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Eye on Extremism
August 21, 2020
“Fighting between Islamic extremist rebels and Mozambique’s army over a key port is threatening to disrupt the East African nation’s burgeoning natural-gas developments, including a multibillion-dollar project led by French energy giant Total SA. The insurgent group, which is affiliated with Islamic State, seized control of the Mocimboa da Praia port this month and government troops have moved into the area on Mozambique’s northern coast on the Indian Ocean to mount an effort to regain control of the site. The seizure of the port has interrupted the transit of oil and gas equipment through the port, a person close to the Mozambican government said. Much of Mocimboa’s infrastructure has been vandalized, he said. This person said the rebels had sunk a security forces reconnaissance vessel and that as of Thursday, the Islamic State franchise was fighting the Mozambican military from within the port. The rebel group, which stepped up attacks in the northern part of the country last year, infiltrated several neighborhoods in Mocimboa da Praia, with the help of local accomplices, he said. The rising threat to Mozambique’s gas fields underscores the expansion of the radical Islamic State in new territories following the loss of its strongholds in Syria and Iraq two years ago.”
Foreign Policy: Why India Is Considering A Probe Into Facebook
“India’s opposition Congress Party has called for a probe into Facebook after revelations in a Wall Street Journal article that the social media platform chose not to apply its hate speech rules to a ruling party politician who called Muslims traitors. The story, published last Friday by the reporters Newley Purnell and Jeff Horwitz, outlined how T. Raja Singh, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), used his personal Facebook page to call for Rohingya immigrants to be shot and for mosques to be razed. In March, Facebook’s internal watchdogs flagged the account as dangerous and recommended that Singh be banned from Facebook’s platforms. But according to the Journal, the company’s top public policy executive in India, Ankhi Das, argued against applying the company’s hate speech rules because it would impact Facebook’s business in India. Singh’s accounts remain on Facebook and Instagram. Political impact. The issue has since exploded in India. The Congress Party has written a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking him to look into the allegations in the report and to consider changing its India management team, while the BJP’s chief of information and technology wrote in an Indian newspaper that it was “ludicrous to suggest that Facebook is amenable to the BJP.” Facebook’s own employees are now speaking out.”
United States
5280 Magazine: 5 Drivers Have Hit Colorado Protesters With Vehicles This Summer
“Using a car or truck as a weapon isn’t unique to 2020. A 2018 report from San Jose State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute identified vehicle ramming as an increasingly common terrorism tactic. ISIS and Al Qaeda, in particular, encourage followers to drive into unsuspecting pedestrians. The rationale is as simple as it is ruthless: Obtaining a car is easier (and less likely to raise suspicion) than buying guns or explosives, and radicalized acolytes need little-to-no training or planning to carry out the attack. Tragically, these attacks have been successful. A 19-ton cargo truck driven by an ISIS follower killed 86 in Nice, France, in 2016, and eight people died in New York City’s Hudson River Park when a driver barreled down a pedestrian and bike path in 2017. The United Kingdom, Sweden, and Spain, among other countries, have also experienced similar violence. Determining motive for these attacks in the past had typically been relatively easy. The driver in New York City had an ISIS flag in his truck, and the Islamic State took responsibility for the rampage in France. But according to Brian Michael Jenkins, director of Mineta’s Transportation Security Center and co-author of the 2018 report, the incidents during the Black Lives Matter protests are different. “These people aren’t following direct exhortations,” Jenkins says. “It’s tricky to determine motive. We don’t have access to a person’s soul.”
Iran
Fox News: Trump Right To Back Arms Embargo On Iran, A Dangerous State Sponsor Of Terrorism
“President Trump’s move to reimpose full United Nations sanctions on Iran in order to extend an arms embargo on the Islamic Republic scheduled to expire in October is a wise move, despite the opposition of European nations, Russia and China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters Thursday at the United Nations: “The United States will never allow the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism to freely buy and sell planes, tanks, missiles and other kinds of conventional weapons. … These U.N. sanctions will continue the arms embargo.” However, foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement Thursday saying they don’t support the move by the U.S. to snapback sanctions on Iran under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal agreed to by their countries and then-President Barack Obama. President Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, denouncing it as ineffective in stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons and continuing to be a state sponsor of terrorism. The three European foreign ministers said their nations remain committed to the Iran nuclear deal, despite the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). Iran stopped complying with the agreement after the U.S. withdrew.”
