The United States on Tuesday announced to reduce its troops' presence in
Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 each by January 15 next year. “By January 15

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


November 18, 2020

 

International Business Times: 'We've Destroyed ISIS Caliphate': US To Withdraw
Troops From Afghanistan, Iraq
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“The United States on Tuesday announced to reduce its troops' presence in
Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 each by January 15 next year. “By January 15,
2021, our force size in Afghanistan will be 2,500 troops. Our force size in
Iraq will also be 2,500 by that same day,” Acting Defense Secretary Christopher
Miller said during a live press conference. The United States has around 4,500
troops currently in Afghanistan and over 3,000 in Iraq, according to CNBC.
“This decision by the president is based on continuous engagement with his
national security cabinet over the past several months including ongoing
discussions with me and my colleagues across the United States government,”
Miller told reporters at the Pentagon. The “repositioning” of the US forces
were being done on the orders of President Donald Trump, he said, adding that
the decision was taken after consulting with key leaders in the Congress , NATO
Secretary-General Stoltenberg and Afghanistan's President Ghani. “Just this
morning, I spoke with key leaders in Congress as well as our allies and
partners abroad to update them on these plans in light of our shared approach.
We went in together, we adjust together and when the time is right, we will
leave together,” said Miller.”

 

Agence France-Presse: Dozens Killed In Eastern DR Congo, ADF Militia Blamed
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“Around three dozen people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of
Congo's troubled east, local officials said Tuesday, blaming the notorious ADF
militia which has slaughtered hundreds of civilians over the past year.
Twenty-nine bodies were found in the Virunga Park after being “executed en
masse”, the interior minister of North Kivu province, Jean-Bosco Sebishimbo,
said. He added that six civilians were also killed during “an armed attack” in
the nearby village of Kokola earlier on Tuesday. The UN's MONUSCO mission
confirmed that six people were killed in Kokola, while local sources spoke of
seven dead. “The first indications about the perpetrators of these vile acts
point towards ADF fighters, who are very active in the area,” Sebishimbo said.
Both attacks occurred in North Kivu's Beni territory, where 811 civilians have
been killed since October 31 last year, according to the Kivu Security Tracker.
It was on that date that DR Congo's army launched a large operation against the
ADF's leaders and bases in the jungle around Beni. The militia responded by
intensifying a campaign of massacres in rural areas, seeking to dissuade
civilians from collaborating with the military, experts say.”

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United States

 

Yahoo News: Exclusive: Counterterrorism Agency Increasingly Eyes Right-Wing
Threats As Trump Era Winds Down
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“Even as President Trump and his allies have tried to downplay the threat of
right-wing extremism and blame violence on the political left, one intelligence
agency has been quietly ramping up its warnings about the threat of domestic
threats, such as white supremacists, according to interviews and internal
government documents. The National Counterterrorism Center, an agency formed in
the wake of the 9/11 attacks to combat international terrorism, has been
increasingly focused on domestic extremists, including those who have no known
connection to a foreign group. One example of that new focus is its weekly
internal digest for the week of the presidential election, when four of the top
ten extremist threats highlighted by the agency were purely domestic, including
the “boogaloo” movement, white supremacists, and militia members. The digest
also includes three pages dedicated to the history of Timothy McVeigh, who was
responsible for the 1995 bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City,
Okla., to highlight risk factors for terrorist mobilization. “Reviews of
McVeigh’s struggles as a youth, his background and relationships, his
experiences in the U.S. Army, and during the period between his discharge and
the bombing indicate that he probably had several risk factors for mobilization
to violent extremism,” says the digest, which covers the week of Oct. 29 – Nov.
4.”

