Eye on Extremism

December 20, 2023 

ABC: US Launches International Task Force To Counter Houthi Attacks

“The U.S. is responding to the escalating crisis in the Red Sea by announcing Tuesday it has launched an international task force for maritime security, but so far only nine other politically similar nations are confirmed to have joined on -- sparking doubt that the coalition can put an end to militia attacks on vessels in the region and calm anxious shipping companies. State Department officials said the Biden administration's initial goal was to bring together a broad array of international powers to rein in the Houthis, an armed group backed by Iran that controls a significant amount of territory in Yemen. However, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the initiative, dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian, the U.S. said it had only managed to recruit the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain -- seven NATO allies and two small island nations. Asked about whether the coalition could have a meaningful impact, White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday that time would tell. "There's going to be a whole lot of hardware in the Red Sea now, naval hardware, not just from the United States, but other ships from other nations to counter these threats," he said. "So let's see where it goes."”

The Independent: Court In Germany Convicts A Man Inspired By The Islamic State Group Of Committing 2 Knife Attacks

“A Syrian man described as radicalized was convicted of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm on Tuesday over two knife attacks in Germany this year, including an assault on visitors to a gym. The 27-year-old defendant, identified only as Maan D. in line with German privacy rules, was sentenced to life in prison. The Duesseldorf state court determined that he bears particularly severe guilt, meaning that he won’t be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany. He was convicted of stabbing a 35-year-old man to death with a kitchen knife in the western city of Duisburg in April, and attacking four people at a gym in the city with the same knife nine days later. The victims in that stabbing survived, though some sustained life-threatening injuries. The court found that the man, who was arrested a few days after the gym attack and has been in custody since then, “is still determined to kill people who are ‘infidels’ from his point of view” and that he is a danger to the public. The defendant arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2015 and, starting in 2020, became radicalized online by the ideology of the Islamic State group, the court said. It added that, “without a direct link to IS or other terror organizations,” he was determined to kill arbitrarily chosen male residents of Germany.”

The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

• Violence-Oriented Right-Wing Extremist Actors in Russia: Rusich - Part 2
• Reflecting on Two Months of War Against Hamas
• ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in November 2023
• Violence-Oriented Right-Wing Extremist Actors in Russia: Rusich - Part 1
• CEP – KAS: Sahel Monitoring October 2023

CEP Mentions

GLOBAL With JJ Green: Hamas Said To Be "Planning" A Wave Of Attacks Against Jews Globally. Here's What We Know

“Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Sr. Director at the Counter Extremism Project says the Hamas attack, which was foiled in Europe last week, was planned before the Oct. 7 attack in Israel. This suggests attacks in Europe and perhaps well beyond may be in the works.”

Outlook India: Indian Man Extradited To US From UK In Hezbollah Terror Financing Case

“…"Like Iran, Hezbollah considers the United States and Israel to be its chief enemies, which has led to a global terrorist campaign against the two nations. Until September 11, 2001, Hezbollah was responsible for killing more Americans than any other terrorist organization...The group’s manifesto describes the U.S. as the root of abomination and declares that its “determination to fight the U.S. is solid," says think tank Counter Extremism Project (CEP).”

The National: Nadia Murad's Lafarge Lawsuit A 'Game Changer' For Victims Of Terrorism

“... Hans Jacob-Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project, told The National the landmark case will send out a strong message to companies who support terrorist groups. "The Lafarge case could be a real game changer. The firm pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2022 and it is established they paid over $6 million to ISIS and Al Nusrah," he said. "In counter-terrorism financing it does not matter for what purpose ISIS used the money, it is arguably start-up capital which enabled ISIS and its genocidal ideology to rise and it should pay compensation. "I would think the legal action has quite a good chance as the firm has already pleaded guilty. At the time it gave ISIS the money it enabled its growth. Even more importantly they gave the money that enabled them to carry out genocide in the future. "The good news is this goes beyond Lafarge, it has established that it no longer matters who in an organisation paid a terror group, now the organisation is being held to account and is responsible for financing terrorism. "Other corporations will be watching this carefully and making more of an effort to ensure this doesn't happen within their organisation. It is super important. Any firms backing Hamas presently could face the same action in the future now it is proscribed in the UK and US."”

