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Eye on Extremism
August 3, 2020
“The plan sounded frighteningly concrete. The group would round up political enemies and those defending migrants and refugees, put them on trucks and drive them to a secret location. Then they would kill them. One member had already bought 30 body bags. More body bags were on an order list, investigators say, along with quicklime, used to decompose organic material. On the surface, those discussing the plan seemed reputable. One was a lawyer and local politician, but with a special hatred of immigrants. Two were active army reservists. Two others were police officers, including Marko Gross, a police sniper and former parachutist who acted as their unofficial leader. The group grew out of a nationwide chat network for soldiers and others with far-right sympathies set up by a member of Germany’s elite special forces, the KSK. Over time, under Mr. Gross’s supervision, they formed a parallel group of their own. Members included a doctor, an engineer, a decorator, a gym owner, even a local fisherman. They called themselves Nordkreuz, or Northern Cross. “Between us, we were a whole village,” recalled Mr. Gross, one of several Nordkreuz members who described to me in various interviews this year how the group came together and began making plans.”
“The United States has proposed that hundreds of Taliban prisoners be transferred to house arrest in a supervised facility when they are freed from Afghan jails, three senior official sources said, a proposed solution for a deadlock that is holding up peace talks. The proposal for Taliban fighters accused of conducting some of the bloodiest attacks in Afghanistan to be placed in a location where they would be under both Taliban and Afghan government surveillance was presented this week to the warring Afghan sides by top U.S. diplomats, the sources said. The diplomats are trying to kickstart peace negotiations in Doha that have been delayed over the prisoner issue. The Afghan government is resisting freeing the final batch out of some 5,000 prisoners whose release was demanded by the insurgent group as a condition to start peace talks. Around 400 prisoners are still in government custody, with Western allies also expressing concerns over releasing around half of those. “The Americans and their allies agree that it would be insane to let some of the most dreaded Taliban fighters walk out freely...the Afghan forces arrested them for conducting some of the most heinous crimes against humanity,” said a senior western diplomat in Kabul.”
The New York Times: Trump Officials Reconsider Prosecuting Isis ‘Beatles’ Without Death Penalty
“The Trump administration is trying again to find a way to resolve the cases of two British Islamic State detainees who are notorious for their roles in the torture and killing of Western hostages, and who have been held in indefinite wartime detention by the American military in Iraq since October, according to officials. One option under renewed consideration is for the Justice Department to drop its insistence that prosecutors be free to bring capital charges against the men, half of a cell of Britons called the “Beatles” by their captives because of their accents. Since the men were captured in early 2018, when Jeff Sessions was attorney general, the Justice Department has insisted that it be free to seek their execution. But at an interagency National Security Council meeting this week, Attorney General William P. Barr did not rule out dropping that stance, officials said. A chief obstacle to bringing the men to trial has been a need for evidence held by the British government. Britain has abolished the death penalty and a British court has blocked it from cooperating in capital charges. Litigation is slowly continuing, but assurances that American prosecutors would not seek the death penalty could swiftly make the evidence available.”
United States
National Review: Holding Murderous Terrorists Accountable
“In the case of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, the United States needs to hurry up and intervene. Imagine you had a beloved child, born in a free and prosperous country. Imagine that he or she grew into a brave and selfless adult, the kind that ventured into some war-stricken land to help those less fortunate. Now imagine that he or she was mercilessly abducted, starved, tortured, raped, beaten, stripped of his or her clothing, and barbarically murdered in front of the whole world. Unimaginable, isn’t it? Tragically, Diane and John Foley, Paul and Ed Kassig, Marsha and Carl Mueller, Shirley and Art Sotloff — as well as the families of the 23 other victims of the ISIS cell nicknamed the “Beatles” (on account of their English accents) — know only too well what this is like. For six years, these parents have been suffering the shock of this real-life nightmare. Now they are worried that their children’s killers could evade justice. Two of the British-born jihadi “Beatles,” Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were captured by Kurdish forces, are now being held by American forces in Iraq. Last year, then–U.K. home secretary Sajid Javid stripped Kotey and Elsheikh of their British citizenship on national-security grounds and agreed, with then–U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions, that they would be extradited to the United States to face trial there.”
Syria
The Jerusalem Post: Will Oil Deal For Eastern Syria Help Or Hurt Those Fighting ISIS?
