Eye on Extremism
August 28, 2019
Business
Insider: Here’s What’s Left Of ISIS — And Why They Still Pose A Major
Threat
“While the Islamic State’s caliphate – the idea of a land ruled by
its radical interpretation of Islamic law – ended with US-led
coalition campaigns in Iraq and Syria, the group is very much alive
and regrouping in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. And its alliances with
extremist groups internationally show that the group is adaptable,
strategic, and not going anywhere soon. US power vacuums in Syria and
Iraq have allowed ISIS fighters to regroup, and they pose a renewed
risk to the region’s stability. But it’s not just Iraq and Syria –
ISIS is active in countries all over the world, and in some places
it’s growing. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed group, was
able to defeat a significantly weakened ISIS, which lost its de facto
capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa, in 2017. At its peak, ISIS
controlled major cities including Raqqa and Mosul and Fallujah, Iraq.
It controlled more than 100,000 square kilometers and about 11 million
people in Iraq and Syria during its peak in 2014, according to the
RAND Corporation. A blistering Pentagon report blamed Trump’s decision
to pull troops out of Syria and cut diplomatic staff in Iraq for the
resurgence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. While the group looks different,
it’s able to earn money and recruit combatants.”
Reuters:
Syrian Rebels Push Back Against Army Advances In
Idlib
“Syrian rebels on Tuesday launched a wide-scale attack against a
five-month Russia-backed Syrian army campaign aiming to take back the
opposition’s last major bastion, opposition officials, rebels and
residents said. The push-back comes as Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where
Ankara, a major rebel backer, is expected to ask Russia to rein in
Syrian army advances in the northwest. The rebel counter-attack sought
to abort a push north from Khan Sheikhoun, which Syria’s Russia-backed
army seized with the help of Russian ground troops last week, towards
the rebel-held city of Maarat al-Numan. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
acknowledged that Russia had military personnel on the ground in Idlib
province after his country initially downplayed its direct military
role in the campaign that began in April.”
The
Daily Beast: Ten Years Later, The ‘Gathering Storm’ Of White
Supremacist Terror Is Here
“When Barack Obama took office in January 2009, white supremacists
were fragmented and without charismatic leaders. That quickly changed
with the arrival of Richard Spencer, Matt Heimbach and Milo
Yiannopoulos, a generation of new leaders who created and captured a
following that capitalized on white unease over a black president. The
good news is that over time these leaders were marginalized and
neutralized, finally demonized by the media and subjected to public
humiliation for their neo-Nazi views. They were disrupted. But the
sentiments they embraced had taken hold, bursting into full view in
Charlottesville in 2017, with white supremacists carrying torches and
chanting, “Jews won’t replace us.” They’re fragmented again
post-Charlottesville, and post-El Paso, seeking other social media
platforms while law enforcement plays whack-a-mole, beating them back
until they pop up somewhere else. The American people are left to
wonder what more can be done to counter this growing threat that
government has left unattended for too long, while keeping quiet what
information it has collected, including a document showing that white
supremacists were responsible for all race-based domestic terrorism
incidents in 2018.”
Fox
News: US And Taliban Could Be Forced Into Awkward Alliance To Take Out
ISIS In Afghanistan
“In Afghanistan, the enemy of my enemy is my friend -- sort of. It
may have seemed inconceivable 18 years ago following the September 11
terrorist attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan, but the United
States is inching closer to a peace agreement with the Afghan Taliban,
the group that provided safe haven for the Al Qaeda terror group
responsible for the attack. Any peace agreement reached would
require the United States being on the same side as the religious
extremist group to fight a common enemy: The Islamic State. A
negotiated settlement to end America’s longest war and bring U.S.
troops home will not be easy, and an alliance between the former foes
will only be feasible if the Taliban agrees to talks with the Afghan
National Government and eventually enters into a power-sharing
agreement. This coalition would incorporate Taliban insurgents into
the Afghan National Army to fight against the Islamic State franchise
in Afghanistan known as the Islamic State in Khorasan. Although ISIS
lost its territorial Caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the group has
splintered and remains a threat around the region with several local
franchises sprouting up, including in Afghanistan. ISIS claimed
responsibility this month for one of the deadliest suicide attacks in
years, blowing up a wedding and killing 63 people while wounding
nearly 200.”