United States

NBC: Colorado Teen Planned Middle East Trip To Help ISIS Terrorists, Prosecutors Say

“A Denver-area teenager was charged Monday with trying to help terrorists after he allegedly planned to travel to the Middle East in order to become a soldier for the Islamic State terrorist group. The defendant, Humzah Mashkoor, 18, of Westminster, Colorado, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado with knowingly providing or attempting or conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. An FBI agent's narrative included in the criminal complaint alleges Mashkoor, born in the United States but raised in part in his family's native Afghanistan, desperately wanted to return to fight for the Islamic State group, better known as ISIS. FBI agents arrested him Monday at Denver International Airport as he attempted to fly to the United Arab Emirates as part of the alleged plan to end up back in Afghanistan and meet with ISIS "brothers," according to the complaint. The bureau became aware of Mashkoor in 2021 when a social media company alerted it to a post by the defendant that expressed support for the terrorist group, the court filing states. The federally designated Foreign Terrorist Organization based in Iraq and Syria is a jihadist group — militants who pine for a holy war that would leave their school of Islam victorious — that has undertaken or inspired terrorist attacks resulting in thousands of casualties around the world, according to the office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

CBS: Overly Broad Terrorist Watchlist Poses National Security Risks, Senate Report Says

“A growing terrorist watchlist and numerous screening processes implemented after the 9/11 attacks to identify travelers who could be a threat are uncoordinated and too broad, a dynamic that pose risk to national security, according to a new Senate report.  The 43-page report, released Tuesday by Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the watchlist and nearly two dozen screening processes can "spread limited national security resources out broadly rather than effectively target changing threats." The procedures lack oversight, and Americans have "insufficient" options if they are subject to wrongful screenings. "A watchlist that is not properly maintained, coupled with unnecessarily duplicative screening practices that are not frequently assessed for their effectiveness is a risk to our national security. It may not reflect the latest threats, it could overextend limited security resources that should be focused on the best ways to protect Americans, and it breaks the trust with innocent Americans who get caught up in this net with no way out," the report said. "As the size of the watchlist and screening enterprise grows, so does the chance of misidentification, the need for additional resources, and the risk that existing limited resources may be spent on low risks, overlooking real threats," it added.”

Yemen

The New York Times: Amid Gaza War And Red Sea Attacks, Yemen’s Houthis Refuse To Back Down

“When the United States announced it was leading an international maritime task force to confront attacks on ships in the Red Sea, it did not take long for the group behind the attacks, the Houthi militia in Yemen, to dismiss the effort as a lost cause. Within hours, a top Houthi official was making the rounds on Arabic television channels, describing the militia’s campaign of hijackings and missile and drone launches at commercial ships as a righteous battle to force Israel to end its siege on Gaza. Western militaries had already spent weeks attempting to deter the Houthis, so the task force announced this week was “nothing new,” scoffed Mohammed Abdusalam, the Houthis’ chief negotiator. And if the United States directly attacked Yemen, he warned, it could turn the war in Gaza into an international conflagration. “The Yemeni position is clear,” Abdullah Ben Amer, a high-ranking Houthi official in a department that is part of the group’s defense ministry, told The New York Times. The Houthi escalation in the Red Sea will stop, he said, when “the Israeli war on the people of Gaza stops.” Those words echoed the stance that the Iran-backed militia has repeated since the war in Gaza began two months ago with the Hamas-led attacks that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, officials say, and the Israeli response: bombardments in Gaza that have killed around 20,000 Palestinians, officials in the enclave say.”

Politico: How Houthi Rebels Are Threatening Global Trade Nexus On Red Sea

“The U.S. is mustering an international armada to deter Iranian-backed Houthi militias from Yemen from attacking shipping in the Red Sea, one of the world's most important waterways for global trade, including energy cargos. The Houthis' drone and missile attacks are ostensibly a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, but fears are growing that the broader world economy could be disrupted as commercial vessels are forced to reroute. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held a videoconference with 43 countries, the EU and NATO, telling them that “attacks had already impacted the global economy and would continue to threaten commercial shipping if the international community did not come together to address the issue collectively.” Earlier this week, the U.S. announced an international security effort dubbed Operation Prosperity Guardian that listed the U.K., Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the Seychelles and Spain as participants. Madrid, however, said it wouldn’t take part.  The Houthis were quick to respond.  “Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our military operations will not stop unless the genocide crimes in Gaza stop and allow food, medicine, and fuel to enter its besieged population, no matter the sacrifices it costs us,” said Mohammed Al-Bukaiti, a member of the Ansar Allah political bureau, in a post on X.”

