakistani security forces,
his relatives said. As a generation of fighters raised in war now finds itself
stuck in a country at peace, hundreds of young Taliban soldiers have crossed
illegally into Pakistan to battle alongside an insurgent group, according to
Taliban members, local leaders and security analysts.”











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Eye on Extremism



August 16, 2023



The New York Times: Taliban Fighters, Unsettled By Peace, Seek New Battles
Abroad
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“As a child studying in a madrasa in Afghanistan, Mohammad Khalid Tahir
dreamed of waging jihad. By the time he was a teenager, he had joined the
Taliban and celebrated when they seized power from the U.S.-backed government
two years ago. But the high from that victory did not last. Reassigned as a
soldier in the capital, he frequently complained that he was bored and longed
to return to his life’s purpose, according to his family. So this spring, he
did — but across the border in Pakistan. “Our only expectation is to be
martyred,” Mr. Tahir says in a video of him en route to Pakistan that was
viewed by The New York Times. About a month later, he was killed by Pakistani
security forces, his relatives said. As a generation of fighters raised in war
now finds itself stuck in a country at peace, hundreds of young Taliban
soldiers have crossed illegally into Pakistan to battle alongside an insurgent
group, according to Taliban members, local leaders and security analysts.”



The Times Of Israel: Hamas And Islamic Jihad Seen Importing Gaza Military
Tactics To The West Bank
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“Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been exploiting the
power vacuum in the northern West Bank to strengthen their military presence
and replicate the fighting tactics against Israel that they developed in Gaza,
according to a new report. The analysis, published last week by the Middle East
Media Research Institute (MEMRI), highlights the various indications pointing
at a new military infrastructure emerging in the Jenin and Nablus areas —
resembling what already exists in the coastal enclave ruled by Hamas since 2007
— thanks to the dwindling control of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority
over the area.”




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* Cyberterrorism – The Paradigm of Deterring, Detecting, and Defending
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* Al-Shabaab Sets Sights on Kenya
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* Lebanon, Hezbollah, and the Anniversary – and Failure – of Resolution 1701
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* CEP-KAS: Sahel Monitoring July 2023
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* Afghanistan Terrorism Report: June 2023
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United States



U.S. Army: New Antiterrorism Strategic Plan Coming This Fiscal Year
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“WASHINGTON — The Department of the Army is working on a new Antiterrorism
Strategic Plan that is scheduled to roll out this fiscal year. The plan, which
is being coordinated with the Department of Defense, will update policy,
training, exercises and how the Army analyzes and shares information about
terrorism. “The threats we faced 20 years ago aren’t the threats we face today,
nor are they the threats we will face in the future,” said Maj. Gen. Duane R.
Miller, Army provost marshal general. “Our adversaries are constantly evolving
with the use of technology to identify vulnerabilities. It’s through this
strategic plan that we hope to address any vulnerabilities and any threats we
may face in the future.” The program will help put Army civilians, contractors,
Soldiers, and their families on common ground with the service’s antiterrorism
goals and objectives moving forward, he added.”



Iran



The Dispatch: Incentivizing More Iranian Terrorism
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“More than $6 billion in unfrozen funds are headed for Iranian coffers in
exchange for the release of several American-Iranian dual nationals who were
wrongfully detained. American officials insist the cash is restricted to
humanitarian uses, but history indicates the agreement will likely finance
terrorism abroad and fuel repression in Iran—all while encouraging more
hostage-taking gambits. Iranian authorities have already touted the $6 billion
in oil revenues, which they claim to have the freedom to spend as they see fit.
“The process of releasing billions of dollars from the assets of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, which were illegally seized in South Korea by the United
States for several years, has begun,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a
statement. “The decision on how to utilize these unfrozen resources and
financial assets lies with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”



Iraq



United News of India: At Least 3 IS Militants Killed In N. Iraq
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“Baghdad, Aug 16 (UNI) At least three Islamic State (IS) militants were
killed on Tuesday in an airstrike on an IS hideout in Iraq's northern province
of Kirkuk, according to an army source. Based on intelligence reports, the
Iraqi warplanes conducted an airstrike in the rugged area of Wadi al-Shay, some
250 km north of the capital Baghdad, according to a statement issued by the
Security Media Cell, a media outlet affiliated with the Iraqi Joint Operations
Command. The airstrike destroyed the hideout and killed all IS militants
inside, the statement said, without mentioning the death toll of the militants.
Meanwhile, an army source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that "between
three and five terrorists were killed." The security situation in Iraq has
improved since the defeat of the IS in 2017. However, the IS remnants have
since melted into urban centers, deserts and rugged areas, carrying out
frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.”



