Jordan's state security court sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for the 2019
stabbing of eight people, four of them foreign tourists, at one of the

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


January 13, 2021

 

Agence France-Presse: Jordanian Sentenced To Death For 2019 Tourist Stabbings
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“Jordan's state security court sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for the
2019 stabbing of eight people, four of them foreign tourists, at one of the
kingdom's ancient sites. The victims, who included one Swiss and three Mexican
tourists, all survived the November 2019 knife attack in the ruins of the
ancient Roman city of Jerash, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the
capital Amman. Mustafa Abu Ruwais, 24, was sentenced to “death by hanging for
the terrorist knife attack on tourists,” the court said. There is no right of
appeal against the decisions of Jordan's state security court. Abu Ruwais, a
Jordanian of Palestinian origin, was at the time of the attack a resident of
the Souf camp in Jerash, which houses some 20,000 Palestinian refugees. He was
arrested immediately afterwards and charged with terrorism offences in January
last year. The charge sheet alleged that Abu Ruwais “follows the ideology of
the Daesh terrorist gang”, a pejorative reference to the Islamic State jihadist
group, and has been “in contact with one of the members of this organisation in
Syria” who gave the green light for the attack. But there was never any formal
claim of responsibility for the attack.”

 

Associated Press: French Police Detain 7 In Probe Of Teacher's Beheading
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“French anti-terrorism police on Tuesday detained seven people suspected of
having communicated via social media with the killer of a schoolteacher whose
beheading last year reopened debate about France's cherished rights of
expression, a judicial official said. The teacher, Samuel Paty, was killed Oct.
16 outside his Paris-region school after showing caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad during a class debate on free expression. His killer, identified by
authorities as Abdoullakh Anzorov, was later shot dead by police. Anzorov, an
18-year-old refugee of Chechen origin who had become radicalized, according to
authorities, claimed responsibility for the slaying in a text found on his
phone that was accompanied by a photograph of the teacher. The seven people
detained Tuesday in the Paris region, as well as in western France and in the
cities of Lyon and Toulouse, are suspected contacts of Anzorov, said the
judicial official. The official wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss details
of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The suspects can be
held for initial questioning by anti-terrorism investigators for up to 96
hours.”

 

United States

 

Associated Press: UN Official: Terrorists Using Pandemic To Stoke Extremism
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“The U.N. counter-terrorism chief warned Tuesday that terrorists are
exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic and appealing to new “racially, ethnically and
politically motivated violent extremist groups.” Vladimir Voronkov spoke at the
U.N. Security Council’s 20th anniversary commemoration of the pivotal
resolution to fight terrorism adopted after the 9/11 attacks on the United
States -- and six days after a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by a
pro-Trump mob. He said that throughout the past two decades, “the threat of
terrorism has persisted, evolved and spread.” Al-Qaida, which was responsible
for the 9/11 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people from 90 countries, is
still proving resilient despite the loss of numerous leaders, Voronkov said.
The Islamic State extremist group, which lost its self-declared caliphate in
Iraq and Syria, is still carrying out attacks in the two countries “and seeking
to reconstitute an external operations capability.” Voronkov, who heads the
U.N. Counter-Terrorism Office, said terrorists have sought to exploit the
COVID-19 crisis, “riding on the wave tops of polarization and hate speech
amplified by the pandemic.”

 

The Washington Post: Justice Dept. Investigating Sedition And Conspiracy
Charges And Any Terror Links To Violent Storming Of U.S. Capitol
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“The Justice Department and FBI have created a sedition and conspiracy task
force to pursue charges against participants in the storming of the U.S.
Capitol and are investigating any links to domestic or foreign instigators,
officials said Tuesday. The investigation, one of the largest ever undertaken
by the department, includes counterterrorism and counterintelligence facets and
has led to charges against more than 70 people and identified 170 suspects to
date, acting U.S. attorney Michael R. Sherwin of D.C. said. Those arrest
figures are expected to increase into the hundreds, if not “exponentially.” But
Sherwin and Steven D’Antuono, head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said
any impression that prosecutors have mostly charged misdemeanor Capitol
trespassing and D.C. curfew offenses is misleading. They said the cases are
only the beginning and that U.S. authorities are investigating everything
including the plundering of congressional offices and digital devices, assaults
on law enforcement officers, and theft of national security and defense
information, in addition to felony murder and excessive use of force. “The
gamut of cases is mind-blowing,” Sherwin said.”

