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Eye on Extremism
December 11, 2020
Voice Of America: US Kills 8 Al-Shabab Fighters In 2 Airstrikes Amid Troop Reduction In Somalia
“The U.S. military killed eight al-Shabab fighters and wounded two others in airstrikes Thursday in Somalia, Lt. Cmdr. Christina Gibson, U.S. Africa Command spokeswoman, told VOA. “We will continue to apply pressure to the al-Shabab network. They continue to undermine Somali security, and need to be contained and degraded,” Africa Command (AFRICOM) head Gen. Stephen Townsend added in a statement announcing the strikes. The AFRICOM statement said two strikes in the vicinity of Jilib targeted terrorists “who were known to play important roles in producing explosives for al-Shabab, to include vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.” The al-Qaida-affiliated terror group conducts dozens of car bombings across Somalia each year, including against citizens, government and American targets. According to AFRICOM, al-Shabab has conducted about 45 vehicle-borne bombings in the capital of Mogadishu alone since 2018, collectively resulting in the death of more than 400 people. The Command assessed that no civilians were injured or killed in the strikes. The strikes come just days after President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to remove the majority of the 700 U.S. military troops stationed in Somalia.”
Associated Press: EU Member States, MEPs Agree To Take Terror Content Down
“European Union member states and lawmakers reached a provisional deal Thursday to take down terror content online within an hour of its being posted. The provisional agreement was announced as EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a two-day summit where they are set to discuss cross-border police coordination, following a series of recent extremist attacks in France and Austria. “The EU is working to stop terrorists from using the internet to radicalize, recruit and incite to violence,” the EU Council said in a statement, adding that the proposed rules would apply to providers operating across the bloc, “whether or not they have their main establishment in the member states.” Under the agreement, national authorities will be entitled to order platforms to remove content or to disable access to it in all 27 member states. Providers will be forced to act but will remain free to decide how they take down the forbidden material. “The proposed rules also ensure that the rights of ordinary users and businesses will be respected, including freedom of expression and information and freedom to conduct a business,” he council said. “This includes effective remedies for both users whose content has been removed and for service providers to submit a complaint.”
United States
CNN: Pentagon Planning To Withdraw Support For Most CIA Counter-Terror Missions
“The US Department of Defense is planning to withdraw most support for CIA counter-terror missions by the beginning of next year, in a move expected to have a broad effect on the scope of the intelligence agency's paramilitary operations, a senior defense official and former senior administration official with direct knowledge of the move told CNN. Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller informed CIA Director Gina Haspel of the decision in a letter this week. The US military provides a wide range of support to CIA paramilitary operations, including air transportation, logistics and medical evacuation. The changes, which will take place by January 5, involve returning DOD personnel detailed to the CIA and some military equipment, including Predator drones. Winter’s all about getting all cozy inside while Mother Nature turns everything into Popsicles outside, and it doesn’t get any cozier than Bearaby. The move would be the latest major policy change since President Donald Trump initiated a major personnel shakeup at the Pentagon following his election loss to Joe Biden.”
Syria
Reuters: Car Bomb Kills At Least Four In Turkish-Controlled North Syria
“At least four people were killed in a Turkish-controlled region of northern Syria on Thursday when a car bomb detonated at a checkpoint in the border town of Ras Al Ain, according to a Turkish official and a war monitor. The governor’s office in the Turkish town of Sanliurfa identified the dead as two Turkish police gendarmes and two members of local Syrian security forces. It blamed the blast on the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which Ankara views as a terrorist group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, put the total death toll at 12, including seven Syrian fighters, two Turkish security personel, two civilians and one unidentified victim. Turkey, which is allied with some Syrian rebel groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, seized control of the town last year in an offensive to push back YPG fighters from the border.”