Afghanistan



United States Institute Of Peace: Two Years Under The Taliban: Is Afghanistan
A Terrorist Safe Haven Once Again?
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“Two years into Taliban rule, the question of whether Afghanistan would once
again become a safe haven for international terrorism remains alive.
Longstanding fears were affirmed a little over a year ago, when the U.S.
government located al-Qaeda leader Aimen al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Afghanistan,
before killing him in a drone strike. The fact that the Taliban would bring
Zawahiri back to Kabul, despite repeated assurances to U.S. negotiators both
before and after the Doha agreement that they had distanced themselves from
al-Qaeda, significantly elevated concerns. However, the drone strike also
allowed the Biden administration to argue that it has a workable
counterterrorism strategy to mitigate the remaining threat from Afghanistan.
Ever since, policymakers seem to draw comfort from the fact that the Taliban,
at the very least, appear to be confronting the Islamic State in Afghanistan —
with President Biden even suggesting, in passing, that the Taliban are helping
contain terrorist threats from the country.”



Yemen



The National: Momentum For Change Could Be Building In Yemen
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"If the conflict in Yemen can be defined by anything, it is its
intractability and the horrendous toll it has taken on its people. Fighting in
the country’s most recent war persisted for most of the past decade, the
various factions remain politically poles apart and one of the world’s worst
humanitarian crises has dragged on for years. For a long time, hope of making
any progress towards resolving the situation seemed naive. But that could be
beginning to change. Recently, the UN said 1.14 million barrels of oil on board
a rusting Red Sea tanker called the FSO Safer had been transferred to another
ship, averting an immediate environmental catastrophe 8 kilometres off the
Yemeni coast that would have cost an estimated $20 billion to clean up. The UN
had been warning for years that the 47-year-old Safer was at risk of breaking
up or exploding after it was left unattended and decaying following the
outbreak of war. If that had been allowed to happen, it would have spilt four
times as much oil into the sea as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.”



Saudi Arabia



Asharq Al-Awsat: Minister Al-Sheikh To Asharq Al-Awsat: Moderate Islam To
Triumph, Extremism To Cease
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“Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Islamic Affairs Abdullatif bin Abdulaziz
Al-Sheikh emphasized to Asharq Al-Awsat that moderate Islam will prevail, and
extremism and fanaticism will come to an end irrevocably, despite the
historical incidents of attacks on Islamic sanctities in certain countries.
Al-Sheikh added that Islamophobia has been exploited by feeble minds and
enemies of Islam, or by certain Muslims who do not represent the true essence
of Islam. Instead, they represent sources of discord and destruction worldwide,
including within the Islamic world itself. The minister pointed out that there
is a collective awareness at the level of nations and societies to combat such
extremism. Al-Sheikh’s remarks came in the wake of the kickoff of the
international Islamic conference under the patronage of the Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz."



Middle East



The Jerusalem Post: Why is Hezbollah's Nasrallah Commenting On Haredi IDF
Draft? - Analysis <[link removed]>



“Did anyone ever think that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah would spend
large parts of a prime-time speech analyzing social friction in Israel between
haredim and other sectors? Many foreign countries may not even know about
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox sector unless they have tuned in to some Hollywood
movies or happened to have a rare interaction with a haredi minister on some
kind of global issue. Yet Nasrallah told his followers that the Jewish state
will come apart over the issue of a proposed Knesset bill that would exempt
haredim from serving in the IDF.”



