“The Israeli military has killed about half of Hamas’s midlevel commanders in
Gaza, Israeli officials said, as its troops pressed forward Wednesday into the
suspected hiding place of the group’s leader in a bid to eliminate its top
brass. Israel is deploying a deliberate strategy to find and kill the militant
group’s midlevel operatives to disrupt Hamas’s ability to fight in Gaza, though
military analysts caution doing so is unlikely immediately to deliver the
victory it craves. Israel has so far failed to assassinate the U.S.-designated
terrorist group’s senior leadership, which includes Yahya Sinwar, leader of
Hamas in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the head of the group’s armed wing. But
fighting is now coalescing around Khan Younis, one of Hamas’s strongholds in
the southern strip, where the Israeli military says Sinwar and others could be
hunkering. Late on Tuesday, Israel’s military said it killed senior commanders
hiding in a tunnel in northern Gaza, frustrating the group’s ability to direct
operations in that part of the strip. Israeli forces released a photo of what
they said was a group of operatives who led battalions and brigades, likely
overseeing thousands of Hamas fighters. The military said it had found the
photo during fighting and highlighted those in the picture whom it claims to
have killed, including the commander of the northern brigade in Gaza.”











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Eye on Extremism



December 7, 2023



The Wall Street Journal: Israel Says It Has Killed Half Of Hamas’s Battalion
Commanders
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“The Israeli military has killed about half of Hamas’s midlevel commanders in
Gaza, Israeli officials said, as its troops pressed forward Wednesday into the
suspected hiding place of the group’s leader in a bid to eliminate its top
brass. Israel is deploying a deliberate strategy to find and kill the militant
group’s midlevel operatives to disrupt Hamas’s ability to fight in Gaza, though
military analysts caution doing so is unlikely immediately to deliver the
victory it craves. Israel has so far failed to assassinate the U.S.-designated
terrorist group’s senior leadership, which includes Yahya Sinwar, leader of
Hamas in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the head of the group’s armed wing. But
fighting is now coalescing around Khan Younis, one of Hamas’s strongholds in
the southern strip, where the Israeli military says Sinwar and others could be
hunkering. Late on Tuesday, Israel’s military said it killed senior commanders
hiding in a tunnel in northern Gaza, frustrating the group’s ability to direct
operations in that part of the strip. Israeli forces released a photo of what
they said was a group of operatives who led battalions and brigades, likely
overseeing thousands of Hamas fighters. The military said it had found the
photo during fighting and highlighted those in the picture whom it claims to
have killed, including the commander of the northern brigade in Gaza.”



Politico: ISIS Propaganda Seducing ‘New Generation Of Teenagers,’ French
Domestic Intel
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“A new generation of French teenagers is being wooed by the Islamic State
terrorist group — infamous for its on-camera immolations of captives in Iraq —
and seems ominously susceptible to the group’s propaganda, according to the
head of France’s DGSI internal security directorate, Nicolas Lerner. France —
home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations — has suffered multiple
terrorist attacks in the past few months, most recently last weekend near the
Eiffel Tower in Paris when a German man was killed and two others were injured.
A French prosecutor said the perpetrator had pledged allegiance to Islamic
State. “The three attack plots foiled by the DGSI in 2023 involved individuals
who were all under the age of 20,” Lerner said in a Thursday interview with Le
Monde, in which he claimed they were members of this group. Lerner used the
terms Islamic State and ISIS interchangeably. “The youngest was 13 years old.
Two others were 14 years old. In several of these cases … these young people
did not go to mosques or places of socialization: They structured themselves
online, on social networks, through a very worrying ideological and digital
confinement.” Lerner said the current conflict between Israel and Hamas has had
“undeniably” direct consequences for France.”

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CEP Mentions



WTOP News: The Hunt: Qatar Pressured To Hand Over Hamas Leaders
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“Qatar has played a major role in getting Israeli hostages out of Gaza, but
it’s facing growing pressure to distance itself from Hamas. In this week’s
episode of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green”,
Fran Townsend, president of the Counter Extremism Project, says her
organization believes Qatar is harboring terrorists.”



DW News: How Israel Plans To Track Down Hamas-Mastermind Yehya Sinwar
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“Israel has vowed to find and kill the alleged mastermind of the October 7th
terrorist attack, Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar. He has not been seen in public
since the start of the war but Israel believes he is hiding in his home town of
Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization
by multiple countries. “The house of Sinwar is in the area of Khan Younis. You
have their terror infrastructure, command centers. Sinwar is not above ground.
He is underground. I don’t want to elaborate where and how and what we know in
terms of intelligence. This is not the place to talk about such things in the
media. Our job is to find Sinwar and kill him.” Interview with CEP Senior
Director Hans-Jakob Schindler.”



