“Senior Taliban minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in an attack Wednesday, the
Taliban’s chief spokesman said, marking the highest-profile government casualty
since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan three years ago. Haqqani was the
acting minister for refugees and a key member of the Haqqani network, which led
a violent insurgency against the United States and its allies before the U.S.
withdrawal in 2021. He was killed in a blast at the Ministry of Refugees in
Kabul, according to two government officials, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. While the
Haqqanis have long been a dominant force within the Taliban, they had appeared
to lose influence recently amid speculation about a rift between regime leader
Haibatullah Akhundzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister and
a nephew of Khalil Haqqani.”











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Eye on Extremism



December 12, 2024



The Washington Post: Afghan Blast Kills Key Minister, Shocking Taliban
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“Senior Taliban minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in an attack Wednesday, the
Taliban’s chief spokesman said, marking the highest-profile government casualty
since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan three years ago. Haqqani was the
acting minister for refugees and a key member of the Haqqani network, which led
a violent insurgency against the United States and its allies before the U.S.
withdrawal in 2021. He was killed in a blast at the Ministry of Refugees in
Kabul, according to two government officials, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. While the
Haqqanis have long been a dominant force within the Taliban, they had appeared
to lose influence recently amid speculation about a rift between regime leader
Haibatullah Akhundzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister and
a nephew of Khalil Haqqani.”



Reuters: UN General Assembly Overwhelmingly Demands Immediate Gaza Ceasefire
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“The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to
demand an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire between Israel and
Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate release of all
hostages. The ceasefire demand in the resolution - adopted with 158 votes in
favor in the 193-member assembly - was expressed in more urgent language than
one urging an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza that the body "called for"
in October 2023 then "demanded" in December 2023. General Assembly resolutions
are not binding but carry political weight, reflecting a global view on the
war. The United States, Israel and seven other countries voted against the
ceasefire resolution, while 13 countries abstained.”



CEP Mentions



WTOP News: 459 | Two Big Stories: FBI Director Resigns; And How Was Bashar Al
Assad’s Regime In Syria Overthrown So Quickly?
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“FBI Director explains his decision to resign. Dr. Hans Jakob Schindler
details how Hayat Tahrir al Sham overthrew Bashar al Assad’s regime in Syria
overthrown so fast.”



WTOP News: The Hunt: Former Terror Disciple Now Controls Destiny Of Syria
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“A rebel group that was born out of al-Qaida overthrew Syria President Bashar
al-Assad within 10 days. Hayat Tahrir al Sham are now in control of the
country, and Assad is in Russia. In this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP
National Security Correspondent J.J. Green,” Hans Jakob Schindler, senior
director of the Counter Extremism Project, explains why it all happened so
quickly and completely.”



Daily Mail: Syria's Never-Ending Conflict: Nation Already Faces A NEW Civil
War As ISIS Carry Out Fresh Massacres And Turkish-Backed Fighters Clash With
Kurds, Threatening To Drag In US And Israel
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“Islamist rebel group Ha'yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) officially ended Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's longstanding regime earlier this week, naming a
leader of a new transition government days after Assad fled Damascus to seek
refuge in Moscow… Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism
Project, told MailOnline that a best-case scenario could see HTS work with
other factions to achieve stability. 'Will there be democracy? Probably not in
the Western sense - but some kind of consultative system, possibly involving
elections, could emerge,' he said. 'HTS seem clear that they want Islamic
governance but also show awareness of minority rights. It is not clear that
they will fall into the Taliban trap of ignoring domestic and international
opinion, women's rights and other key issues.'”



Syria



Associated Press: Syrians Flock To Morgues Looking For Loved Ones Who Perished
In Assad’s Prisons
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“Mohammad Chaeeb spoke softly into his phone, telling a relative the grim
news: He found his brother at the morgue. “I saw him and said my goodbyes,” he
said. His gaze lingered on the blackened body of Sami Chaeeb, whose teeth were
bared and whose eye sockets were empty. It looked as if he had died screaming.
“He doesn’t look normal. He doesn’t even have eyes.” The dead man was jailed
five months ago, disappearing into a dark prison system under the rule of
President Bashar al-Assad. His body is just one of many found in Syrian
detention centers and prisons since Assad’s government fell last weekend. Some
of the prisoners died just weeks ago. Others perished months earlier.”



Reuters: Dutch Woman Jailed For 10 Years For Keeping Yazidi Slave In Syria
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“A Dutch court on Wednesday sentenced a woman to 10 years in prison for
joining Islamic State in Syria and keeping a Yazidi woman as slave. Prosecutors
had asked for an 8-year sentence for the Dutch woman, 33-year old Hasna Aarab,
but the District Court in The Hague said the gravity of slavery as a crime
against humanity required a stronger punishment. Judges said it was clear that
Aarab had actively participated in the enslavement of a Yazidi woman between
2015 and 2016, while she lived in Raqqa with her young son and her Islamic
State fighter husband. The Yazidi woman, identified only as Z., had been forced
to work in their household, where she was also sexually abused.”



Reuters: Syrian Rebel Leader, After Assad's Ouster, Puts His Own Stamp On The
State
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“Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa's Islamist group is stamping its authority on
Syria's state with the same lightning speed that it seized the country,
deploying police, installing an interim government and meeting foreign envoys -
raising concerns over how inclusive Damascus' new rulers intend to be. Since
Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group swept Bashar al-Assad from power on
Sunday at the head of a rebel alliance, its bureaucrats - who until last week
were running an Islamist administration in a remote corner of Syria's northwest
- have moved into government headquarters in Damascus. The appointment of
Mohammed al-Bashir, the head of the regional government in HTS' enclave of
Idlib, as Syria's new interim prime minister on Monday underlined the group's
status as the most powerful of the armed groups that battled for more than 13
years to end Assad's iron-fisted rule.”



