The State Department Thursday announced a $3 million reward for any information
on Muhammad Khadir Musa Ramadan, a senior leader in the Islamic State

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


May 29, 2020

 

Fox News: State Department Announces $3M Reward For Info On Senior ISIS Leader
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“The State Department Thursday announced a $3 million reward for any
information on Muhammad Khadir Musa Ramadan, a senior leader in the Islamic
State (ISIS). Ramadan, also known as Abu Bakr al-Gharib, is one of the group's
leading propagandists. “Muhammad Khadir Musa Ramadan is one of ISIS's
longest-serving senior media officials,” a State Department spokesperson told
Fox News. “Ramadan oversees the group’s daily media operations, including the
management of content from ISIS’s dispersed global network of supporters.”
Intelligence officials said he has also played a key role in the gruesome
videos for which ISIS has become notorious. “He has overseen the planning,
coordination and production of numerous propaganda videos, publications and
online platforms that included brutal and cruel scenes of torture and mass
execution of innocent civilians,” the spokesperson told Fox News. “His
interpretation of Islam is so extreme that he led an effort to purge ISIS of
moderate opinions, imprisoning members of ISIS's propaganda teams who he felt
did not match his level of fanaticism.” ISIS extremists have enslaved
non-Muslims, carried out mass killings, and beheaded and tortured people on
camera as recruiting tactics.”

 

The Jerusalem Post: Berlin Plans To Ban Pro-Iran, Anitsemitic Al-Quds Rally In
2021
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“The State Minister of the Interior for the city-state of Berlin Andreas
Geisel on Thursday said he will initiate a legal process to ban the annual
Iranian regime-sponsored al-Quds rally in Berlin that calls for the destruction
of Israel. According to a report in the Berlin Tagesspiegel paper, Geisel told
Berlin’s parliament that he will invoke the new German law that outlawed
Hezbollah’s activities to ban an attempt by Hezbollah and Iranian regime
supporters to hold the al-Quds march in 2021. After the German federal
government classified Hezbollah a terrorist organization in April, the
organizers of al-Quds cancelled the May rally that has taken place each year in
Berlin since 1996. Berlin has permitted the Iranian regime-sponsored
demonstration to proceed each year since 1996. The current Berlin government
and its Social Democratic party Mayor Michael Müller have faced criticism over
the years for not seeking to legally ban the al-Quds march. Müller's
administration said it would lose a legal battle to outlaw al-Quds. Critics say
Müller should have tested the law to ban the rally. Al-Quds Day calls for the
obliteration of the Jewish state and is attended by neo-Nazis, Hezbollah
members and supporters, left-wing activists for the Palestinian terrorist
organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”

 

United States

 

CBS Miami: Florida Man Accused Of Planning Isis Terrorist Attack In Tampa Area
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“A Florida man, accused of planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Tampa
Bay on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq, has now been officially charged by
federal prosecutors. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the
filing of a criminal complaint charging Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, 23, with
“attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign
terrorist organization,” namely ISIS. Investigators say Al-Azhari has a
criminal history that includes previous terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia. They
say he tried to buy multiple guns before acquiring a Glock pistol and a
silencer. Prosecutors say he expressed “admiration” for the deceased Pulse
nightclub shooter Omar Mateen and even drove there to scope out the location.
In a conversation with a confidential informant, the FBI says, Al-Azhari said
“that’s how I want to die, to be honest.” The informant then asked how many
people Al-Azhari wanted to kill. “I don’t want to take four or five, no. I want
to take at least 50,” Al-Azhari replied on the recording, according to the
affidavit. “You know like, brother Omar Mateen in Orlando did. He took 49 with
him.” According to law enforcement, the 23-year-old couted potential targets
around Tampa.”

 

Syria

 

Voice Of America: Rebuilt Islamic State Growing ‘More Brazen’ In Syria, Iraq
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“Fighters and followers of the Islamic State, undaunted by the collapse of the
terror group’s self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, are growing bolder
and more dangerous, according to recent assessments by U.S. counterterrorism
officials. The new appraisals attribute the change less to a leap in IS
capabilities than to gradual progress due to long-term planning, which has
masked the severity of the threat. “ISIS has been working to rebuild its
operational capacity,” a U.S. counterterrorism official told VOA, using another
acronym for the terror group. “They’ve made incremental, localized improvements
to their operating capacity in primarily eastern Syria over the course of
several months.” And the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in
many ways, that planning is starting to pay off. “The group has been more
assertive in pockets of Syria in recent weeks as these efforts have progressed,
conducting more brazen attacks against Syrian security forces, including regime
forces and Syrian Kurdish forces,” the official said.”