Haaretz:
Hezbollah Planning 'Calculated Strike' Against Israel
“Hezbollah is preparing a “calculated strike” against its enemy
Israel after drones crashed in Beirut but it seeks to avoid a new war,
two sources allied to the heavily armed Shi'ite Muslim movement told
Reuters on Tuesday. A reaction “is being arranged in a way which
wouldn't lead to a war” that Hezbollah does not want, one of the
sources said. “The direction now is for a calculated strike, but how
matters develop, that's another thing.” Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier on Tuesday that Hezbollah leader
Hassan Nasrallah should “calm down” after Nasrallah said his
Iranian-backed movement would respond to the crash of two drones in a
Beirut suburb. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the drones,
including one that had exploded. But in a speech on Sunday, Nasrallah
described it as the first Israeli attack in Lebanon since the two
sides fought a month-long war in 2006. ”I say to the Israeli army on
the border from tonight, stand guard. Wait for us one, two, three,
four days,” Nasrallah said. One of the drones blew up near the ground,
causing some damage to Hezbollah's media center in the southern
suburbs which it dominates. Israeli officials have declined to comment
when asked if Israel was responsible.”
The
New York Times: Telegram Pushes Ahead With Plans For ‘Gram’
Cryptocurrency
“While Facebook’s big cryptocurrency plans have hit a wall with
regulators, another big social network, Telegram, is charging ahead
with its own digital currency. Telegram has told investors that it is
planning to send out the first batches of its coin, the Gram, within
the next two months, according to three investors who have spoken with
Telegram recently. Telegram is also planning to make Gram digital
wallets available to the 200 million to 300 million global users of
Telegram’s messaging application, said the investors, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because they had signed nondisclosure
agreements. Echoing Facebook’s hopes for its Libra token, which was
unveiled this year, Telegram has said the Gram will become a new
online currency and a way to move money anywhere in the world.”
United States
The
Washington Times: Trump Fumes As Allies Reject ISIS Captives: 'They
Didn't Come From The United States'
“The Trump administration’s push for allies to take custody of
foreign-born Islamic State fighters held in makeshift prisons in Syria
is yielding only limited results, fueling mounting anger in Washington
in the effort to secure long-term defeat of the terror group.
President Trump’s frustration over the matter boiled over in recent
days, with the president telling reporters at the recent G-7 summit in
Biarritz, France that America won’t foot the hefty bill of jailing the
jihadists at the U.S. detainee center at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S., Mr.
Trump suggested, might be forced to “release” hardened ISIS detainees
back into their homelands if countries such as France and Germany
continue to balk at taking them back. “It’s unfair for the United
States to take them, because they didn’t come from the United States,”
Mr. Trump said. U.S. officials say the provocative comments were meant
to add public pressure to what has actually been an intense
behind-the-scenes diplomatic campaign during recent months to convince
resistant allies to first house, then prosecute the fighters —
hundreds of whom are believed to hold European Union citizenship.
Syrian Kurdish officials say some countries, including Russia, Sudan
and Malaysia, have agreed to take back their nationals, but for
others, it’s an appeal that has fallen mostly on deaf ears.”
Syria
Foreign
Policy: ISIS Is A Survivor
“Back in February, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the
Islamic State was “100 percent” defeated and took full credit for the
alleged victory. Unfortunately, the president and the truth seemed to
be on different planets once again. National Security Advisor John
Bolton quickly corrected Trump’s boast, telling ABC News that “the
ISIS threat will remain.” U.S. Defense Department reports emphasized
that remnants or offshoots of the group remained active in several
places, including Afghanistan, and last week, a lengthy New York
Times article reported that the group was regaining strength in Iraq
and Syria. Trump was obviously wrong to claim the Islamic State had
been totally defeated, but its persistence and partial recovery are
not surprising at all. On the contrary, to believe that such a group
could be totally defeated in the short to medium term was never a
realistic goal. Eliminating the Islamic State’s territorial control
over a significant part of Iraq and Syria (much of it empty desert)
was a feasible objective, and the United States and its local partners
did that job pretty effectively. Eradicating the organization in its
entirety was never in the cards, at least not anytime soon. In fact,
history is filled with examples of radical political and/or religious
movements that enjoyed a brief vogue, suffered setbacks for one reason
or another, but nonetheless hung around for decades.”
