“The U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that the Islamic State group is trying
“to reconstitute” as the number of attacks in Syria and Iraq is on track to
double this year, compared to the year before. IS claimed 153 attacks in the
two countries in the first six months of 2024, CENTCOM said in a statement.
According to a U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he
wasn’t allowed to speak publicly on the matter, the group was behind 121
attacks in Syria and Iraq in 2023. “The increase in attacks indicates ISIS is
attempting to reconstitute following several years of decreased capability,”
CENTCOM said. In northeastern Syria, Kurdish-led authorities issued a general
amnesty Wednesday that would include hundreds of Syrians who have been held by
the main U.S.-backed force over their roles within IS. The U.S.-backed and
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, are holding over 10,000 captured
IS fighters in around two dozen detention facilities — including 2,000
foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them.””











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Eye on Extremism



July 18, 2024



Associated Press: Islamic State Attacks On Track To Double In Iraq And Syria
Compared To Last Year, US Military Says
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“The U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that the Islamic State group is
trying “to reconstitute” as the number of attacks in Syria and Iraq is on track
to double this year, compared to the year before. IS claimed 153 attacks in the
two countries in the first six months of 2024, CENTCOM said in a statement.
According to a U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he
wasn’t allowed to speak publicly on the matter, the group was behind 121
attacks in Syria and Iraq in 2023. “The increase in attacks indicates ISIS is
attempting to reconstitute following several years of decreased capability,”
CENTCOM said. In northeastern Syria, Kurdish-led authorities issued a general
amnesty Wednesday that would include hundreds of Syrians who have been held by
the main U.S.-backed force over their roles within IS. The U.S.-backed and
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, are holding over 10,000 captured
IS fighters in around two dozen detention facilities — including 2,000
foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them.””



Garowe Online: A Bomb Explosion Reported In Somalia, 2nd Attack In A Week
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“A few weeks after a bomb blast in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, another
explosion has been reported in central regions, which could trigger questions
about the progress made in the fight against Al-Shabaab, a group that has been
fighting to take over the government. According to reports, Wednesday's
explosion was reported in a restaurant in Beledweyne' Hawo Tako neighbourhood,
which is frequented by people from all walks of life, including those from
low-income regions within the city. The explosion left a government soldier and
a civilian dead, police said, without mentioning the cause of the landmine
explosion. Most of those affected were from the Guufaale area of Beledweyne,
the capital of the Hiiraan region in central Somalia. Further reports indicate
that the explosion also injured a woman who was running the restaurant. She has
been taken to a medical facility in Beledweyne, the capital of the Hiiraan
region, multiple sources confirmed later.”



CEP Mentions



Stars And Stripes: Rising ISIS Attacks In Iraq And Syria Signify Efforts To
Regroup, CENTCOM Says
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“...Analysts also have pointed to worrisome indications that the group is
resurging, particularly in central Syria. For example, ISIS militants conducted
at least 215 attacks in Syria in 2023, a 168% increase over the total in 2022,
the international nonprofit Counter Extremism Project said in a March report.
“After suffering significant losses in 2021 and 2022, ISIS took on a renewed
aggressive posture in 2023 — not only through carrying out more attacks on
military and civilian targets in Syria, but also by reintroducing tactics that
have not been commonplace for several years,” Gregory Waters, an analyst for
the group who authored the report, said in March. Despite the recent increases,
overall ISIS-claimed attacks trended downward since at least 2019, according to
a March 20 report from The Washington Institute for Far East Policy.”



Voice Of America: US Fears Islamic State Comeback In Syria, Iraq
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“...The nonprofit Counter Extremism Project (CEP), which has been tracking IS
activity in Syria, has likewise been warning of a more active and violent
trajectory. “The level of violence increased in June by every metric compared
to May,’ CEP said in its monthly report. “Several brutal attacks were carried
out against local tribesmen in the Jubb Jarah region of eastern Homs that
resulted in locals hunting down and killing two ISIS members,” it added.
“Still, the vast majority of ISIS activity remained focused on [Syrian]
security forces.” CENTCOM said it has begun pushing back against the renewed IS
activity, launching almost 200 operations with the SDF and the Iraqi military
over the first six months of 2024. It says those operations led to the deaths
of 44 IS fighters, including eight senior leaders, and the arrest of another
258 IS members.”



