The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on Monday condemned Germany's ban on
his group as bowing to US pressure and insisted it was not active in the

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


May 5, 2020

 

France 24: Hezbollah Slams German Ban As ‘Submission To America’s Will’
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“The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on Monday condemned Germany's ban on
his group as bowing to US pressure and insisted it was not active in the
country.  Germany designated Hezbollah a “Shiite terrorist organisation” on
Thursday as its security forces raided mosques and associations linked to the
group. In a televised speech, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah called it a
“political decision that reflects Germany's submission to America's will and to
pleasing Israel”. “When we say we are not active in Germany, we are being 100
percent honest,” said the leader of the Iranian-backed group. Hezbollah was
established in 1982 during the Lebanese civil war and fought a devastating 2006
war with Israel. The US and Israel have long designated it a terrorist group
and urged allies to follow suit. Like the European Union, Germany had until now
outlawed only Hezbollah's military wing while tolerating its political arm, a
major force in the Lebanese parliament. Nasrallah on Monday said he expected
more EU countries to follow Germany's example. The Hezbollah chief also
condemned German authorities for raiding mosques and associations linked to the
group and called on the Lebanese government to protect its nationals in
Germany.”

 

United States

 

Reuters: Cuba Calls Attack On Washington Embassy Terrorism; Police Say Gunman
Heard Voices
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“Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Monday called a gun assault last week
on its embassy in Washington a “terrorist attack”, while U.S. court papers said
the suspected gunman was a psychotic Cuban emigre who heard voices. There were
no injuries in the attack last Thursday, but gunshots riddled the facade and
some penetrated the building. Police arrested Alexander Alazo, 42, at around 2
a.m. after he fired an AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle 32 times at the
embassy, according a memorandum filed on Sunday in support of pretrial
detention. Alazo told investigators he would have shot the ambassador if he had
come out because he was “the enemy”. Voices in his head had told him to protect
his family from what he believed were Cuban organized crime groups affiliated
with the Cuban government that he claimed were following them and wanted to
harm them. He admitted he had been prescribed antipsychotic medication in March
but did not fully comply with the prescription, a fact U.S. state prosecutors
argued “strongly weighs against his release” before trial. “I must denounce the
terrorist attack ... and demand from the United States government a thorough
and swift investigation, harsh sanctions and security measures and guarantees
for our diplomatic missions,” Diaz-Canel told a virtual summit of the
non-aligned movement early on Monday.”

 

Syria

 

Al Jazeera: ISIL Used Syria's Al-Hota Gorge As Dumping Ground For Bodies: HRW
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“ISIL (ISIS) used a deep gorge in northeast Syria as a dumping ground and mass
grave for bodies of people it abducted and executed, Human Rights Watch (HRW)
said in a report. Authorities need to remove the human remains from the al-Hota
gorge located 85km (53 miles) north of Raqqa city and preserve the evidence for
criminal proceedings against the killers, HRW urged in a statement on Monday.
ISIL controlled the area around the al-Hota gorge from 2013 to 2015. By flying
a camera-equipped drone into the 50m (164 feet) deep gorge, HRW discovered the
remains of at least six people floating at the bottom. Based on the state of
decomposition, the bodies were dumped there long after ISIL had left the area,
HRW said. The identities of those victims and their causes of death remain
unknown. Geological maps and a 3D topographic model of al-Hota from the drone
imagery suggest that the gorge goes deeper than the drone was able to see, so
more human remains may lie below the water's surface.”

 

Al Jazeera: Syria Says Israeli Jets Hit Military Outposts In Aleppo Province
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“Syrian air defences thwarted an Israeli missile attack on a research centre
and a military base in the northern province of Aleppo, state media said on
Monday, in the fifth such attack in two weeks on suspected Iranian targets. The
Syrian army said in a statement that Israel hit military barracks in al-Safirah
in the eastern Aleppo countryside. Earlier, state television had said a
research centre was hit. The army said it was now assessing the damage caused
by the raids. A regional intelligence source said Israel was stepping up raids
in Syria at a time when world attention and the region, including Syria, were
distracted by the coronavirus pandemic. An Israeli army spokeswoman declined to
comment on the report. Western intelligence sources say Iranian-backed militias
have long been entrenched in Aleppo province where they have bases and a
command centre and installed advanced weapons, part of a growing presence
across government-controlled Syria. The Scientific Studies and Research Center
is one of several facilities where Western intelligence and opposition sources
suspect Syria, with the help of Iranian researchers, works on developing
chemical weapons they accuse Syria of having used against civilians in
rebel-held areas.”