Iraq
The New York Times: Trump Meets With Iraqi Leader Amid Negotiations Over U.S. Troop Levels
“President Trump met with Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the Iraqi prime minister, at the White House on Thursday, continuing months of negotiations between the two governments over the presence of American troops in the country. Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. al-Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief, culminated two days of high-level gatherings between senior American and Iraqi officials that covered a range of security, energy, economic and health issues. But a central focus of the prime minister’s visit is the negotiations, which started in May, on resetting the United States military mission in Iraq. “We will be discussing military,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re also involved in many oil projects and oil development within their country. And I think we’ve had a very, very good relationship since we started. We’re down to a very small number of soldiers in Iraq now.” There are about 5,200 American troops in Iraq, whose main missions are counterterrorism and training Iraqi forces. Some of these forces also support about 500 U.S. troops in neighboring Syria. Both leaders have emphasized their desire for troop reductions, but the details of how that would happen are murky. The Iraqis have said they want assistance from the Americans without a sizable military presence, while the Trump administration, fixated on the threat of Iranian influence, has been advised to keep a small number of troops on the ground.”
Afghanistan
Reuters: Trump Says U.S. Would Retaliate If Bounties On U.S. Troops Were True
“President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to retaliate if other countries were found to have offered bounties for attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but he gave no indication whether his stance toward U.S. intelligence reports outlining the bounties had changed. Reports about U.S. intelligence findings that Moscow paid the Taliban to kill American troops in Afghanistan emerged in late June. Russia denied the reports, and Trump has made clear that he did not believe them. CNN this month reported that U.S. intelligence had also indicated that Iran paid the Taliban bounties to target U.S. troops in Afghanistan as well. Reuters could not verify that story or vouch for its accuracy. Tehran on Tuesday said the report was false. Trump, speaking at a White House event alongside the Iraqi prime minister, told reporters that if the reports were determined to be a fact, then “we would hit them so hard, your head would spin.” Democrats and other critics have accused Trump, a Republican who is seeking re-election in November who has long pushed warmer U.S. ties with Russia, of not taking intelligence information concerning soldiers' deaths seriously enough.”
Voice Of America: Fresh Afghan Violence Kills 34 Combatants, Civilians
“Officials in Afghanistan say clashes between security forces and the Taliban insurgency, and a roadside bomb blast have killed about three dozen people, including civilians. Thursday’s deadly violence raged as U.S.-led efforts to push Afghan rivals to negotiate a political settlement to the country’s long war have slowed, if not halted, over the release of Taliban prisoners by Kabul. A local government spokesman in northeastern Takhar province told VOA insurgents staged a pre-dawn assault on security outposts in Khwaja Bahauddin district, killing14 Afghan forces and injuring four others. Separately, the Taliban stormed several checkpoints in eastern Nangarhar province late Wednesday and killed at least six security personnel. A provincial government spokesman said the fighting in Khogyani district also inflicted “heavy casualties” on the assailants but he did not give further details. The Taliban in a statement claimed credit for the attack in Khogyani but did not discuss insurgent losses. Elsewhere in Logar and Wardak provinces, army operations killed at least six Taliban rebels and injured many others, reported an Afghan group monitoring the ongoing violence in the country.”
Yemen
Arab News: Hundreds Of Houthis Killed In Fighting In Central Yemen, Officials Say
“Almost 1,000 Houthi fighters have been killed over the past four days in fierce clashes with government forces, which include allied tribesmen, in various contested areas of the central province of Marib, with hundreds more wounded or captured, local media and government officials said on Thursday. The Iran-backed Houthis have stepped up their attacks on Marib’s Serwah and Helan areas in an attempt to capture the oil- and gas-rich city of Marib. “We have counted 966 Houthis, including senior officers, killed in the fighting in Marib over the last four days. Their bodies are still scattered on the battlefields,” an army officer in Marib, who asked to remain anonymous, told Arab News by telephone. Dozens of government troops and their tribal allies have also reportedly died in the fighting. On Wednesday, at least 35 Houthi fighters surrendered when government forces attacked their location in Marib’s Serwah, local army commanders said. On the same day, senior army commanders in Marib attended the funeral of Brig. Mohammed Ali Alroken, the commander of 122 Infantry Brigade, who was killed in action in the northern province of Jawf.”
Nigeria
Al Jazeera: Nigerian Army Says 'In Full Control' Of Town Where Hostages Taken
“The Nigerian army on Thursday said it was in “full control” of a northeastern town where sources say hundreds of people had been taken hostage by rebels. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters stormed the town Kukawa on Tuesday and seized hundreds of residents who had just returned after fleeing their homes about two years ago, according to local residents and militia sources. “The terrorists on 18 August 2020 attacked troops' location in Kukawa town in Borno state where the attack was vehemently thwarted,” defence spokesman John Enenche said in a statement. “The situation in Kukawa is now calm with troops in full control,” he said. Kukawa's residents had returned to their homes on August 2 under military escort on the orders of the state government. They had been living in camps in the regional capital Maiduguri, 180km (120 miles) away, where they fled following a bloody attack in November 2018. “The attack by the terrorists was ... a deliberate attempt to reverse the milestone achievements recorded regarding IDPs [internally displaced people] in the areas of peacebuilding, reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement efforts by the government,” Enenche said.”
