“The Biden administration on Tuesday expressed sympathy after dozens of
civilians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah over the weekend, but
signaled it would wait for a full Israeli investigation to play out before
taking any action. "You've all seen the images, they're heartbreaking, they're
horrific. There should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this
conflict," National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said during a
White House press briefing. "Israel, of course, has a right to go after Hamas.
And we understand that this strike did kill two senior Hamas terrorists who are
directly responsible for attacks against the Israeli people," he continued. But
eliminating those two Hamas targets cost at least 45 Palestinians their lives
and inflicted gruesome injuries on scores of others when the strike ignited a
large fire that tore through a nearby encampment, according to the Hamas-run
Gaza Health Ministry.”











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Eye on Extremism



May 29, 2024



ABC: Pressure Builds On Biden After Israeli Strike Kills Dozens Of Civilians
In Rafah
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“The Biden administration on Tuesday expressed sympathy after dozens of
civilians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah over the weekend, but
signaled it would wait for a full Israeli investigation to play out before
taking any action. "You've all seen the images, they're heartbreaking, they're
horrific. There should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this
conflict," National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said during a
White House press briefing. "Israel, of course, has a right to go after Hamas.
And we understand that this strike did kill two senior Hamas terrorists who are
directly responsible for attacks against the Israeli people," he continued. But
eliminating those two Hamas targets cost at least 45 Palestinians their lives
and inflicted gruesome injuries on scores of others when the strike ignited a
large fire that tore through a nearby encampment, according to the Hamas-run
Gaza Health Ministry.”



Associated Press: Suspected Militants Burn Girls’ School In Northwest
Pakistan, In Third Such Attack This Month
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“A group of militants used kerosine to set fire to a girls’ school in a
former Pakistani Taliban stronghold, destroying furniture, computers and books,
police said Wednesday, in the latest in a surge in such attacks. No one was
hurt in the overnight attack in North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province, local police official Rehmat Ullah said. Two other girls’ schools in
the region were bombed earlier this month. No one has claimed responsibility
for the attacks, but authorities suspect Islamic militants, who targeted girls’
schools years ago, saying that women should not be educated. North Waziristan
is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It is a separate group but a close ally of the
Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. The
Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.”




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* CEP-KAS: Sahel Monitoring March 2024
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* Disinformation, Hate, and Polarization: The Attack on Slovakia's Prime
Minister
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* Russian Connections to Israel-Gaza Protests
<[link removed]>
* Violence-Oriented Right-Wing Extremist Actors in Russia: Wagner Group –
Part 2
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* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in April 2024
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CEP Mentions



Tagesspiegel: Civilian Victims And Fighting Islamists: Is Israel Losing The
War Against Hamas?
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“Only one third of Hamas terrorists eliminated, two thirds of their tunnels
still intact. According to a report by the magazine "Politico" analysts of the
US intelligence services come to this assessment. The Islamists are also said
to have succeeded in recruiting a large number of new fighters in recent
months. On Sunday, Hamas also proved that it is still able to fire rockets at
the greater Tel Aviv area. This is all bad news for Israel. After almost eight
months of war, the country seems to miss one of its main goals: the complete
destruction of Hamas.”



Attitude: US State Department Issues Rare ‘Worldwide’ Security Alert For Pride
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“...“It is no surprise that neo-Nazis and jihadis often express mutual
admiration for their shared anti-gay visions,” Mark D Wallace, chief executive
of the Counter Extremism Project, said in a statement. The warnings come eight
years after gunman Omar Sateen shot dead 49 people at Orlando gay club Pulse
during Pride month in 2016.”



The Business Standard: Journalist Who Interviewed Osama Bin Laden Thrice, And
Told The Tale
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“... Osama had become the mujahedin darling of the Afghan war in the 1990s,
according to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), an international policy
organisation. According to the CEP, the media-savvy former al-Qaeda leader
agreed to conduct interviews with numerous Western journalists during that
time. Eventually, his interviews with journalists became platforms for him to
communicate his message of jihad to the masses around the world. Fisk was the
first western journalist to interview Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden gave his
first interview to the Independent newspaper's Robert Fisk in 1993. The
interview was titled, "Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace,"
and related to bin Laden and his recruited mujahideen's road building in Sudan
overseeing construction and agricultural projects.”



United States



NBC: Biden Administration Tries To Plug Loophole That Released Migrant Linked
To Terrorism Into The U.S.
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“The Biden administration is giving immigration judges and asylum officers
more access to classified information to help them determine which migrants
might have ties to terrorism or pose a threat to public safety. The change in
policy follows an April 11 NBC News story that revealed an Afghan migrant on
the terrorist watchlist was released on bond by an immigration judge in Texas
after prosecutors from Immigration and Customs Enforcement withheld information
about a possible connection to terrorism because the evidence was classified.
Instead of arguing that the man was a national security risk, the prosecutors
argued he was a flight risk, two sources familiar with the case said. Mohammad
Kharwin, 48, was caught crossing the border in 2023, but released because the
Border Patrol lacked biometric information connecting him to the terror
watchlist.”