Reuters:
Syrian Rebels Push Back Against Army Advances In
Idlib
“Syrian rebels on Tuesday launched a wide-scale attack against a
five-month Russia-backed Syrian army campaign aiming to take back the
opposition’s last major bastion, opposition officials, rebels and
residents said. The push-back comes as Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where
Ankara, a major rebel backer, is expected to ask Russia to rein in
Syrian army advances in the northwest. The rebel counter-attack sought
to abort a push north from Khan Sheikhoun, which Syria’s Russia-backed
army seized with the help of Russian ground troops last week, towards
the rebel-held city of Maarat al-Numan. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
acknowledged that Russia had military personnel on the ground in Idlib
province after his country initially downplayed its direct military
role in the campaign that began in April. The Russian military have in
the last few weeks sent more special forces that helped break months
of stalemate on the frontlines, where rebels had been holding back the
army from major advances, according to Western intelligence
sources. Taking Maarat al-Numan in southern Idlib would take the
Syrian army into densely populated rebel held parts of Idlib province,
where millions of people who fled fighting elsewhere in Syria have
taken refuge.”
CBC:
'They Are Going To Deliver This Oil To Syria': How An Iranian
Supertanker Is Flouting Trump's Sanctions
“Last spring, the Grace I left a filling station in the middle of
the Persian Gulf loaded down with 2.1 million barrels of Iranian
crude. Too large for the Suez Canal, the oil tanker made the long
journey around the coast of Africa before showing up at the mouth of
the Mediterranean Sea last month. British authorities in Gibraltar
impounded the ship and its cargo on suspicion it planned to deliver
the oil it was carrying to Syria, which would violate EU sanctions
against the country. Iran quickly retaliated and seized a British
tanker in the Persian Gulf on a trumped-up charge. After six weeks in
maritime purgatory, the Grace was eventually allowed to depart, on the
assurance that it was not headed for Syria. But some experts are
convinced that's not true.”
Iran
Haaretz:
Beirut Strike Target: Vital Iranian Device For Hezbollah's Mass
Missile Production
“The attack in Beirut early Sunday morning, which has been
attributed to Israel, hit a central component of Hezbollah's missile
program. It damaged a planetary mixer — an industrial-sized mixer
weighing about eight tons, needed to create propellants that can
improve the engine performance of missiles and increase their
accuracy. The machine was hit, as far as we know, shortly before
Hezbollah planned to move it to a secured site. Hezbollah chief Hassan
Nasrallah, who accused Israel of carrying out this strike and a second
one – which killed two Lebanese Hezbollah fighters near Damascus a few
hours earlier – threatened retaliation for both strikes. The Israeli
army is readying for a reprisal, possibly within the next few days. A
Hezbollah reprisal is likely to include fire targeting Israel Defense
Forces units on the Lebanese or the Syrian border, or even firing a
missile deep into Israeli territory. The assumption is that Nasrallah
will try to keep the response "below the threshold of war," but it's
difficult to know whether he can fully control the consequences. In
addition, Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, led by Gen. Qassem
Soleimani, might try to carry out a retaliatory strike of its
own.”
The
Jerusalem Post: Bolton: For Iranian Sanctions To Be Removed, A Deal
Must Be Reached
“T he US would only remove sanctions from Iran after a
comprehensive deal was reached on its nuclear program, US National
Security Advisor John Bolton told Radio Free Europe on Tuesday. He
spoke just one day after US President Donald Trump spoke of a possible
meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Such a high level event
has not occurred since before the Iranian revolution. Rouhani appeared
to douse cold water on the possibility of such a meeting, when he said
that such face-to-face talk could only occur after US sanctions were
lifted. "Regarding the US - unless the US lifts the sanctions and
strikes a line over the wrongful path they selected, we will witness
no positive development." Bolton said that the US would not just lift
the sanctions to bring Iran to the table. “The idea that Iran would
receive some tangible economic benefit merely for stopping doing
things it should not have been doing in the first place is just a
non-starter. If there is a comprehensive deal, then of course the
sanctions will come off at that point,” Bolton said.”
The
Wall Street Journal: The Iran-Israel War Is Here
“Israel and Iran are at war. Israeli strikes this week in southern
Syria, western Iraq and eastern Lebanon—and possibly even
Beirut—confirm it. This war is a very 21st-century affair. For now it
involves only small circles among the Israeli and Iranian populations.
