“A senior White House official plans to meet with French officials in Paris on
Wednesday to discuss ways to defuse the escalating border fire between Israel
and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, a conflict that Secretary of State Antony
J. Blinken said this week had caused Israel to lose sovereignty in its north.
The trip by the official, Amos Hochstein, the special presidential coordinator
for global energy and infrastructure, was confirmed by a person close to the
talks, who spoke on the condition on anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
Mr. Hochstein has become President Biden’s de facto envoy in the quest to
resolve the border conflict. He will meet with Jean-Yves Le Drian, President
Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy to Lebanon, and Anne-Claire Legendre, a senior
adviser to Mr. Macron, according to another person close to the talks.”











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**NOTE: Eye On Extremism will be suspended on Thursday July 4 and Friday July
5 in observance of American Independence Day. It will resume Monday, July 8.**



Eye on Extremism



July 3, 2024



Bloomberg: Germany Cracks Down On Foreigners Who Glorify Terrorist Acts
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“Germany’s ruling coalition is seeking to crack down on foreigners who glorify
the killing of Israeli civilians or similar acts of terror with updated
legislation that would facilitate their expulsion from the country. Chancellor
Olaf Scholz’s cabinet will approve the amendment to Germany’s deportation law
at its regular meeting Wednesday in Berlin, according to Interior Minister
Nancy Faeser, a member of Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats. It’s part of a
push to claw back the initiative in an increasingly heated debate over
migration, an issue successfully exploited by the far-right Alternative for
Germany party. The updated rules would mean that even a single comment on
social media deemed to be lauding terror can be enough to prompt deportation
for people without a German passport.”



Associated Press: Expanding Extremist Groups In Africa Fuel Worries That They
Could Attack The US Or Western Allies
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“Violent extremist groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are
growing in size and influence across Africa, fueling worries that as they
improve their tactics they could attack the U.S. or Western allies. U.S.
defense and military officials described the threats and their concerns about
growing instability in Africa, where a number of coups have put ruling juntas
in control, leading to the ouster of American troops and a decline in U.S.
intelligence gathering. “Threats like Wagner, terrorist groups and
transnational criminal organizations continue to sow instability in multiple
regions,” Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
in opening remarks Tuesday at a conference of African chiefs of defense in
Botswana. “I think we can all agree, what happens in one part of the world,
does not stay in one part of the world.””




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* CounterPoint Brief: U.S. Designated Nordic Resistance Movement as Specially
Designated Global Terrorist Organization
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* CEP-KAS: Sahel Monitoring April 2024
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* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in May 2024
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* The Houthis Fortify Their Regime by Targeting Yemen's Youngest
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* 'We will dance again' – Remembering the horrors of October 7 at a powerful
new exhibition
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CEP Mentions



DHN: Turkish Right-Wing Extremists Also Active In Germany
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“... This is likely to lead to more and more irritation, because the "wolf
salute" is considered a distinguishing feature: supporters of the Grey Wolves
use the wolf salute to show what they stand for. "This is a right-wing
extremist, deeply anti-Semitic movement that is directed against a free and
democratic basic order," said terror expert Hans-Jakob Schindler from the
Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA at the
beginning of the year. The ultra-nationalist group was founded in Turkey in the
mid-1950s. Its supporters call themselves "Ülkücüler", which translates as
"idealists". Anyone who does not belong to the Turkic peoples is considered
inferior to them, for example Kurds and Armenians.” Turkish national player
Merih Demiral makes the "wolf salute" at the 2024 European Championship.”



NBC News: The Enemy Of My Enemy: Biden Admin Weighs Working With The Taliban
To Combat ISIS-K
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“Facing a growing global terrorist threat, Biden administration officials are
debating expanding cooperation with the Taliban regime in Kabul to help track
ISIS-K, the branch of the terrorist group active in Afghanistan, according to
two sources familiar with the matter and a former U.S. official. Edmund
Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and now a senior adviser to the Counter
Extremism Project, a nonprofit organization, said he was skeptical that the
Taliban could be a reliable partner that would help the West prevent terrorist
attacks by ISIS-K. Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British diplomat and now a
senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit organization, said
he was skeptical that the Taliban could be a reliable partner that would help
the West prevent terrorist attacks by ISIS-K.”



Turkey



Reuters: Turkey Closes Syria Border After Violence Flares In Both Countries
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“Turkey closed its main border crossings into northwest Syria on Tuesday
after Turkish troops came under fire from Syrians angered by violence against
their compatriots in Turkey, a Syrian opposition source and residents said. In
Turkey, police detained 474 people involved in attacks targeting the Syrian
community across the country overnight, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said,
in spreading unrest that began late on Sunday. Properties and vehicles owned by
Syrians were vandalised and set on fire in the central city of Kayseri, stoked
by social media reports that a Syrian man had sexually abused a female child
relative. Yerlikaya said the incident was being investigated. The violence
spread to the provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Konya, Bursa and an Istanbul
district, Turkey's MIT intelligence agency said in a statement. There were
social media reports of some injuries among Syrians.”



Yemen



Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Claim Attack On Vital Target In Israel's Haifa
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“Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday that they, along with the Islamic resistance
in Iraq, have conducted a joint military operation, attacking a vital target in
Israel's Haifa. The military operation has been carried out with "a number of
winged missiles," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised
statement, without identifying the target that was attacked. The Houthi group
has been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes since November,
in what it says is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The Iran-aligned
Houthis first launched drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes in November.
In dozens of attacks, they have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at
least three seafarers.”