Iraq
Reuters: Excluded, Abandoned: Children Born Under Islamic State Era Still Paying Heavy Price
“Excluded, vilified and sometimes simply abandoned: such is the price paid by thousands of children in Iraq born to suspected Islamic State militants. At the Hassan Sham camp for displaced people in northern Iraq, five-year-old Aisha, whose father disappeared after joining Islamic State, is pestering her mother because she wants to go to school. “She’s always crying, saying she wants to go to school. But I tell her she can’t: she doesn’t have the nationality,” says her mother, declining to give her name. Like thousands of other children born to parents who lived in areas governed by Islamic State between 2014 and 2017, Aisha has no official birth certificate, and no easy way to obtain one. Without papers, basic services including education and health care are difficult to access. In 2018, the Ministry of Education issued a directive allowing undocumented children to register in schools, but humanitarian NGOs say this is not consistently applied on the ground. “There are a lot of complexities about registering children born during the years ISIS ruled. Many have not been registered yet,” Karl Shembri, the regional media advisor of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), told Reuters.”
Turkey
Associated Press: Police Foil Attack By Kurdish Bomber In Southeast Turkey
“Turkish police on Thursday shot and killed a suspected Kurdish militant who was allegedly planning to detonate a bomb that was strapped to his body, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Police, acting on information that the militant was planning to carry out an attack, stopped a taxi he was riding in at a checkpoint near the town of Viransehir in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, the agency reported. A police officer shot and killed the man before he was able to detonate the explosives, it said. The agency said the militant was a Syrian national and a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, or the Syria-based Kurdish group that is affiliated with it. The militant, who wasn’t identified, had allegedly sneaked into Sanliurfa from Syria with explosives. The foiled attack came as a car bomb went off at a checkpoint across the border in a Turkish-controlled area of northeastern Syria, killing at least two Turkish soldiers and two local security officers, Turkish officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear if the two incidents were connected. The PKK has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region and is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.”
Afghanistan
Associated Press: Afghan Gov’t, Taliban Agree Islamic Law To Guide Peace Talks
“Afghan government negotiators and the Taliban have agreed to have Islamic law and teachings guide them in peace talks now underway in Qatar, according to a document obtained Thursday. The document details a 21-point list of rules and procedures for the negotiations and sheds light on what the talks, which are taking place behind closed doors, actually look like. The warring sides signed the document last week in Doha, Qatar, where the U.S.-brokered talks began in September and where the Taliban have for years maintained a political office. Soon after their ceremonious start — the only part that was public — the talks hit an impasse until last week, when in a breakthrough, the two sides agreed on rules and procedures for the negotiations. The Associated Press on Thursday obtained a copy of that document. The breakthrough was significant as it meant the sides could soon start to negotiate issues that could end decades of fighting in Afghanistan and determine the country’s post-war future — such as a cease-fire, what to do with armed Taliban fighters and militias loyal to warlords allied with the Kabul government. Constitutional changes and the rights of women and minorities are also expected to be on the agenda.”
Reuters: Islamic State Claims Killing Of Female TV Presenter In Afghanistan
“Islamic State claimed responsibility for the shooting death of a female TV presenter and women’s rights activist in Afghanistan on Thursday, an attack that underscored an increasing trend of violence against journalists in the country. Malalai Maiwand, a presenter at Enikas Radio and TV in the eastern province of Nangarhar, was killed along with her driver in the attack on their vehicle in the regional capital Jalalabad, taking the total number of journalists and media workers killed this year in Afghanistan to 10. “She was on the way to the office when the incident happened,” said Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor. Nangarhar has been a hotbed of militant activity, most notably involving Islamic State, which issued its claim of responsibility via its Telegram communications channel, calling her a “pro-regime” journalist. Maiwand, who was 25, was not the first in her family to be targeted. Five years ago, her mother, also an activist, was killed by unknown gunmen. Enikas has been targeted before, with its owner, Engineer Zalmay, kidnapped for ransom in 2018. “With the killing of Malalai, the working field for female journalists is getting more smaller and the journalists may not dare to continue their jobs the way they were doing before,” Nai, an Afghan media advocacy group, said in a statement.”
