“Two back-to-back strikes in Beirut and Tehran, both attributed to Israel and
targeting high-ranking figures in Hamas and Hezbollah, have left Hezbollah and
Iran in a quandary. Analysts agree that both strikes hit too close to home to
pass without a response, and were serious security breaches for Iran and
Hezbollah. Calibrating that response to restore deterrence without sparking an
even more damaging escalation may be the most delicate balancing act in nearly
a year of teetering on the brink of a regional war. Tuesday’s rare strike in
Beirut’s southern suburbs killed a top Hezbollah commander who Israel says was
responsible for a missile strike on a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams
in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.”











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Eye on Extremism



August 1, 2024



Associated Press: For Iran And Hezbollah, Calibrating Response To Israeli
Strikes Leaves No Room For Error
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“Two back-to-back strikes in Beirut and Tehran, both attributed to Israel and
targeting high-ranking figures in Hamas and Hezbollah, have left Hezbollah and
Iran in a quandary. Analysts agree that both strikes hit too close to home to
pass without a response, and were serious security breaches for Iran and
Hezbollah. Calibrating that response to restore deterrence without sparking an
even more damaging escalation may be the most delicate balancing act in nearly
a year of teetering on the brink of a regional war. Tuesday’s rare strike in
Beirut’s southern suburbs killed a top Hezbollah commander who Israel says was
responsible for a missile strike on a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams
in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.”



Reuters: Radical UK Islamist Preacher Choudary Jailed For Life For Terrorism
Offences
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“British radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, whose followers have been
linked to numerous plots around the world, was sentenced to life imprisonment
on Tuesday for directing a terrorist organisation. Choudary, 57, was convicted
last week of directing al-Muhajiroun, which was banned as a terrorist
organisation more than a decade ago, and encouraging others to support the
proscribed group. "Organisations such as yours normalise violence in support of
an ideological cause," Judge Mark Wall told Choudary at London's Woolwich Crown
Court. "Their existence gives individuals who are members of them the courage
to commit acts which otherwise they might not do. They drive wedges between
people who otherwise could and would live together in peaceful coexistence."
Wall imposed a life sentence on Choudary with a minimum term of 28 years before
he can be eligible for parole, less just over the year that he has spent in
custody since his arrest.””



CEP Mentions



UnHerd: Anjem Choudary Is Only The Tip Of Britain’s Islamism Problem
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“Yesterday, without ever having directed or plotted — much less committed —
an act of violence, Anjem Choudary was jailed for a minimum of 28 years for
terrorism offences. He was found guilty of continuing to direct the proscribed
organisation, al-Muhajiroun (ALM). Pointing out that Choudary himself has never
been involved in anything resembling actual terrorism is not to downplay or
deny the fact that in Britain, perhaps no single figure has done as much to
spread the ideology of Salafi jihadism. It is this doctrine to which very real
terror groups such as al-Qaeda, Islamic State and al-Shabaab belong. And all of
these groups have recruited British extremists, many of whom would have once
been in Choudary’s orbit.”



DW News: Is The Middle East On The Brink Of A Wider War?
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“Your questions answered! Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' top political leader, has
been assassinated in Tehran, Iran. According to a Hamas statement, Haniyeh
"died as a result of a treacherous Zionist raid on his residence in Tehran,"
where he was attending the inauguration of Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran's paramilitary guard, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, confirmed
Haniyeh had been targeted and killed at his residence in Tehran, along with his
bodyguards. Earlier in April, an Israeli strike killed three of Haniyeh's sons
in Gaza. Interview with CEP Senior Director Hans-Jakob Schindler.”



WTOP News: The Hunt: Israeli Government Blamed For Death Of Hamas Leader
Ismail Haniyeh
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“Palestinian militant group Hamas’ top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was
killed Wednesday by a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital of Tehran, Iran
and the militant group said, blaming Israel for the shock assassination. Iran’s
supreme leader vowed revenge against Israel. On this week’s episode of “The
Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green,” Hans-Jakob
Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, talks about what
happened.”