“Reports of an oil deal involving the eastern Syrian autonomous regional authorities have caused a controversy as radical-left anti-American activists unite with the pro-Turkey, pro-Russia, pro-Syrian regime lobbies to slam what they see as a conspiracy of Americans “stealing” oil from Syria. As with most things in Syria, the actual reality on the ground is far more unclear than the simplistic narratives to be found on social media and among Western commentators. In October 2019, the US, under President Donald Trump, suddenly decided to withdraw from part of eastern Syria, enabling a Turkish offensive, which backed Syrian rebel extremists who attacked and ethnically cleansed Kurds and other minorities – driving 200,000 into refugee camps and spreading chaos and instability in an area of northern Syria that was recovering from ISIS. In the wake of the instability, the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, which has trained tens of thousands of Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) members and successfully helped them defeat ISIS, remained in part of eastern Syria. Trump indicated the US would stay to secure the oil. In reality, America was also staying to check Russian and Iranian forces and to keep fighting ISIS sleeper cells.”
Iran
Al Jazeera: Iran Says It Has Arrested Head Of US-Based 'Terrorist Group'
“Iran says it has arrested the head of a United States-based “terrorist group” accused of bombing a mosque in 2008 that killed 14 people and wounded more than 200 others in the southern city of Shiraz. The group's “Jamshid Sharmahd, who was leading armed and sabotage operations inside Iran, is now in the powerful hands” of Iran's security forces, state television said in a report on Saturday, citing a statement from the intelligence ministry. The statement did not elaborate on where or when the leader of the opposition royalist group known as the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, known in Farsi as Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran, or Tondar (Farsi for thunder), was arrested. The group seeks to restore Iran's monarchy, which ended when the fatally ill Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled the country in 1979 just before its Islamic Revolution. The group's founder disappeared in the mid-2000s. It remains unclear how the US-based accused was arrested. Iranian state television broadcast a report on Sharmahd's arrest, linking him to the April 12, 2008 bombing of the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in Shiraz.”
Turkey
“A senior officer who discovered the funneling of illicit Qatari funding for extremists in Syria through Turkey was executed at the orders of a general-turned-war profiteer, who was identified as working with Turkish intelligence to deepen the conflict in Syria, reported Nordic Monitor. The bombshell revelation was made by Col. Fırat Alakuş, who worked in the Special Forces Command’s (Özel Kuvvetler Komutanlığı, or ÖKK) intelligence section, at a court hearing whose transcript was obtained by Nordic Monitor. “Testifying under oath at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court in the Turkish capital on March 20, 2019, Alakuş revealed that Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı, in charge of the ÖKK at the time, ordered the assassination of Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi because Terzi discovered that Aksakallı was working secretly with MIT in running illegal and clandestine operations in Syria for personal gain while dragging Turkey deeper into the Syrian civil war,” it said. “[Terzi] knew how much of the funding delivered [to Turkey] by Qatar for the purpose of purchasing weapons and ammunition for the opposition was actually used for that and how much of it was actually used by public officials, how much was embezzled,” Alakuş said.”
Afghanistan
Associated Press: Islamic State Gunmen, Suicide Bomber Attack Afghan Prison
“The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a complex attack by a suicide car bomber and multiple gunmen against a prison in eastern Afghanistan, which Afghan officials said killed at least three people and injured 24 others. The hourslong gunbattle between Afghan security forces and insurgents in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, was still ongoing Sunday evening, and casualties were likely to rise, according to Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor. Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said at least three people were killed, while Zahir Adil, the spokesman for the provincial Health Ministry, provided the figure of 24 wounded. The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, known as IS in Khorasan province, claimed responsibility for the attack. The IS affiliate is headquartered in Nangarhar province. Sunday’s attack comes a day after the Afghan intelligence agency said a senior IS commander was killed by Afghan special forces near Jalalabad. The Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press, “We have a cease-fire and are not involved in any of these attacks anywhere in the country,” but said he was not aware of the details of the Jalalabad attack.”
Al Jazeera: Afghanistan Ceasefire Holds As Hundreds Of Taliban Fighters Freed
“A ceasefire between the Taliban and Afghan government appears to be holding for the third and final day, as hundreds of the armed group's prisoners are released in a bid to bring peace talks closer. The government has released 317 Taliban prisoners since the beginning of the three-day Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Friday, the country's office of National Security Council said on Twitter on Sunday. Calm prevailed across much of Afghanistan, with officials not reporting any major clashes between the two sides since the truce began to mark Eid. President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban have both indicated that long-delayed negotiations could begin straight after Eid. Under a deal signed by the Taliban and the US in February, the “intra-Afghan” talks were slated to start in March, but were delayed amid political infighting in Kabul and as a contentious prisoner swap dragged on. The deal stipulated that Kabul would free about 5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for 1,000 Afghan security personnel held captive by the Taliban. Including the newly released prisoners, the total number of Taliban prisoners freed from Afghan custody has reached 4,917 prisoners, the National Security Council said.”
