“Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel early Wednesday, including
a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group’s deepest strike yet
and marked a further escalation after Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed
hundreds of people. The Israeli military said it intercepted the
surface-to-surface missile, which set off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and
across central Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage. The
military said it struck the site in southern Lebanon where the missile was
launched. Hezbollah said it fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile targeting the
headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it blames for a
recent string of targeted killings of its top commanders and for an attack last
week in which explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of
people and wounded thousands, including many Hezbollah members.”











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Eye on Extremism



September 25, 2024



Associated Press: Hezbollah Fires A Missile At Tel Aviv In Deepest Strike Yet
After Israeli Bombardment Of Lebanon
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“Hezbollah hurled dozens of projectiles into Israel early Wednesday, including
a missile aimed at Tel Aviv that was the militant group’s deepest strike yet
and marked a further escalation after Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed
hundreds of people. The Israeli military said it intercepted the
surface-to-surface missile, which set off air-raid sirens in Tel Aviv and
across central Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage. The
military said it struck the site in southern Lebanon where the missile was
launched. Hezbollah said it fired a Qader 1 ballistic missile targeting the
headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it blames for a
recent string of targeted killings of its top commanders and for an attack last
week in which explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies killed dozens of
people and wounded thousands, including many Hezbollah members.”



Associated Press: Netanyahu Will Address The UN As Israel, Bogged Down By One
War, Barrels Toward Another
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“From the dais of the U.N. General Assembly just a year ago, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu triumphantly hailed a new peace he said would sweep
through the Middle East. A year later, as he travels back to that same world
stage, that vision is in tatters. The devastating war in Gaza is about to hit
the one-year mark. Israel is on the cusp of a wider regional war with the
Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah. The country finds itself increasingly
isolated internationally and led by a polarizing leader whose handling of the
conflict has sparked protests both in global capitals and on the streets of his
own country. And it’s not just the mushrooming regional conflicts weighing
Israel down. Netanyahu will head to New York burdened also by what could be an
imminent warrant for his arrest by the International Criminal Court, which
would put him in a fellowship of sorts with Russian President Vladimir Putin
and former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir.”




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in August 2024
<[link removed]>
* CounterPoint Brief: EU Arrests Members of Newly-Designated Terrorist Group
The Base
<[link removed]>
* CounterPoint Brief: U.S. and Iraqi Forces Target ISIS Leadership in Iraq
and Syria
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* CEP-KAS: Sahel Monitoring May 2024
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* Counterpoint Brief: ISIS Knife Attack in Solingen, Germany
<[link removed]>



CEP Mentions



The Daily Mail: Iran Stages Secret Talks To Send Deadly Russian Anti-Ship
Missiles To Houthi Rebels In Yemen - Sparking Fears Putin Could Be 'Stoking
Conflict' In The Region To Undermine The US And Ensure Trump's Re-Election
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“... Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and
former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen, told MailOnline early Wednesday that the
claims are 'very concerning if true' and appear 'credible' so far as Iran and
Russia are 'locked in a rejectionist-disruptor embrace.' 'One key Russian
objective is to show US weakness and thus make Trump’s reelection more likely,'
he said. 'That potential strategic gain overrides all other considerations.'
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Putin was considering sending the
missiles to the Houthis, but Iran's role as an intermediary has not been
previously reported. Russia previously sent the missiles to Iran-backed
Hezbollah in Lebanon, now at the center of the regional conflict with Israel.”



United States



Associated Press: US Navy Replenishment Ship Damaged After Refueling Warships
In The Middle East
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“A U.S. Navy replenishment ship operating in the Middle East sustained damage
after refueling vessels, and the cause is under investigation, officials said
Tuesday. The USNS Big Horn was damaged after it resupplied the USS Abraham
Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group. The carrier group remains in the region
amid heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war and Israel’s ongoing strikes
targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. A U.S. Navy official, speaking on condition of
anonymity to discuss matters yet to be made public, declined to elaborate on
where the damage took place. A photo released by the U.S. military dated Sept.
5 showed sailors aboard the Lincoln receiving supplies from the Big Horn, while
another on Sept. 11 showed the Big Horn alongside the Lincoln. The Lincoln is
patrolling the Arabian Sea. The official said the Big Horn’s crew was safe, and
there was no sign of an oil leak from the vessel.”



Iran



Reuters: Exclusive: Iran Brokering Talks To Send Advanced Russian Missiles To
Yemen's Houthis, Sources Say
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“Iran has brokered ongoing secret talks between Russia and Yemen's Houthi
rebels to transfer anti-ship missiles to the militant group, three Western and
regional sources said, a development that highlights Tehran's deepening ties to
Moscow. Seven sources said that Russia has yet to decide to transfer the
Yakhont missiles – also known as P-800 Oniks - which experts said would allow
the militant group to more accurately strike commercial vessels in the Red Sea
and increase the threat to the U.S. and European warships defending them. The
Wall Street Journal reported in July that Russia was considering sending the
missiles. Iran's role as an intermediary has not been previously reported. The
Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the
crucial Red Sea shipping channels since November to show support for
Palestinians in the Gaza war with Israel.”



Afghanistan



Voice Of America: Women's Rights Activists At UN Call For Inclusion In
Negotiations With Taliban
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“Afghan women and their international supporters are calling for the
inclusion of women in any negotiations on the future of Afghanistan amid the
Taliban's increasing restrictions on women in the country. In a side event on
the eve of the United Nations General Assembly, co-hosted by Ireland,
Indonesia, Switzerland and Qatar together with the Women's Forum on
Afghanistan, women's activists called on the international community to stand
with Afghan women in the face of the Taliban's repressive measures. Academy
Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who participated in the meeting, said
Afghan women have been stripped of their rights under the Taliban. "A bird may
sing in Kabul, but a girl may not, and a woman may not in public," she said.
"This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law. This is odd."
Streep was referring to the Taliban's newly imposed morality law that prohibits
women from speaking aloud in public.”