Middle East In ‘Most Dangerous Moment Since October 7’ As Hezbollah & Iran
Plot Two Pronged Revenge On Israel | The Sun
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“Professor Asher Kaufman told The Sun that Iran and its largest terror proxy
Hezbollah could launch a double pronged attack against Israel after days of
ratcheting tensions. Prof Kaufman warned: "The region is on edge, and I would
say large parts of the global system is on edge. "I'm sure that Iranian
leadership and Hezbollah are now as we speak, deliberating what should be their
response and how to respond together. "To think strategically about a response
that will involve Hezbollah and Iran." It comes after Hamas' political leader
Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard were killed on Monday in a suspected Israeli
precision missile strike as they slept in Tehran. Sir Ivor Roberts, senior
adviser to UANI and the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), also spoke to The Sun
about a possible retaliation to this week's developments. Sir Roberts, who
lived in Lebanon and dealt with Hezbollah in the 1980s, said "the whole region
is a tinderbox". He told The Sun that the strike on Iranian soil which killed
Haniyeh is a "challenge" to the authority of the new Iranian president and a
"major slap in the face.”



United States



BBC: Three Men Accused Of Plotting 9/11 Reach Plea Deal - Pentagon
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“Three of the men accused of plotting the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US
have entered into a pre-trial agreement, the Department of Defense says. Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed
Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for
years without going to trial. Details of the deal have not been announced, but
US news outlets say the men will plead guilty in exchange for the prosecution
agreeing not to seek the death penalty. Nearly 3,000 people in New York,
Virginia and Pennsylvania were killed in the attacks, which sparked the "War on
Terror" and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Brett Eagleson, the
president of 9/11 Justice, an organisation that represents 9/11 survivors and
relatives of victims, said in a statement provided to the BBC that the families
are “deeply troubled by these plea deals”.”



Iran



Reuters: Iranians Mourn Hamas Leader Haniyeh's Assassination
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“Iranians turned out to mourn Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on
Thursday, a day after he was assassinated in Iran's capital in an attack that
has heightened fears of a direct conflict between Tehran and its arch-enemy
Israel. State TV broadcast live images of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
leading prayers at Haniyeh's funeral at Tehran University, where thousands of
mourners dressed in black chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America". His
body will be flown to Qatar, where Haniyeh was usually based, for burial on
Friday. "Rest in peace, Abu Al-Abed Ismail Haniyeh. Our nation, Iran, the Axis
of Resistance, your people, your fighters ... are united in the choice of
resistance to end the Zionist occupation," said Hamas deputy chief in Gaza
Khalil Al-Hayya in a televised speech at Tehran University. The Axis of
Resistance is an alliance built over four decades of Iranian support to resist
Israeli and U.S. influence in the Middle East.”



Lebanon



BBC: Hezbollah Confirms Commander Died In Israeli Strike
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“Hezbollah has confirmed one of its senior military commanders was killed in
an Israeli air strike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Late on Wednesday, the
Iran-backed group said Fuad Shukr's body had been found in the rubble of a
building that was hit on Tuesday. Four other people were killed in the strike,
including two children. Earlier, the Israeli military said Shukr had been the
target of an "intelligence-based elimination". It said the strike was a
response to a rocket attack that killed 12 people in the Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights on Saturday, which Israel says the commander helped plan. Hezbollah has
denied having any involvement. Fuad Shukr, who was in his early sixties, is
believed to be a key military adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The
strike targeted a building in Haret Hreik, a part of the Dahiyeh suburb of
Beirut.”



Middle East



Reuters: Khaled Meshaal, Who Survived Israeli Assassination Attempt, Tipped To
Be New Hamas Leader
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“Khaled Meshaal, tipped to be the new Hamas leader, became known around the
world in 1997 after Israeli agents injected him with poison in a botched
assassination attempt on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital
Amman. The hit against a key senior figure of the Palestinian militant group,
ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so enraged Jordan's
then-King Hussein that he spoke of hanging the would-be killers and scrapping
Jordan's peace treaty with Israel unless the antidote was handed over. Israel
did so, and also agreed to free Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, only to
assassinate him seven years later in Gaza. For Israelis and Western states, the
Iran-backed Hamas, which has directed suicide bombings in Israel and fought
frequent wars against it, is a terrorist group bent on Israel's destruction.”