 

Iraq

 

NBC News: ISIS Is Using Coronavirus To Rebuild Its Terrorism Network In Iraq
And Syria
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“COVID-19 has cut a wide swath of pain and loss across a world which has
struggled to keep pace with a deadly virus that has moved swiftly across
borders. But for one group, the global pandemic has translated into regional
opportunity. The Islamic State militant group has sought to expand upon the
rebuilding effort it began last fall and use the coronavirus to spread its own,
more violent flavor of destruction and terror. The Islamic State militant group
has sought to expand upon the rebuilding effort it began last fall. “What you
are witnessing these days are only signs of big changes in the region that’ll
offer greater opportunities than we had previously in the past decade” read an
online message on Thursday from new ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi,
translated by Hassan Hassan, director of the Non-State Actors in Fragile
Environments Program at the Center for Global Policy and a co-author of “ISIS:
Inside the Army of Terror.” The message comes as those who have been fighting
ISIS for more than a half-decade have spoken publicly and in plain terms about
the group‘s increasing strength. “The Islamic State group has been moving the
fighting from Syria to Iraq ... (and) is strengthening, both financially and
militarily,” said Lt. Col. Stein Grongstad, head of Norway’s forces in Iraq,
there to advise and assist the Iraqi military.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Reuters: Afghan Government Says Ceasefire Still In Place Even As Skirmishes
With Taliban Resume
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“Skirmishes between Taliban fighters and Afghan security forces recommenced in
Afghanistan in the day since a three-day ceasefire expired, but government
officials said on Thursday that the incidents were minor and the truce could
still hold. The Taliban have remained silent on government appeals for an
extension of the ceasefire, which was announced for the Eid al-Fitr holiday
that ends the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. “Taliban attacked
checkpoints in the Syagird district of central Parwan province late Wednesday
night,” a spokeswoman of the province’s governor said, adding that seven Afghan
security forces personnel were killed. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid,
meanwhile, said the government had carried out air strikes on Wednesday in the
southern province of Zabul despite the group’s fighters not having carried out
any attacks. The United States has reached an agreement with the Taliban to
withdraw U.S. forces after more than 18 years in Afghanistan, leaving the
Afghan government to negotiate a peace deal with the Islamist insurgents to end
the war. But so far the conflict has not subsided, with the holiday ceasefire
having come at a time of intensified fighting. Since the truce formally ended
on Tuesday night, senior Afghan government officials say there have been some
violations from both sides, but not big enough to doom the ceasefire effort.”

 

The Diplomat: Why Are The Taliban Wooing A Persecuted Afghanistan Minority
Group?
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“Afghanistan’s most persecuted religious and ethnic minority, Shiite Hazaras,
are being wooed by their most oppressive tyrant, the Taliban. According to
reports, the Taliban has recruited one of its local leader from the Hazara
minority community. The new governor of the Taliban’s shadow government in
Balkhab district, Sar-e-Pul province in northern Afghanistan is Mawlawi Mahdi,
a Shiite cleric militia leader. Previously, there have been reports indicating
a few instances of cooperation between the Hazaras and the Taliban, and the
presence of a small number of Hazaras in the Taliban rank and file. For
instance, in 2012, reports emerged of around a dozen Shia Hazara men fighting
alongside the Taliban in Qarabaghi, Ghazni province. However, such instances
are an exception, and there has been no indication of widespread recruitment of
Hazaras by the Taliban. Nevertheless, by recruiting a Shiite Hazara as a new
governor of Balkhab district at this particular point, the Taliban aims to
achieve three objectives. First, by accommodating Hazaras, the insurgent group
wants to improve its image and international legitimacy as an inclusive group
and a countrywide movement ahead of the intra-Afghan dialogue.”

 

Somalia

 

All Africa: Somalia: Army Kills Seven Al-Shabaab Militants In Operation
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“Somali National Army (SNA) on Tuesday killed seven Al-Shabaab extremists in
an operation in the central region of Hiran, a military commander said. Mohamud
Hassan Ibrahim, commander of SNA's 22 Unit section 27, told reporters that
government forces conducted an operation inflicting casualties on the
militants. The commander said the operation was a planned one, aiming at
destroying the terrorist group. The last incident came barely a day after
Jubaland forces killed four Al-Shabaab extremists in an intense clash in
Dhobley town in the country's southern region of Lower Juba. The Somali forces
backed by African Union Mission in Somalia have intensified operations against
Al-Shabaab extremists in central and southern regions, but the militants still
hold swathes of rural areas in those regions conducting ambushes and planting
land mines.”