Lebanon



Associated Press: Hezbollah’s Deputy Leader Says Group Would Stop Fighting
With Israel After Gaza Cease-Fire
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“The deputy leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday the
only sure path to a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full
cease-fire in Gaza. “If there is a cease-fire in Gaza, we will stop without any
discussion,” Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in an
interview with The Associated Press at the group’s political office in Beirut’s
southern suburbs. Hezbollah’s participation in the Israel-Hamas war has been as
a “support front” for its ally, Hamas, Kassem said, and “if the war stops, this
military support will no longer exist.” But, he said, if Israel scales back its
military operations without a formal cease-fire agreement and full withdrawal
from Gaza, the implications for the Lebanon-Israel border conflict are less
clear.”



Middle East



Reuters: Thousands Flee Their Homes As Israeli Forces Bomb Southern Gaza
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“Israeli forces bombarded several areas of the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday
and thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in what could be part of a final
push of Israel's intensive military operations in nine months of war. Eight
Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded, health officials said. Israel's
military said that two soldiers had been killed in battle a day earlier.
Israel's leaders have said they were winding down the phase of intense fighting
against Hamas, the Islamist group that has governed Gaza since 2007, and would
soon shift to more targeted operations. Later on Tuesday, 17 Palestinians were
killed in Israeli tank shelling of a street in the densely populated Zeitoun
neighbourhood in Gaza City in the north of the Strip, medics said. Footage on
some Palestinian social media that Reuters was not immediately able to verify
showed the scene at a local market, with bread scattered on a floor stained
with blood.”



Africa



Voice Of America: Chad, Cameroon Say Boko Haram In Villages After Strikes Kill
70 Terrorists
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“The Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad basin says several
hundred fighters from jihadist groups Boko Karam and Islamic State West Africa
Province have fled to Chad and Cameroon after the task force attacked camps and
killed more than 70 terrorists Sunday. The ongoing operation, dubbed Lake
Sanity 2, aims to obliterate all terrorist camps around Lake Chad, the task
force said. In a video circulated on social media and broadcast on Chadian
state TV, scores of villagers shouted that at least two dozen relatives died in
attacks in villages along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria, and that 12 more
people were injured. The four-nation task force, created to fight terrorism in
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, said the deceased seen in the video are some
of the more than 70 Boko Haram and Islamic State terrorists “neutralized” in
Sunday’s attacks. The joint task force also said many jihadists surrendered in
the air and ground operations but did not give a precise number.”



United Kingdom



BBC: Hospital Bomb Plotter Guilty Of Terror Charge
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“A man who plotted to bomb a hospital in Leeds and an RAF base has been found
guilty of preparing acts of terrorism. Mohammad Farooq, 28, targeted St James's
Hospital in January 2023 but was stopped by a member of the public. A trial at
Sheffield Crown Court heard how the clinical support worker had planned to
"kill as many nurses as possible" by detonating a pressure cooker bomb. Jurors
unanimously convicted Farooq, of Hetton Road in Leeds. He will be sentenced at
a later date. Farooq was employed by the hospital at the time as a nursing
assistant. He was stopped from carrying out the attack by a patient who moved
him away from the building, talked him down and called police. The court heard
how Farooq's first target was RAF Menwith Hill, a spy base near Harrogate which
is operated by US and UK staff. When he thought that was not possible, jurors
were told Farooq then switched to the "softer and less well-protected target"
of St James's Hospital in the early hours of 20 January last year.”



Reuters: Man Convicted Of Terrorism Offence For Planning Attack On UK Military
Base
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“A British man was convicted on Tuesday of planning an attack on a military
base after being arrested with an explosive device in the grounds of a
hospital, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said. Mohammad Farooq was found
guilty of preparing acts of terrorism following a trial at Sheffield Crown
Court, in northern England. The 28-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to
possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life, possession
of an explosive substance in suspicious circumstances, possession of
information likely to be useful to a terrorist, and other offences. Farooq was
arrested outside St James's Hospital in Leeds, where he had previously worked
as a student nurse, after showing a member of the public a gun and saying he
"felt like killing everyone", the CPS said. Police who attended the scene
discovered in Farooq's bag a pressure cooker with wires attached, which bomb
disposal experts found to be a viable explosive device."



Germany



Reuters: Germany Arrests Five Suspected Of War Crimes In Syria
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“German police arrested four stateless Syrian Palestinians and one Syrian
national suspected of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in
Syria some 10 years ago, prosecutors said. The men, identified in line with
German privacy laws only as Jihad A., Mahmoud A., Sameer S. and Wael S. are
suspected to have been affiliated with the Free Palestine Movement armed
militia in Syria. Mazhar J. is suspected to have been a Syrian Intelligence
Officer, said prosecutors in a statement on Wednesday. "The individuals ... are
strongly suspected of killing and attempting to kill civilians (which)
qualified as crimes against humanity and war crimes," the statement said. Jihad
A., Mazhar J. and Sameer S. were arrested in Berlin, Mahmoud A. in Frankenthal
in the south-western state of Rhineland-Palatinate and Wael S. in the
north-eastern state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern, said prosecutors.”



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