“Just months after the U.S. signed a controversial deal with the Taliban to end the long-running war in Afghanistan – predicated on the notion that the insurgent group would not offer safe haven to Al Qaeda – local officials worry that terrorists still reign in parts of the country. According to Afghan news outlet Tolo, Yasin Khan, the governor of the southern province of Helman, has pointed to an increasing Al Qaeda footprint in the district along the Durand Line with Pakistan as well as the border pockets between Afghanistan and Iran. Helmand has long been a bloody battleground for U.S. and Afghan troops, and has emerged as a Taliban stronghold. “The Helmand governor said that it was worrying that the Taliban would not cut ties with al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters,” Tolo reported on Friday, citing several officials who claimed that “there is a presence of Al Qaeda and other foreign fighters ranging from Disho district of Helmand towards some districts in Herat,” an area spanning many miles. Khan also stressed that Al Qaeda currently has a presence in Bahramcha region of Disho district of Helmand toward Herat province and that its operatives “are providing training and support to the Taliban,” in addition to supplying materials.”
“The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has suffered heavy losses in the past year but could spoil the country’s peace process by attacking cities and recruiting Taliban splinter groups angered by the negotiations. After recent battlefield losses, much of the group is hiding in the remote Kunar province, where dense forests shield them from airstrikes, said one commander with the group, known as ISIS-Khorasan province. But some cells are hidden away in cities like Kabul and Jalalabad, where they plan to recruit “former jihadis” and stage attacks, said the commander, who goes by the pseudonym Ibadullah. “We’ve just changed our operations, because it’s difficult for us to be where the U.S. and Taliban can attack us,” said Ibadullah, who added during a phone call that he commands about a dozen fighters. “Now we want to do guerrilla attacks in the cities.” Islamic State fighters line up Nov. 19, 2019, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, after surrendering to the Afghan government. The group has suffered heavy battlefield losses but remains a threat as it aims to recruit Taliban disgruntled by the peace process.”
Lebanon
Al Monitor: Hezbollah, Israel Jostle In Syria, Lebanon
“On July 27, after a week of daily airstrikes attributed to Israel targeting several Iranian and Hezbollah interests in Syria, the Israeli military said a few of the Lebanese group’s fighters crossed into the disputed Shebaa Farms area between Lebanon and Israel, triggering tensions on the border. Hezbollah denied that it made the maneuver. This may be an indication that while the balance of power is holding in Syria, Hezbollah is attempting to play a deceptive game to safeguard its credibility with its domestic constituency and Israel on the Lebanese border. In a period of a week, two incidents appear to again pit Hezbollah and Iran against Israel, first in Syria, then in Lebanon. The first was when alleged Israeli attacks in Syria destroyed weapons and ammunition warehouses and killed Iranian-backed non-Syrian and Syrian militiamen in southern and southwestern Damascus, according to the Syrian Human Rights Observatory. Hezbollah announced one death, Ali Kamel Mohsen, known by his nom de guerre Jawad. What will this mean? Nicolas Blanford, a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said last year that Hezbollah Secretary-General “Sayed Hassan Nasrallah pledged retribution from Lebanon should Israel kill any of its members in Syria. A response was expected from Lebanon.”
Middle East
The Africa Report: Islamic State’s Great ‘Capacity To Regenerate’ Itself
“The Islamic State armed group has been largely weakened in recent years, but under its new leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the terrorist organisation is regrouping and once again sowing its seeds of violence. It was not until a week after the death of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019 in Idlib, Syria that the successor to the self-proclaimed Caliph was appointed: Muhammad Said Abd Al Rahman al-Mawla, officially known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Once an unknown man, he is often referred to by his nickname Abu Omar al-Turkmani, or simply al-Turkmani, the Turkmen. “Jihadist propaganda was thus trying to give credence to the fiction surrounding the leader, not only of Arab descent, but also a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed through his Quraych tribe and his Hashemite clan,” explains Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor in the contemporary Middle East history at Sciences-Po in Paris. Al-Turkmani is a veteran of the organisation and will have the difficult task of guiding Islamic State (IS) through a tumultuous period in the organisation’s history. But the group often lands back on its despite the challenges at hand. Reliable information on this leader of the terrorist group is quite rare and can be counted on one hand.”