 

All Africa: Somalia: Two Killed In Mogadishu Car Bomb Blast
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“A senior official with Somali police force was among two killed in a car bomb
attack in Mogadishu, the Somali capital on Thursday morning, local authorities
said. Abdishakur Hussein, the police officer, and another occupant lost their
lives after an improvised explosive device concealed in their car went off
around Muna hotel. Al-Shabaab has immediately claimed responsibility for the
attack, which becomes the third of its kind in the capital within this month.
Gen Ali Gaab escaped two similar attacks. Mogadishu has been relatively calm in
the past as the police stepped up measures to avert the frequent Al-Shabaab car
bombs in the seaside capital that hosts the government.”

 

Africa

 

Al Jazeera: Many Killed In Central Mali Ethnic Attacks: Officials
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“Armed men on motorcycles have killed at least 27 civilians in central Mali in
three attacks on ethnic Dogon farming villages in less than 24 hours, local
officials said on Thursday. Central Mali has been ravaged in recent years by
ethnic reprisal killings, as recriminations between Fulani herding and Dogon
farming communities over violence compound long-standing grievances. Local
officials told Reuters news agency they believed the three attacks, between
Tuesday night and Wednesday evening, were carried out by people claiming to be
defending Fulani against rival Dogon. “We were surprised by the attack on the
village of Tille. Seven were killed, all Dogons, some of them burned alive,”
said Yacouba Kassogue, the deputy mayor of Doucombo, the municipality in which
Tille is located. Attacks on villages in the neighbouring areas of Bankass and
Koro killed another 20 civilians, most of them shot or burned to death, local
officials said. A spokesman for Mali's army was not immediately available for
comment. The army has been criticised by rights groups and residents for
failing to protect civilians in central Mali. Violence between the Dogon and
Fulani has compounded an already dire security situation in Mali's semi-arid
and desert regions, which are used as a base by armed groups with ties to
al-Qaeda and the ISIL (ISIS) group.”

 

Germany

 

Deutsche Welle: Germany Swears In Watchdog To Root Out Extremism In Forces
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“Germany's parliament on Thursday inaugurated Eva Högl as its Bundeswehr
overseer, who will head up a new defense ministry task force. Högl said the
group must make a “really quite thorough” probe into extremist tendencies in
the German military. Two weeks ago, police raided a KSK soldier's property in
eastern Saxony state, allegedly finding a cache of weapons and explosives. Högl
told parliament she was not leveling “general suspicion” at the 1,100-person
KSK (Kommando Spezialkräfte) brigade based at Calw in southwestern
Baden-Württemberg state, and that she was not targeting the Bundeswehr as a
whole.  “It is however not only a cluster of individual cases,” she told
parliament Thursday. “We must also look at what we have to do to change the
structures so that such attitudes do not spread and to strengthen those
soldiers who oppose them,” said Högl. On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Defense
Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the ministerial group probing the KSK
would report to parliament. Already, the ministry was considering
“psychological screening” of potential KSK recruits coupled with special
training to deter extremism. The KSK's leading general Markus Kreitmayr told
KSK members in a letter on May 18 that disclosures about far-right cases —
since 2017 — had thrust his brigade into “the most difficult phase of its
history.”

 

Australia

 

Brisbane Times: More Convicted Terrorists Due For Release Over Next Five
Years, ASIO Warns
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“The nation's domestic spy agency has warned the growing number of convicted
terrorists due for release from Australian prisons over the next five years
could use their profile to recruit more people to their cause. The Australian
Security Intelligence Organisation also raised the alarm about foreign fighters
returning from Syria and Iraq in the coming years as it argued the case for
expanded powers to forcibly question terrorists and foreign spies. Without
naming any specific country, ASIO warned foreign spies were operating “at a
scale, breadth and ambition that has not previously been seen in Australia”.
China has previously been blamed by security agencies for large-scale hacking
in Australia, while ASIO has investigated a suspected Chinese military
intelligence operative in Melbourne who allegedly approached a Liberal Party
member about running for parliament. ASIO would have the power to compulsorily
question foreign spies and children as young as 14 under laws introduced to
Federal Parliament earlier this month. The agency would also be able to place
tracking devices on cars with only internal approval, rather than a warrant, as
part of a major overhaul of the agency's powers.”



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