Eye on Extremism
October 15, 2024
The Wall Street Journal: Deadly Hezbollah Strike Shows Growing Threat Posed By Drones
“Four Israeli soldiers were killed and dozens wounded in a drone attack by Hezbollah on a military base in central Israel, while at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a packed tent encampment for displaced people in central Gaza. A drone launched by Hezbollah on Sunday night passed through Israel’s air-defense systems and hit an Israeli military base near Binyamina in central Israel, killing four soldiers and severely wounding seven, the military said. Overall, more than 60 were wounded in the strike, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service. The drone didn’t set off warning sirens in advance and struck a canteen belonging to the Golani infantry brigade as soldiers were eating dinner, according to Army Radio. Photos and videos shared on Israeli social media showed a large hole in the ceiling of the canteen hall and a bloodied floor. Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying it had launched a squadron of attack drones at the base.”
Reuters: Israel Kills At Least 40 In Gaza, Tanks Deepen Raid In The North
“Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces tightened their squeeze around Jabalia in the north of the enclave on Tuesday, amid fierce battles with Hamas-led fighters. Palestinian health officials said at least 11 people were killed by Israeli fire near Al-Falouja in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, while 10 others were killed in Bani Suhaila in eastern Khan Younis in the south when an Israeli missile struck a house. Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed three houses in the Sabra suburb of Gaza City, and the local civil emergency service said they recovered two bodies from the site, while the search continued for 12 other people who were believed to have been in the houses at the time of the strike. Five others were killed when a house was struck in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.”
Afghanistan
Associated Press: Taliban-Run Media Stops Showing Images Of Living Beings In Some Afghan Provinces
“Taliban run-media have stopped showing images of living beings in some Afghan provinces to comply with morality laws, an official confirmed Tuesday. In August, the country’s Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws regulating aspects of everyday life like public transportation, shaving, the media and celebrations reflecting authorities’ interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia. Article 17 bans the publication of images of living beings, sparking concerns about the consequences for Afghan media and press freedom. A spokesman for the Vice and Virtue Ministry, Saif ul Islam Khyber, said government media in the provinces of Takhar, Maidan Wardak and Kandahar have been advised not to air or show images of anything with a soul — meaning people and animals. Khyber told The Associated Press a day earlier that the ministry was responsible for implementing the morality laws.”
Pakistan
Reuters: Islamist Militants Kill Four, Including Three Policemen, In Pakistan
“Islamist militants stormed a northwestern Pakistani district police office on Monday, killing three policemen and a civilian before police shot and killed all five attackers. Provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat told Reuters that the attack on the complex, which houses both the district police headquarters and a residential complex, lasted for hours before all the five suicide bombers were killed. The attackers killed three police officers and a civilian employed at the complex, he said. The incident occurred in district Bannu, which borders the restive North Waziristan tribal region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Islamist militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, a spokesperson for the group said. Bannu is about 350 km (217 miles) from Pakistan's capital Islamabad, which is under strict security lockdown due to the arrival of Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday ahead of a regional leaders' meeting this week.”
Associated Press: Pakistan Hosts A Major Security Meeting This Week As It Struggles Against Rising Insurgent Violence
“Pakistan is hosting a major security meeting this week, with senior leaders from longtime ally China and archrival India among those attending. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001 by China and Russia to discuss security concerns in Central Asia and the wider region. But it’s Pakistan’s own security that is under the microscope. An attack on a foreign ambassadors’ convoy, violent protests by supporters of an imprisoned former prime minister, and a bombing outside Pakistan’s biggest airport are signs the country is struggling to contain multiplying threats from insurgents. The meeting, which begins Tuesday in Islamabad, comes at a crucial time for the government. Here’s why: Pakistan says it has foiled attacks through intelligence-based operations and preventative measures. It frequently vows “to root out terrorism.””