Middle East

Reuters: High Civilian Toll In Gaza Is Cost Of Crushing Hamas, Israeli Military Officials Say

“Heavy civilian casualties are the cost of Israel's intense campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza and the militants' urban warfare strategy, Israeli military officials said, in the face of global alarm at the staggering toll from the bombing. Israel has dropped thousands of tonnes of munitions over the past 10 weeks, leaving the narrow Mediterranean strip in ruins and killing nearly 20,000, with more believed to be trapped under collapsed buildings, Gazan officials say. More than 50,000 are injured, with minimal healthcare services working. Speaking at the Palmachim Air Force Base, 45 km (28 miles)from Gaza, on Monday, two officials said Israel acknowledged that before each strike, the cost in civilian lives was balanced against an evaluation of the military advantage. One of the officials, a legal advisor to the Israeli Defence Forces, said the air force was carrying out "thousands and thousands of attacks and often attacks that require heavy firepower" to break through Hamas' tunnels under Gaza. "Really tragically that results in a large number of civilian casualties," said the official, in a briefing with journalists at the coastal base, from where grey military drones depart on daily bombing runs.”

Associated Press: Top Hamas Leader Arrives In Cairo For Talks On The War In Gaza In Another Sign Of Group’s Resilience

“Hamas’ top leader arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for talks on the war in Gaza, where the militant group is putting up stiff resistance after more than 10 weeks of heavy Israeli bombardment and fierce urban combat that has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians. The visit by Ismail Haniyeh came a day after Hamas fired rockets that set off air raid sirens in central Israel, a show of strength during a war that has devastated much of northern Gaza and driven some 1.9 million Palestinians — nearly 85% of the population — from their homes. Israel has called on the rest of the world to blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organization, saying it must be eradicated in the wake of its Oct. 7 rampage across southern Israel that triggered the war. But the sides have recently relaunched indirect talks, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, aimed at instituting another cease-fire and freeing more hostages captured in that attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Despite a flurry of activity by high-level officials in recent days, the two sides appeared to be far from an agreement. Hamas said in a statement that Haniyeh would discuss the war with Egyptian officials, without providing more details.”

Egypt

Reuters: Hamas Leader Visits Egypt Amid Intensive Talks On New Ceasefire

“The leader of Hamas made his first visit to Egypt for more than a month on Wednesday, a rare personal intervention in diplomacy amid what a source described as intensive talks on a new ceasefire to let aid reach Gaza and get hostages freed. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who normally resides in Qatar, typically intervenes in diplomacy publicly only when progress seems likely. He last travelled to Egypt in early November before the announcement of the only agreement on a ceasefire in the war so far, a week-long pause during which more than 100 hostages were released. A source briefed on negotiations said envoys were discussing which of the hostages still held by militants in Gaza could be freed under a new truce agreement, and what prisoners Israel might release in return. Israel was insisting that all remaining women and infirm men among hostages be released, the source said, declining to be identified. Palestinians convicted of serious offences could be on the list of prisoners to be freed. The source described the negotiations as intensive and said a breakthrough could be possible within days.”

Africa

Associated Press: Militants With Ties To The Islamic State Group Kill 10 People In Uganda’s Western District

“At least 10 people have been killed by militants with ties to the Islamic State group during an attack in Uganda’s western district of Kamwenge, the East African nation’s military said Tuesday. The Allied Democratic Forces militants attacked the village early Tuesday morning, said the Uganda People’s Defence Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye, without providing further details. It’s the latest in a series of attacks this year blamed on the ADF, a group established in the early 1990s by Ugandan Muslims who said they were sidelined by the policies of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986. The ADF militants who attacked Kamwenge district had crossed from the neighboring Congo last month and were being hunted by the military, Brig. Kulaigye said. “These ADF attackers are remnants of the group that is scavenging for food,” he said. Despite airstrikes and joint security operations by the militaries of Uganda and Congo, the militants continue to launch deadly attacks on locals and security forces across the border of the two countries, including the June attack on a school dormitory in Uganda’s Kasese district that left more than 40 dead. In October, the group killed two tourists and their local driver at a national park in the Kasese district near the border with Congo.”

Europe

Associated Press: The EU’s Naval Force Says A Cargo Ship Hijacked Last Week Has Moved Toward The Coast Of Somalia

“A Maltese-flagged merchant ship that was hijacked last week in the Arabian Sea with 18 crew on board is now off the coast of Somalia, the European Union’s maritime security force said Tuesday. One crew member has been evacuated for medical care. The bulk carrier Ruen remains under the control of the hijackers, whose identity and demands are unknown, the EU Naval Force said in a statement. It did not give details on the condition of the crew member who was taken off the vessel on Monday and moved to an Indian navy ship that has been shadowing the Ruen. An Indian maritime patrol plane spotted the Ruen a day after its hijacking last Thursday and made radio contact with the crew, who had locked themselves in a safe room. The hijackers broke into the safe room and “extracted the crew” hours later, the EU Naval Force said. The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra near the Horn of Africa when it was boarded, the private intelligence firm Ambrey and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. Bulgarian authorities said the ship’s crew were Angolan, Bulgarian and Myanmar nationals.”

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