Nigeria
BBC News: Nigeria Boko Haram: Governor Says Battle Against Militants Being Sabotaged
“A governor in north-east Nigeria has suggested efforts to defeat jihadist group Boko Haram are being undermined by elements of the security apparatus. Borno State's Babagana Zulum said President Muhammadu Buhari needed to know sabotage within the system was frustrating work to end the insurgency. Babagana Zulum was speaking bluntly days after his heavily armed convoy suddenly had to flee a town near Lake Chad because of sustained gunfire. The army blamed Boko Haram. The governor suggested soldiers were behind it and once again used the word sabotage. Babagana Zulum also questioned why the Nigerian army was stopping thousands of displaced people from returning home to their fields whilst soldiers were instead cultivating the land. Governor Zulum is not the first person to essentially suggest that corruption within the military is prolonging the people's suffering in north-east Nigeria.”
Africa
The Defense Post: Al-Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Attack On French Forces In Mali
“Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in Mali claimed responsibility on Thursday for a suicide raid on French forces in the north of the Sahel state this month, which left one soldier dead. In a statement verified by the jihadist-surveillance group SITE Intelligence, the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) said that it attacked a French military camp near the town Gossi in northern Mali on July 23. Islamist fighters sent two vehicles packed with explosives against the camp gates, to clear the way for another, which detonated after entering the base, the statement added. “The raid coincided with a mortar shelling, enabling commandos to storm the base, and clash with the Crusader soldiers that remained,” GSIM said, referring to French troops. One French soldier died in the attack, according to France’s presidency. GSIM — which is active in several Sahel states — said on Thursday that two of its fighters died in the raid. Mali has been struggling to contain a jihadist revolt that first broke out in the north in 2012, despite the presence of French and UN troops in the country. The conflict has since spread to the center of the impoverished nation of some 20 million people, and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.”
Reuters: Suspected Boko Haram Militants Kill 16 In Northern Cameroon
“Suspected militants from Islamist group Boko Haram killed at least 16 people and wounded seven early on Sunday in a grenade attack on a camp for displaced people in northern Cameroon, a local official said. The assailants threw a grenade into a group of sleeping people inside the camp in the village of Nguetchewe, district mayor Medjeweh Boukar told Reuters. The camp is home to around 800 people, he said. The village is located close to the Nigerian border. Boukar was informed by residents that 16 had died. A security official earlier said 15 had died. The wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, they said. “The attackers arrived with a woman who carried the grenade into the camp,” Boukar said, adding that women and children were among the dead. Over the past month there have been twenty incursions and attacks by suspected Islamist militants, Boukar said. Boko Haram has been fighting for a decade to carve out an Islamic caliphate based in Nigeria. The violence, which has killed an estimated 30,000 people and displaced millions, has frequently spilled over into neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.”
United Kingdom
“Jailed terrorists may see their time in prison “as an opportunity” to become more extreme and prepare for attacks, a report has warned as the government pushes to increase sentences. Research by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) found that at least five terror attacks have been plotted or carried out by serving and released prisoners in Britain since 2016. They include the stabbings at Fishmongers’ Hall and Streatham, as well as a plot by a cell who met inside prison. The report, which covers 10 European countries including the UK, warned that jihadis were “increasingly turning prisons into a theatre of conflict and confrontation”. “There is an emerging view among extremists that prison is an opportunity, not necessarily just to recruit or network, but to also work on themselves,” it said. “Imprisoned recruiters learn psychology to become better recruiters, for example, while imprisoned ideologues learn Islamic and jihadist history to become better ideologues. “At the same time, they see prison as a test of their commitment to the cause and a place to recover from Isis’s battlefield losses and the wider upheaval in the jihadist scene.”
Germany
Voice Of America: Germany Dissolves Elite Army Unit Over Far-Right Activity
“Germany’s defense ministry officially disbanded a company of its Special Forces Command (KSK) on Saturday, following reports that it had been exposed to far-right and neo-Nazi ideology. The move showed how deeply rooted right-wing extremism could be within the German army, some experts said. “The announcement basically acknowledges for the first time that it is not just individual cases in which soldiers show up as right-wing extremists, but that there are right-wing extremist networks in the German Federal Armed Forces,” said Fabian Virchow, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf and director of the Research Unit on Right Wing Extremism. “It shows that this danger has been systematically underestimated in the past by political and military leaders,” Virchow told VOA. German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer made the initial announcement of disbanding the KSK’s 2nd Company July 1 after an investigation into allegations of right-wing activity…“If Germany … will continue to take part in the U.N. or NATO missions that involve actual fighting, you need a special forces unit,” Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project in Berlin, told VOA. “Disbanding the whole KSK would mean that Germany's ability to partake in international missions is severely hampered, because you just cannot be in Mali without the KSK,” Schindler added.”