Lebanon
Associated Press: Israeli Strike In Northern Lebanon Kills At Least 21 People
“An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. The Israeli military did not immediately comment and the target was not clear. The strike hit a small apartment building in the village of Aito, which is part of the country’s Christian heartland in the north and far from the Hezbollah militant group’s main areas of influence in the south and east. Rescue workers in Aito searched through the rubble of the building as ambulances stood by to receive the bodies of victims. Nearby buildings and cars were damaged in the strike. The strike came a day after a Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in northern Israel killed four soldiers — all of them 19 years old — and severely wounded seven others in the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.”
Middle East
NBC: Parents Of Slain Hamas Captive Push For Deal, Warning Remaining Hostages Won't 'Make It Much Longer'
“The body of Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin was found “bullet ridden and emaciated” in a 60-foot-deep tunnel, his grieving parents told NBC News in their first interview since his death, warning that the scores of hostages still in the Gaza Strip are “not going to make it much longer.” In a wide-ranging and emotional interview in Jerusalem last week, they revealed the squalid conditions in which their son was kept, their exasperation at the failed diplomatic process and their fears of the war’s escalating further. Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, said they felt they had failed as their high-profile push for a cease-fire deal to bring their son home from Hamas captivity fell on deaf ears. In the year since militants abducted their son in video seen around the world, they have felt like “pawns in chess,” his mother said, as world leaders failed to resolve the “surplus of anguish, misery and suffering on both sides” of the Israel-Gaza border.”
Fox News: Israeli Forces Seize Documents That Reveal Hamas Plan For More Elaborate Attacks: Report
“Years before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and started the latest war in the region, the terror group plotted other assaults, including a scheme to blow up a skyscraper in Tel Aviv while pressuring Iran to assist in its battle against the Jewish state, according to documents found by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, the Washington Post reported. The documents seized from Hamas command centers uncovered planning for the attacks using trains, boats and even horse-drawn chariots, according to the newspaper. The 59 pages of documents include an illustrated presentation detailing possible options for an attack as well as letters from Hamas to Iran’s top leaders in 2021 requesting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and training for 12,000 additional Hamas fighters. "Hamas is so determined to wipe Israel and the Jewish people off the map that it managed to drag Iran into direct conflict — under conditions that Iran wasn’t prepared for," an Israeli security official who has reviewed the letters and planning documents told the Post.”
Africa
Bloomberg: Africa Abandoned In Fight Against Terrorism, Senegal’s Sall Says
“Former Senegalese President Macky Sall said Africa’s fight against terrorism should be a global concern and the continent isn’t getting enough support in its effort to combat the scourge. “Africa has been left to its own devices to face the challenges of terrorism, whether in the Sahel region on the Horn of Africa or even in southern Africa in Mozambique,” Sall said in an address to the Future Resilience Forum, which aims to find solutions to security threats, climate change and other global challenges, in London on Monday. “The advance of terrorism on the continent isn’t just an African affair. It would be a mistake to believe that it’s up to Africans to resolve this issue.” West Africa’s Sahel region has emerged as a global terrorism hotspot, with insurgents wreaking havoc and trying to seize power across a range of countries. While Western powers, including the US and France, had contributed troops and funding to try and help prop up elected governments, their presence and influence has diminished since juntas seized power in nations including Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.”
Canada
PBS News: Canada And India Expel Each Other’s Diplomats As Dispute Over 2023 Assassination Escalates
“Canada and India each expelled six diplomats Monday in tit-for-tat moves as part of an escalating dispute over the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada. A senior Canadian government official said that Canada was expelling six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, after police uncovered evidence of ongoing violent criminal activity linked to the Indian government. Shortly afterward, the Indian foreign ministry said it was expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner and the deputy high commissioner. It said in a statement that the diplomats were told to leave India by the end of Saturday. The ministry had said earlier Monday that India was withdrawing its diplomats, after rejecting Canada’s diplomatic communication on Sunday that said the Indian ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination.”
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