 

Reuters: U.S. Imposes Counter Terrorism Sanctions On 5 People: Treasury Website

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“The United States on Tuesday imposed counter terrorism sanctions on five
people it tied to Iran, designating them each as a Specially Designated Global
Terrorist (SDGT), according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s website. Reuters
reported on Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to use newly
declassified U.S. intelligence to publicly accuse Iran of ties to al Qaeda in a
speech on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said, as part of his
last-minute offensive against Tehran before handing over to the incoming Biden
administration.”

 

The Hill: Schumer Says Democrats Will Probe Extremist Groups After Capitol
Attack
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“Incoming Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that
Senate Democrats will launch probes stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack
after they take back control of the chamber on Jan. 20.  Schumer sent a letter
to his caucus, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, outlining plans for
investigating both the mob violence and related issues and vowing “vigorous
oversight.” “Our caucus will make sure that the events are fully investigated
and every necessary security measure is in place for the upcoming Inauguration
and the days leading up to it,” Schumer wrote in the letter. The Senate is
getting briefed on the inauguration Tuesday amid growing security concerns
about President-elect Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony. Schumer, in his letter,
also said Democrats will use the Judiciary Committee, once they take over the
majority, to probe extremist groups. “Incoming-Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Durbin and I have already announced that the committee, as one of its
first acts under Democratic control, will closely examine the rise of violent
extremist groups, white supremacists and violent fringe conspiracy theorists
who are intent on undermining and overthrowing the government as we saw at the
Capitol on January 6th,” Schumer wrote, referring to Senate Minority Whip Dick
Durbin (D-Ill.).”

 

Syria

 

Al Monitor: Is Al-Qaeda Affiliate Expanding Attacks Beyond Syrian Town Of
Idlib?
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“The Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion) group affiliated with al-Qaeda
claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a Russian base in Tal al-Saman in
the northern countryside of Raqqa, which is under the control of the
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).  The attack raised questions about
Hurras al-Din’s ability to carry out attacks outside the areas of its
deployment in Idlib, northwestern Syria. Some wondered about the timing of this
attack and the messages the group wants to convey to the various parties that
share control over the Syrian territory, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)
that controls Idlib. A car bomb targeted the Russian base near the village of
Tal al-Saman on Dec. 31. A campaign dubbed “Raqqa Being Slaughtered” published
photos on Facebook from the site of the bombing, noting that clashes with
automatic weapons briefly broke out after the bombing without specifying the
parties involved. The Russian forces had strengthened their military presence
at the Tal al-Saman base during December 2020 following an agreement with the
SDF.”

 

Agence France-Presse: Israeli Raids In Syria Kill 16: Monitor
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“Israeli night raids targeting arms depots and military positions in eastern
Syria killed at least five soldiers and 11 allied fighters, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday. The Israeli air force carried out
more than 18 strikes against multiple targets in an area stretching from the
eastern town of Deir Ezzor to the Boukamal desert at the Syrian-Iraqi border,
according to the Britain-based war monitor. The raids killed five Syrian
soldiers and 11 allied fighters belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards,
Lebanese Hezbollah and the Fatimid Brigade, which includes pro-Iranian Afghan
fighters, the Observatory said, although their nationalities and a precise
breakdown were not immediately known. The Syrian state news agency SANA
reported the strikes but without giving further details. “At 1:10 am, the
Israeli enemy carried out an aerial assault on the town of Deir Ezzor and the
Boukamal region,” SANA said, citing a military source. “The results of the
aggression are currently being verified,” it added. It was the second wave of
Israeli raids in Syria in less than a week. The last strikes on January 7
targeted positions in southern Syria and south of the capital Damascus, killing
three pro-Iran fighters.”

 

Iran

 

Bloomberg: Pompeo Confirms Death Of Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 In Iran In August
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“Secretary of State Michael Pompeo argued that the Iranian government has
provided far more support to al-Qaeda than Americans realize, citing what he
said was new evidence of a burgeoning alliance and publicly confirming for the
first time that the group’s No. 2 was killed in Tehran last year. Pompeo didn’t
say who was responsible for the Aug. 7 assassination of Abdullah Ahmed
Abdullah, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Masri, though the New York Times
reported in November that Israeli agents carried out the job at the behest of
the U.S. He was on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list and had been indicted
over U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The top U.S. diplomat
disclosed Abdullah’s death at the start of a speech that was intended to
ratchet up even more pressure on Iran as the Trump administration winds down,
and to make it harder for the incoming Biden administration to re-enter a
nuclear deal with the country’s leaders. “Al-Qaeda has a new home base: It is
the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Pompeo, who has only days remaining on the job,
said on Tuesday. “We ignore this Iran-al Qaeda nexus at our own peril.”