Europe
The Irish Times: Lisa Smith Sent Forward For Trial On Terrorism Charges
“Former Irish Defence Forces member Lisa Smith has been sent forward for trial to the Special Criminal Court accused of membership of the Islamic State terrorist group. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed trial in the non-jury court which is used for terrorism related and organised crime trials. Dublin District Court heard on Friday that the DPP has obtained a certificate, under the Offences Against the State Act that, in this case, the ordinary courts were inadequate to secure the administration of justice. The certificate was furnished to Judge Marie Quirke, who noted that the Attorney General agreed with the decision in relation to the trial venue. A State solicitor asked the judge to make an order of return for trial to a sitting of the Special Criminal Court. Lisa Smith, a 38-year-old mother of one, from Co Louth, has indicated through her solicitor that she will challenge the decision that she cannot have a jury trial. She had initially been charged in December with an offence contrary to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) which carries a possible 10-year sentence, for being a member of Islamic State from 2015 to 2019.”
Southeast Asia
SunStar: Speak Out: What Is Terrorism In The Philippines?
“By the time you’re reading this, the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 or Republic Act (RA) 11479 has taken effect. Whilst many are worried about this new law, do they know what constitutes an act of terrorism? In this article, terrorism will be defined based on the ATA and distinguish it from its previous definition in the repealed Human Security Act (HSA) of 2007 or RA 9372. In ATA’s Section 4, terrorism is said to be committed by any person who, within or outside the Philippines, regardless of the stage of execution engages in acts intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person's life. Terrorism is also engaging in acts intended to cause extensive damage or destruction to a government or public facility, public place or private property. It is also terrorism to do acts intended to cause extensive interference with, damage or destruction to critical infrastructure. Acts of terrorism include the development, manufacture, possession, acquisition, transportation, supply or use of weapons, explosives or of biological, nuclear, radiological or chemical weapons. It is also terrorism to release dangerous substances, or causing fire, floods or explosions.”
Technology
Newsmax: Artifact Looters On Facebook Helped Fund ISIS
“Facebook is accomplishing its mission of connecting the world, but under that noble goal lies some evil taking advantage of the platform, including ISIS using it to fund its worldwide terrorist network. They do it by giving ancient artifact looters in Syria a forum to market, connect, review, and sell historical pieces throughout the world on Facebook, experts told The Atlantic. “Facebook is how our community has stayed connected during the war, but at the same time, it’s also helped destroy it,” Adnan Al Mohamad, a onetime archaeologist at Aleppo's Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in the Department of Excavation, told The Atlantic. “For Syrians, this is real life, not an online life. Smuggling and trafficking these artifacts is a war crime, so why isn't Facebook held to the standard of international law?” Facebook has since moved to ban the sale of artifacts, including “archaeological discoveries and ancient manuscripts, tombstones, coins, funerary items, and mummified body parts,” according to public-policy manager Greg Mandel. “We now prohibit the exchange, sale or purchase of all historical artifacts on Facebook and Instagram,” he wrote in an email to The Atlantic.”
Forbes: Twitter Permanently Bans Former KKK Leader David Duke
“Twitter confirmed late Thursday that it has permanently banned former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke from its platform, marking one of the platform’s most high-profile crackdowns on the far right as social media companies face growing pressure to combat hate speech. Twitter said that it “permanently suspended” Duke “for repeated violations of the Twitter Rules on hateful conduct,” and did not single out any specific posts that triggered the ban. The company also cited new policies announced in March that stipulate the platform will block links to harmful outside content, including hateful or extremist content, and suspend users who share them. Twitter has previously taken temporary action against Duke’s account, but said in a statement to the Washington Times earlier in July that it allowed Duke to remain on the platform because he is no longer associated with the KKK. Duke, who led the KKK from 1974 to 1978, is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “the most recognizable figure of the American radical right, a neo-Nazi” and an “international spokesman for Holocaust denial.”
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