“The Yemen-based Houthi militant group fired three ballistic missiles at a
Malta-flagged, Greece-owned container ship in the Red Sea, the U.S. military
and maritime security agencies said Monday. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)
identified the ship as the MV Cyclades, saying there were no injuries on board.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said an explosion hit close
to the ship, causing some damage, but that the ship was safe and heading to its
next port of call. Private security firm Ambrey said the ship was traveling
from Djibouti to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and that it was targeted “due to its
listed operator’s ongoing trade with Israel.” The Houthis have conducted
attacks since November in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in what they say is
solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.”











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Eye on Extremism



April 30, 2024



Voice Of America: Houthis Target Container Ship In Missile Attack
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“The Yemen-based Houthi militant group fired three ballistic missiles at a
Malta-flagged, Greece-owned container ship in the Red Sea, the U.S. military
and maritime security agencies said Monday. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)
identified the ship as the MV Cyclades, saying there were no injuries on board.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said an explosion hit close
to the ship, causing some damage, but that the ship was safe and heading to its
next port of call. Private security firm Ambrey said the ship was traveling
from Djibouti to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and that it was targeted “due to its
listed operator’s ongoing trade with Israel.” The Houthis have conducted
attacks since November in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in what they say is
solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the war between Israel and Hamas.”



Associated Press: A Bomb Attack In Northern Kenya Kills 5 People Near The
Border With Somalia
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“Five people have been killed in a bomb attack in northern Kenya, the
interior ministry said Monday. The bomb, which exploded in El Wak town in
Mandera County, near the border with Somalia, wounded five other people. There
was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Somalia-based al-Shabab militants
affiliated with al-Qaida have carried out other attacks in the area. The bomb
had been placed on a donkey cart to avoid detection, the interior ministry
said. Earlier this month, gunmen suspected to be al-Shabab entered the El Wak
hospital and injured guards while asking about the whereabouts of doctors. No
arrests were made. Al-Shabab often carries out cross-border attacks, especially
in the remote Kenyan counties of Mandera and Garissa. The extremist group has
threatened Kenyan forces over their yearslong deployment to Somalia as part of
multinational efforts to stabilize the Horn of Africa nation following more
than three decades of conflict.”



CEP Mentions



DW News: Blinken: ‘An Extraordinarily Generous Proposal On The Part Of Israel’
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“Israel and Hamas have been at war for seven months, with only about a week's
pause last November. Now, something more substantial appears to be in the
works. Reports suggest Israel is offering a ceasefire in exchange for the
release of 33 Israeli hostages while Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds
of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Interview with Hans-Jakob
Schindler.”



Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Fundraising Website GiveSendGo Defends
Decision To Host Australian ‘Whites-Only' Community Campaign On Platform
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“...The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) recently made a submission to the
government's right-wing extremism inquiry in which it said extremists were
increasingly turning towards under-regulated mainstream social media platforms.
The project, a not-for-profit that keeps data on and tracks extremist groups
for policymakers, said one US-based crowdfunding website was particularly
concerning. "At least two members of the Australian neo-Nazi scene have
crowdfunded money using the US website GiveSendGo," the submission said. New
Zealand-born neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell has used the site to raise thousands of
dollars to go towards the construction of a "whites-only community". "We are
scouting rural properties with fertile soil and clean water systems to sustain
the foundational wave of up to a dozen families in homesteading," the campaign
posted on GiveSendGo said.”



Breitbart: Islamic State Resurgence: Four Assad Troops Killed in Syria Ambush
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"…Voice of America also cited a report by the Counter Extremism Project, a
nonprofit that moinitors global terrorist activity, that concluded “March was,
by every metric, the most violent month of ISIS’s Badia [central Syrian desert]
insurgency since late 2017, when the group first lost control of its
territory.” The report specifically noted that Islamic State terrorists were
increasingly targeting “security forces,” including Assad’s. At the peak of the
“caliphate,” much of ISIS’s violence was directed at non-Assad targets, such as
the U.S. military and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of
militias led by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ). The
SDF, in concert with American forces, were ultimately responsible for the
liberation of Raqqa. “ISIS carried out at least 69 confirmed attacks in March
in the Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir Ez Zor governorates,” the Counter
Extremism Project report documented. “These attacks killed at least 84
pro-Assad regime soldiers and 44 civilians and wounded at least 51 more
soldiers and civilians.”