Parts of the air force, intelligence services and probably special
forces are active on the Israeli side. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps, its expeditionary Quds Force and proxy politico-military
organizations in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon are engaged on behalf of
Iran. The war marks a hinge point in Middle Eastern geopolitics. For
the past decade and a half, the region has been engaged mainly with
internal strife: civil wars, insurgencies and mass protests. These are
now largely spent, leaving a broken landscape along the northern route
from Iran to Israel. The three “states” in between—Iraq, Syria and
Lebanon—are fragmented, partly collapsed and thoroughly penetrated by
neighboring powers. Their official state structures have lost the
attribute that alone, according to German sociologist Max Weber,
guarantees sovereignty: “monopoly on the legitimate use of physical
force.” These nations’ territory has become the theater of the
Iran-Israel war.”
Iraq
Iraqi
News: Iraqi Interior Ministry Says Islamic State Terrorist Hotbed
Destroyed In Kirkuk
“The Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that its forces
destroyed a hotbed belonging to the Islamic State terrorist group in
Kirkuk province. “Acting on intelligence information, federal police
forces destroyed a hideout of the Islamic State group in the village
of Hashisha, south of Kirkuk province,” Iraqi news website Alghad
Press quoted Maj. Gen. Saad Maan, the ministry spokesman, as saying in
a press statement. “The troops also seized a weapon depot at
al-Nawafla village in Kirkuk, containing an Austrian-made mortar shell
and two boxes full of powerful C4 explosives,” the spokesman added.
Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in
November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western
borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq. IS
declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring
Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led
international coalition and paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016
to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably
the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.”
Kurdistan
24: Iraqi Court Sentences 11 ISIS Members To Death For Terrorist Acts
In Babil
“Iraq’s Babil Criminal Court on Wednesday announced it had
sentenced 11 members of the Islamic State to death for their
involvement in exploding a strategic bridge in the Iraqi province. The
members confessed their membership to the jihadist group and
participating in a terrorist act in Babil (Babylon) Province, the
Court’s press office stated. “The terrorists confessed to carrying out
an attack they called ‘Invading Fadhliya,’ on a strategic bridge in
the area of Jurf al-Nasr, north of the province, in 2014, which
ended with a full explosion and led to the death of three people,
wounding 19 security members stationed nearby,” read the statement. It
also mentioned that experts had estimated the cost and value of the
destroyed bridge at about 18 billion Iraqi dinars (US $15
million).”
Turkey
VOA:
Russian, Turkish Leaders Meet Amid Divide Over Syria
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Tuesday with Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow for talks aimed at bridging the
deepening divide over the war in Syria. Russia supports the government
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey backs some rebel
groups. News reports say that after the talks, both leaders said they
hoped to work together to ease tensions in Syria's Idlib province.
Erdogan has called for an end to a Russia-backed Damascus offensive
against rebels in Idlib. The timing of the offensive comes after
Turkey and the United States agreed on a military operation into
Syria. Observers speculate Putin is seeking to undermine the deal. The
agreement envisages creating a buffer zone in Syria to protect
Turkey's border from the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG. Ankara deems
the YPG a terrorist organization linked to insurgents inside Turkey.
The YPG, however, is a key Washington ally in the fight against the
Islamic State terror group.”
The
New York Times: Warplanes Strike Near Turkish Military Post In
Northwest Syria: Monitor, Security Source
“Air strikes hit near a Turkish military position on Wednesday in
northwest Syria, where the Russian-backed army has waged a fierce
offensive against rebels, a monitor and local activists said. A senior
Turkish security source told Reuters there were heavy clashes between
Syrian government forces and rebel fighters about 500 meters from the
Turkish observation post. "However, the conflict is taking place very
close by and it is violent. Syrian forces bombed rebel positions," the
source said. It was not immediately clear whether the Turkish position
was the target, but the source said Turkish soldiers were not
affected. President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia and
Turkey had agreed steps to tackle militants in northwest Syria and
"normalize" the situation there. Putin and Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan held talks in Moscow after Syrian army troops encircled
another Turkish military post in the town of Morek in earlier this
month.”
