Eye on Extremism
September 12, 2024
Associated Press: Israel-Hamas War Latest: Israeli Airstrikes On Palestinian Territories Kill Dozens More
“Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed dozens more Palestinians on Wednesday, according to local officials. They said strikes on a U.N. school being used as a shelter and two homes killed at least 34 people, including 19 women and children. The Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead. Here’s the latest: AMMAN, Jordan — An Islamic party affiliated with the regional Muslim Brotherhood movement has emerged as the largest party in Jordan’s parliament after tapping into public anger over Israel’s war against Hamas.”
Associated Press: Iran’s President Slams The West Over The War In Gaza And Support For Israel
“Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday slammed the West, saying that Israel is “committing massacres” in the war in Gaza and using European and American weapons to do so. Pezeshkian, who spoke in Baghdad at the start of his first visit abroad since taking office, is hoping to cement Tehran’s ties to Baghdad as regional tensions increasingly pull both majority Shiite countries into the widening Middle East fray. Iran has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian militant Hamas group since its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted, according to local health officials. The war has also caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. “The Israeli entity is committing massacres against women, children, young men and the elderly. They bomb hospitals and schools,” Pezeshkian said.”
CEP Mentions
WTOP: The Hunt: The US Still Has Some Unfinished Business With Al-Qaida
“Wednesday marks 23 years since 3,000 people were killed when terrorists hijacked passenger jets and purposefully crashed them in the worst attack on America in history. It was planned and carried out by al-Qaida, and while the U.S. has killed its founder, Osama bin Laden, and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri, the militant group is still active. On this week’s episode of The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green, Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, said two of al-Qaida’s original members are still out there and evidence suggests the group is training and plotting again.”
United States
Bloomberg: US To Give Egypt $1.3 Billion Military Aid Amid Gaza Talks Role
“The State Department told Congress Wednesday that its intention to provide the full package reflects Egypt’s contributions to US national security priorities, particularly toward a cease-fire in Gaza, according to a department spokesman. The decision comes as the US struggles to secure a deal that would halt the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and destabilized the region and freed the remaining Israeli hostages held by the militant group. Egypt and Qatar have both played a crucial role in the talks by helping communicate with Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization. The move also comes as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi navigates the aftermath of an economic crisis that triggered a $57 billion international bailout led by the International Monetary Fund and United Arab Emirates.”
Bloomberg: US Aircraft Carrier In Middle East Heads Home
“The Pentagon's rare move to keep two Navy aircraft carriers in the Middle East over the past several weeks has now finished, as the USS Theodore Roosevelt is heading home, according to U.S. officials. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the Roosevelt to extend its deployment for a short time and remain in the region as the USS Abraham Lincoln was pushed to get to the area more quickly. The Biden administration beefed up the U.S. military presence there to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and to safeguard U.S. troops. U.S. commanders in the Middle East have long argued that the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier and the warships accompanying it has been an effective deterrent in the region, particularly for Iran.”
Reuters: US Sanctions Lebanese Network Over Alleged Oil, LPG Smuggling For Hezbollah
“The Biden administration on Wednesday issued sanctions on a Lebanese network it accused of smuggling oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to help fund the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The sanctions target three people, five companies and two vessels that the U.S. Treasury Department said were overseen by a senior leader of Hezbollah's finance team and used profits from illicit LPG shipments to Syria to aid generate revenue for the group. Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith, in a statement, said Hezbollah "continues to launch rockets into Israel and fuel regional instability, choosing to prioritize funding violence over taking care of the people it claims to care about, including the tens of thousands displaced in southern Lebanon."”
Turkey
Associated Press: Israel-Hamas War Latest: Turkey Investigates The Killing Of Turkish-American Activist In West Bank
“Turkey announced on Thursday its own probe into the death of a Turkish-American activist who was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week while protesting settlements in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, a Syrian pro-government media outlet and an opposition war monitor say an Israeli strike hit a car in southern Syria on Thursday, killing two people. The developments came a day after Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed dozens more Palestinians, according to local officials. Strikes on a U.N. school being used as a shelter and two homes killed at least 34 people in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, including 19 women and children, they said. The Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count.”