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: 9 Syrian Policemen Shot Dead In Regime-Controlled Daraa
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“Unknown gunmen killed nine Syrian policemen on Monday in a southern village
close to the border with Jordan, state media and an opposition war monitor
said. The attack occurred in the province of Daraa where Syria’s anti-regime
uprising began in March 2011 before morphing into a war that has killed more
than 400,000 people and displaced half the country’s population. The
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor,
reported that a group of unknown gunmen kidnapped the policemen before shooting
them dead. “Unknown assailants attacked the municipality building... abducting
nine members of the security forces before shooting them dead and abandoning
their bodies in a square,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Syria’s
state news agency SANA said that the nine policemen were killed in the village
of Muzayreeb by “terrorists” who attacked them while they were on duty. It
listed the names of the dead policemen without giving further details. The
regime often refers to the opposition and extremist groups as terrorists. No
one claimed responsibility for the attack.”

 

Iraq

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Iraq Launches Operation To Pursue ISIS Elements After Recent
Attacks
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“Iraqi security forces began Sunday large-scale military operations to purse
ISIS remnants. This military campaign comes in response to the recent attacks
launched by the terrorist organization in a number of Iraqi regions, in which
security personnel and elements from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were
killed. According to the semi-official Al-Iraqiya TV channel, the operations
were launched in line with orders by Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and
focused on the outskirts of Salah al-Din province and the west of Diyala and
Anbar provinces. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Mosul city
said some merchants have recently complained about the ISIS elements again
imposing royalties on them. This brings to mind the group's blackmail and the
imposition of royalties on the city's merchants and riches before seizing it in
June 2014. The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the current extortion and
royalties are practiced on a small scale and mostly in secret. “Some traders
respond to their demands, fearing retaliation by the terrorist elements and due
to their lack of confidence in the government's measures against ISIS.”

 

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Continues Its Multi-Pronged Attacks In Iraq For Third Day
In A Row
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“On Sunday night, the so-called Islamic State launched multiple assaults in
different areas across central provinces of Iraq, targeting tribal Popular
Mobilization Forces (PMF) and a local administrator, making it the third
consecutive assault in a week. The bloody incident comes as part of a recent
increase in activity by fighters loyal to the group, over two years after its
territorial defeat in Iraq in late 2017 by federal security forces, Kurdish
Peshmerga, and the PMF militias, with air support by the US-led coalition. In
an ambushed attack by the Islamic State on Sunday night against the convoy of
al-Azim district’s head of municipality, Mohammed Dhifan al-Obeidi, the head
was critically wounded and three of his guards killed, a source told Kurdistan
24. Following the attack, a group of tribal fighters also known as tribal PMF,
organized a unit alongside the Iraqi army and police to raid the site resulting
in four deaths and five injuries in renewed clashes with the Islamic State, the
source said. In parallel, an Iraqi soldier was killed in a sniper attack
launched by some Islamic State members on the Naqishbandi Iraqi army base in
Qara Tapa sub-district of Diyala late on Sunday, they noted.”