Afghanistan
ABC
News: Taliban Storm Checkpoint In Western Afghanistan, Killing
14
“An Afghan official says Taliban insurgents have stormed a
checkpoint in western Herat province, killing 14 pro-government
militia members. Police chief spokesman Abdul Ahid Walizada said on
Wednesday that seven others were wounded in the Tuesday night attack
in Robat Sangi district. He said an unspecified number of Taliban
fighters suffered casualties. Separately, in eastern Nangarhar
province, governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogynai said a university
professor was killed and two others wounded on Tuesday when a bomb
attached to their vehicle detonated in Jalalabad, the provincial
capital. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack in
Herat but no one has claimed responsibility for the attack in
Nangarhar, where both the Taliban and the local affiliate of the
Islamic State group are active.”
Bloomberg:
The Real Risks Of Allowing Terrorist Safe Havens
“For nearly two decades, the fundamental premise of America's
counterterrorism strategy has been to prevent extremist groups from
establishing territorial safe havens — spaces in which they train and
plot, free from interference. With a prospective U.S. withdrawal from
Afghanistan on the horizon, General David Petraeus warned recently
that a precipitate pullout could allow al-Qaeda or the Islamic State
to rebuild “a terrorist platform.” A growing number of experts have
argued, however, that a preoccupation with safe havens is really an
unhealthy obsession that produces unnecessary — and unending —
military crusades. So, do safe havens matter or not? The truth is
that denying such sanctuaries is critical to effective
counterterrorism, so long as some key caveats and distinctions are
kept in mind. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the fight against terrorism
has been, in substantial measure, a fight against safe havens.
President George W. Bush declared that the U.S. would make no
distinctions between terrorists and the nations that harbored them,
the thinking being that access to territorial sanctuaries allowed
groups like Qaeda to organize, operate and grow. Since then, this idea
has driven U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria,
Yemen, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere.”
The
Washington Post: The Taliban Decimated Afghanistan’s Film Industry.
This Is What Survived.
“A young woman lounges in a meadow, daydreaming about her love. Her
friend sings and decorates her long hair with freshly picked flowers.
Suddenly, she perks up to the clip-clop of an approaching horse.
“Sharif is coming!” she cries out, jumping up to run toward him. In
Afghanistan, movie scenes like this one — released just before the
outbreak of civil war in 1992 — were once an essential part of the
country’s rich culture. Then, in the mid-1990s, the Taliban banned
them — destroying some reels of film and leaving others to decay in
storage. Now, an elite team of film archivists here is working to
conserve them as part of a years-long government program that aims to
digitize about a century’s worth of Afghan documentaries and films
over the next six months. The project coincides with negotiations
between the United States and the Taliban, which have raised both
hopes for an end to the 18-year war and fears the Taliban could return
to power. Once finished, some clips from the digitized movies will be
made available to download online and others will be screened at
mobile theaters across Afghanistan — even, the archivists hope, in
some of the many areas that remain under Taliban control. “Archives
are the identity of a country,” said Sultan Mohammad Istalifi, 72, a
longtime employee of Afghan Film, the state-run film company, who is
part of the digitization team.”
Yahoo
News: Deal Nears In Talks With US, Say Taliban
“US and Taliban negotiators held productive talks Tuesday, the
insurgent group said, as potentially decisive discussions to enable
Washington to draw down its deployment to Afghanistan entered their
fifth day. Despite the Taliban's upbeat assessment, the ninth round of
talks in Qatar appeared to have lost some of its earlier momentum as
negotiators wrangled over individual words and phrases in a draft
deal. “We have progress in this round so we are finalising the
remaining points,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told journalists
outside the up-market Doha members' club where the talks are taking
place. He said a deal could be expected “as soon as the remaining
points are finalised.” The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001
after the September 11 attacks, toppling the Taliban from power.
Washington wants to withdraw thousands of troops and bring an end to
18 years of war -- but only on condition the group renounces its
connections to Al-Qaeda and curbs attacks. The Doha talks are being
held against a backdrop of persistent violence in Afghanistan. The
Taliban claimed on Saturday to have killed seven members of the US
military in an attack on a convoy near Bagram airfield north of Kabul.
American officials dismissed the claims as “lies.”
