“Houthi militants in Yemen said on Tuesday they had mounted six attacks on
ships with drones and missiles in the last 72 hours in the Gulf of Aden and the
Red Sea, but one of the companies named, Denmark's Maersk, denied its vessel
had been targeted. The Houthis said they attacked the Maersk Saratoga, APL
Detroit, and the Huang Pu after identifying them as either U.S. or British, in
addition to Pretty Lady ship which they claim was heading to Israel, the
group's military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement. Maersk
(MAERSKb.CO), opens new tab denied that the Saratoga had been attacked. "We can
confirm that no such incident was reported by the vessel, which is currently
safely continuing her normal journey far from the mentioned location," the
company said in a statement. Maersk Saratoga is part of Maersk Line, Limited
(MLL) which is the Danish company's U.S. subsidiary that carries significant
amounts of cargo for the Department of Defense, Department of State, USAID, and
other U.S. government agencies.”











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Eye on Extremism



March 27, 2024



Reuters: Houthis Claim Strikes On Ships, Maersk Denies It Was Attacked
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“Houthi militants in Yemen said on Tuesday they had mounted six attacks on
ships with drones and missiles in the last 72 hours in the Gulf of Aden and the
Red Sea, but one of the companies named, Denmark's Maersk, denied its vessel
had been targeted. The Houthis said they attacked the Maersk Saratoga, APL
Detroit, and the Huang Pu after identifying them as either U.S. or British, in
addition to Pretty Lady ship which they claim was heading to Israel, the
group's military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement. Maersk
(MAERSKb.CO), opens new tab denied that the Saratoga had been attacked. "We can
confirm that no such incident was reported by the vessel, which is currently
safely continuing her normal journey far from the mentioned location," the
company said in a statement. Maersk Saratoga is part of Maersk Line, Limited
(MLL) which is the Danish company's U.S. subsidiary that carries significant
amounts of cargo for the Department of Defense, Department of State, USAID, and
other U.S. government agencies.”



Associated Press: Seven Soldiers In Chad Are Killed In An Explosion Blamed On
Boko Haram Extremists
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“An explosive device detonated and killed seven soldiers in Chad during a
patrol in the country’s west near Lake Chad, the government says. The interim
president, Mahamat Deby Itno, announced the deaths Monday on social media.
Chadian authorities said they suspected Boko Haram extremists from Nigeria were
behind the attack, renewing concerns about an escalation of violence near the
border. Boko Haram launched an insurgency more than a decade ago against
Western education and seeks to establish Islamic law in Nigeria’s northeast.
The insurgency has spread to West African neighbors including Cameroon, Niger
and Chad. More than 36,000 people have been killed, mainly in Nigeria,
according to the United Nations. Violence has returned to the Lake Chad area
after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by
the Chadian army to destroy the extremist group’s bases there. Schools, mosques
and churches have reopened and humanitarian organizations have returned. But
there are concerns that a Boko Haram resurgence in Chad could affect the
presidential election in May.”




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* UNRWA and Extremism: Frequently Asked Questions
<[link removed]>
* Reciprocal Reactivity: The Lina E. Case and Left-v. Right-Wing
Transnational Extremist Networks
<[link removed]>
* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in February 2024
<[link removed]>
* CEP – KAS: Sahel Monitoring January 2024
<[link removed]>
* Arrest of Member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in Germany After 30 Years of
Investigation: Transnational Left-Wing Terrorism in Germany
<[link removed]>



CEP Mentions



Global With JJ Green: The Crocus City Hall Attack: What Happened?
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“Dr. Hans Jakob Schindler, Sr. Director at the Counter Extremism Project
discusses why we may never know the truth.”



