“Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near
weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, a confidential
report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Thursday. The report by the
International Atomic Energy Agency, seen by The Associated Press, said that as
of Aug. 17, Iran has 164.7 kilograms (363.1 pounds) of uranium enriched up to
60 %. That’s an increase of 22.6 kilograms (49.8 pounds) since the IAEA’s last
report in May. Uranium enriched up to 60% purity is just a short, technical
step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. By IAEA’s definition, around 42
kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount at which
creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible — if the material is
enriched further, to 90%.”











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Eye on Extremism



August 30, 2024



**NOTE: Eye On Extremism media monitoring will be suspended on Monday,
September 2, in observance of Labor Day. It will resume Tuesday, September 3.**



Associated Press: Iran Has Further Increased Its Stockpile Of Uranium Enriched
To Near Weapons-Grade Levels, UN Says
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“Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near
weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, a confidential
report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Thursday. The report by the
International Atomic Energy Agency, seen by The Associated Press, said that as
of Aug. 17, Iran has 164.7 kilograms (363.1 pounds) of uranium enriched up to
60 %. That’s an increase of 22.6 kilograms (49.8 pounds) since the IAEA’s last
report in May. Uranium enriched up to 60% purity is just a short, technical
step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. By IAEA’s definition, around 42
kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount at which
creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible — if the material is
enriched further, to 90%.”



Fox News: German Terror Attack Suspect Identified As A Syrian Refugee,
Chancellor Vows To Implement Strict Immigration
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“Authorities identified a 26-year-old man as responsible for the deadly
stabbing spree at a festival in Solingen, Germany, last week that left three
people dead and wounded eight others as a Syrian national with possible links
to the Islamic State. Federal prosecutors in Germany identified the suspect as
Issa Al H., omitting his family name because of German privacy laws. The
Islamic State previously claimed responsibility, saying that the attacker
targeted Christians who carried out the attack "to avenge Muslims in Palestine
and everywhere." The Islamic State group described the man who carried out the
attack as a "soldier of the Islamic State" in a statement on its Telegram
account. North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister, Herbert Reul, said that
Issa Al H. was living at a home for refugees in Solinger prior to the attack.”




Recent CEP Press Releases

* CounterPoint Brief: ISIS Knife Attack in Solingen, Germany
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* Extremist Content Online: Posts on X Encourage Violence Against Muslims and
Jews, Promote Neo-Nazi Accelerationist Groups and White Supremacist Terrorists
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* CEP Webinar: Protecting and Fostering Jewish Life in The EU After October 7
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* Extremist Content Online: Content From Extreme-Right Eskisehir, Turkey
Knife Attacker Spreads Online
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* Extremist Content Online: Extreme Right Celebrates Anti-Muslim and
Anti-Immigrant Riots on Telegram and X
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CEP Mentions



DW-TV: Israel Is Doing This Preemptively
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The UN Secretary-General is calling on Israel to immediately halt its
large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank. For now, Israel
presses ahead, and claims to have killed some Palestinian militants in a gun
battle in a mosque on Thursday. DW spoke with Hans-Jakob Schindler about
Israel’s goals in the Palestinian territory.



United States



The New York Times: Inside The Frantic U.S. Efforts To Contain A Mideast
Disaster
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“As Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken flew to Mongolia on July 31, his mind
was on events far away, in the Middle East. Hours earlier, Israel had
assassinated a top Hamas leader in Tehran, and Iranian officials were vowing
retaliation for the murder of a close ally on their soil. Using a secure phone
in his private compartment of the plane, Mr. Blinken spoke to several foreign
officials in the hours after the killing, asking them to urge Iran against
taking any action that could lead to all-out war with Israel. Days later, one
of the officials, the foreign minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi, visited Tehran
and called for “peace, stability and security.” President Biden also quickly
persuaded the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to schedule a new round of talks
aiming to secure a cease-fire in Gaza. Those meetings had an unstated purpose
as well: discouraging Iran from mounting an attack that could derail the talks
and make Tehran look like a spoiler.”



Pakistan



Voice Of America: Pakistan Security Officials In 'Taliban' Captivity Appeal
For Help
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“Militants in northwestern Pakistan released a video Thursday of an army
colonel and his brother, a senior civilian security officer, showing them in
captivity and requesting authorities help secure their freedom. The officers
are part of a group of four people, including their third brother and a nephew,
whom gunmen abducted Wednesday evening while attending their father's funeral
in the militancy-hit Dera Ismail Khan district. The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan, or TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility
for kidnapping the four men but did not share their demands publicly. “We are
safe and well and in the custody of the Taliban in a remote area where the
Pakistani government has no control," Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Amir stated in
the 35-second video. Two men dressed in traditional attire, holding assault
rifles, are seen in the background with their faces deliberately kept out of
the video frame.”