ABC News: Neo-Nazi's Social Media Suspension Is Only A Drop In The Ocean
Against Extremism, Warn Experts <[link removed]>



“...The suspension comes after Sewell was referred to as an 'international
movement leader' by not-for-profit the Counter Extremism Project in its
submission to the federal government's inquiry, which also highlighted concerns
about X and its lack of content moderation. University of Canberra researcher
Dr Jordan McSwiney also submitted to the government's inquiry and said while
suspending the account was a good step, it didn't address the depth of the
problem on the website. "I don't think we should get ahead of ourselves," he
said. "I would like to think that anyone who supports and advocates for neo
Nazism wouldn't be present on mainstream social media platforms … and I don't
think it would be easy for them to raise money that will go into what is
essentially an extremist subculture that glorifies violence.”



United States



The New York Times: Why The Pentagon Is Warning That ISIS Attacks Could Double
This Year
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“Attacks claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria this year are on the
rise and on track to double last year’s count, the Pentagon said on Tuesday,
indicating a resurgence of the terrorist group a decade after it wrought
destruction and death across the region. The group, also known as ISIS, took
responsibility for 153 attacks in Iraq and Syria in the first half of this
year, according to a report by the military’s Central Command, despite
continued operations targeting the organization’s operatives by a U.S.-led
coalition and partner forces in both countries. In all of last year, ISIS
claimed 121 attacks in Iraq and Syria, a defense official said. The group, a
Sunni Muslim organization that traces its roots to Al Qaeda, exploited the
power vacuum that emerged after Syria’s civil war broke out to conquer large
areas. Notorious for kidnappings, sexual enslavement and public executions,
ISIS took its largest prize when it seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city,
before being beaten back in 2014.”



Associated Press: US Military Pier For Carrying Aid To Gaza Will Be Dismantled
After Weather And Security Problems
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“The U.S. military-built pier to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza will be
dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with
repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other
supplies could get to starving Palestinians. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy
commander at U.S. Central Command, told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on
Wednesday that the pier achieved its intended effect in what he called an
“unprecedented operation.” As the U.S. military steps away from the sea route
for humanitarian aid, questions swirl about Israel’s new plan to use the port
at Ashdod as a substitute. There are few details on how it will work and
lingering concerns about whether aid groups will have enough viable land
crossings to get assistance into the territory besieged by war between Israel
and Hamas. Cooper said the Ashdod corridor will be more sustainable and it has
already been used to get more than a million pounds of aid into Gaza.”



Afghanistan



Reuters: US Aid Vetting Failures May Have Benefited Militants In Afghanistan,
Watchdog Finds
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“Two State Department bureaus could not prove compliance with internal
policies for vetting aid groups in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan that received $293
million in funds, raising a risk that extremists may have profited, a U.S.
watchdog said on Wednesday. "It is critical that State knows who is actually
benefitting from this assistance in order to prevent the aid from being
diverted to the Taliban or other sanctioned parties," said the Special
Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report. The Taliban,
the report said, has tried to obtain U.S. aid funds "through several means,
including the establishment of humanitarian organizations," underscoring the
need for the department to "fully and consistently assess the risks posed by
its implementing partners." The State Department did not immediately respond to
a request for comment.”



Pakistan



Reuters: Pakistan Summons Taliban Envoy After Attack On Military Base
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“Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned the Taliban's deputy head of mission on
Wednesday and urged the latter's administration to take action against
Afghanistan-based militant groups that Islamabad says attacked a military base
this week. Militants attacked the base in Bannu in northwestern Pakistan on
Monday, ramming a vehicle loaded with explosives into the perimeter wall and
killing eight Pakistani security force members. The attack was claimed by the
Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which Pakistan's military said operates out of
neighbouring Afghanistan. Islamabad says it has consistently taken up the issue
of rising cross-border attacks with the Taliban administration, raising
tensions between the neighbours whose security forces have clashed at the
border in recent years. The Taliban, whose spokesman did not immediately
respond to a request for comment, has previously denied allowing the use of
Afghan territory by militants.”



Associated Press: Pakistan Summons Afghan Diplomat To Protest A Suicide Attack
That Killed 8 Soldiers In The Northwest
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“Pakistan summoned a senior Afghan diplomat Wednesday to strongly protest a
deadly militant attack that left eight soldiers dead in the northwest bordering
Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said. A bomber rammed his explosive-laden
vehicle into the ouster wall of an army housing complex on Monday in the city
of Bannu in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In return, security
officers opened fire, killing 10 insurgents. A splinter group of Pakistani
Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, led by a militant commander Gul Bahadur,
has claimed responsibility for the attack. The TTP is a separate group but also
an ally of the Afghan Taliban and has stepped up its attacks in Pakistan since
the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. In a statement, the
Foreign Ministry said it asked Kabul to fully investigate the bombing and take
immediate action against the perpetrators.”