Yemen
“The targeting of civilians by Yemen’s Houthis, their “deepening” ties with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and use of kidnappings are driving a Trump administration debate on naming the movement a foreign terrorist organization, a U.S. diplomat said on Thursday. “If those things weren’t happening, there would be no debate,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Timothy Lenderking told reporters in a teleconference on U.S. policy in the Gulf. His comments were among the most extensive made publicly by a U.S. official on the deliberations on blacklisting the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which has been battling a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen since 2015. The United Nations is working to restart talks on ending the deadlocked conflict – widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran – that has battered the region’s poorest country, creating what aid groups call the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 80% of the population of 28.5 million requires help. Both sides have caused civilian casualties. Riyadh’s role has helped stoke bipartisan congressional anger with Saudi Arabia. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden pledges to reassess relations with Riyadh, which has enjoyed a near free pass from President Donald Trump.”
Saudi Arabia
Agence France-Presse: Jailed Saudi Activist In Terrorism Court On 'Spurious' Charges: UN Experts
“Jailed Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul appeared before a terrorism court on Thursday, her family said, as she faces the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence on what UN experts called “spurious” charges. Hathloul's hearing comes two days after a prominent American-Saudi doctor, Walid Fitaihi, was sentenced to six years in prison, highlighting what campaigners call growing state repression, despite international pressure over the kingdom's human rights record. Hathloul, 31, was arrested in May 2018 with about a dozen other women activists just weeks before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female drivers, a reform they had long campaigned for. After being tried in Riyadh's criminal court, her trial was transferred last month to the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC), or the anti-terrorism court, which campaigners say is notorious for issuing long jail terms and is used to silence critical voices under the cover of fighting terrorism. “Loujain's spirits are high, but her body is still weak,” her sister Alia al-Hathloul said after a hearing in the SCC. Hathloul's siblings are based outside the kingdom, but some of her other family members are allowed to attend court hearings, which are off-limits to journalists and diplomats.”
Lebanon
The Times Of Israel: UN Court To Sentence Hezbollah Member Convicted Of Killing Lebanon’s Ex-PM
“A UN-backed tribunal will on Friday sentence a Hezbollah member convicted of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, with prosecutors demanding a life term. Salim Ayyash, 57, was found guilty in absentia of murder on August 18 by the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the suicide bombing that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and 21 other people. Ayyash remains on the run, with Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Shiite terror group Hezbollah, refusing to hand him over, alongside three other defendants who were eventually acquitted. Prosecutors in a hearing in November said a life term was the “only just and proportionate sentence” for Ayyash, given that it was the “most serious terrorist attack that has occurred on Lebanese soil.” They have also demanded the seizure of Ayyash’s assets. Hariri served as Lebanon’s prime minister until he resigned in October 2004. He was killed in February 2005 when a suicide bomber detonated a van filled with explosives as his armored convoy drove past. As well as those killed, another 226 were wounded in the blast.”
Middle East
The Christian Post: Set Up Court To Prosecute ISIS For Genocide, Human Rights Advocates Urge
“After the war against Islamic State, its members should be tried like the Nazis at Nuremberg, human rights advocates of many nations urge. After the defeat in battle of Islamic State (also known as ISIS), the Kurd-controlled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria holds prisoner 10,400 foreign ISIS fighters, said AANES senior official Bedran Ciya Kurd during a Universal Rights virtual event Wednesday. Most nations won’t take them back. As of yet, no international court exists in which to try them. “We partnered with the U.S.-led local coalition to defeat ISIS, which cost us more than 11,000 martyrs and thousands of agents,” Kurd said. “ISIS targeted Yazidis, Christians, Arabs and Kurds and committed horrific atrocities, including the sexual enslavement of women and children. We have long called for setting up international tribunals or hybrid-domestic international tribunals, such as the Nuremberg Tribunal in the regions of the AA of North and East Syria, to hold the perpetrators accountable for the crimes they have committed and ensure the victims receive justice.”