Pakistan
Eurasia
Review: Strategies To Combat Terrorism: A Case Study Of
Pakistan
“Since the last two decades, Pakistan has been in the eyes of storm
due to the rampant rise of terrorism. This created continuous
political turbulence, social fragmentation, and internal security
disorder in society. 9/11 attacks, the fatal and most terrible event
of the 21st century, shifted the paradigm of the global security
system. It’s extremely baffling that despite having the world’s most
advanced defence technology and intelligence sharing network, the US
administration was unable to follow some pre-emptive measures to stop
the 9/11 attacks. The consequences were unmanageable, detrimental due
to thousands of causalities of civilians and security forces, security
threats and large-scale infrastructure destruction. The new wave of
terrorism has jeopardized the credibility of national and
international security, to curb the brutality of terror acts every
country participated to eliminate the menace of terrorism. Though the
incidents of such a brutish terror act occurred worldwide, but the
South Asian region has suffered the most, especially Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The invincible wave of terrorism affected more than 70
countries and thousands of people lost their lives on the name of
extremist ethos, sectarianism, violence, xenophobia, and
discrimination across the globe.”
Saudi Arabia
The
National: Saudi Arabia Destroys Two Houthi Drones Aimed At
Kingdom
“Saudi Arabia’s air force shot down two Houthi drones in Yemen on
Tuesday, the country's state news agency said. The first drone was
launched from the capital, Sanaa, but was destroyed in Yemeni airspace
on Tuesday morning, the Saudi Press Agency quoted Arab coalition
spokesman Col Turki Al Malki as saying. “The repeated failed attacks
are a desperate measure by the Houthis to increase their terrorist
acts at the expense of human lives,” the Saudi official said. Col Al
Malki denounced the attacks, saying the Houthis’ “hostile and
terrorist acts have been rated as war crimes according to
international humanitarian law”. “The operations launched by the
Houthi militias are doomed to fail and the coalition aims to prevent
civilian casualties when responding to any threat,” he said. The
second drone was launched from the Harf Sufyan District in Amran
Governorate, northwest of Sanaa, on Tuesday afternoon, but was also
destroyed in Yemeni airspace. “The Houthis are continuing to violate
international laws by launching ballistics missiles that threaten the
lives of dozens of civilians,” Col Al Malki said. The development
comes as coalition forces intercepted dozens of Houthi drones launched
towards the Kingdom from Yemen during the last few days.”
Lebanon
The
Daily Star: Hezbollah Planning "Calculated Strike" Against Israel
After Drones: Sources
“Hezbollah is preparing a "calculated strike" against Israel in
response to two drones that crashed in Beirut at the weekend, two
sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters Tuesday. A reaction "is being
arranged in a way which wouldn't lead to a war that neither Hezbollah
nor Israel wants," one of the sources said. "The direction now is for
a calculated strike, but how matters develop, that's another
thing."
Middle East
The
New York Times: Deadly Explosions Target Hamas Police Checkpoints In
Gaza
“Two explosions that ripped through Hamas police checkpoints in
Gaza City late Tuesday killed three police officers and wounded three
civilians, security officials said on Wednesday, in an uncommon attack
believed to have been carried by forces within the territory.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that governs Gaza, has been mostly
engaged in cross-border clashes with the Israeli military. But at
times it has faced internal opposition from more stringent Islamist
militants aligned with Al Qaeda or the Islamic State. The Interior
Ministry of Hamas declared a state of emergency throughout Gaza,
putting security forces on alert. Eyad Al-Bozom, an Interior Ministry
spokesman, said that security forces were investigating the explosions
but did not disclose further details, according to Reuters. He said
later that a number of suspects had been arrested. “The sinful hands
that carried out this crime will not escape punishment,” Mr. Al-Bozom
was quoted as saying. A spokesman for the Israeli military said he
knew of no involvement by Israel in the blasts. Several reports,
citing security officials, said the blasts were believed to have been
the work of suicide bombers aligned with the Islamic State group, but
that information could not be independently verified.”
Xinhua:
Jordan, Albania Discuss Efforts To Combat Terrorism
“Jordanian and Albanian foreign ministers on Tuesday held a meeting
in Amman over efforts to uproot terrorism and enhance cooperation in
various arenas. During the meeting, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman
Safadi and Albanian Acting Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj discussed means
of broadening joint cooperation and the latest regional developments,
according to a statement by the ministry, a copy of which was obtained
by Xinhua. Cakaj commended Jordan's vital role in bolstering regional
security and stability, noting his country's keenness on furthering
bilateral ties in various fields. He also mentioned the important role
of the Aqaba meetings in rallying the efforts of the international
community to establish a holistic approach to combat terrorism.