United States



The Washington Post: DC Police Refuse To Protect Private Property At George
Washington University
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"The pro-terrorist “pro-Palestinian” protesters on college campuses think
they are above the law, and Washington, D.C., agrees with them. George
Washington University is a private university. When a pro-terrorist encampment
popped up, university officials sent a request to district police to have the
protesters removed. The mayor’s office and the police chief’s office ordered
them to stand down, though, reportedly because they didn’t like the “optics” of
protecting private property from unwanted trespassing by pro-terrorist
protesters. Meanwhile, the protesters at George Washington have broken down the
barriers set up around their protests, which the university said was an effort
to limit access peacefully rather than having the police forcibly move the
protesters. The protesters plan on never leaving, with organizers saying that
“we need to be able to live sustainably here for as long as possible until
divestment, until disclosing, until liberation.””



ABC10: Sacramento-Based Russian National Caught Helping Terrorists, Gets 12
Years In Prison
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“A Russian national who resided in Sacramento was recently sentenced to 12
years in prison for trying to provide material support to a designated
terrorist organization. Federal prosecutors announced 37-year-old Murat
Kurashev's prison sentence Monday after they said he used money transfer
services to send about $13,000 to a U.S.-designated terrorist organization in
Syria known as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Court documents showed he followed
online fundraisers and social media accounts soliciting money to purchase
military equipment. Kurashev's online storage account also revealed violent
extremist content and a video depicting HTS fighters, federal prosecutors said.”



Associated Press: US Military Ships Are Working To Build A Pier For Gaza Aid.
It’s Going To Cost At Least $320 Million
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“A U.S. Navy ship and several Army vessels involved in an American-led effort
to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are offshore of the enclave and
building out a floating platform for the operation that the Pentagon has said
will cost at least $320 million. Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told
reporters the cost is a rough estimate for the project and includes the
transportation of the equipment and pier sections from the United States to the
coast of Gaza, as well as the construction and aid delivery operations.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday show the USNS Roy
P. Benavidez about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the port on shore, where the
base of operations for the project is being built by the Israeli military. The
USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr., an Army logistics vessel, and several other
Army boats are with the Benavidez and working on the construction of what the
military calls the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, system.”



Iraq



Associated Press: Iraq Repatriates Nearly 700 More Citizens Linked To The
Islamic State Group From A Syrian Camp
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“Iraq has repatriated hundreds more of its citizens linked to the Islamic
State group from a sprawling camp in northeastern Syria, Iraqi and Syrian
officials said Monday. Ali Jahangir, a spokesman for Iraq’s Ministry of
Migration and Displaced, said the nearly 700 Iraqis, mostly women and children,
arrived late Sunday at a camp near Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, where they
will undergo a rehabilitation program with the help of international agencies
in an effort to distance them from extremist ideology. Despite an aggressive
repatriation campaign by Baghdad, Iraqis remain the largest nationality among
the nearly 43,000 residents of al-Hol camp which houses the wives, widows,
children and other family members of IS militants. Syrians are the
second-largest nationality. More than 6,000 people from 57 other countries are
housed in a separate area known as the Annex.”



Afghanistan



Associated Press: A Gunman Kills 6 Worshippers Inside A Shiite Mosque In
Western Afghanistan, The Taliban Say
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“A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan, opening fire and killing
six people as they were praying, a Taliban official said Tuesday. Local media
reports and a former president of Afghanistan said the mosque was targeted
because it was a place of worship for the country’s Shiite Muslim minority. The
attack happened on Monday night in the district of Guzara in Herat province,
said Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry. He said
in a post on the social media platform X that an investigation was underway. No
one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded
another worshipper while the attacker fled. Local media reported that the
mosque’s imam was among those killed. “I strongly condemn the attack on the
Imam Zaman Mosque,” former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on X. “I consider
this terrorist act against all religious and human standards.””



Associated Press: The Taliban Are Working To Woo Tourists To Afghanistan
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“Around 30 men are crammed into a Kabul classroom, part of the debut student
cohort at a Taliban-run institute training tourism and hospitality
professionals. It’s a motley crew. One student is a model. Another is 17 and
has no job history. The students vary in age, education level and professional
experience. They’re all men — Afghan women are banned from studying beyond
sixth grade — and they don’t know anything about tourism or hospitality. But
they are all eager to promote a different side of Afghanistan. And the Taliban
are happy to help. Afghanistan’s rulers are pariahs on the global stage,
largely because of their restrictions on women and girls. The economy is
struggling, infrastructure is poor, and poverty is rife. And yet, foreigners
are visiting the country, encouraged by the sharp drop in violence, increased
flight connections with hubs like Dubai, and the bragging rights that come with
vacationing in an unusual destination. The numbers aren’t huge — they never
were — but there’s a buzz around Afghan tourism.”



