“ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Islamic State, directed an Afghan man’s
foiled U.S. Election Day terror plot, according to two senior U.S. officials
briefed on the matter. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested by the FBI last
week in Oklahoma and is accused of planning to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 10
magazines and ammunition, and carry out a mass shooting attack on Election Day
targeting large groups of people, according to court documents and Tawhedi’s
alleged statements to the FBI after his arrest. ISIS-K was responsible for a
deadly attack at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, a concert venue, in March that
left 130 people dead and hundreds injured, and other attacks. The revelation
that a foreign terrorist organization was in communication with a would-be
attacker inside the U.S. makes the alleged Election Day plot different from
most terrorism cases in the past decade, most of which involved people
self-radicalized online or self-directed attempts.”











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Eye on Extremism



October 16, 2024



NBC News: ISIS-K Behind Foiled Election Day Terrorism Plot, U.S. Officials Say
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“ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Islamic State, directed an Afghan man’s
foiled U.S. Election Day terror plot, according to two senior U.S. officials
briefed on the matter. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested by the FBI last
week in Oklahoma and is accused of planning to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 10
magazines and ammunition, and carry out a mass shooting attack on Election Day
targeting large groups of people, according to court documents and Tawhedi’s
alleged statements to the FBI after his arrest. ISIS-K was responsible for a
deadly attack at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, a concert venue, in March that
left 130 people dead and hundreds injured, and other attacks. The revelation
that a foreign terrorist organization was in communication with a would-be
attacker inside the U.S. makes the alleged Election Day plot different from
most terrorism cases in the past decade, most of which involved people
self-radicalized online or self-directed attempts.”



Reuters: Canada Lists Pro-Palestinian Group Samidoun As A 'Terrorist' Entity
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“Canada, in coordination with the United States, on Tuesday designated the
pro-Palestinian group Samidoun as a "terrorist entity" alleging that it had
links with another terrorist-designated group, the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine. "The listing of Samidoun as a terrorist entity under
the Criminal Code sends a strong message that Canada will not tolerate this
type of activity, and will do everything in its power to counter the ongoing
threat to Canada’s national security and all people in Canada," Public Safety
Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement.”




The CEP CounterPoint: Expert Analysis

* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency In September 2024
<[link removed]>
* One Year On: Remembering October 7 In London
<[link removed]>
* Al-Qaeda’s Brazen Attacks In Mali’s Capital Bamako
<[link removed]>
* ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency In August 2024
<[link removed]>
* CounterPoint Brief: EU Arrests Members Of Newly-Designated Terrorist Group
The Base
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United States



Reuters: US Tells Israel To Improve Gaza Humanitarian Situation Or Risk
Military Aid
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“The United States has told Israel it must take steps in the next month to
improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on
U.S. military aid, U.S. officials said, in the strongest such warning since
Israel's war with Hamas began a year ago. U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials on Sunday
demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the
Palestinian enclave amid a renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, U.S.
officials said on Tuesday. Failure to do so could impact U.S. policy, said the
letter, which was first reported by Israeli News 12. "We are particularly
concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government ... are contributing to
an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza," said a copy of the
letter posted by an Axios reporter on X.”



Iran



Reuters: Iran Says Attack On Nuclear Sites Improbable
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“The probability of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites remains low but any
potential damage would be "quickly compensated", state atomic energy agency
spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Wednesday, according to semi-official
Nournews. After Iran's missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1, there has been
speculation that Israel could strike Iran's nuclear facilities, as it has long
threatened to do. "We have always taken these threats seriously," Kamalvandi
said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday
that Israel would listen to the United States but would decide its actions
according to its own national interest. The statement was attached to a
Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's
administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear
or oil targets.”



Reuters: Iran Summons Hungarian Ambassador, Condemns EU And UK Sanctions
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“Iran's foreign ministry summoned Hungary's ambassador on Tuesday to protest
against new European Union sanctions on Tehran, and denied Western allegations
that it has transferred ballistic missiles to Russia, Iranian state media
reported. The EU agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on seven people and seven
organisations, including airline Iran Air, for alleged links to Iranian
transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia. Britain, which is not in the EU,
also imposed new sanctions. Hungary's ambassador was summoned because Budapest
holds the 27-nation EU's rotating presidency. "In addition to voicing the
Islamic Republic's strong protest against the EU's recent decision, the meeting
helped stress that resorting to illegal and coercive methods like sanctions
against Iran is unacceptable and will lead nowhere," the official IRNA news
agency said.”



Yemen



Associated Press: UN Says Yemen Risks Being Dragged Into Mideast Conflict That
Could Spiral Out Of Control
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“Yemen risks being dragged further into the military escalation in the Middle
East that keeps intensifying and could spiral out of control, the U.N. special
envoy for the Arab world’s poorest nation said Tuesday. Hans Grundberg told the
U.N. Security Council that regrettably Yemen is part of the escalation — and he
warned that repeated attacks on international shipping by its Houthi rebels
“have significantly increased the risk of an environment disaster” in the Red
Sea. Both Grundberg and the U.N.’s acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya urged
the Iranian-backed Houthis to halt their attacks on international shipping,
which the rebel group began to support fellow Iranian-backed militant group
Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack in Israel that sparked Israel’s ongoing war in
Gaza.”



Lebanon



Associated Press: Middle East Latest: Hezbollah’s Acting Leader Says The Group
Is Focused On Hurting Israel
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“Hezbollah’s acting leader declared Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group
is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel,
including Tel Aviv. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, vowed in a
televised speech to “defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands.” It
was his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in
an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut. The United Nations human
rights office meanwhile called for an independent probe into an Israeli
airstrike that hit an apartment block in Aito in northern Lebanon, killing at
least 22 people, including 12 women and two children. Israeli strikes continued
in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people overnight, including six
children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.”



