“The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday demanded a halt to the increasing
attacks between Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces and warned
that further escalation “carries the high risk of leading to a widespread
conflict.” Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah pulled back after an exchange of
heavy fire across the U.N.-drawn boundary between Lebanon and Israel over the
weekend. But their decades-old conflict is far from over and regional tensions
linked to the war in Gaza are still high. The Security Council demand that
Israel and Hezbollah halt hostilities came in a French-drafted resolution
unanimously approved by its 15 members, urging the “relevant actors” to restore
“calm, restraint and stability.” Council resolutions are legally binding though
often ignored. “The risk of open warfare remains real, and we are mobilized
alongside our regional and international partners to avoid a regional
conflagration,” France’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Nathalie Broadhurst, said
before the vote.”











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Eye on Extremism



August 29, 2024



Associated Press: UN Demands Halt To Escalating Attacks Between Hezbollah And
Israeli Forces
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“The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday demanded a halt to the increasing
attacks between Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces and warned
that further escalation “carries the high risk of leading to a widespread
conflict.” Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah pulled back after an exchange of
heavy fire across the U.N.-drawn boundary between Lebanon and Israel over the
weekend. But their decades-old conflict is far from over and regional tensions
linked to the war in Gaza are still high. The Security Council demand that
Israel and Hezbollah halt hostilities came in a French-drafted resolution
unanimously approved by its 15 members, urging the “relevant actors” to restore
“calm, restraint and stability.” Council resolutions are legally binding though
often ignored. “The risk of open warfare remains real, and we are mobilized
alongside our regional and international partners to avoid a regional
conflagration,” France’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Nathalie Broadhurst, said
before the vote.”



Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Will Let Salvage Crews Access Oil Tanker They Set
Ablaze In Red Sea
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“Yemen's Houthi group has agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach
a damaged crude oil tanker in the Red Sea, Iran's mission to the United Nations
said on Wednesday, after the Iran-aligned militants attacked the Greek-flagged
vessel last week. The Sounion tanker is carrying 150,000 tonnes, or 1 million
barrels, of crude oil and poses an environmental hazard, shipping officials
said. Any spill has the potential to be among the largest from a ship in
recorded history. "Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the
Houthis), requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue
ships into the incident area," Iran's U.N. mission in New York said. "In
consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns, Ansarullah has
consented to this request," it said. Yemen's Houthis spokesperson Mohammed
Abdulsalam told Reuters on Wednesday there is no temporary truce and the group
only agreed to allow the towing of oil tanker Sounion after several
international parties contacted the group.”



CEP Mentions



Daily Beast: ‘Family Friendly’ Gym Training Partner Identified As Alleged
Neo-Nazi
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“... The Nashville fight clubs were reportedly put on by the Tennessee
chapter of the white supremacist Active Club movement, a loosely connected
network of combat training cells with ties to neo-Nazi groups. A report
published last year by the Counter Extremism Project described Active Clubs as
a “stand-by militia of trained and capable [right-wing extremists] who can be
activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale
arises.” “I don’t see how you can be family-friendly and associated with a
dedicated white supremacist like Ian Elliott,” said Jeff Tischauser, a senior
researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center who studies far-right movements.
“A lot of these Active Club guys are using local mixed martial arts gyms as a
recruiting ground. They’re trying to bring their ideology into those spaces and
recruit teenagers and adults to try and pull them into their white supremacist
worldview.”



WTOP News: The Hunt: ISIS Plays A Key Role In Terror Attack In Germany
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“The Islamic State militant group ISIS has claimed responsibility for a knife
attack that killed three people and wounded eight more at a crowded festival
marking Solingen, Germany’s 650th anniversary. On this week’s episode of “The
Hunt with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green,” Hans-Jakob
Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, suggests ISIS is
on the rise again in Europe and beyond.”



DW-TV: Should Germany Change Its Migration Policy?
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"Germany is still in shock after the terror attack in Solingen, days before
important state elections. How can we stop terrorism? Is migration a threat?
Our guests: Hans-Jakob Schindler (terrorism expert); Morten Freidel (NZZ); Amir
Musawy (freelance journalist)."



United States



The New York Times: C.I.A. Warning Helped Thwart ISIS Attack At Taylor Swift
Concert In Vienna
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“The C.I.A. provided intelligence to Austrian authorities that allowed them
to disrupt a plot that could have killed thousands of people at a Taylor Swift
concert in Vienna this month, the agency’s deputy director said on Wednesday.
David S. Cohen, the deputy director of the C.I.A., said the agency had provided
information about four people connected to the Islamic State who were planning
an attack. Some of the individuals arrested were found with bomb-making
material and had access to the concert venue, where several shows were
scheduled to take place in the days after the arrests. “They were plotting to
kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many
Americans,” Mr. Cohen said at the annual Intelligence Summit just outside
Washington, D.C. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the
agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information
about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”