Lebanon



Reuters: Hezbollah's Tunnels And Flexible Command Weather Israel's Deadly Blows

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“Hezbollah's flexible chain of command, together with its extensive tunnel
network and a vast arsenal of missiles and weapons it has bolstered over the
past year, is helping it weather unprecedented Israeli strikes, three sources
familiar with the Lebanese militant group's operations said. Israel's assault
on Hezbollah over the past week, including the targeting of senior commanders
and the detonation of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies, has left the
powerful Lebanese Shiite militant group and political party reeling. On Friday,
Israel killed the commander who founded and led the group's elite Radwan force,
Ibrahim Aqil. And since Monday, Lebanon's deadliest day of violence in decades,
the health ministry says more than 560 people, among them 50 children, have
died in air barrages. The Israeli military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said
on Sunday that Aqil's death had shaken the organization. Israel says its
strikes have also destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rockets and shells.”



Associated Press: Israel Bombards Hezbollah, Killing A Top Commander, While
Families Flee Southern Lebanon
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“Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing
campaign that has left more than 560 people dead and prompted thousands in
southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict. With the two sides
on the brink of all-out war, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel,
including a longer-range projectile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv
and across central Israel. It was the group’s farthest strike yet in nearly a
year of exchanges. Israel said it intercepted the projectile, and there were no
reports of casualties or damage. Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic
missile at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it
said was responsible for the targeted killing of its senior leaders. Israel
said it struck the site the missile was launched from in southern Lebanon.
Families that fled southern Lebanon flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of
Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars, parks and
along the beach.”



Middle East



Voice Of America: Hamas Demands 'Immediate Action' To End War In Gaza
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“Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that it is expecting the U.N. to take
“immediate action” to end the war in Gaza. “We demand immediate action to stop
the Israeli aggression and the war,” said the Hamas statement, which was
directed at United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. But the
Palestinian group also said it will not participate in new cease-fire talks. It
said will not waver from its position “against entering new negotiations that
would provide (Israel) with cover to continue its aggression.” In recent days,
there have been fewer strikes on Gaza as Israel escalates attacks in Lebanon it
says are aimed at Hezbollah. However, Israel launched deadly strikes Tuesday
across Gaza, killing at least 22 people and injuring at least 40, according to
Palestinian health officials. One of the strikes, on the Nuseirat refugee camp,
six Palestinians were killed, three of them women.”



Associated Press: 4 Soldiers Killed And 9 Injured In An Unspecified Accident,
United Arab Emirates Says
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“The United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday that four soldiers were killed
and nine others injured in an accident. The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency
carried a military statement that offered no other immediate details, simply
calling the incident Tuesday night “an accident … while they were carrying out
their duty in the country.” The Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has one
of the strongest militaries of the Gulf Arab nations.”



Somalia



Reuters: Somalia And Ethiopia Feud Over Arms Influx
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“Somalia accused Ethiopia of smuggling weapons on Tuesday amid fears that
arms going into the conflict-riven Horn of Africa nation could end up in the
hands of Islamist militants. The neighbors traded barbs a day after an Egyptian
warship unloaded heavy weaponry in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, the second
shipment since a security pact in August. Landlocked Ethiopia, which has
thousands of troops in Somalia to fight al Qaeda-linked insurgents, has fallen
out with the Mogadishu government over its plans to build a port in the
breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for possible recognition of its
sovereignty. The spat has drawn Somalia closer to Egypt, which has quarreled
with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa's construction of a vast hydro dam on
the Nile River. Ethiopia's Foreign Affairs Minister Taye Atske Selassie said he
was concerned arms from "external forces would further exacerbate the fragile
security and would end up in the hands of terrorists in Somalia," Ethiopia News
Agency reported.”



Africa


Reuters: Why West Africa Is Now The World's Terrorism Hotspot
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“Having slipped undetected into Mali's capital weeks ago, the jihadis struck
just before dawn prayers. They killed dozens of students at an elite police
training academy, stormed Bamako's airport and set the presidential jet on
fire. The Sept. 17 attack was the most brazen since 2016 in a capital city in
the Sahel, a vast arid region stretching across sub-Saharan Africa south of the
Sahara Desert. It showed that jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda or Islamic
State, whose largely rural insurgency has killed thousands of civilians and
displaced millions in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, can also strike at the
heart of power. Overshadowed by wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan,
conflict in the Sahel rarely garners global headlines, yet it is contributing
to a sharp rise in migration from the region towards Europe at a time when
anti-immigrant far-right parties are on the rise, and some EU states are
tightening their borders.”



Associated Press: Burkina Faso’s Ruling Junta Claims Foiling An Attempt To
Destabilize The Country
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“Burkina Faso’s ruling junta said it thwarted an attempt to destabilize the
African country “with the help of foreign powers.” A transitional government
has been running the West African country after the military seized power in
2022, capitalizing on popular discontent with previous democratically elected
governments over security issues. Growing attacks by extremists linked to
al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have devastated Burkina Faso, where
thousands have been killed and more than 2 million people displaced while
pushing tens of thousands to the brink of starvation. The junta had set a goal
to conduct an election in July to return the country to democratic rule, but
four months ago, it extended its transition term for five more years. Burkina
Faso’s Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said on national television Monday
night that “persons residing in Ivory Coast have been involved in subversive
activities against our country.”



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