Eye on Extremism
August 13, 2024
Associated Press: Yemen’s Houthis Seized UN Rights Office In Sanaa, UN Official Says
“Yemen’s Houthi rebels stormed the headquarters of the United Nations’ Human Rights Office in the capital, Sanaa, seizing documents, furniture and vehicles, a senior U.N. official said Tuesday. The seizure was the latest move in a crackdown by the Houthis on people working with the U.N., aid agencies and foreign embassies. The crackdown comes as the Iranian-backed rebels have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The rebels took over the U.N. Human Rights Office’s premises in Sanaa on Aug. 3, after forcing U.N. Yemeni workers to hand over belongings, including documents, furniture and vehicles, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in a statement. “Ansar Allah forces must leave the premises and return all assets and belongings immediately,” Türk said, using the official name of the Houthis.”
Associated Press: US Beefs Up Posture In Middle East, Warns An Iran-Backed Attack On Israel Could Come This Week
“U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, as the U.S. on Monday said it believes Iran or its proxies may launch a strike against Israel as soon as this week. The moves, announced by the Defense Department Sunday, come as the U.S. and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. Officials have been on the lookout for retaliatory strikes by both Iran and Hezbollah for the killings, and the U.S. has been beefing up its presence in the region. John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said Iran’s response to the killings “could be this week,” but that “it is difficult to ascertain at this particular time if there’s an attack by Iran or its proxies what it could look like.””
CEP Mentions
Progres News: Extremists Volunteering In Soup Kitchens: How Ideologies Have Evolved To Attract Australians
“...The Counter Extremism Project has also warned of the threat from “active clubs”, which were created in the United States in 2020 to “make fascism fun”. “They are often founded by members of established openly extreme-right Neo-Nazi groups to attract members from mainstream society,” the project’s senior adviser Alexander Ritzmann told a Senate inquiry into right-wing extremist movements in Australia this year. The organisation explained in a submission that active clubs recruit people through focusing on brotherhood, fitness and self-defence, and were started as a way of avoiding scrutiny from authorities. They don’t display obvious Nazi symbols in public and are asked to avoid threatening behaviour. But the Counter Extremism Project said there was increasing evidence to suggest the network’s main objective was the creation of “shadow militias” that could be called upon for violent action.”
Syria
Associated Press: U.S.-Backed Syrian Fighters Say They Killed 18 Pro-Government Gunmen In Rare Attack In Eastern Syria
“U.S.-backed Syrian fighters carried out a rare attack Monday in eastern Syria, striking at three posts manned by pro-government gunmen and claiming that they killed 18 of them in a major escalation near the border with Iraq. The renewed clashes in Syria’s eastern oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour came amid high tensions in the region following last month’s killings of a top commander of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Beirut and the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas group in Iran. Israel was blamed for both attacks, and Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate. The Syrian government, which is backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed for years to liberate eastern Syria from U.S. forces who have been deployed in the area since 2015 to help fight the Islamic State group. Monday’s attack by members of the Arab-led Deir el-Zour Military Council — part of the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — came days after clashes and shelling between the SDF and pro-government gunmen left more than a dozen people dead.”
Turkey
Reuters: Turkish Airstrikes Kill 17 Kurdish Militants In Northern Iraq, Ministry Says
“Turkey's military conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq and "neutralised" 17 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the defence ministry said on Monday. Turkey, which typically uses the term neutralised to mean killed, has been carrying out a cross-border operation called Claw-Lock in Iraq as part of its offensive against PKK militants. The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.”
Afghanistan
Reuters: Three Killed In Pakistan, Afghanistan Border Clash, Kabul Says
“Three Afghan civilians were killed in a border clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan security forces, a spokesman for the Taliban administration in Kabul said on Tuesday. The clashes took place late on Monday near the southwestern border crossing of Torkham after Pakistani border forces opened fire on Afghan border forces, said Mufti Abdul Mateen, the spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry. The Pakistani forces targeted civilian homes, killing a woman and two children, he said. Pakistan's military did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. Three Pakistani paramilitary troops were wounded in the fighting, said a security official who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. Clashes often break out between the neighbouring security forces along the border, which was drawn up decades ago during British colonial rule and long been disputed.”
Yemen
Associated Press: A Ship In The Red Sea Is Targeted In A Third Attack By Suspected Houthis
“A ship in the Red Sea came under attack at least three times Tuesday in an assault that included the use of a bomb-carrying drone boat, likely the latest in a campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over the Israel-Hamas war, officials said. The attacks come as the rebels’ main sponsor, Iran, weighs possible retaliation against Israel over the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh in July, which has renewed fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East. Already, the Houthi assaults have disrupted the $1 trillion annual flow of goods through the maritime route crucial to trade among Asia, Europe and the Middle East, while also sparking the most intense combat for the U.S. Navy since World War II. The ship was first attacked as an explosive was detonated near it, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. Then a small vessel “acting suspiciously” flashed a light near the ship and came close, actions that were followed by a second blast, the UKMTO said.”
Middle East
Reuters: Hamas Armed Wing Says One Israeli Hostage Killed, Two Women Captives 'Seriously Wounded'
“One Israeli male hostage was killed by his guard and two women captives were seriously wounded in two separate incidents in Gaza, the spokesperson for Hamas' armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, said on Monday. Abu Ubaida blamed the incident on what he described as Israeli "massacres" against Palestinians. "The enemy government [Israel] bears full responsibility for these massacres and the resulting reactions that affect the lives of Zionist prisoners," Abu Ubaida said in a statement posted on Telegram. He said a committee has been formed to investigate, and findings will be announced later, adding efforts are underway to save the two wounded hostages. It was the first time Al-Qassam has said its guards killed hostages. The group has often attributed previous killings of hostages to Israeli bombardment.”
Europe
Associated Press: Israel-Hamas War Latest: Iran Rejects European Leaders’ Call To Refrain From Any Retaliatory Attacks
“Iran rejected a call Tuesday by three European countries demanding it to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a joint statement Monday endorsing the latest push by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war. The European leaders also called for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid, and asked that Iran and its allies to refrain from retaliation that would further escalate regional tensions after the late-July killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Gaza. Talks were expected to resume Thursday."
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