Pakistan



Voice Of America: Officials: Senior Pakistani Judge Freed From Militant
Captivity 'Unconditionally'
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“Authorities in Pakistan said Monday that militants had “unconditionally”
released a senior judge who had been held hostage for two days in a volatile
northwestern region. Judge Shakirullah Marwat was kidnapped, along with his
driver, on Saturday from a road near the militancy-hit district of Dera Ismail
Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. Mohammad Ali
Saif, a provincial information advisor, confirmed to VOA the judge’s safe
recovery, but he would not share further details. Marwat was traveling to Dera
Ismail Khan when dozens of armed men ambushed his vehicle. The driver, who was
briefly held captive, conveyed the kidnappers' demands to Pakistani authorities
for the release of their imprisoned relatives and militant partners in exchange
for the judge's freedom.”



Yemen



Reuters: Houthis Attack Four Ships In Indian Ocean, Red Sea
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“Yemen's Houthis said they targeted the MSC Orion container ship in a drone
attack in the Indian Ocean as part of their ongoing campaign against
international shipping in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel's
military actions in Gaza. Portugal-flagged MSC Orion was sailing between the
ports in Sines, Portugal and Salalah, Oman and its registered owner is Zodiac
Maritime, according to LSEG data. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman
Eyal Ofer. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes
in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden since November, forcing
shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around
Southern Africa and stoking fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread and
destabilise the Middle East.”



Qatar



Voice Of America: Biden Pledges Cooperation With Egypt, Qatar To Implement
Proposed Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire
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“The White House said Monday U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to work with
Egypt and Qatar to ensure the implementation of a proposed cease-fire between
Israel and Hamas. In phone calls with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi
and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Biden urged the leaders to do
all they can to push for the release of hostages still being held by Hamas in
Gaza. A White House statement described the hostage release as “the only
obstacle to an immediate ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza.” The
United States, Egypt and Qatar have been involved in months of talks focused on
achieving a halt in the fighting. A proposal under consideration now includes a
cease-fire lasting about six weeks, the release of hostages held by Hamas, the
release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and an increase in humanitarian
aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”



Mali



Reuters: Mali Forces Kill Senior Figure In Islamic State Affiliate
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“Malian forces killed Abu Huzeifa, a commander for a West African affiliate
of Islamic State, during a large-scale operation in the northern region of
Menaka, the Malian authorities said in a statement read on state television on
Monday. Huzeifa's death on Sunday had been confirmed after the operation in the
region's Indelimane sector, they said, but did not give further details. The
U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program offers a bounty of up to $5
million for information on Huzeifa for his alleged participation in a 2017
attack in neighbouring Niger that killed four U.S. and four Nigerien soldiers.
Over the past decade, attacks by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State
have killed thousands of people in Mali, Niger, and neighbouring Burkina Faso,
destabilising West Africa's central Sahel region.”



Europe



Bloomberg: Tusk Pushes For Speedy Orlen Probe Amid Report On Hezbollah Link
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“Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk summoned the head of the secret service
and prosecutor general following a report that the previous management of the
nation’s largest oil refiner had ignored warnings about a Swiss unit.
State-controlled Orlen SA’s internal security service cautioned against hiring
a man identified as Samer A. to run a trading business planned for Switzerland
because he was thought to be involved in the oil trade with Iran and have
connections to Hezbollah, Onet.pl reported on Monday. The website didn’t
disclose Samer A.’s full name in line with the Polish law.”



Australia



Associated Press: Teens Plotted To Buy Guns And Attack Jewish People After
Sydney Bishop Was Stabbed, Police Allege
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“Four teenagers plotted to buy guns and attack Jewish people days after a
bishop was stabbed i n a Sydney church, according to police documents cited in
news reports on Monday. Five teens, aged 14 to 17, were charged in a Sydney
court on Thursday last week with a range of offenses including conspiring to
engage in or planning a terrorist act. Police alleged they all “adhered to a
religiously motivated, violent extremist ideology” and were part of a network
that included a 16-year-old boy charged with stabbing Assyrian Orthodox Bishop
Mar Mari Emmanuel on April 15 as a church service was being streamed online.
According to a police fact sheet tendered to the Sydney Children’s Court, two
of the defendants charged last week discussed buying guns on April 19, the same
day the bishop’s alleged attacker was charged, News Corp Australia newspapers
reported.”



Russia



Associated Press: Two Russian Journalists Jailed On ‘Extremism’ Charges For
Alleged Work For Navalny Group
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“Two Russian journalists were arrested by their government on “extremism”
charges and ordered by courts there on Saturday to remain in custody pending
investigation and trial on accusations of working for a group founded by the
late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Konstantin Gabov and Sergey
Karelin both denied the charges for which they will be detained for a minimum
of two months before any trials begin. Each faces a minimum of two years in
prison and a maximum of six years for alleged “participation in an extremist
organization,” according to Russian courts.”



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