Egypt
The North Africa Journal: Egypt: How Both The Military And IS Terrorize The People Of Sinai
“Residents of Egypt’s restive North Sinai region ran for their lives when an Islamic State group affiliate occupied their villages. Now, they are returning to find their homes booby-trapped. “I lost my sister-in-law and her nine-month-old baby when an explosive device planted in their home went off,” said a young resident of Aqtiya village, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions. Around 15 people have been killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) since mid-October in villages around Bir al-Abd, in the northwest of the troubled province, say Egyptian security sources. The IED attacks that have multiplied in the vast, remote and sparsely populated region which authorities have declared off-limits to journalists recall those the IS launched to sow terror in Iraq and Syria. The recent deaths have badly shaken the 1,000 or so residents who returned in October after seeking refuge elsewhere in Egypt for three months as the army continued its grinding battle to crush IS. Another resident, speaking to AFP by phone, said locals found IS had taken over their homes, used them as hideouts and then booby-trapped them. “They even stole our livestock,” he added.”
Nigeria
The New York Times: Executed Nigerian Farmers Were Caught Between Boko Haram And The Army
“For years, the farmers had an agreement with Boko Haram militants: They could tend their fields in peace, as long as they did not report the fighters’ presence to the Nigerian Army. But just over a week ago, that deal was broken. The Islamist group killed more than 70 farmers from Zabarmari, a village in northeastern Nigeria, residents say. The militants accused the farmers of betraying them. “Everything is shattered now,” said Ibrahim Abubakar, 36. Four of his friends were beheaded, he said. People in rural areas of northeast Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, have largely been left at the mercy of Boko Haram by a government whose security forces have mainly retreated from the countryside to protected garrison towns. Villagers are caught in a deadly Catch-22. If they report the militants to the Nigerian authorities, they risk gruesome reprisals by Boko Haram, a group known for abducting schoolgirls and killing tens of thousands of people. If they stay silent, they risk the wrath of the Nigerian military, which has been accused of routinely shooting villagers dead and burning their houses down during raids, as well as detaining people for years in inhumane conditions. In Zabarmari, villagers struggle to eke out a living through subsistence farming and fishing.”
Africa
Yahoo News: Mozambique Troops Repel Islamists Attacking Village Near Gas Site
“Mozambican soldiers on Thursday repelled Islamist militants that attacked and occupied a northern village in their closest raid yet to a giant gas project, military sources said. The jihadists launched the assault late Monday on the village of Mute, located about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Afungi peninsula. The peninsula is the centre of a multi-billion-dollar scheme to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Cabo Delgado province, where 2,400 people have been reported killed and a million displaced over the last three years in an escalating jihadist insurgency. “Following two days of intense fighting, we managed to retake” the village on Thursday, a military source in the gas hub town of Palma told AFP. Mute lies in a buffer zone between the gas project and the jihadist-controlled port of Mocimboa da Praia. The attack allegedly prompted energy giant Total to temporarily suspend construction work on the LNG support infrastructure. The French company did not respond to a question about whether its activities were suspended, only saying it “is closely monitoring the situation in Cabo Delgado”. “The security of Mozambique LNG project workforce and activities is our absolute priority. Total remains in permanent contact with Mozambican authorities on this subject,” it told AFP.”
Mozambique News Agency: US Prepared To Support Counter-Terrorism, But No Troops
“The United States is not considering sending troops to Mozambique to combat the terrorist threat in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, but it is willing to boost “civilian counter-terrorism capabilities”, said the US Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, Nathan Sales, on Tuesday. He was speaking in a telephone press briefing, after visiting Mozambique and South Africa. Sales described his trip as an “opportunity to engage with government officials in both countries to garner support for increased cooperation on counterterrorism issues”. The fact that he travelled to southern Africa, despite the Covid-19 pandemic “is an indication of how seriously the United States takes the terror situation on that part of the continent”. Sales had no doubt that the terrorist raids in Cabo Delgado are the work of the jihadi organization known variously as Islamic State, ISIS or Daesh. “What we've seen is increased terrorist attacks by ISIS affiliates in Mozambique over the last three years, resulting in the deaths of more than 2,000 people”, he said. “We're also seeing a humanitarian situation developing with the displacement of more than 400,000 residents of Cabo Delgado province.”