 

Associated Press: FBI Releases Attack Plan Of Radicalized 2015 Campus Stabber
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“A troubled California university freshman who burst into a classroom in 2015,
stabbing four people before police shot him dead, planned to praise Allah while
slitting the throats of classmates and use a gun taken from an ambushed officer
to kill more, according to records released by the FBI. Authorities determined
that Faisal Mohammad, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of California,
Merced had no connections to organized hate or terror groups and no past
behavior to suggest violence. Still, records released by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to the Daily Beast publication include a chilling, handwritten
31-step plan for the Nov. 4 attack with names of people to target. The plan
included putting on a balaclava at 7:45 a.m. and saying “in the name of Allah”
before stepping into his classroom and ordering students to use zip-ties he
provided to bind their hands. Mohammad also planned to make a fake 911 distress
call to report a suicidal guy and wait for police outside the classroom before
ambushing from behind “and slit calmly yet forcefully one of the officers with
guns.” He planned to take a gun from an officer and kill classmates before
making another fake distress call to 911 to report the shootings.”

 

Reuters: 2nd Circuit To Examine Bank Liability For Terrorist Acts
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“The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on Thursday in
an appeal by victims of Hezbollah rocket attacks, in one of several cases
posing the question of when banks can be sued for aiding and abetting terrorism
by providing financial services. Eighteen U.S. citizens who allege they were
injured or lost property in Hezbollah rocket attacks in Israel in 2006 will
urge the 2nd Circuit to revive their lawsuit against Lebanese Canadian Bank
under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The case drew supporting
briefs from banking groups arguing Congress purposely set a high threshold for
such claims and from law professors asserting courts have set the bar too high.”

 

Fox News: Behind Susan Rosenberg And The Roots Of Left-Wing Domestic Extremism
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“Susan Rosenberg, who made the FBI’s Most Wanted list by the time she was 29,
is among the most prominent far-left revolutionary activists in the U.S.
Earlier this summer, she sparked controversy after it was discovered that she
purportedly sat on the board as vice-chair of Thousand Currents, which has
poured more than $10 million into grassroots social change initiatives,
including Black Lives Matter as of late. The nonprofit, formerly known as IDEX,
quickly removed the director’s page featuring Rosenberg from its website in
June. It remained unclear if and to what capacity she still serves the
organization. Thousand Currents did not immediately respond to Fox News’
request for comment. The police officer who personally escorted Rosenberg out
of the Newark courthouse in 1985 after she was sentenced to 58 years for
explosives possession said her affiliation with the group showed that the same
domestic terrorism ideologies from 35 years ago still are percolating now. “I
was at first shocked to learn of (Rosenberg's new role), but on the other hand,
I wasn't so shocked given that members of these same groups get into academia
and still follow the same teachings and inspiration,” retired NYPD Police
Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Fox News.”

 

Iraq

 

Associated Press: Iraqi Military Says Rocket Attack In Baghdad Kills Child
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“Rockets struck Iraq’s capital Tuesday with four landing inside the heavily
fortified Green Zone, Iraq’s military said, killing a child and wounding at
least five people, signaling an end to an informal truce announced by
Iran-backed militias in October. Two Iraqi security officials said one of the
rockets that hit the Green Zone struck close to Iraq’s National Security
Service, just 600 meters (2,000 feet) from the American Embassy. Some of the
rockets were intercepted by the C-RAM air defense system installed by the U.S.
earlier this year, they said. Iraq’s military said three rockets landed outside
the Green Zone, one hitting close to Baghdad Medical City hospital, one at the
gate of a public park, and a third exploded in the air. One child was killed
and five civilians were wounded, the military statement said. Officials said
two Iraqi security forces personnel were also wounded inside the Green Zone.
They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. There was no
immediate claim of responsibility. The military said the incident would not go
without “prosecution and accountability.” U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003 and
left in 2011 but returned in 2014 after the Islamic State group overran large
parts of Iraq.”