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: Turkey Hits Daesh In Counterterrorism Efforts, Arrests 76 Members
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“Turkish security forces dealt a heavy blow to the Daesh terrorist
organization in the first four months of the year with a series of successful
domestic counterterrorism operations in which 354 suspects were detained and 76
were arrested including high-level members. According to information compiled
by Anadolu Agency (AA), police, gendarmerie and border forces have detained 354
suspects, and seized several documents, weapons and ammunition from the
terrorist organization. Some of the 76 arrested terrorists were deported while
the legal proceedings of others continue. The security officials arrested five
foreign nationals preparing for a terror attack in the capital Ankara on New
Year's Eve; four of them were sent to prison. In western Balıkesir province, 11
suspects linked to the terror group in Iraq were arrested. Four women
affiliates, including one senior operative, were caught in Hatay province in
southern Turkey following their entry into the country from Syria. Another
Daesh affiliate was arrested in northwestern Edirne province. The Kyrgyz
national was arrested with prosecutors seeking more than six years of jail time
for him while a Danish national sought by Interpol, going by the initials of
Y.A., was caught in southern Turkey following a joint operation of security and
intelligence operatives.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Radio Free Europe: Taliban Truck Bombing Kills At Least Five At Afghan
Military Center
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“A truck-bomb attack at a military center in Afghanistan's southern Helmand
Province has killed at least five people and wounded several others. The May 4
attack came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said attacks by the Taliban
were increasing, despite the United States and the militant group having signed
a peace deal in February. The Taliban, claiming responsibility for the bombing
in Helmand, said it attacked a center where at least 150 members of the Afghan
army and intelligence wing were stationed. “Five members of the Afghan security
forces and intelligence services were killed and seven others were wounded in a
truck-bomb explosion in Grishk district,” Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the
regional governor, told RFE/RL. The Taliban claimed the toll was much higher,
saying that “dozens” of Afghan soldiers had been killed and wounded in the
attack, which occurred late on May 3. “Dozens of members belonging to the enemy
forces have been killed and wounded in the attack,” Taliban spokesman Qari
Yousuf Ahmedi said in a statement. The Afghan Defense Ministry had earlier said
only one member of the army was wounded. In a separate incident, at least 20
people were injured when suspected Taliban militants threw a hand grenade into
a mosque in the Khayerkot district of the southeastern Paktika Province late on
May 3, police said.”

 

Voice Of America: Taliban Claim Attack On Afghan Army Base 
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“Taliban have claimed an attack on an Afghan military and intelligence base in
Helmand province Sunday night that killed at least seven and wounded more than
a dozen, according to a security source. The attack was confirmed by multiple
Afghan officials, including the spokesman for Helmand governor Omar Zawak,
albeit with a lower number of casualties. The Afghan ministry of defense said
only one person was wounded. The source who did not wish to be named also said
the base in Grishk district was partially damaged in the attack. District
police chief Ismail Khpalwak said a suicide attacker exploded a Mazda mini
truck in front of the gate. The base along the Kandahar-Herat highway is
approximately 120 km north of the provincial capital Lashkargah which houses
forces responsible for keeping the highway secure. The Taliban statement
claiming the attack said it was done in retaliation for repeated violations of
the deal made between the United States and Taliban in February in Doha, as
well as attacks on civilians living in areas under Taliban control. While this
is the first time in weeks that Taliban have directly claimed an attack,
several reports suggest Taliban violence increased in March and April of this
year.”

 

Time: The American Hostages Left Behind For Trump's Taliban Peace Deal
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“Two American hostages still missing in Afghanistan underscore the limits of a
troubled peace deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban, and the Trump
Administration’s diminishing ability to bend the militants to American will as
the group steps up attacks on its Afghan allies. As the U.S. was nearing an
accord with the Taliban, the militant group’s hardline Haqqani faction
kidnapped American contractor and Navy veteran Mark Frerichs in Afghanistan on
Jan. 31. The Trump Administration, which was aware he was missing, went ahead
and signed the Feb. 29 peace deal anyway. It provided for a Taliban ceasefire
against U.S. forces in return for their eventual withdrawal, but made no
specific mention of hostages, nor did it specify any protection for American
contractors, current and former U.S. officials tell TIME. It was a surprising
concession from President Donald Trump, who has previously made bringing
American captives home a high priority. Now some lawmakers in Washington are
demanding the Trump Administration drive a harder bargain with the Taliban to
find and free Frerichs and Paul Overby, another American missing in Afghanistan
since 2014.”

 

Foreign Policy: In Rural Afghanistan, Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools
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“For the last year, Habib-ur-Rahman has been running a small girls school in
his own home in this remote area of rural Afghanistan, which is largely
dominated by the Taliban. In a previous era, when the Taliban completely ruled
the country before 9/11, that would have been impossible: The radical Islamist
group forbade formal education for girls. But things are different this time,
villagers say. Some of the girls at Rahman’s school are actually related to
active Taliban members, and according to the villagers, the insurgents have
assured them that they have no qualms with his girls school. “Some of my
students are daughters, sisters, or nieces of Taliban fighters. Mostly, all of
these men are not living in our village,” Rahman told Foreign Policy. “They are
busy with fighting and hiding. But they encouraged their relatives to visit my
school and get educated.”  “My brother is a Taliban fighter. But he does not
have any problems with the school. He wants me to seek wisdom and education,”
said Latifa Khostai, one of Rahman’s students. Even as the fighting rages
outside the village between the Taliban and Afghan national forces, despite a
U.S.-orchestrated cease-fire, Rahman said he is cautiously hopeful that things
won’t go back to the way they were before.”

