Eye on Extremism
August 27, 2024
Associated Press: Taliban Reject UN Concerns Over Laws Banning Women’s Voices And Bare Faces In Public
“The Taliban on Monday rejected concerns and criticism raised by the United Nations over new vice and virtue laws that ban women in Afghanistan from baring their faces and speaking in public places. Roza Otunbayeva, who heads the U.N. mission in the country, UNAMA, said Sunday that the laws provided a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future. She said the laws extend the “ already intolerable restrictions ” on the rights of women and girls, with “even the sound of a female voice” outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation. Zabihullah Mujahid, the main spokesman for the Taliban’s government, issued a statement warning against “arrogance” from those who he said may not be familiar with Islamic law, particularly non-Muslims who might express reservations or objections.”
The Washington Post: How Israel And Hezbollah Stepped Back From The Brink Of All-Out War
“For 26 days after an Israeli missile slammed into a seventh-floor apartment in south Beirut and killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Israel and the region had braced for the group to strike back. Airlines suspended flights, residents of Tel Aviv and Beirut stockpiled water, and diplomats raced to head off an all-out war. Now, after a dramatic but short-lived exchange of rockets, missiles and drones shook the border zone early Sunday, many in the region have dared to ask: Was that it? Officials and analysts Monday mostly said yes, believing that the potentially disastrous attacks were, instead, a face-saving moment — allowing each of the combatants to step back from the edge of a wider conflict. The limited morning escalation — albeit the largest since the two sides began trading fire in October — has allowed Hezbollah to claim vengeance and Israel to project confidence in its security apparatus.”
CEP Mentions
The World: Experts Say ISIS Remains A Threat
“The extremist group ISIS was defeated in Syria and Iraq about five years ago. But those who follow the group and its activities closely say it is once again gaining momentum, reports The World’s Shirin Jaafari.”
Nieuwsuur: Attack In Germany
“Three people were killed in the attack in Solingen, Germany, claimed by IS on Friday evening. “There is definitely danger in the Netherlands,” said German terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler. #Newshour”
United States
Reuters: Exclusive: Top US General Says Risk Of Broader War Eases A Bit After Israel-Hezbollah Exchange
“The near-term risk of a broader war in the Middle East has eased somewhat after Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah exchanged fire without further escalation but Iran still poses a significant danger as it weighs a strike on Israel, America's top general said on Monday. Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to Reuters after emerging from a three-day trip to the Middle East that saw him fly into Israel just hours after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, and Israel's military struck Lebanon to thwart a larger attack.It was one of the biggest clashes in more than 10 months of border warfare, but it also ended with limited damage in Israel and without immediate threats of more retaliation from either side. Brown noted Hezbollah's strike was just one of two major threatened attacks against Israel that emerged in recent weeks.”
The Washington Post: U.S. Military, On Tinder, Says To Swipe Left On Iran-Backed Militants
“The warning appeared online last week in Arabic beneath pictures of U.S. warplanes: “Do not take up arms against the United States or its partners,” it said, noting that America “will protect its partners in the face of threats from the Iranian regime and its proxies.” And to underscore the message: Central Command is “fully prepared” and ready to employ F-16 and A-10 aircraft “currently in the region.” As fears grow of a wider conflict between Iran and its proxies, and Israel and its backers, the warning — apparently aimed at young disaffected men in the Middle East — may not have been that surprising. What raised eyebrows was the platform: Tinder.”
Pakistan
Reuters: More Than 70 Dead After Militant Attacks In Pakistan's Balochistan
“At least 73 people were killed in Pakistan's province of Balochistan when separatist militants attacked police stations, railway lines and highways and security forces launched retaliatory operations, officials said on Monday. The assaults were the most widespread in years by ethnic militants fighting a decades-long insurgency to win secession of the resource-rich southwestern province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine. "These attacks are a well thought-out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan," Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement. Pakistan's military said 14 soldiers and police and 21 militants were killed in fighting after the largest of the attacks, which targeted buses and trucks on a major highway. Balochistan's chief minister said 38 civilians were also killed. Local officials said 23 of them were killed in the roadside attack after armed men checked passengers' IDs before shooting many of them and torching vehicles.”
Reuters: Pakistan PM Says Militant Attacks Aimed At Thwarting China Cooperation
“Attacks by separatist militants in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan are aimed at stopping development projects that form part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday. The assaults that began on Sunday, killing more than 70, were the most widespread in years by ethnic militants seeking to win secession of the resource-rich province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine. "The terrorists want to stop CPEC and development projects," Sharif said in a televised address to cabinet, adding that the militants also wanted to drive a wedge between Islamabad and Beijing. CPEC, said to have development commitments worth $65 billion, is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative.”