Terrorism is a common enemy that does not belong to any civilisation
or religion and contradicts the values of peace and respect of others,
said Safadi. The talks also covered the latest regional developments
topped by the Palestinian cause and the Syrian crisis, according to
the statement.”
Nigeria
Yahoo
News: Jihadists Kill 11 Construction Workers In NE
Nigeria
“Gunmen from an IS-affiliated jihadist group on Tuesday shot dead
11 local construction workers in northeast Nigeria, a militia leader
and resident told AFP. The fighters belonging to Islamic State West
Africa Province (ISWAP) opened fire on the workers as they were laying
telecom fibre optic cables in Wajirko village, 150 kilometres (93
miles) outside Borno state capital Maiduguri, they said. “The
insurgents came in the morning and opened fire on the workers, killing
11 and injuring many,” militia leader Mustapha Karimbe told AFP. He
said the victims were locals contracted as casual labourers by a
telecom firm. “The attackers had warned the labourers to stop working
on laying the cables but they ignored the warning because they needed
money to feed their families,” Karimbe said from the town of Biu, 50
km away. Those injured were taken to a hospital in the nearby town of
Damboa, he said. The jihadists “came around” on three separate
occasions and warned the men to stop the work which the group saw as a
threat, said resident Bukar Maduye. “Our people are starving and the
laying of the cables provides some of us a good source of income which
was why we ignored the warning,” said Maduye, who gave the same
toll.”
Africa
Yahoo
News: Chad Jails 243 Rebels Over February Incursion From
Libya
“Chad has handed down jail terms to 243 rebels who crossed into the
country from Libya in February before their incursion was halted by
French air strikes, the government said Tuesday. Out of “267 people
who were arrested, 12 were sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison
and 231 others to terms ranging from 10 to 15 years,” Justice Minister
Djimet Arabi told AFP. Charges included terrorism and involvement in
terrorism. Twenty-four minors who had been detained were released,
Arabi said. The sentences were pronounced by a “special criminal
court,” which also handed down life terms in absentia against nearly a
dozen rebel leaders living outside Chad, including their chief Timan
Erdimi, he said. They had been charged with terrorism and recruitment
of children, he added. Chad, an impoverished country in the heart of
the Sahel, has been chronically unstable since it gained independence
from France in 1960. An armed group opposed to Chadian President
Idriss Deby Itno, the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), is based in
the lawless deserts of southern Libya. Erdimi, its leader, is Deby's
nephew. In February, UFR fighters crossed into northeastern Chad in a
column of 40 pickups before they were halted by several strikes from
French Mirage warplanes based near the Chadian capital N'Djamena.”
Egypt
Independent: Aid Groups Warn Against Kenya’s UN Bid To Sanction
Al-Shabaab
“Kenya is urging the UN to list Al-Shabaab under the same sanctions
as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but foreign donors say the move
could leave millions in drought-stricken Somalia without aid. The
proposed listing — which could take effect as soon as Thursday — comes
at a critical time in Somalia, where 2.2 million people, or nearly 18
percent of the population, face the risk of severe hunger. Al-Shabaab
is already targeted under broader sanctions imposed by the United
Nations on Somalia, which is heavily aid-dependent after three decades
of conflict and economic ruin. Right now, UN agencies and humanitarian
organizations are exempt from these sanctions, which enables them to
deliver urgent aid without prosecution when they venture into
territory controlled by Al-Shabaab. But Kenya wants to tighten the
screws on the jihadi group after several deadly attacks on its soil,
and the sanctions regime it proposes would remove that safeguard. “A
measure like this will have the effect of criminalizing humanitarian
aid,” Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, told AFP.
“Any measure that would impact the current provision of aid would have
extremely serious and substantial implications.”