 

Pakistan

 

Hindustan Times: In Pakistan’s New Script For Terrorism In Kashmir, Handwara
Is The Key
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“A second face-off between security forces and terrorists, not far from the
Handwara house in north Kashmir where a bloody firefight killed 5 soldiers,
appears to be part of a Pakistan attempt to rewrite the script for terrorism in
Kashmir, a top security official told Hindustan Times on Monday evening. Just
minutes earlier, two young men had opened fire at CRPF jawans at a security
checkpoint when they were busy checking out some movement in the adjoining
orchard. Two jawans were killed on the spot, the third succumbed to the
gunshots later. A civilian who was caught in the cross-firing also died. The
attack is considered brazen not just because of how the terrorists targeted
security personnel at a checkpoint, but also the timing. In an overnight
operation in another part of Handwara over the weekend, the security
establishment had lost four soldiers including the commanding officer of the
battalion Colonel Ashutosh Sharma and a police officer. At the end of the
13-hour long operation, two bodies of terrorists were found. One of them was
said to be a top Lashkar commander Haider, a Pakistani national. Top
intelligence officials told Hindustan Times that they have decided to keep an
open mind about the number of terrorists involved in the Handwara encounter and
ascertain if this group had recently infiltrated into India.”

 

Middle East

 

Long War Journal: Analysis: The Islamic State’s Ideological Campaign Against
Al-Qaeda
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“On April 29, the Islamic State’s “province” (wilayah) in Yemen released a
lengthy video that is intended to undermine al-Qaeda’s ideological legitimacy
within the jihadists’ ranks. The 50-plus minute production, titled “A
Documentary Shedding Light on Al-Qaeda Organization’s Deviation Following What
Is Known as the Arab Spring,” repeats many of the same doctrinal accusations
the Islamic State has made for years. The would-be caliphate’s ire is directed
at Ayman al-Zawahiri and his lieutenants, as well as al-Qaeda’s regional
branches and their allies. The Islamic State’s central charge is that al-Qaeda
betrayed its own Salafi-jihadist ideology in the wake of the Arab uprisings in
2011 and 2012. For those who have followed the Islamic State’s messaging since
its rise to power in 2014, when the group mushroomed into an international
menace, the allegations will be familiar. Indeed, the group’s literature,
including its Arabic weekly newsletter, Al-Naba, and its English-language
magazines Dabiq and Rumiyah, have advanced the arguments discussed below on
multiple occasions. Indeed, the video was highlighted in the most recent
edition of Al-Naba (Issue no. 232), with an article summarizing its arguments.
Al-Qaeda’s senior leaders and the group’s regional branches are not the only
ones featured in the video. The Islamic State harshly criticizes various other
Salafists and Islamists, especially Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood’s
men in Egypt.”

 

Nigeria

 

Al Jazeera: Dozens Of Boko Haram, ISWAP Fighters Killed In Nigeria
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“Nigeria has killed 134 members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West
Africa Province (ISWAP) armed groups. John Enenche, Nigeria's defence ministry
spokesman, told reporters on Monday the fighters were killed in Operation
Kantana Jimlan, which was launched on May 1 in the country's northeast. ISWAP
is a splinter group of Boko Haram. He said 78 of those killed were members of
ISWAP and 56 were Boko Haram members, adding that Nigerian troops arrested 16
informants of the fighters as the country aims to eradicate both armed groups
from its territory. Lots of ammunition was also seized during the operation, he
said. Boko Haram launched its fight in 2009 in northeast Nigeria but later
spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.
More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly three million displaced in
a decade of Boko Haram's activities in Nigeria, according to the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Violence committed by Boko
Haram has affected about 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and
displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.”