Somalia



Garowe Online: Somalia PM Lauds Jubaland Forces For Thwarting Al-Shabaab
Attacks
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“Somalia's Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre has lauded the Jubaland army for
playing a special role in the defeat inflicted on the Alshabaab militants,
arguing that the team managed to thwart a series of raids organized by the
group in parts of the state. In a series of operations, the Jubaland army with
special help from the Somali National Army (SNA), killed over 100 Alshabaab
militants in different parts of Jubaland. This was one of the most effective
operations to be carried out by the forces. At Bulo-Haji, one of the
battlefields where Al-Shabaab suffered casualties, Prime Minister Hamsa Abdi
Barre said the Dervish forces had done the country proud by 'defeating the
Al-Shabaab' at the time the country is determined to liberate several strategic
towns.”



Mali



Reuters: Mali Strikes Rebels Who Killed Many Soldiers And Russians
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“Mali has carried out air strikes on insurgent targets in and around the town
of Tinzaouaten, in its vast northern desert, after ethnic Tuareg rebels and
Islamist fighters killed a large number of Malian soldiers and their Russian
allies in recent days. Mali's army and the Russian private military company
Wagner both said they had suffered losses between July 22 and 27 in the
Tinzaouaten area, on the border with Algeria, in what appears to be Wagner's
worst setback on African soil. The Russians have been in Mali since the army,
which seized power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, kicked out French and U.N.
troops that had been involved in fighting Islamist insurgents for a decade,
replacing them with Wagner. The Malian army said late on Tuesday that it had
attacked what it called a "coalition of terrorists" in the Tinzaouaten area
jointly with forces from its neighbour Burkina Faso, which is also run by a
pro-Russian military junta. "Specific high-value targets including caches,
logistical positions and vehicles have been hit," it said, urging civilians to
stay away from insurgent positions."



United Kingdom



The New York Times: How Disinformation Fed A Far-Right Riot After A Deadly
Stabbing In England
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“Less than two hours after mourners gathered in Southport, England, on
Tuesday evening to honor three children killed in a brutal stabbing attack,
hundreds of rioters flooded the streets of the already traumatized town. More
than 50 police officers were injured in the ensuing violence, as demonstrators
threw bricks at a mosque, attacked the police, set cars on fire and damaged a
convenience store. Although some details of the unrest remain opaque, one thing
is clear, according to the police, lawmakers and experts in online extremism:
Disinformation and far-right agitators fueled the violence. Supporters of the
English Defence League, an extremist anti-Islam organization, were part of a
large group that attacked a mosque in Southport around 7.45 p.m., according to
a statement from the Merseyside Police Service, which covers the region.”



Southeast Asia



Voice Of America: Militancy Expands In Indian-Controlled Side Of Jammu And
Kashmir
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“Residents of Kastigarh, a sub-district in central Jammu and Kashmir, say
they are staying close to their homes following a recent attack by anti-India
militants that injured two soldiers who were sheltering in a dilapidated school
after a patrol. A large group of Indian forces “had decided to rest in the
school after a long search in the area. At around 2 a.m. we woke up to gunfire
and realized that militants had attacked them,” said a local resident who
requested anonymity to discuss the pre-dawn July 18 incident. “Since then we
have been living in fear. People prefer not to venture alone, especially after
dark, for safety,” he told VOA. The patrol at Kastigarh was part of a larger
effort of the Indian army to search for anti-India militants believed to be
hiding in the dense forests and remote areas of the larger Doda district, which
includes Kastigarh.”



Canada



BBC: Canadian Police Thwart Alleged Toronto Terror Plot
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“Canadian police say they have stopped a planned terrorist attack in Toronto
and arrested a father and son in connection to the plot. The Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, or RCMP, said on Wednesday that 62-year-old Ahmed Eldidi and
26-year-old Mostafa Eldidi were arrested on Sunday at a hotel in Richmond Hill,
Toronto. The pair are accused of a plot to carry out a "violent, serious
attack" in Canada's largest city, for the benefit of or at the direction of the
Islamic State group. Both are facing charges of terrorism and conspiracy to
commit murder. Matt Peggs, RCMP assistant commissioner, said the men were in
the “advanced stages” of planning the attack. Both are residents of the Toronto
area and Canadian citizens, police said. Authorities became aware of the
alleged plan in early July. They did not say what information led to the probe.
Police called the investigation "fast-moving" and said they were still working
to determine the intended target. The exact nature of the threat is covered by
a publication ban.”



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