Iraq



Reuters: Unidentified Drone Shot Down Over Iraq's Kirkuk, Police Say
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“Iraq's air defenses shot down an unmanned drone on Thursday in the northern
city of Kirkuk, two police sources told Reuters, triggering an investigation
into the identity of the drone. One Iraqi military colonel said on condition of
anonymity that an initial investigation of the debris showed it was a Turkish
military armed drone. The drone fell in the center of Kirkuk, igniting a fire
near some houses, but caused no casualties, police sources said, adding the
blaze had been brought under control by firefighters. There was no immediate
response from Turkish authorities to a request for comment.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Afghan Girls, Women Suffer Three Years After US Withdrawal
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“The hardships and heartbreak of three years of Taliban rule are reflected in
the shining brown eyes of schoolgirl Parwana Malik. And on the anniversary of
the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, advocates say Washington should take a
harder look at the plight of countless young girls who have suffered under the
hardline regime. In 2021, as the last U.S. troops were leaving after two
decades in the country, Malik’s father sold her into marriage to a much older
man. She was 9 years old — young even by local standards, which see many Afghan
girls married off in their teens. In 2021, the U.N. Children’s Fund sounded the
alarm about a drastic rise in child marriage as Western forces and aid
organizations withdrew, and as desperate Afghan families lost the safety net
those groups provided. Some betrothals, they said, involved infant girls as
young as 20 days old. And local media have reported that girls as young as 7
have been married off to Taliban commanders.”



Middle East



Associated Press: Israel Kills Prominent Militant As It Wages Its Deadliest
West Bank Raids Since The Gaza War Began
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“The Israeli military said it killed five more militants, including a local
commander, early Thursday in the West Bank as it pressed ahead with what
appeared to be the deadliest military operation in the occupied territory since
the start of the war in Gaza. Israel says the simultaneous raids across the
northern West Bank — which have killed a total of 16 people, nearly all
militants, since late Tuesday — are aimed at preventing attacks. The
Palestinians see them as a widening of the Israel-Hamas war aimed at
perpetuating Israel’s decades-long military rule over the territory. The
Islamic Jihad militant group confirmed that Mohammed Jaber, known as Abu
Shujaa, was killed during a raid in the city of Tulkarem. He became a hero for
many Palestinians earlier in the year when he was reported killed in an Israeli
operation, only to make a surprise appearance at the funeral of other
militants, where he was hoisted onto the shoulders of a cheering crowd.”



Egypt



Reuters: Egypt Sends Arms To Somalia Following Security Deal, Sources Say
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“Egypt delivered its first military aid to Somalia in more than four decades
on Tuesday, three diplomatic and Somali government sources said, a move likely
to deepen strains between the two countries and Ethiopia. Egypt and Somalia
have drawn closer together this year after Ethiopia signed a preliminary deal
with the breakaway region of Somaliland to lease coastal land in exchange for
possible recognition of its independence from Somalia. The Mogadishu government
has called the deal an assault on its sovereignty and said it will block it by
all means necessary. Egypt, at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa's
construction of a vast hydro dam on the headwaters of the Nile River, has
condemned the Somaliland deal. It signed a security pact with Mogadishu earlier
this month and has offered to send troops to a new peacekeeping mission in
Somalia.”



Somalia



Bloomberg: Why Ethiopia’s Bid For Red Sea Access Angers Somalia
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“Ethiopia has been landlocked since 1993. That’s when Eritrea gained
independence after a three-decade war, leaving Ethiopia reliant on its
neighbors’ ports. In 2023, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed identified regaining ocean
access as a strategic objective and warned that failure to secure it could lead
to conflict. On Jan. 1, Ethiopia struck a deal to secure direct passage to the
Red Sea via Somaliland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia. The deal has
stoked tensions across one of the world’s most volatile regions. Somalia
expelled the Ethiopian ambassador and shut down its neighbor’s consulates,
recalled its own envoy from Addis Ababa, and threatened to censure businesses
that treat Somaliland as an independent nation. A memorandum of understanding
envisions Ethiopia gaining access to the Gulf of Aden via a corridor that it
would lease from Somaliland for 50 years.”



China



Voice Of America: China Vows To Enhance Counter-Terrorism Cooperation With
Pakistan
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“China pledged support for Pakistan’s anti-terrorism campaign after Baloch
insurgents, with a history of opposing Chinese investments in the region,
carried out a series of attacks in the southwestern Baluchistan province
Monday. More than 40 civilians and military personnel were killed. The military
reported killing more than 20 attackers. The province is home to China-funded
mega projects, including the strategic deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian
Sea. Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, condemned the
latest attacks. "China stands prepared to strengthen counterterrorism and
security cooperation with Pakistan in order to maintain peace and security in
the region,” Lin said during a Tuesday briefing in Beijing. The insurgent
group, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), claimed responsibility for the
attacks.”



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