Gatestone Institute: Biden Administration's Terrorist Pier In Gaza: The Trojan
Horse For Terrorists To Take Over The Region
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“... Qatar has a long history of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and its
Islamist offshoots, but also Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah
and the Al Nusra Front (here, here and here). According to the Counter
Extremism Project: "During the Brotherhood's year in power in Egypt, Qatar
loaned President Mohammed Morsi's government approximately $7.5 billion....
During Morsi's presidency, funds as high as $850,000 were reportedly secretly
transferred to the Brotherhood from Qatar's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad
bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani." The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in
1928, is a radical Islamist organization with affiliates in more than 70
countries, including groups such as Hamas, which is designated by the US as a
foreign terrorist organization. The founder of Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan
al-Banna, a devout admirer of Adolf Hitler and Germany's Nazi regime, said that
"it is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law
on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."”



United States



Reuters: US Denies Reports It Carried Out Dawn Strikes In Syria
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“The U.S. on Tuesday denied that it had carried out dawn air strikes in Syria
after Syrian and Iranian state media said U.S. forces had bombed an eastern
region and killed at least seven soldiers, including a member of Iran's
Revolutionary Guards. Syrian state media said a civilian was also killed and at
least 19 other soldiers and 13 civilians were wounded in strikes on residential
areas and military sites in Deir al Zor province, with significant damage to
public and private properties. Iranian state media said a Revolutionary Guards
adviser was killed in the air strikes, without giving his rank. "We did not
carry out air strikes in Syria last night," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh
told reporters in Washington. Iranian-backed forces in eastern Syria have
previously attacked some of the 900 U.S. troops based in the remote region. The
United States has occasionally responded by carrying out strikes there against
targets linked to Iran. Israel has repeatedly bombed Iranian targets in Syria.
Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of
Damascus to support President Bashar al-Assad against internal and external
foes including during a decade-long civil war with opposition forces who failed
to topple him.”



Voice Of America: US Does Not Support Pakistan Iran Pipeline
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“The U.S. State Department has said it does not support Pakistan’s plan to
build a pipeline to import gas from Iran. State Department spokesperson Mathew
Miller refused to comment on the nature of sanctions Pakistan could face for
importing energy from Iran. However, he cautioned Islamabad against going ahead
with the plan. “But we always advise everyone that doing business with Iran
runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and
would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” said Miller, adding
that “the assistant secretary made clear last week, we do not support this
pipeline going forward.” Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and
Central Asia told the House Foreign Affairs committee last Wednesday in a
hearing that importing gas from Iran would expose Pakistan to U.S. sanctions.
Pakistan’s outgoing caretaker government approved the construction of an
80-kilometer section of the pipeline in February, largely to avoid paying Iran
$18 billion in penalties for years of project delays. Miller’s remarks came
after Pakistani media reported Tuesday, Islamabad was planning to seek a U.S.
sanctions waiver.”



Syria



Associated Press: Airstrikes In Syria Kill An Iranian Adviser And A Member Of
A World Health Organization Team
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“A series of airstrikes in eastern Syria on Tuesday killed more than a dozen
people, including an Iranian military adviser and a team member working for the
World Health Organization, officials and reports said. It was not immediately
clear who was behind the airstrikes in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour
that borders Iraq. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an
opposition war monitor, said the strikes killed 15 people including an Iranian
adviser with Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, two of his bodyguards as
well as nine Iraqi fighters from an Iran-backed group and two Syrians working
with the Iranians. It added that a Syrian engineer was also killed. Iran’s
state news agency confirmed that a Revolutionary Guard member was killed in
Syria.Dama Post, a pro-government media outlet in Syria, said the strikes
targeted the provincial capital of Deir el-Zour that carries the same name, and
the towns of Mayadeen and Boukamal. It said 20 people, including women and
children, were among the dead.”



Pakistan



Reuters: Pakistan Reviews Security Protocols For Chinese Nationals After
Suicide Bombing, Minister Says
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“Pakistan has reviewed security protocols for Chinese nationals in the
country at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday,
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said, a day after five Chinese engineers
working on a dam project were killed in a suicide attack.”