The Washington Examiner: Virginia Man Gets 11 Years In Prison For Trying To
Join Islamic State
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“A northern Virginia man who is originally from Sudan was sentenced on Friday
to 11 years in prison and a decade of supervised release for attempting to
provide material support and resources to the Islamic State and making false
statements to the FBI. Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan of Woodbridge, Va.,
pleaded guilty on Oct. 24 to aiding and abetting his friend’s attempt to travel
from the U.S. to Syria to join the terrorist group. Joseph Hassan Farrokh, a
29-year-old from Woodbridge, would travel overseas first and Elhassan, 26,
would follow at a later date, according to a news release from the Justice
Department. The two men attempted to plan their trip to join the Islamic State
by using a computer app they thought law enforcement did not monitor,
prosecutors said. In mid-2015, they began exchanging digital messages about the
two trips.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Taliban Push For Normalizing Male-Only Higher Education
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“In coming weeks, tens of thousands of students in Afghanistan are set to sit
for university entrance examinations. Notably absent from the list of
candidates will be females. The upcoming exams are expected to determine the
admission of about 70,000 students to public academic and professional
institutions this year. Last week, when officials from the Taliban's Ministry
of Higher Education unveiled the specifics of the upcoming exams, they
conspicuously omitted any mention of the exclusion of female students from
university admissions. Despite facing widespread domestic and international
criticism for their prohibition of women from educational and professional
opportunities, the Taliban have persisted in enforcing discriminatory gender
policies. “The exclusion of women from higher education significantly limits
the country's economic potential, as half the population is unable to
contribute effectively to the workforce,” David Roof, a professor of
educational studies at Ball State University, wrote to VOA.”



Yemen



Associated Press: Missile Attacks Damage A Ship In The Red Sea Off Yemen’s
Coast Near Previous Houthi Rebel Assaults
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“Missile attacks twice damaged a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned ship
Tuesday in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, with a private security firm
saying radio traffic suggested the vessel took on water after being struck. No
group claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who
have launched a number of attacks targeting ships over Israel’s war on Hamas in
the Gaza Strip. The first attack on the bulk carrier Laax happened off the port
city of Hodeida in the southern Red Sea, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that
links it to the Gulf of Aden, according to the British military’s United
Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. The vessel “sustained damage” in the
assault and later reported an “impact in the water in close proximity to the
vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The crew are reported safe and the vessel is
proceeding to its next port of call,” the center said.”



Middle East



Associated Press: Israeli Strikes Kill At Least 37 Palestinians, Most In
Tents, Near Gaza’s Rafah As Offensive Expands
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“Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them
sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on
Tuesday — pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days
earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians — according to witnesses,
emergency workers and hospital officials. The tent camp inferno has drawn
widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest
allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of
Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland
formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday. The Israeli military
suggested Sunday’s blaze in the tent camp may have been caused by secondary
explosions, possibly from Palestinian militants’ weapons. The results of
Israel’s initial probe into the fire were issued Tuesday, with military
spokesman Rear Adm.”



Africa



Leadership: Boko Haram Terrorists Now Use Elon Musk’s Starlink For Internet
Connection
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“Some members of the Boko Haram terrorist group have been caught using
Starlink, the super-fast device owned by billionaire Elon Musk in Sambisa
Forest. According to a counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst, Zagazola
Makama, the Nigerian troops “Operation Hadin Kai” successfully killed a top
commander of the sect, Tahir Baga, and recovered digital connectives like
Starlink Wi-Fi system, mobile phones amongst other weapons. Starlink which is
owned by the second richest man in the world, announced its presence in Nigeria
in January 2023 with the aim of providing low-cost internet to remote location
in the country and is sold for N450, 000 on pre-order. The terrorist group were
said to have fled and abandoned the items when they could no longer withstand
the firepower of the Nigerian troops.”



Russia



Russia To Remove Taliban From Terrorist List | Firstpost
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“Russian state media has reported that Moscow will remove the Taliban from a
list of banned terrorist organisations. The move comes three years after the
Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. For years, Russia has fostered ties
with the radical organisation, holding multiple rounds of talks and boosting
trade with Afghanistan despite international sanctions. Russia recently invited
the Taliban to attend its biggest annual economic forum, which was once
considered the cornerstone of its economic ties with the West. No country has
recognised the Taliban government so far, mainly due to human rights and
terrorism-related concerns. The Taliban seized power in 2021 from a US-backed
government.”



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