The Jerusalem Post: Man Convicted Of Giving Hamas NIS 4 Million Via Wakf
Affiliated Org.
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“A man was convicted of financing Hamas with NIS 4 million over the course of
a decade through a charity affiliated with both the terrorist organization and
the Jordanian Wakf, the Jerusalem District Court ruled on Tuesday. Faris Totah,
who had previously been imprisoned in 2004 for Hamas activism, was accused of
raising and transferring around NIS 100,000 to the Janat Zakat Al-Quds
Association every three months from 2012-2022. Totah claimed that he had only
transferred sums to the charity at such a level in the last two years. Almost
NIS 70,000 was seized by authorities. Totah claimed that he had been saving up
for a new car, but Khaled Sabah, Totah's boss, said that the money was destined
for him. Sabah later retracted this statement.”



Nigeria



African News: Niger: At Least 17 Soldiers Killed In An Attack Near Mali
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“At least 17 Nigerien soldiers were killed and 20 injured in an attack by
suspected jihadists on Tuesday near the Niger-Mali border, the defense ministry
said in Niamey. Early Tuesday afternoon, "a detachment of the Niger Armed
Forces (FAN) moving between Boni and Torodi was the victim of a terrorist
ambush near the town of Koutougou", according to a statement from the ministry
published late Tuesday. Evening. "The provisional toll" is 17 soldiers killed
and 20 wounded, six of them seriously, "all evacuated to Niamey", he adds,
specifying that a "mopping-up operation is still in progress". The army affirms
that on the side of the attackers, "two columns of more than fifty motorcycles
each" were "destroyed, that is to say, more than a hundred terrorists
neutralized during their withdrawal".”



Somalia



Garowe Online: Will Frontline Countries Participate In Somalia's Black Lion
Mission Against Al-Shabaab?
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“MOGADISHU - Somalia is entering a crucial phase in operations against
Al-Shabaab militants who still dominate several parts of the country, just as
soldiers plan ground and aerial offensive against the group which is fighting
to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government. A few months ago, regional
leaders from Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia gathered in Uganda where they
pledged to support the country in the second phase and perhaps final assault
against the militants that will target Jubaland and Southwest states of the
Horn of Africa nation. Under the agreement, Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia
pledged to dispatch more soldiers to the country with the aim of assisting
Somalia in overcoming the militants. The soldiers, President Hassan Sheikh
Mohamud said, would stay in the country for a period of three months under the
command of the Somali army.”



Europe



The Economist: Poland’s Far Right Could Be The Next Government’s Kingmaker
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“Pint by pint, Poland’s biggest far-right party is climbing in the polls.
Slawomir Mentzen, its new co-leader, is staging lager-fuelled rallies across
the country. With a mostly male crowd cheering him on, the 36-year-old chugs
down beers while extolling low taxes and deregulation. Most non-Poles think of
the Law and Justice (pis) party, which has governed Poland since 2015, as the
epitome of populist nationalism. But there is another party farther to the
right: Confederation. Polls in July found it had roughly doubled its support
this year to 15%. The two bigger parties, pis and the centrist Civic Platform
(po), will almost certainly fall short of a majority in the parliamentary
election on October 15th. Whichever wins will probably need Confederation’s
support.”



Southeast Asia



Reuters: Indonesia Arrests Militant Over Alleged Plot to Attack Police Division

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“JAKARTA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit on Tuesday
announced the arrest of an alleged Islamic State (IS) loyalist suspected of
planning an attack on the headquarters of the police's security division.The
man was detained in a raid on his house outside the capital Jakarta on Monday
during which an IS flag, ammunition and 16 weapons were discovered, mostly
handguns and modified air rifles, according to Aswin Siregar, spokesperson for
Indonesia's Densus 88 counter-terrorism task force. The suspect, an employee
with a state railway company, told authorities of his plan to attack the police
facility, but gave no time frame or motive, Aswin said. He added that the
suspect, once a member of a defunct militant organisation, had posted pro-IS
content on social media and sought to raise funds for extremism via messaging
app Telegram. "We were shocked by the evidence we found," Aswin told a news
conference.”



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