United States



Fox News: Chicago Gang Leader Admits To Repeatedly Attempting To Provide Money
To ISIS, Trafficking Fentanyl
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“The leader of a Chicago-area street gang admitted in federal court that he
attempted on three separate occasions to provide financial support to ISIS.
Jason Brown, who also went by Abdul Ja'Me, attempted to provide $500 in support
of ISIS — aka the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham — three separate times in
2019, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) release. According to court
documents, the 41-year-old believed that he had given the money to a
confidential source, believing it would be sent to an ISIS soldier in combat in
Syria. However, the individual to whom he provided the money was confidentially
working with law enforcement, and the ISIS fighter was actually an undercover
law enforcement officer. Along with attempting to support the terror group,
Brown admitted that in 2019 he trafficked fentanyl and other illegal drugs from
California to the Chicago suburbs. The drug trafficker also admitted to
illegally possessing several loaded handguns to further his illegal activities.
According to the criminal complaint, Brown was the leader of the AHK street
gang, which is based in the Chicago suburb of Bellwood, and comprised of former
members of other gangs, including the Black P Stones, Gangster Disciples, and
Four Corner Hustlers.”



CBS: Arizona Man Charged For Allegedly Inciting "Religiously Motivated
Terrorist Attack" That Killed 2 Officers, Bystander In Australia
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“Arizona man charged for allegedly inciting "religiously motivated terrorist
attack" that killed 2 officers, bystander in Australia A U.S. citizen has been
charged in Arizona over online comments that allegedly incited what police
describe as a "religiously motivated terrorist attack" in Australia a year ago
in which six people died, officials said Wednesday. Queensland state police
officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and innocent bystander Alan Dare were
fatally shot by Gareth Train, his brother Nathaniel Train and Nathanial's wife
Stacey Train in an ambush at the Trains' remote property in the rural community
of Wieambilla last Dec. 12, investigators say. Four officers had arrived at the
property to investigate reports of a missing person. They walked into a hail of
gunfire, police said at the time. Two officers managed to escape and raise the
alarm. Police killed the three Trains, who have been described as conspiracy
theorists, during a six-hour siege. The siege involved "many weapons" and
continued for hours, before the suspects were shot by specially trained
officers, authorities said, the BBC reported. Investigators say the attack was
premeditated, and that it involved "advanced planning and preparation against
law enforcement."”



Yemen



Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Say They Launched Ballistic Missiles At Israel
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“Yemen's Houthi group launched several ballistic missiles at military posts
in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the group's military spokesperson said
in a statement on Wednesday Earlier Wednesday, the Mason, a U.S. Arleigh
Burke-class destroyer, shot down a drone that originated from a part of Yemen
controlled by the Houthi group, a U.S. official said. There were no injuries or
damage and it was not clear what the drone was targeting. It is the sixth time
the U.S. Navy has fired upon drones in the southern Red Sea since war broke out
between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7 and comes
amid a series of attacks on commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waters. The
Houthi group's statement said it would continue to "carry out their military
operations against the Israeli enemy, as well as implementing the decision to
prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Arab and Red Seas in support of the
oppressed Palestinian people." The Houthis, an ally of Tehran, have been
launching long-range missile and drone salvoes at Israel and Israeli-linked
ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas militants
fighting in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Wednesday, Britain's Maritime Trade
Operations (UKMTO) agency and British maritime security company Ambrey reported
an incident involving a suspected drone over the Red Sea west of the Yemeni
port of Hodeidah.”



Middle East



Reuters: Saudi Arabia Urges US Restraint As Houthis Attack Ships In Red Sea
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“Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to show restraint in responding to
attacks by Yemen's Houthis against ships in the Red Sea, two sources familiar
with Saudi thinking said, as Riyadh seeks to contain spillover from the
Hamas-Israel war. The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that
has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking
vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel
itself. The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of
support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel
stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip - more than 1,000 miles from their seat
of power in Sanaa. The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned
"Axis of Resistance" which have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since
the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked
the war by attacking Israel. Their role has added to the conflict's regional
risks, threatening sea lanes through which much of the world's oil shipped, and
worrying states on the Red Sea as Houthi rockets and drones fly towards Israel.
Riyadh, the world's top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles
have been fired over its territory. With the Houthis stepping up attacks on
shipping over the past weeks, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said
Riyadh's message of restraint to Washington aimed to avoid further escalation.
Riyadh was so far pleased with the way the United States was handling the
situation, the sources added.”



ABC: Israeli Defense Minister Predicts 2 More Months Of War, Then 'Mop Up'
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“Israel's war with Hamas in the neighboring Gaza Strip is expected to
continue at its current intensity for two more months, followed by what Israeli
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called multiple months of "mop up" operations
that would see the country's military "taking out pockets of terrorist
resistance." Gallant made the comments during a briefing with ABC News over the
weekend, where, in light of multiple warnings by top U.S. officials about
soaring civilian casualties in Gaza, he insisted: "Israel is not fighting the
Palestinian people." "We are fighting the Hamas terrorist organization," he
added, echoing a message the Israel Defense Forces have delivered since the
current conflict began with the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead,
most of the civilians. According to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health, nearly
16,000 people have been killed there since the IDF launched a counteroffensive
on the heels of the terrorist rampage, with the death toll rising daily. Gaza,
a 140-square-mile territory, is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians who have
lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas, a
Palestinian militant group that the United States has designated a terrorist
organization, came to power in 2007.”



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