Eye on Extremism
August 29, 2024
Associated Press: UN Demands Halt To Escalating Attacks Between Hezbollah And Israeli Forces
“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
“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
“... 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
“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?
"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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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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