 

Africa

 

BBC News: Mozambique: Is Cabo Delgado The Latest Islamic State Outpost?
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“A simmering Islamist rebellion in a remote corner of Mozambique has erupted
into open warfare in recent weeks, with reports of massacres, beheadings and
the brief seizure of two towns in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, writes
BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding. The armed men walked calmly through
the long grass, skirting past a large white building, seemingly untroubled by
the sound of gunfire. Most carried automatic rifles and wore variations of what
appeared to be Mozambican army uniforms. A few more shots rang out in the
distance and someone shouted “Allahu Akbar” - God is the greatest - as if in
reply. The video footage, shot last month on a mobile phone in Muidumbe was
powerful new evidence that a murky conflict in the northern-most region of
Mozambique has now moved out into the open, in spectacular and alarming
fashion. A second video, shot a few weeks earlier, showed a dead man -
apparently a policeman - lying in a pool of blood. The camera then moved over
to reveal another corpse, then a third lying under a black police vehicle, then
a fourth body out in the open, and finally a large pile of automatic weapons in
some sort of police or military store.”

 

Voice Of America: France, G5 Sahel Nations Urge Chad To Continue
Counterterrorism Support
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“France and other countries in Africa’s Sahel region have called on Chad to
send additional troops “as soon as possible” to an area wracked by instability
and violent extremism. The request came last week during a videoconference
between representatives of France and five countries from the Sahel region that
are involved in a military alliance that has been battling a growing Islamist
insurgency. The Sahel is a semi-arid region that stretches from Sudan in the
east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It includes Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina
Faso and Mauritania. These nations are known as the G5 Sahel countries. The
countries “highlighted the importance of sending a Chadian battalion to the
Three-Borders area as soon as possible,” according to a joint statement
following the G5 Sahel-France meeting last week. The tri-border area, where
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso converge, has had a surge in violent attacks
carried out by Islamist militants, some of which are affiliated with al-Qaida
and Islamic State terror groups. Chad’s military plays a significant role in
the 5,000-strong G5 force, which cooperates with French troops who have been
present in the region since the outbreak of an insurgency in Mali in 2012.”

 

All Africa: Kenya Stops Attacks Planned By Al-Shabaab During Ramadhan
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“The government has thwarted planned attacks by al-Shabaab during the Holy
Month of Ramadhan, which would have seen a number of abductions and hijacking
of government vehicles, a confidential security brief seen by the Sunday Nation
shows. It was made possible by the collaboration of the Kenya Defence Forces
(KDF) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS). “Al-Shabaab terror group has
upscaled targeted attacks both in Kenya and Somalia. The group has established
parallel operational administrative structures in five of the seven Federal
member states (FMS) including the capital city, Mogadishu. The terrorist group
has also infiltrated the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) where they occupy
key positions, receive financial support and influence decision making.
“Al-Shabaab's gains both in FMS and FGS are part of its plans to ascend to
political power in Somalia and in the long-term create an Islamic caliphate in
the Eastern Africa region. The militants have also taken advantage of the
negative propaganda by Somali citizens and their diaspora community in the
mainstream media in denting the images of Amisom contributing countries and
Kenya in particular following the maritime dispute,” it reads.”

 

Germany

 

The Straits Times: Widow Of ISIS Militant Goes On Trial In Germany
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“A German-Tunisian woman who married a German rapper-turned-fighter for the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and who kept a child slave in Syria went
on trial yesterday. The woman, named as 35-year-old Omaima M, faces a slew of
charges, including membership of a foreign terror group, human trafficking and
crimes against humanity. She appeared before the higher regional court in
Hamburg dressed in a blue blazer, using a magazine to cover her face from
photographers. Omaima M is widely known in Germany for having been the wife of
the late German-Ghanaian rapper and ISIS militant Denis Cuspert, who went by
the stage name Deso Dogg. Prosecutors said Omaima M had travelled to Syria in
January 2015 with her three children to join her first husband and the
children's father, Nadar H. She lived under ISIS rules, raising her children on
the group's doctrines and receiving monthly financial help from the militant
outfit, prosecutors said. Between spring and summer 2015, Omaima M allegedly
held a 13-year-old Yazidi girl as a slave. She married the rapper Denis Cuspert
after her first husband was killed in an air raid in Kobane, according to
prosecutors.”

 



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