United Kingdom
The Independent: Terror Arrests Fall To Lowest Level In Almost A Decade During Coronavirus Pandemic
“The number of suspected terrorists arrested in the UK has fallen to the lowest level in almost a decade during the coronavirus pandemic, figures show. Statistics published by the Home Office show that in the year to October, 215 arrests were made — 18 per cent down on the previous year. “This was the lowest number of arrests for terrorist-related activity in the last nine years to September and is below the annual average of 253 arrests over the entire time,” said a document published on Thursday. “These reductions may reflect the general reduction in crime during this period when there were restrictions on normal activities to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus.” Figures showed a sharp drop in terror arrests from April, when the UK’s first national lockdown came into force. Between April and June, 31 arrests were made, and there were 44 between July and September, below the previous quarterly average of 61. In November, the UK’s terror threat level was raised to severe — meaning attacks are “highly likely” — following a spate of attacks in mainland Europe. Of the 215 arrests made, 39 per cent were still under investigation by 30 September, almost a third had led to charges, a fifth of suspects were released without charge and 9 per cent faced alternative action such as a caution or recall to prison.”
BBC News: Terror Trial Told Of 'Incels' Cyber-Culture Backing Attacks On Women
“A terrorism trial in Edinburgh has told about an online subculture which endorses violence towards attractive women. Dr Stephane Baele, of Exeter University, gave evidence in the trial of Gabrielle Friel, who is accused of researching mass killings linked to incels (involuntary celibate). Mr Friel, 22, denies charges of intending to commit acts of terrorism. He also denies expressing a “desire to carry out a spree killing mass murder”. Dr Baele, a senior lecturer in politics and adviser to the UK Parliament, is regarded as a leading expert on incels and wrote a report for prosecution lawyers. He told the High Court in Edinburgh that incels believe society is structured along lines of sexual and physical attractiveness. The court heard that incel men believe they are the bottom grouping of society and that physically attractive women are at the top. It also heard how such men blame women for their inability to have sex lives and endorse violent acts like rape and acid attacks against women. Dr Baele told the court that the movement has also been linked to acts of violence. In his report, Dr Baele wrote that incels post on websites like Reddit and certain message boards with links to far right political views.”
Germany
NPR: With Far-Right Extremism On The Rise, Germany Investigates Its Police
“Four years ago, Simon Neumeyer enrolled in the Saxony State Police Academy in the eastern German city of Leipzig as a 19-year-old cadet. “At the time, I naively thought the police were 100% committed to law and order,” he remembers. His naiveté began to wear off on the academy's target-shooting grounds while he and his fellow cadets, guns in hand, listened to a lecture from their commander. “He told us we have to shoot well, because there are many refugees coming to Germany,” Neumeyer recalls. “I thought to myself: 'Wow. This is very racist.' “Later, my ethics teacher complained about foreigners celebrating loudly in the city center on New Year's Eve and that this was his home. These teachers were basically passing their racism on to us cadets.” Neumeyer tells NPR he finally spoke up one day when an academy teacher used the N-word in class. To his surprise, he remembers his classmates not defending him, but loudly defending their teacher. “The entire class celebrated it,” he remembers. “And when I spoke up and said, 'You can't use that word,' a fellow cadet banged on his desk and said it's high time it was acceptable to use that word again.” Over time, Neumeyer says his fellow cadets ostracized him.”
Australia
“Counter-terrorism experts have welcomed a federal inquiry that will look into the rise of extremism in Australia, amid concerns the pandemic has exacerbated the mobilisation of extremist groups. Dr Kristy Campion, a lecturer in terrorism studies at Charles Sturt University, told the Guardian she was hopeful the inquiry would address the changing nature of terror threats. “There is no silver bullet to counter terrorism: as threats evolve and change, we must evolve and change to counter them,” she said. The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security will run the inquiry, which will examine the the nature, extent and threat of extremist movements in Australia. The announcement of the inquiry came as Labor pushed for a motion in parliament to scrutinise anti-terror laws in light of the rising threat of far-right extremism. The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, has included Islamic extremism in the terms of reference, arguing the inquiry should focus on extremist ideologies no matter where they come from. Dutton asked the inquiry to look at the motivations, objectives and capacity for violence of extremists, as well as how they operate and spread their messages online.”
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