“Five Nigerian soldiers were killed on Tuesday following a gun battle in Gajibo area of Borno State with Boko Haram insurgents, security sources have told SaharaReporters. The insurgents believed to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province attacked the military base in the town in about 15 gun trucks. “Boko Haram during the week sacked the military base here in Gajibo, about five soldiers were killed and many injured. We saw the military evacuating their people both killed and wounded,” a resident told SaharaReporters. The sources said several weapons and ammunition were stolen by the terrorists during the attack that lasted for three hours. Boko Haram and its offshoot, ISWAP, have killed thousands and displaced millions in North-Eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian Army has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency has been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses. In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents, who lay ambush on their path.”
Somalia
American Military Times: US Airstrike Takes Out Terrorist Bomb-Maker In Somalia
“The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has taken out a high-value member of the Al Shabaab terror group in Somalia on Thursday. AFRICOM confirmed the successful airstrike in an emailed statement to American Military News. The Al Shabaab member, who was not named, had a history of making explosives and was reportedly working to place Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on a public road at the time of the strike near the vicinity of Kurtun Warey, Somalia. The AFRICOM statement assessed they successfully killed the Al Shabaab bomber and destroyed a nearby motorcycle. No civilians were assessed to have been injured or killed as a result of this airstrike. “Al-Shabaab continues to put Somali people in danger by ruthlessly attempting to place explosive devices in public areas,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joel Tyler, AFRICOM director of operations said of Al Shabaab. “These extremists continue to terrorize Somali citizens without regard for their safety.” Al Shabaab has been affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) throughout its history. “In support of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. forces use a range of effective and appropriate methods to assist in the protection of the Somali people,” the AFRICOM statement continues.”
United Kingdom
Al Jazeera: Bomber's Brother Jailed For Life For Manchester Concert Attack
“The brother of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, northwest England, in 2017 was on Thursday jailed for life. Judge Jeremy Baker said Hashem Abedi, who was convicted in March of murder, attempted murder and conspiring to cause explosions, would spend a minimum of 55 years in prison. Abedi, 23, refused to attend the two-day hearing at the Central Criminal Court in London, which saw emotional statements from families of victims of the May 22, 2017 attack. Judge Baker said even though Abedi's 22-year-old brother Salman carried out the bombing at the Manchester Arena, he was an “integral part” of its preparation. He condemned the ISIL (ISIS) armed group-inspired attack - one of the worst on British soil in which hundreds of people were injured - as “abhorrent” to most followers of Islam. “The defendant and his brother were equally culpable for the deaths and injuries caused,” he told the court. “The stark reality is that these were atrocious crimes, large in their scale, deadly in their intent, and appalling in their consequences. “The despair and desolation of the bereaved families has been palpable,” he said, paying tribute to the “tremendous dignity and courage” of the victims and their families.”
Germany
Associated Press: Islamic State Bride Sold Her Wedding Present: An AK47
“A German woman who joined the Islamic State group fell on such hard times that she had to sell her wedding present, an AK47 rifle, according to prosecutors in Germany. In a statement Thursday, German federal prosecutors said they have indicted Zeynep G. on three counts of participating in the activities of a “foreign terrorist organization,” breaching arms control laws and committing a war crime. G., a German citizen whose last name wasn't released due to privacy reasons, is alleged to have traveled to Syria in September or October of 2014 to join the extremist group. After marrying a Chechen fighter she ran his household and used social media to urge a friend in Germany to join IS. Following the first husband's death she married a fellow German IS member in October or November of 2015 and moved to the group's stronghold of Raqqa. German prosecutors say the couple occupied the home of someone who had fled from IS, which would amount to looting or pillaging under international law and is considered a war crime. Prosecutors said the woman requested a Kalashnikov rifle as a wedding present and training in how to use it, but after several weeks “it had to be sold due to a shortage of money.”
Technology
Cal Alumni Association: In The Age Of Information, Can We Weed Out The Fake News?
“In mid-April, the United Nations Secretary-General formally identified a parallel “pandemic” to COVID-19: a “misinfo-demic” or false news about the virus. Conspiracy theories, dangerous fake health advice, and discrimination and stigma related to the virus—from its origin to how it can be prevented or cured—have all spread like wildfire. The World Health Organization even added a “mythbusters” section to its website. Various actors have been responsible for the spread of this misinformation, from conservative news to massive text message campaigns. But social media is particularly conducive to the spread of conspiracies and false information, and more advanced technology has brought even more advanced deception. For months, resident deepfake expert and professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Information, Dr. Hany Farid, had been analyzing pictures, videos, and text to understand the spread of misinformation as it pertained to the 2020 election. Now, with pandemic news dominating the media, he’s leading a new survey to assess the COVID-related mis- and disinformation, in order to advise digital platforms on how to stem this flood. With the survey ongoing and the results yet to be published, Farid spoke to California about what he’s seen so far, the stakes of the issue, and how he thinks social media needs to move forward.”
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