Associated Press: Israeli Strikes Kill At Least 15 In Qana, A Lebanese Town
With A Dark History Of Civilian Deaths
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“Israeli strikes have killed at least 15 people in the southern Lebanese town
of Qana, which has long been associated with civilian deaths after Israeli
strikes during previous conflicts with Hezbollah. Israel meanwhile struck
Beirut’s southern suburbs early Wednesday for the first time in nearly a week.
Israel also carried out a wave of airstrikes on the southern city of Nabatiyeh,
targeting what it said were Hezbollah militant sites embedded among civilians,
without providing evidence. The strikes killed at least five people and
destroyed a municipality building, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The
city’s mayor, Ahmad Kahil, was among the dead, provincial governor Huwaida Turk
told The Associated Press. Earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes destroyed
Nabatiyeh’s century-old market area.”



Associated Press: Hezbollah Vows To Expand Attacks In Israel After Deadly
Strike In Lebanon’s Christian Heartland
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“The day after a deadly Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon – far from
Hezbollah’s main area of influence – the militant group’s acting leader said it
would aim rockets into more areas of Israel. Naim Kassem said Hezbollah is
focused on “hurting the enemy,” and he signaled it would ramp up attacks
further south in Israel. He mentioned the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, which
have already been targets of attacks. His comments in a pre-recorded, televised
speech were delivered on the same day the United States said it sent a small
team of troops to Israel to support an American-made missile-defense system.
The Biden administration has also sent a warning to Israel: Increase the amount
of humanitarian aid it allows into Gaza within the next 30 days or risk losing
access to U.S. weapons funding. Hezbollah has fired an estimated 13,000 rockets
into Israel over the past year in support of Hamas’ war with Israel in Gaza.”



Middle East



Reuters: Israeli Strike Hits Municipal Building In South Lebanon, Mayor And
Five Others Killed
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“An Israeli air strike on Wednesday on the municipal building in Nabatieh, a
major town in southern Lebanon, which serves as a provincial capital, killed
the mayor Ahmed Kahil and at least five others, two security sources said. The
strike came despite U.S. concerns about rising death tolls and fears of all-out
war in the region as Israel battles Iran-backed Hezbollah in south Lebanon and
in the capital Beirut and the Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli
military said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Nabatieh area and
dismantled underground infrastructure. Israeli navy forces, meanwhile, have
struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in cooperation with
troops on the ground, Israel's military said on Wednesday. Hours earlier at
least one Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs, Reuters witnesses said,
after the U.S. said it opposed the scope of Israeli attacks in Lebanon's
capital.”



CBS News: U.S. Raises Concern With Israel As Gaza Hospital Strike Appears To
Leave "Displaced Civilians Burning Alive"
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“At least 15 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes in the
Gaza Strip, the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry said, as the Israeli
military continued its fight against the Iranian-backed group there, and
against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with no end in sight on either front. The White
House criticized one of the Israeli strikes carried out in Gaza on Monday after
videos posted online appeared to show at least one person on the ground shaking
as they were engulfed in flames. The strike hit the grounds of the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, where many displaced
Palestinians have taken shelter in a makeshift tent camp. The Hamas-run health
ministry said four people were killed. "The images and video of what appear to
be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli air strike are deeply
disturbing and we have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government," a
spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council told CBS News in a
statement Monday night."



United Kingdom



Politico: UK Leans Against Proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
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“The U.K. government is set to ignore calls to designate a key wing of Iran’s
military as a terrorist group amid fears of a diplomatic breakdown between
London and Tehran. Government figures have told POLITICO that Home Secretary
Yvette Cooper is leaning against proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group — despite the governing Labour Party’s having
called for this when in opposition. The IRGC — designated as a terrorist
organization by the U.S., Canada and Sweden — has an estimated strength of
125,000 soldiers and is tasked with upholding the Iranian regime’s theocratic
Islamic system domestically. Its overseas wing, the Quds Force, is accused of
managing Iranian proxies including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon —
both proscribed as terrorist groups by the U.K. government.:



Europe



Reuters: EU Won't Pull Back UN Troops From South Lebanon, Austrian Minister
Says
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“European Union countries that contribute to U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL
in Lebanon have no intention of pulling back from the south of the country
despite Israeli calls to do so, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander
Schallenberg said. Since an Israeli ground operation against Hezbollah
militants began on Oct. 1, UNIFIL positions have come under fire and two
Israeli tanks burst through the gates of one of its bases, the U.N. says. Five
peacekeepers have been injured. Sixteen EU countries, including Austria,
contribute to UNIFIL and the recent incidents have sparked widespread alarm
among European governments. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu called on the U.N. to withdraw UNIFIL "from Hezbollah strongholds and
from the combat zones".”



Reuters: Italy's PM To Visit Lebanon, Says U.N. Mission Should Not Be Withdrawn

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“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday she plans to visit
Lebanon on Oct. 18, just days after Israeli forces attacked U.N. bases in the
country, drawing anger from many EU capitals, including Rome. The U.N.
peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to
monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel -- an area that has
seen serious clashes this month between Israeli troops and Iran-backed
Hezbollah fighters. Israel has demanded the withdrawal of the UNIFIL forces,
which include just over 1,000 Italian troops, but contributor nations have
refused and angrily denounced repeated Israeli strikes against the bases that
have injured some peacekeepers.”



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