 

Reuters: Iraqi PM And Pompeo Discuss Cooperation Against Daesh
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“Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi received a phone call from Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, in which they discussed the future of
cooperation between Iraq and the US-led international coalition, a statement
from his office said. Al-Kadhimi and Pompeo discussed the development of
cooperation between the two countries in various fields, the statement from the
Iraqi's prime minister media office, posted on Facebook, said. “They also
discussed the future of cooperation between Iraq and the international
coalition led by the United States of America, in light of the growing Iraqi
capabilities in combating terrorism,” the statement said.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Washington Times: Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal Could Lead To Terrorist
Attacks On US, Allies: NATO Chief
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“NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday signaled opposition to
President Trump’s plan to pull more U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and he
cautioned that “leaving too soon” could lead to terrorist strikes against
America and its allies. In a statement, Mr. Stoltenberg said all NATO allies
are eager to leave Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war, but he stressed
that a withdrawal must only happen when “the time is right” on the ground. His
comments come after reports that Mr. Trump will soon issue formal orders to cut
the number of American forces in Afghanistan from 4,500 to about 2,500. Mr.
Stoltenberg’s comments echo those of critics in the U.S., including some
Republican lawmakers, who fear that an early American exit could represent a
serious national security threat and could recreate the conditions seen in
Afghanistan during the run-up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “We now
face a difficult decision. We have been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and
no NATO ally wants to stay any longer than necessary,” Mr. Stoltenberg said in
a statement, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Times. “But at the
same time, the price for leaving too soon or in an uncoordinated way could be
very high.”

 

Middle East

 

Voice Of America: Al-Qaida 'On The Ropes' After 2 Decades Of War
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“Key U.S. officials are not backing down from their assessment that core
al-Qaida, while still a threat, is in decline, brushing aside intelligence
suggesting the terror organization remains entrenched in Afghanistan and may be
growing stronger. For months, tensions have been growing between the United
States and its allies over the status of al-Qaida, with some counterterrorism
officials arguing Washington is in danger of underestimating the threat posed
by the terror group. But the State Department’s top counterterrorism official
on Tuesday said al-Qaida has been significantly degraded as a result of U.S.
efforts. “I think al-Qaida's on the ropes, no doubt,” Counterterrorism
Coordinator Ambassador Nathan Sales told the virtual Global Security Forum in a
pre-recorded interview. “We have decimated their senior leadership cadre over
the past 20 years leaving core al-Qaida leadership really a remnant of its
former self,” he said. Sales’ comments come just a day after U.S. national
security adviser Robert O’Brien similarly downplayed al-Qaida core’s capacity
to do harm. “Al-Qaida's been incapable of directing a complex, large-scale
attack against the U.S. because of the pressure that we've kept on them,” he
said. “And there's more to come.”

 

The National: Islamic Relief Founder Hany El Banna Called Yazidis ‘Devil
Worshippers’
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“The founder of Islamic Relief Worldwide brought more controversy to the
scandal-hit charity after he referred to the persecuted Yazidi people as “devil
worshippers”. Dr Hany El Banna, who is also chairman of the UK’s Muslim
Charities Forum and president of Islamic Relief Switzerland, posted a video on
Twitter of him giving a lecture entitled "Money doesn’t buy you class", in
which he made the remark in September … Executive director of the Counter
Extremism Project think tank, David Ibsen, described it as reprehensible. “It
is outrageous for the founder of one of Britain’s largest charities to slander
people in this manner,” he told The National. “Unfortunately, Dr El Banna’s
comments did not occur in a vacuum. He is only the latest in a series of
high-ranking officials from IRW in the past six months to publicly make
derisive comments about other religious and ethnic groups. “IRW’s entire board
resigned over the summer. Almoutaz Tayara shared an anti-Semitic cartoon and
praised the terrorist group Hamas, calling its leaders “great men” who
responded to the “divine and holy call of the Muslim Brotherhood”. Despite
these incidents, hatred has continued to flow from the board. “It is troubling
that so many board members feel safe to publicly share these comments on social
media.”