Yemen



Bloomberg: Damaged Internet Subsea Cables Repaired In Red Sea Amid Militant
Attacks On Ships <[link removed]>



“Repairs have finally commenced on three subsea telecommunications cables
that were damaged in the Red Sea in February, even as Houthi militants escalate
their attacks on ships in the area. The AAE-1 cable, a 25,000-kilometer (15,500
miles) fiber optic link between Asia and Europe, was repaired by a ship owned
by E-Marine, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Telecommunications Group.
The cable came online this week, a Yemeni government official said. The same
ship, Niwa, remains in Yemeni waters to repair the remaining two cables, Seacom
and EIG. The cables, among more than a dozen that run through the Red Sea, were
severed by the anchor of a cargo ship sunk by Iran-backed Houthi militants in
late February. Repairs to the cables have depended on gaining access to
infrastructure in Yemen’s waters, a task complicated by the country’s split
government and the fact the Red Sea is a conflict zone."



Lebanon



The Washington Post: Hezbollah Leader Threatens New Attacks On Israeli Towns
As Tensions Rise
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“The leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group threatened
Wednesday to target new areas in Israel if its military does not stop striking
civilians in southern Lebanon. Hasan Nasrallah delivered his televised speech
marking Ashura, a Shiite Muslim day of mourning, amid an increase in exchanges
of fire along the Israeli-Lebanese border and fears that the all-out war in
Gaza might expand to other fronts. “If Israeli tanks come to Lebanon, they will
not only have a shortage in tanks but will never have any tanks left,” said
Nasrallah. Listing towns and villages in southern Lebanon where he said Israeli
strikes had killed civilians in recent days, Nasrallah vowed a stronger
response if they continued. “The resistance missiles will target new Israeli
settlements that were not targeted before. The fighting on the northern border
of Israel began just hours after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israeli
communities outside the Gaza Strip, with Hezbollah launching rockets in support
of Hamas.”



Middle East



Associated Press: Far-Right Israeli Minister Visits Sensitive Jerusalem Holy
Site, Threatening Gaza Cease-Fire Talks
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“Israel’s far-right national security minister visited Jerusalem’s most
sensitive holy site on Thursday, threatening to disrupt Gaza cease-fire talks.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader, said he had gone up to the
contested Jerusalem hilltop compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray for the return
of the hostages “but without a reckless deal, without surrendering.” The move
threatens to disrupt sensitive talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the
9-month-old Israel-Hamas war. Israeli negotiators landed in Cairo on Wednesday
to continue talks. The visit also came just days before Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu leaves for a trip to the United States, where he will address
Congress. Ben-Gvir said while standing in front of the golden dome of Al-Aqsa
Mosque that he “is praying and working hard” to ensure that Netanyahu will not
give in to international pressure and will continue with the military campaign
in Gaza.



Mali



Reuters: Mali Army Chief Launches Investigation Into Video Of Soldier
'Cannibalism'
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“Mali's armed forces have ordered an investigation into a video showing a man
in Malian military uniform cutting into a corpse in front of his peers, the army
chief said in a statement on Wednesday, describing it as a "rare atrocity" akin
to cannibalism. It added that the act did not align with the Sahelian West
African nation's military values. Rights groups and the United Nations have
repeatedly accused Malian soldiers of serious abuses, including executions and
torture, committed against civilians suspected of collaborating with jihadist
groups that have been waging an insurgency in the Sahel since 2012. The army
has always denied wrongdoing. The shocking video was trending on X on Tuesday
and has since been removed for violating the platform's rules. It showed a man
in military uniform sporting a Mali Armed Forces (FAMA) badge, carving up the
stomach of a dead body with a machete.”



France



France 24: French Security Services Arrest Far-Right Extremist Over Suspected
Paris Olympics Plot
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“A far-right extremist has been arrested in France on suspicions he was
preparing attacks during the Paris Olympics that open next week, a security
source told AFP Wednesday on condition of anonymity. The 18-year-old suspected
neo-Nazi was the administrator of a group on the Telegram phone application
called "French Aryan division" where he made threats against the July 26-August
11 Paris Olympics, the source said. He was detained in the eastern Bas-Rhin
region, which includes the city of Strasbourg, and was being questioned by
anti-terror police. French security services are on high alert ahead of the
Paris Games when around 10 million visitors and 10,000 athletes are expected in
the French capital. In May, they arrested a Chechen teenager suspected of
plotting an "Islamist-inspired" attack on an Olympics football game in the
southeastern city of Saint-Etienne.”



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