Pakistan
Reuters: Pakistan Charges Imran Khan Party Lawmakers With Terrorism Offences
“Several lawmakers and leaders of jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party arrested after a rally they held to demand his release have been charged with terrorism offenses, according to police on Wednesday. The lawmakers have been in police custody since being arrested after Sunday's rally turned violent, and will remain in custody until September 18 for investigation, said police officer Zafar Khan and a party official. Former cricket star Khan, 71, has been in jail for over a year since his overthrow in 2022 after a falling-out with powerful military generals which has spawned the worst political turmoil in decades in the nation of 241 million people.Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan's party leads a majority government is among those facing the charges, the police report of the offences seen by Reuters showed.”
Middle East
Reuters; Hamas Says Ready To Implement Ceasefire Without New Conditions
“The Palestinian Hamas group said on Wednesday that its negotiators reiterated its readiness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous U.S. proposal without new conditions from any party. The Palestinian group said in a statement that their negotiation team, led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, met mediators on Wednesday including Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt's Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel in Doha to discuss the latest developments in Gaza. Talks have so far failed to reach a deal to end the 11-month-old war. The lingering issue includes control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow stretch of land on Gaza's border with Egypt, persisting. CIA Director William Burns, who is also the chief U.S. negotiator on Gaza, said on Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made in the next several days.”
Somalia
Bloomberg: Islamic State’s Somalia Affiliate Expands Influence, Group Says
“Islamic State in Somalia, the global terrorist group’s affiliate in the Horn of Africa, has grown in influence through its ability to mobilize funds for disbursement to the network on the continent, according to the International Crisis Group. Although the jihadist group’s impact at home is overshadowed by bigger rival al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, it appears to play an outsized role in the global operations of the Islamic State, the Brussels-based organization said in a report. “It has emerged as a key component of the Islamic State’s network, in large part because it can raise substantial revenue, largely through extortion,” ICG said in the report. “It has sent funds to branches throughout Africa and reportedly even as far away as Afghanistan.” Other than shaking down businesses in Puntland’s seaport city of Bosasso, IS-Somalia exports small quantities of gold mined in the northeastern Bari region, where it is based.”
Africa
Associated Press: Sudan Accuses UAE Of Arming Rivals And Prolonging War, UAE Accuses Sudan Of Refusing To Talk Peace
“The Sudanese government accused the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday of providing weapons to its rival paramilitary force and prolonging the 17-month war. The UAE called the allegations “utterly false” and “baseless” and accused the government of refusing to negotiate peace with its enemy. Their latest clash came during a U.N. Security Council meeting where its 15 members voted unanimously to extend an arms embargo in Sudan’s vast western Darfur region – a key battleground of the rival forces – until Sept. 12, 2025. Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to Darfur and other regions. More than 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes, the country is engulfed in a humanitarian crisis, and the head of the U.N. World Health Organization said Sunday that over 20,000 people have been killed.”
Europe
Reuters: Kosovo Indicts 45 On Terrorism Charges Over 2023 Attack
“The prosecution said that Milan Radoicic, the leader of the group and a former top Kosovo Serb politician, is among the accused. Radoicic, who lives in Serbia, has publicly admitted taking part in the gunbattle. All the suspects, some of whom are Kosovo citizens, are believed to be in Serbia. It is unlikely they will be handed to Kosovo authorities because Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo's independence and still considers it part of its own territory. Kosovo blames Serbia for being behind the shootout. Belgrade denies this. Early this year the global police agency Interpol issued international arrest warrants for 19 suspects including Radoicic. Some 50,000 Serbs who live in north Kosovo do not recognize Pristina's institutions and see Belgrade as their capital. They have often clashed with Kosovo police and international peacekeepers.”
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