Yemen



Bloomberg: The ‘No-Fail’ Mission To Protect The Red Sea Isn’t Working
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“The gray F/A-18 fighter jets hurtled one by one from the deck of the USS
Dwight D. Eisenhower into the heat of the Red Sea morning, scrambling to
counter the latest attack drone launched by the Houthis. The $56 million
aircraft were part of a coalition operation that nullified the attack,
returning hours later as they have almost daily for the last several months.
Yet for all the costly hardware the US and its allies have thrown at the
Islamist group from northwest Yemen, they haven’t been able to stop the attacks
on civilian freighters and warships. As a result, the world’s biggest shipping
companies are still largely avoiding a route that once carried 15% of global
commerce. The success of the Iran-backed rebel group in stymying the world’s
most sophisticated militaries is the latest setback for Washington’s efforts to
limit the spread of a regional conflict that began with Hamas’ deadly attack on
Israel on Oct. 7. The Houthi campaign, which claimed its first civilian ship
sunk in early March and its first fatalities not long after, is also a growing
threat to the global economy. The number of vessels sailing through the
southern Red Sea is down about 70% compared with the start of December.
Container shipping has dropped about 90% and gas tankers have also all but
ceased transit.”



Lebanon



Reuters: Lebanon's Hezbollah Says It Launched Dozens Of Rockets After Israeli
Strikes
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“Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched dozens of rockets at Kiryat Shmona, an
Israeli town over the border, early on Wednesday in response to deadly Israeli
strikes on the village of Hebbariyeh in southern Lebanon a day earlier. Israel
and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire across the border since the
Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza, in the biggest escalation between the old
enemies since a month-long conflict in 2006. Both sides have said they do not
want all-out war and are open to a diplomatic process but strikes, have picked
up this week after a lull in cross-border shelling. Israeli emergency services
said a rocket strike on Wednesday killed a factory worker in Kiryat Shmona
following warning signs in the area. Paramedics from the MDA ambulance service
said the man was pulled from the wreckage of the factory with severe wounds and
was pronounced dead at the scene. At least seven people were killed in the
Israeli strikes on Hebbariyeh, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters.”



Associated Press: 7 Lebanese And An Israeli Killed In An Exchange Of Fire
Along The Lebanon-Israel Border
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“An Israeli airstrike on a paramedics center linked to a Lebanese Sunni
Muslim group in south Lebanon killed seven of its members early Wednesday and
triggered a rocket attack from Lebanon that killed one person in northern
Israel, officials said. The strike on the village of Hebbariye came after a day
of airstrikes and rocket attacks between Israel’s military and Lebanon’s
Hezbollah group along the Lebanon-Israel border, raising concerns of further
escalation along the frontier that has been active for the past five months of
the Israel-Hamas war. The airstrike after midnight Tuesday hit an office of the
Islamic Emergency and Relief Corps, according to the Lebanese Ambulance
Association. It was one of the deadliest single attacks since violence erupted
along the border. The paramedics association listed the names of seven
volunteers who were killed in the strike. It said the strike was “a flagrant
violation of humanitarian work.” Hebbariye resident Ali Noureddine told The
Associated Press that the seven dead were pulled out from the rubble before
sunrise Wednesday.”



Associated Press: Lebanese Sunni Militant Group Head Says Coordination With
Shiite Hezbollah Is Vital To Fight Israel
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“The head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined
the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel on Lebanon’s
border said Tuesday that the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between
the two groups. The Secretary-General of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic
Group, Sheikh Mohammed Takkoush said his faction decided to join the fighting
along the Lebanon-Israel border because of Israel’s crushing offensive on the
Gaza Strip and its strikes against Lebanese towns and villages killing
civilians, including journalists, since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct.7.
“We decided to join (the battle) as a national, religious and moral duty. We
did that to defend our land and villages,” Takkoush told The Associated Press
at his group’s headquarters in Beirut. “We also did so in support of our
brothers in Gaza,” where he said Israel was committing an “open massacre.””



Middle East



Reuters: Israel Truce Team Leaves Doha, Official Blames Hamas For 'Dead End'
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“Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediated talks
on a Gaza truce "at a dead end" due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli
official said on Tuesday. The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster
heading up the talks, accused Hamas' Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging the
diplomacy "as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan". The
warring sides had stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a
six-week suspension of Israel's offensive in return for the proposed release of
40 of the 130 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.
Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal
of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume
efforts to dismantle the governance and military capabilities of Hamas. Hamas
also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and
surrounding areas southward during the first stage of the almost six-month-old
war to be allowed back north.”



