Eye on Extremism
October 3, 2024
Associated Press: Rare Israeli Strike In Central Beirut Kills 7 As Troops Battle Hezbollah In Southern Lebanon
“An Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed seven Hezbollah-affiliated civilian first responders. Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of the capital. There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit an apartment in central Beirut not far from the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed. The strike came after at least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where Israel announced the start of what it says is a limited ground incursion earlier this week. The region was meanwhile bracing for Israeli retaliation following an Iranian ballistic missile attack.”
Associated Press: Four Iraqi Soldiers Killed In Islamic State Group Ambush
“Four Iraqi troops were killed Wednesday and several wounded in an ambush by the extremist Islamic State group, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said. The attack came days after the U.S. military announced that troops from its coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria will withdraw from Iraqi territory next year but maintain a presence in Syria until 2026. Despite IS losing its so-called caliphate where it controlled large swaths of land in Iraq and eastern Syria in 2019, it continues to launch attacks through its scattered cells, which this year have nearly doubled, and tries to recruit more people. According to CENTCOM, IS claimed 153 attacks in the two countries in the first six months of 2024. It said it killed 37 IS and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in eastern Syria in two strikes. Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Miqdad Miri said three soldiers were wounded while troops from the 42nd Brigade’s Intelligence Unit were on a reconnaissance mission in a rugged area near the northern city of Kirkuk.”
CEP Mentions
The Guardian: Iran’s ‘Axis Of Resistance’ Call For Further Attacks On Israel
“... Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior adviser to the Counter-Extremism Project, a transatlantic thinktank and advocacy group, said it was predictable that the Houthis and other groups would make such threats. “We shouldn’t read too much into the rhetoric … the Palestinian groups do not have the capability to escalate outside the [occupied] West Bank, while the Israelis have been so successful in last couple of weeks that I don’t think Lebanese Hezbollah can come to Iran’s defence.” Hezbollah, the most powerful of Iran’s proxies and the keystone of the coalition, is reeling from the Israeli assassination campaign. The group has lost nearly 500 fighters since it started firing into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, last October and was then drawn into a prolonged war of attrition.”
Express: Israel Warned ‘It Can’t Fully Defeat Hezbollah’ As First Soldiers Die Fighting In Tunnels
“Israel has been issued a shocking warning that it "cannot wipe out Hezbollah" with its campaign in Lebanon that recently escalated to a ground invasion. […] Edmund Fitton-Brown, senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project and the UK's former ambassador to Yemen, added to these concerns. He pointed to the Yemeni Houthi rebels, another arm of Iran's "axis of resistance", as a further threat to consider as the conflict in the Middle East potentially spreads. Fitton-Brown noted the importance of both groups, but maintained Hezbollah as the more "crucial Iranian asset", adding the worrying warning that it cannot be stopped by Israel. He told the Daily Express: "The Houthis and Lebanese Hezbollah are both important to Iran for different reasons. Neither one can replace the other.”
United States
Fox News: Illegal Immigrants With 'Terrorism Ties' Will Continue To Exploit Border, Homeland Security Report Warns
“Illegal immigrants with "terrorism ties" are expected to exploit the U.S. border as the threat environment remains high, the Department of Homeland Security warned Wednesday. The agency detailed a number of warnings in its annual Homeland Threat Assessment, which is used to inform local, state and federal agencies about public safety and security threats, saying the "terrorism threat environment" over the next year "will remain high." "Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States," the assessment states. "Individuals with potential terrorism connections continue to attempt to enter the Homeland at both the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders and also through the immigration system," it continued.”
Yemen
Reuters: Houthis Warn Shipowners In New Phase Of Red Sea Campaign: Prepare To Be Attacked
“On a warm spring night in Athens, shortly before midnight, a senior executive at a Greek shipping company noticed an unusual email had landed in his personal inbox. The message, which was also sent to the manager's business email address, warned that one of the company's vessels traveling through the Red Sea was at risk of being attacked by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militia. The Greek-managed ship had violated a Houthi-imposed transit ban by docking at an Israeli port and would be "directly targeted by the Yemeni Armed Forces in any area they deem appropriate," read the message, written in English and reviewed by Reuters. "You bear the responsibility and consequences of including the vessel in the ban list," said the email, signed by the Yemen-based Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC), a body set up in February to liaise between Houthi forces and commercial shipping operators.”
Lebanon
Reuters: Israel Strikes Heart Of Beirut, Iranian President Is Defiant
“Israel's military said it killed 15 Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon on Thursday and bombed Beirut after its forces suffered their deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with the Iran-backed group. Israel, which has been fighting with Hamas in Gaza for almost a year, sent its troops into southern Lebanon after two weeks of intense airstrikes, in an escalating conflict that risks drawing in the United States and Iran. On Thursday, Israel's military said it had "eliminated" Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, along with senior security officials Sameh al-Siraj and Sami Oudeh in strikes three months ago. In Lebanon, an airstrike on the municipality building of the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil killed 15 Hezbollah members, Israel said. Lebanon's health ministry said the death toll in the Beirut strike had climbed to nine and the Islamic Health Authority, a Hezbollah-linked civil defense group, said seven of its staff including two medics had been killed.”
Reuters: EU Announces Extra 30 Mln Euros Humanitarian Aid For Lebanon
“The European Commission announced on Thursday an extra 30 million euros ($33.1 million) in humanitarian aid for Lebanon, which has been hit by clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. "I am extremely concerned by the constant escalation of tensions in the Middle East. All parties must do their outmost to protect the lives of innocent civilians," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This comes in addition to the 10 million euros already announced on Sept. 29 and brings total EU humanitarian assistance to the country to over 104 million euros this year.”
Europe
Reuters: Behind Closed Doors, Russia Tries Four Journalists For Links To Navalny Team
“Four Russian journalists went on trial in Moscow on Wednesday on charges of involvement in an "extremist" group after authorities accused them of working for the banned organisation of the late dissident Alexei Navalny. The cases against Antonina Favorskaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov and Artem Kriger highlight the increasingly precarious position of journalists inside Russia, where press freedom groups say dozens are currently behind bars. After about 30 minutes of open proceedings in court, the judge granted a prosecution request to evict press and spectators for the remainder of the trial on the basis of a letter from the counter-extremism department of the interior ministry that Navalny supporters were preparing "provocations". Independent news outlet Mediazona quoted Kriger as telling the judge before journalists were ordered from the room: "This is just some kind of archaism. This is how they do it in totalitarian regimes."”
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