Afghanistan



Associated Press: Tight Security For Taliban Minister’s Funeral As Islamic
State Group Claim Deadly Suicide Attack
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“Tight security measures were in place Thursday for a Taliban minister’s
funeral in Afghanistan after he was killed in a suicide bombing claimed by an
affiliate of the Islamic State group. Cabinet member Khalil Haqqani was the
most high-profile casualty of an assault in the country since the Taliban
seized power three years ago. He died in a blast Wednesday at the Ministry for
Refugees and Repatriation in the capital, Kabul, along with five others.
Haqqani is the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister and
the leader of a powerful faction within the Taliban. The U.S. placed a bounty
on both their heads. In a statement carried by the Amaq News Agency, the
Islamic State Khorasan Province -- an affiliate of the Islamic State group --
said one of its fighters carried out the suicide bombing.”



Lebanon



Associated Press: Migrant Workers In Lebanon Are Trying To Return Home After
Alleged Abuses And Then War
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"Isatta Bah wakes up from a nap in a crowded shelter on the outskirts of
Beirut, clutching her baby, Blessing. The 24-year-old from Sierra Leone spends
her days waiting for an exit visa that could put her and her 1-year-old on a
plane back to the West African nation. She wants to reunite with her family
after what she called exploitative work conditions and sexual violence, along
with the recent horrors of war in Lebanon. “My experience in Lebanon is not
good for me. I am really tired,” Bah said. “I want to go home.” Hundreds of
migrant workers in Lebanon are waiting to be repatriated after the ceasefire
ending the 14-month war between the Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel went
into effect last month.”



Voice Of America: Israeli Troops Withdraw From Southern Lebanon Village Under
Ceasefire Deal
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“Israeli forces withdrew Wednesday from a strategic town in southern Lebanon
and were replaced by Lebanese troops as part of a ceasefire agreement between
Israel and the militant group Hezbollah. The withdrawal from Al-Khiam came two
weeks after the start of the ceasefire brokered by the United States and
France. "This is an important first step in the implementation of a lasting
cessation of hostilities and lays the foundation for continued progress," Gen.
Erik Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement. Lebanese Prime
Minister Najib Mikati called the development "a fundamental step towards
strengthening the army's deployment in the south, in implementation of the
ceasefire decision." The ceasefire halted months of intensified fighting
between Israel and Hezbollah, which included Israeli ground operations inside
Lebanon and airstrikes that killed multiple Hezbollah leaders.”



Middle East



Associated Press: Middle East Latest: Israeli Airstrikes Kill 28 In Gaza,
Including 7 Children, Health Officials Say
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“Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28
people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children and a woman, hours after the
U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution demanding an
immediate ceasefire in Gaza. One of the strikes overnight and into Thursday
flattened a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the
casualties were taken. Two other strikes killed 15 men who were part of local
committees established to secure aid convoys. The committees were set up by
displaced Palestinians in coordination with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. On
Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly approved resolutions demanding an
immediate ceasefire in Gaza and expressing support for the U.N. agency for
Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban.”



Somalia



Bloomberg: Oil-Rich Somali Region Plans New Offensive Against Islamic State
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“The semi-autonomous region of Puntland is planning a new offensive to combat
a growing Islamic State insurgency in Somalia’s mountainous north. The Islamist
group, designated as a terrorist group by the US, has more than doubled in size
this year, with as many as 1,200 combatants holed up in the Bari mountains east
of the Puntland capital, Bosaso, according to a local security official. The US
military has expressed concern about Islamic State’s growing presence in the
region. “It’s a huge threat, and Puntland intends to dislodge it from its
hideouts, once and for all,” Mohamed Mubarak, the head of the Puntland Security
Coordination Office, said in an emailed response to questions on Wednesday.
Islamic State in Somalia is headed by Abdulkadir Mumin, who formed the offshoot
of Islamic State when he left the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group nine years
ago.”



Reuters: Somalia, Ethiopia Agree To Work Together To Resolve Somaliland Port
Dispute
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“Somalia and Ethiopia said they would work together to resolve a dispute over
Addis Ababa's plan to build a port in the breakaway region of Somaliland, which
had drawn in regional powers and threatened to further destabilise the Horn of
Africa. The two countries' leaders said they had agreed to find commercial
arrangements to allow landlocked Ethiopia "reliable, secure and sustainable
access to and from the sea" after talks on Wednesday mediated by Turkish
President Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting was their first since January when
Ethiopia said it would lease a port in Somalia's breakaway northern region of
Somaliland in exchange for recognising the area's independence. Mogadishu
rejected the deal and threatened to expel Ethiopian troops who were stationed
in Somalia to fight Islamist insurgents.”



Technology



Reuters: Trump Crypto Venture Partners With Platform Linked To Middle East
Militants
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“A crypto venture recently unveiled by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and
his new Middle East envoy, billionaire Steve Witkoff, has partnered with a
crypto platform that authorities and financial experts say has been used by
criminals and Iran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. World Liberty
Financial Inc , founded by the Witkoff family two months before November’s U.S.
election with Trump as a financial beneficiary , presents concerns over ethics
and conflicts of interest, say six specialists in U.S. government ethics. Among
their biggest concerns is World Liberty’s new partner: Tron crypto platform.”



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