North Korea
Associated
Press: 3 European Nations Condemn North Korea’s Missile
Launches
“Three important U.S. allies on Tuesday condemned the “repeated
provocative launches” of ballistic missiles by North Korea, saying
they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any such
activity. The United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint
statement after a closed council briefing by U.N. political chief
Rosemary DiCarlo that they requested because of serious concerns at
the series of missile launches in recent weeks by North Korea. The
three European council members urged North Korea “to engage in
meaningful negotiations with the U.S.,” as President Donald Trump and
its leader Kim Jong Un agreed to on June 30 at their meeting in the
Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. “Serious efforts by North
Korea to re-engage diplomatically and make progress on
denuclearization are the only way to guarantee security and stability
on the Korean peninsula and in the region,” their statement said.”
United Kingdom
The
Guardian: New Law Needed To Take On Far-Right Extremism, Says Blair
Thinktank
“A new law allowing for hate groups to be designated and punished
before they turn to violence is needed in order to tackle far-right
extremists, according to a report by Tony Blair’s thinktank, which
also seeks powers to ban marches and media appearances. Generation
Identity, a racist movement that promotes a conspiracy theory that
white people are being replaced by non-whites in Europe, would be
among the groups targeted by new legislation, the Tony Blair Institute
for Global Change report said. The law could sit alongside
proscription powers, banning groups concerned with terrorism, but
would not be directly linked to violence or terrorism. Rather, it
would designate hate groups as organisations that spread intolerance
and antipathy towards people of a different race, religion, gender or
nationality, the report said. Offences related to designation as a
hate group should be treated as civil, not criminal, the thinktank
recommends. The authors acknowledge that the issue of linking violent
and nonviolent extremism is contentious and steps would need to be
taken to protect free speech. The recommendations and conclusions are
based on analysis of the overlap between four “nonviolent” far-right
groups – Britain First, For Britain, the British National party (BNP)
and Generation Identity England – and the ideology of the terrorist
Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011.”
Technology
Bellingcat:
Hashtaggers For Hezbollah? How Social Media Fundraising Can Skirt The
Rules
“An ostensibly independent activist group has been boosting
Hezbollah messaging and fundraising on social media — this is
occurring amid increased scrutiny of Hezbollah’s use of Facebook and
other platforms. An April 19, 2019 New York Times article highlighted
how Hezbollah is among U.S.-designated terror groups that “learned how
to stay a step ahead of the social media giants” by getting
“supporters to publish images and videos” propagating the groups’
stances “that do not set off the alarm bells of the social media
platforms.” In addition to this strategy, the report said that
Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Shabaab post non-violent content such as
images of “festive parades and religious celebrations,” which allows
the groups to “proliferate largely unchecked on social media.” The
Attansakiyeh group in Lebanon, which operates a news website and
maintains accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram and
YouTube, often posts media supportive of Hezbollah.”
Reuters:
Researchers Studying Facebook's Impact On Democracy Threaten To
Quit
“A group of philanthropies working with Facebook Inc to study the
social network’s impact on democracy threatened on Tuesday to quit,
saying the company had failed to make data available to researchers as
pledged. The funders said in a statement that Facebook had granted the
83 scholars selected for the project access to “only a portion of what
they were told they could expect,” which made it impossible for some
to carry out their research. They have given Facebook until Sept. 30
to provide the data. Their concerns focus on the absence of data that
would show which web pages were shared on Facebook as far back as
January 2017. The company had yet to say when the data would be made
available, the funders added. Facebook said in a statement that it
remained committed to the project and would “continue to provide
access to data and tooling to all grant recipients - current and
future.”
The
Verge: YouTube May Push Users To More Radical Views Over Time, A New
Paper Argues
“YouTube’s difficult summer rolls on. Recent stories have revealed
that the company might be accidentally generating video playlists for
pedophiles; the Federal Trade Commission is investigating the site’s
targeting of ads toward children; and the New York Times linked the
site’s popularity to the rise of right-wing extremism in Brazil. But
nothing has defined YouTube’s summer more than the conflict between
Vox.com video host Carlos Maza and right-wing pundit Steven Crowder.
The conflict — over whether someone with millions of followers should
be allowed to repeatedly call another YouTuber a “lispy queer” —
highlighted the gap between what YouTube’s community guidelines say is
allowed, and what is actually allowed. (Crowder got away with almost
everything; his newfound fame almost certainly compensated for any
lost revenue from his channel being demonetized.) Today, in her
quarterly letter to YouTubers, CEO Susan Wojcicki took the occasion to
defend the idea of a website that lets almost anyone upload a video —
even offensive ones.”
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