 

The Times Of India: Jolt To Qaeda Leadership Succession: Only Saif al-Adel
From Old Guard Remains To Lead
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“The peculiar timing of the reports on the ‘natural death’ of al-Qaeda’s
ageing leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and the confirmed brazen daylight murders of
his likely successor and No. 2 Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah and his daughter Miriam
in Tehran’s upscale suburb of Pasdaran couldn’t have come at a worse time for
the global jihadist terrorist organisation. The November 13 reports cast a
serious doubt on the terrorist organisation’s leadership succession plans and
its future strategy—though al-Qaeda has been always been resilient enough to
bounce back every time its leaders, including the charismatic co-founder Osama
bin Laden, were eliminated … A brilliant planner who excelled in intelligence
gathering and target assessment, al-Adel played the most crucial role in
building al-Qaeda’s operational capabilities and closely worked with al-Masri.
Al-Adel, whose name also figures on the ‘Most Wanted Terrorists’ list, was also
part of the group that trained Aideed’s militants in countering the US forces
in Somalia. “Adel played a crucial role in building al-Qaeda’s operational
capabilities and quickly ascended the hierarchy,” the US-based Counter
Extremism Project think tank says.”

 

Somalia

 

Voice Of America: 5 Killed In Mogadishu Bombing After Report That US Will Pull
Troops From Somalia
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“At least five people were killed, and eight others were injured following a
suicide bombing near the main Somalia police academy in Mogadishu on Tuesday,
officials said. Government communication sources said two police officers, a
military officer and two civilians were killed when a suicide bomber detonated
an explosive vest outside a restaurant that is often used by members of the
police academy. Police spokesman Major Sadiiq Aden Ali confirmed the death toll
to VOA Somali. Other government officials said eight others were injured.   The
al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. Hours earlier,
The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump could withdraw U.S.
troops out of Somalia under an order being circulated at the Pentagon.
Virtually all of the more than 700 troops conducting training and
counterterrorism missions would leave, the paper reported.  Pentagon officials
have not commented on the report. U.S. troops in Somalia provide training and
advice and assistance to a unit of Somali army known as Danab (Lightning) that
has been hailed as model for rebuilding the Somali army. The U.S. also conducts
airstrikes against al-Shabab, which have increased since Trump took office in
2017.”

 

Africa

 

Agence France-Presse: In Jihadist-Hit Burkina Areas, No Elections -- And No
State
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“Two days before Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore held a
campaign rally in the northern town of Dori earlier this month, the body of a
driver for a regional MP was found 15 kilometres (nine miles) away. The death
of Sorgho Wendtoin served as a brutal reminder of the difficulty of holding a
national election in a country where large areas remain outside the state's
control due to a grinding jihadist insurgency. Amadou Abdouramane Ly, a civil
servant in Dori and parliamentary candidate for the ruling party, said “we must
tell the truth, the situation is precarious”. “This is a new example of it.”
Burkina Faso is preparing for presidential and parliamentary elections on
November 22, while neighbouring Niger has its own presidential election on
December 27. But no votes will be cast in many districts because the state is
absent in the “three borders” region between Burkina, Niger and Mali. The
territory is at the mercy of jihadist forces that have spread across large
swathes of the three Sahel nations. Burkina first came under attack in 2015
from groups that have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. “How
are we to organise an election in a zone where the attacks come almost every
day?” asked a Burkinabe security specialist. Islamist fighters killed 14
soldiers in a road ambush on November 11, the biggest attack on the army in
several months.”