Yemen



Associated Press: Houthi Video Shows The Yemeni Rebels Planted Bombs On Tanker
Now Threatening Red Sea Oil Spill
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“Yemen’s Houthi rebels released footage on Thursday showing their fighters
boarded and placed explosives on a Greek-flagged tanker, setting off blasts
that put the Red Sea at risk of a major oil spill. The vessel was abandoned
earlier after the Houthis repeatedly attacked it. In the video, the Iran-backed
Houthis chant their motto as the bombs detonated aboard the oil tanker Sounion:
“God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews;
victory to Islam.” The blasts capped the most serious attack in weeks by the
Houthis in their campaign disrupting the $1 trillion in goods that pass through
the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, as well as
halting some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. The Sounion
carried some 1 million barrels of oil when the Houthis initially attacked it on
Aug. 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat.”



Middle East



Associated Press: Aid Group Says Israel Hit Convoy To Hospital In Gaza. Israel
Says It Hit Gunmen Who Seized The Car
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“An Israeli missile hit a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an
Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing several people from a local
transportation company, the American Near East Refugee Aid group said Friday.
Israel claimed without immediate evidence that it opened fire after gunmen
seized the convoy. The strike killed several people employed by a
transportation company that the aid group was using to bring supplies to the
Emirates Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah, said Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s director
for the Palestinian territories. The strike happened Thursday on the Salah
al-Din Road in the Gaza Strip and hit the convoy’s first vehicle. “The convoy,
which was coordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an
Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed,” Rasheed said in a statement.
“Despite this devastating incident, our understanding is that the remaining
vehicles in the convoy were able to continue and successfully deliver the aid
to the hospital. We are urgently seeking further details about what happened.”



Reuters: Israeli Military Says Killed Local Hamas Commander In West Bank
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“Israeli border police killed a senior commander of the Islamist movement
Hamas in the West Bank on Friday, the military said. It said Wassem Hazem,
identified as the commander of Hamas in the volatile city of Jenin, was killed
in a car it said contained weapons, ammunition and large quantities of cash.
Two other Hamas gunmen were killed by a drone while trying to escape from the
vehicle, it said.”



Reuters: Israel, Hamas Set Three-Day Pauses In Fighting For Gaza Polio Shots,
WHO Says
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“Israel's military and Palestinian militant group Hamas have agreed to three
separates, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the first
round of vaccination of 640,000 children against polio, a senior WHO official
said on Thursday. The vaccination campaign is due to start on Sunday, with the
pauses scheduled to take place between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. (0300-1200 GMT), said
Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization's senior official for the
Palestinian territories. He said the campaign would start in central Gaza with
three consecutive daily pauses in fighting, then move to southern Gaza, where
there would be another three-day pause, followed by northern Gaza. Peeperkorn
added there was an agreement to extend the pause in each zone to a fourth day
if needed. "From our experience, we know an additional day or two is very often
needed to achieve sufficient coverage," Mike Ryan, WHO emergencies director,
told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday during a meeting on the humanitarian
situation in Gaza.”



Africa



Reuters: Al Qaeda Branch Says It Killed 300 Fighters, Not Civilians, In
Burkina Faso Attack
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“An al Qaeda-linked group said it killed nearly 300 people in Saturday's
devastating attack in north-central Burkina Faso but said it targeted militia
members linked to the army, not civilians, the U.S. consultancy Site
Intelligence Group reported. The attack outside the town of Barsalogho was one
of the deadliest in nearly a decade of Islamist violence in the West African
country. A group of victims' relatives said at least 400 were killed when
jihadists opened fire on civilians digging defensive trenches on orders of the
military. Al Qaeda affiliate Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin said
soldiers and militia members were excavating the trenches when it attacked.
"Those who were eliminated in this attack are nothing, but militias affiliated
with the Burkinabe army ... not as they lied and said that they were
civilians," JNIM said in a communique translated by Site on Thursday.”



United Kingdom



Politico: How Britain Took Its Eye Off The Far Right
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“It was the summer Britain saw some of its worst riots for more than two
decades. The flashpoint was the murder of three children in July, in a horrific
stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the seaside town of Southport.
Online disinformation suggesting the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker led to
mosques and refugee accommodations being targeted by violent mobs in more than
a week of unrest. The disorder and anger seen across the U.K. was targeted at
immigrants, legal and illegal — and sometimes even people of color who had
lived in the U.K. for generations — and it was stoked by far-right groups of
varying degrees of organization. As the new Labour government seeks ways to
prevent a repeat of the violence, officials working in counter-extremism told
POLITICO that work monitoring far-right extremism had stalled over the past
three years towards the end of the last Conservative government, despite rising
tensions over immigration.”



Germany



Politico: Germany Deports Dozens Of Convicted Criminals To Afghanistan
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“For the first time since the Taliban took power, Germany deported Afghans
convicted of crimes back to their home country on a charter jet Friday morning,
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesperson said. “Germany’s security interests
clearly outweigh the protection interests of criminals,” the spokesperson said.
Flight trackers showed a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 taking off from Leipzig for
Kabul shortly before 7 a.m. The operation was prepared by the German
chancellery and the interior ministry for two months. The 28 deportees were
brought to Leipzig overnight from detention centers, received €1,000 in cash
and were accompanied by a doctor, according to a report by the German newspaper
Spiegel. The German government initiated the deportations using Qatar as an
intermediary, the report added.”



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