Yemen
Associated Press: Greek-Flagged Tanker Is Burning After Houthi Attacks, But No Sign Of Oil Spill
“A Greek-flagged tanker repeatedly attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea remains ablaze but hasn’t sprung a major oil leak in the waterway, a European Union naval command said Monday. The attack on the Sounion marks the most serious assault in weeks by the rebels, who continue to target shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion in trade that typically passes through the region, as well as halting some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. Images published by the EU’s Operation Aspides, whose mission is to protect shipping in the area, showed smoke rising from multiple points along the Sounion’s deck and its bridge Sunday.”
Middle East
Reuters: Israel Battles Hamas In Gaza As Space For Displaced Families Narrows
“Palestinians displaced by fighting in the Gaza Strip crowded onto the seashore as Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas fighters in central and southern areas, with health officials reporting at least 17 people killed in strikes on Tuesday. Ceasefire talks were continuing in Cairo with little sign of a concrete breakthrough over key issues separating the sides, including future control over two corridors in the Gaza Strip once fighting ends. In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations, and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas. Residents and displaced families in the southern city of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, where most of the population is now concentrated, said they have been pushed to live in tents now packed on the beach.”
Associated Press: Hospital In Central Gaza Empties Out As Israeli Forces Draw Near
“One of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals has been emptying out in recent days as Israel has ordered the evacuation of nearby areas and signaled a possible ground operation in a town that has been largely spared throughout the war, officials said Monday. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main hospital serving central Gaza. The Israeli military has not ordered its evacuation, but patients and people sheltering there fear that it may be engulfed in fighting or become the target of a raid. Also on Monday, Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis killed at least 19 people, according to local officials, and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed across the Lebanon border. Israeli forces have invaded several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the 10-month-old war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials.”
Associated Press: Israel-Hamas War Latest: Israeli Strikes Across Gaza Kill 18, Including 8 Children, Palestinians Say
“Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 18 people, including eight children. The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, said three children and their mother were killed in an airstrike late Monday in the Tufah neighborhood of Gaza City. It said three other people were missing after the strike. Another strike late Monday hit a building in downtown Gaza City, killing a child, three women and a man, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In southern Gaza, a strike on a home early Tuesday killed five people, including a man, his three children as young as 3 years old and a woman, according to a casualty list provided by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where the bodies were taken.”
France
The New York Times: French Authorities Arrest Suspect In Synagogue Attack
“A suspect who has an arrest record for minor crimes but was not on the radar of French or foreign antiterrorism authorities has been detained in connection with Saturday morning’s attack on a synagogue in southern France, which is being investigated as a terrorist act, the French authorities said on Sunday. The arrest occurred in Nimes, about 24 miles from the scene of the attack, the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the resort town of La Grande Motte, France’s antiterrorism prosecutor’s office said early Sunday in a statement. Two vehicles exploded outside the synagogue, and the doors to the building were also set on fire, the statement said. Five people, including the rabbi, were inside the synagogue at the time. No one was killed, but one police officer responding to the explosions was hurt when a gas bottle near one of the vehicles also exploded, the statement said.”
Germany
Associated Press: German Leader Vows Tougher Knife Laws And More Deportations After Fatal Attack In Solingen
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to toughen knife laws and step up deportations of rejected asylum-seekers Monday as he visited the scene of the knife attack in which a suspected Islamic extremist from Syria is accused of killing three people. Scholz, speaking after he joined regional officials in laying a white rose at a makeshift memorial in the western city of Solingen, said he was “furious and angry” about the attack, in which eight people also were wounded. The suspect turned himself in to police on Saturday evening, a day after the attack at a festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary. Federal prosecutors said Sunday that he shared the radical ideology of the Islamic State group, which he joined at a point that remains unclear, and was acting on those beliefs when he stabbed his victims repeatedly from behind in the neck and upper body.”
Technology
Bloomberg: Why Telegram’s Extremism Worries Governments So Much
“Whether it’s spreading conspiracy theories or organizing riots, messaging app Telegram has become a focus of extremist activity online. The service, started in 2013, is one of the most downloaded apps worldwide. Its private chat setting has made Telegram a free space for open discussion in countries with authoritarian regimes. But a relatively light-touch approach to content moderation means it’s now a prime target for governments trying to stop criminal activities and the spread of misinformation that can destabilize societies. On Aug. 24, French authorities arrested Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov over an alleged failure to take steps to prevent the criminal use of Telegram, including the spread of child sexual abuse material. The company put out a statement that it abides by European laws.”
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