 

The Christian Post: ‘The Next Jihad': Evangelical Leader, Rabbi Warn About
'Christian Genocide’ In Africa
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“The rise of violent extremist groups throughout Africa, as well as the
constant attacks against Christian communities in the continent’s most
populated country, has religious leaders fearful that “the next jihad” is
underway as world leaders seem to be rushing to address the problem. “I know
one thing has never really changed: No one gives a damn about Africa except for
their natural resources or if there is going to be a big party because there is
a peace treaty being signed,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, director of the global
social action agenda of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human
rights organization with over 400,000 family members. “That’s just the truth
and it’s a terrible truth. It might be one of the vestiges, frankly, of
colonialism.” Cooper teamed up with Rev. Johnnie Moore, a commissioner on the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and president of the
Congress of Christian Leaders, to author the new book The Next Jihad: Stop the
Christian Genocide in Africa. The book was written after the unlikely duo
traveled together to Nigeria earlier this year to meet with dozens of Christian
victims of terrorism from five different regions.”

 

United Kingdom

 

Sky News: UK Sees Sharp Increase Of Children As Young As 10 Investigated For
Far-Right Extremism: Report
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“Children under the age of 10 in the U.K. are being investigated over their
links to far-right extremism, Sky News has found. Home Office figures show a
dramatic rise in the number of under-18s referred to the government's
counterterrorism program Channel over concerns about their possible involvement
with the far-right. A total of 682 children were referred for this reason in
2017-18, compared with 131 in 2014-15 — a more than five-fold increase,
according to figures obtained through a freedom of information request. The
total for 2017-18 includes 24 children under the age of 10. For the first time
since the data has been recorded, there was an equal balance in the number of
cases linked to the far-right and those linked to Islamic radicalization in the
year up to March 2019. Out of 5,738 referrals across all age groups, 1,404
(24%) were for concerns related to Islamist radicalization and 1,389 (24%)
related to right-wing radicalization The bulk of referrals, 62%, were related
to young people up to the age of 20.”

 

Sky News: Manchester Arena Bombing: Football Museum Warned Staff Would Be
Alone In Case Of Terror Attack
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“The National Football Museum was warned before the Manchester Arena bombing
that the emergency services might take hours to reach casualties of a terrorist
attack. The museum, which is a few yards from the arena, took part in an
emergency exercise in which police warned that staff would probably have to
deal with “battlefield injuries” themselves. The inquiry has heard that only
one paramedic entered the City Room foyer where the bomb went off in the first
40 minutes and that the victims had to be carried from the scene on makeshift
stretchers by members of the public. The “table top” exercise, known as Project
Argus, was held in central Manchester, organised by Greater Manchester Police.
David Scally, the general manager at the time, told the inquiry into the
bombing: “We were given a scenario and were in groups and would say what we
would do in the event of an attack. “What we found was that the emergency
services wouldn't respond immediately and we could be left alone as a business
for up to two hours, or maybe longer, if the area wasn't secure and we would
have to be ready to treat battlefield injuries.” The exercise team recommended
that the museum get “grab bags” of medical supplies, including tourniquets, to
stop victims bleeding out from leg and arm injuries.”

 

Germany

 

Deutsche Welle: German State Minister Resigns Over Gun Purchase From
Right-Wing Extremist
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“A controversial gun purchase prompted the resignation of the interior
minister of the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Tuesday. The
minister, Lorenz Caffier, bought a hunting pistol from the arms dealer in 2018.
It later came to light that the dealer was a member of the Nordkreuz (Northern
Cross) group, an extreme-right survivalist network made up of people
stockpiling for the collapse of the German state. “I bought a firearm from
someone whom I should not have bought it from, in hindsight. Although it was
not the purchase that was a mistake, but how I handled it. I apologize for
that,” Caffier said in a statement. The arms dealer's affiliation with the
group only came to light in 2019, but the dealer's name was already known to
authorities in 2017. The name came to light during the questioning of a witness
associated with the Nordkreuz Group, and the information was then forwarded to
authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. As the state interior minister,
Caffier oversaw the police and intelligence agencies conducting an
investigation into the extreme-right group.  In his statement Tuesday, Caffier
flatly denied any links to right-wing extremists and condemned “unrestrained
reporting” into the case.”



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