Associated Press: Israel And Hamas Dig In As Pressure Builds For A Cease-Fire
In Gaza
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“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blasted a United
Nations Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza cease-fire that his
country’s top ally, the United States, chose not to block. He said the
resolution had emboldened Hamas and he vowed to press ahead with the war. As
the war grinds through a sixth month, both Israel and Hamas have rejected
cease-fire efforts, each insisting its version of victory is within reach. The
passage of the U.N. resolution has also escalated tensions between the U.S. and
Israel over the conduct of the war. Netanyahu has said Israel can only achieve
its aims of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages if it expands
its ground offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s
population has sought refuge, many in crowded tent camps. The U.S. has said a
major assault on Rafah would be a mistake. Hamas says it will hold onto the
hostages until Israel agrees to a more permanent cease-fire, withdraws its
forces from Gaza and releases hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including top
militants. It said late Monday that it rejected a recent proposal that fell
short of those demands — which, if fulfilled, would allow it to claim an
extremely costly victory.”



Reuters: Qatar: UN Gaza Resolution Has No Immediate Impact On Doha Ceasefire
Talks
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“The United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has not had an immediate impact on
ceasefire talks in Doha, mediator Qatar said on Tuesday. The resolution
demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas,
as well as the release of hostages. The United States abstained from the vote,
angering ally Israel which had wanted Washington to veto it. The remaining 14
council members voted in favour. "We haven't seen any immediate effect on the
talks, they are ongoing as they were before, as the (UN) decision was taking
place," said Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari during a press
conference in Doha on Tuesday. A source briefed on the talks earlier told
Reuters that a delegation from Israel's Mossad spy agency, which had arrived in
Qatar more than a week ago, was still engaging in discussions. A small Mossad
team was returning to Israel from Doha for consultations on developments, the
source added.”



Russia



The Washington Post: Putin Sees Kyiv In Moscow Terrorist Attack. But ISIS Is
Its Own Story.
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“After a hideous slaughter in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin is
still intent on pointing the finger at Kyiv. It’s been five days since Russia
experienced its worst terrorist attack in two decades, when a clutch of
Islamist gunmen burst into a crowded concert venue in the capital, opened fire
and set the hall ablaze, killing at least 139 people. The extremist Islamic
State group claimed responsibility for the assault, but Kremlin officials
continue to gesture to their more immediate enemy — a Ukrainian government that
has resisted Russia’s costly and bloody full-scale invasion for more than two
years. “We know that the crime was committed by radical Islamists,” Putin
acknowledged in a televised government meeting Monday evening, before taking an
angrier, conspiratorial turn. “We also know that the U.S. via various channels
tries to persuade their satellites and other countries that, according to their
intel, there is allegedly no Kyiv trace in the Moscow terrorist attack and that
it was carried out by members of ISIS.””



Politico: Lukashenko Contradicts Putin, Says Moscow Terrorists Were Fleeing To
Belarus, Not Ukraine
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“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said the men who allegedly
attacked the Crocus music hall in Moscow on Friday were initially headed to
Belarus, not Ukraine — contradicting a previous claim by Russian President
Vladimir Putin. “We placed our units on high alert to prepare for a combat
situation,” Lukashenko said at a Tuesday press conference. “As a result they
were unable to enter Belarus by any means. Recognizing this, they diverted
their course and headed toward the Ukrainian-Russian border.” The March 22
terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall, a concert venue on the outskirts of the
Russian capital, resulted in 139 fatalities. To date Russian law enforcement
has apprehended eight suspects, with at least four appearing to have been
tortured. The ISIS transnational jihadist group has claimed responsibility. Six
of the suspects are Tajikistani citizens, while two have Russian citizenship.
So far no evidence has been produced connecting them to either Belarus or
Ukraine, although the chief of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB),
Alexander Bortnikov, claimed today to have “primary data that we received from
the detainees” allegedly confirming the men were linked to Ukraine.”



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