 

Reuters: Iran Denies Pompeo's Assertion It Has Ties With Al Qaeda
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“Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday rejected as
“warmongering lies” an assertion by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that
Iran has ties to the Islamist militant group al Qaeda. “(With) fictitious Iran
‘declassifications’ and AQ (al Qaeda) claims, (Pompeo) is pathetically ending
his disastrous career with more warmongering lies,” Zarif tweeted. “No one is
fooled. All 9/11 terrorists came from @SecPompeo’s favourite ME destinations;
NONE from Iran,” Zarif said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on
Tuesday that al Qaeda had established a new home base in Iran and the United
States had fewer options in dealing with the group now it was “burrowed inside”
that country. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said: “Iran
has been a victim of U.S. state terrorism and affiliated groups for years and
has had a clear ...record in the fight against al Qaeda and Islamic State,”
state media reported. Iran’s state religion is Shi’ite Islam, and the country
views itself as a sworn enemy of Sunni Islamist militant groups such as Islamic
State and al Qaeda. However, U.S. officials have accused it in the past of
providing shelter to some al Qaeda figures.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Straits Times: Afghan Forces Foil ISIS Plan To Assassinate US Envoy
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“The Afghan authorities said yesterday they had foiled a plan by the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group to assassinate the top US envoy in Kabul,
as a wave of targeted killings continues to rock the country. Intelligence
officers dismantled a four-member ISIS cell in the eastern province of
Nangarhar that had planned to murder Mr Ross Wilson and Afghan officials, the
National Directorate of Security (NDS) said. Mr Wilson, US Charge d'Affaires in
Kabul, has condemned a series of assassinations in the capital and other cities
of prominent Afghans including journalists, activists and politicians in recent
months. “The main assassin and facilitator of the cell, Abdul Wahed, had
planned to assassinate the US ambassador in Afghanistan as well as some
high-ranking Afghan officials,” the NDS said in a statement. “Their plan was
foiled with their arrest.” The NDS did not offer further details and the United
States embassy in Kabul did not respond to requests for comment. In recent
months, deadly violence has rocked Afghanistan, including the new trend of
targeted killings of prominent Afghans which have sown fear and chaos despite
the Taleban and government engaging in peace talks.”

 

Al Jazeera: Why Afghanistan-Taliban Peace Talks Have Not Reached Breakthrough
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“It has been almost a week since negotiators arrived back in Doha to resume a
second round of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, with
a United States team talking separately to both sides. But top Afghan
government officials and Taliban leaders have been conspicuous by their absence
from this round of meetings. On the Taliban side, chief negotiator Mullah Abdul
Hakim and the head of the Taliban office in Qatar, Mullah Baradar, have not yet
returned from their trip to Pakistan. In recent weeks, US diplomats and
military leaders have also visited Pakistan. In a meeting between Pakistan’s
military and acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security
Affairs David Helvey, the two sides discussed an urgent need for a reduction in
violence in Afghanistan. Islamabad insists it is “playing a positive role and
its leadership is committed to helping Afghans find a solution” through talks.
Meanwhile, US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and his entourage have returned to
Doha after brief stopovers in Islamabad and Kabul. An Afghan official told Al
Jazeera “the committee members are in Qatar and others are arriving as the
talks proceed”. “We are ready and prepared for the talks, there is no delay
from [us] and no new proposals have been conveyed to us,” Taliban spokesman
Mohammad Naeem told Al Jazeera.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Afghan Shiite Leader In Pakistan After Killings Of Miners
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“An influential Afghan Shiite leader is visiting Pakistan where members of the
minority sect are still reeling from the brutal killing of 11 Shiite coal
miners, nine of whom were Afghan immigrants, earlier this month. The miners,
who were abducted and killed by militants from the Islamic State group in
southwestern Baluchistan province, were members of the minority Hazara. They
were buried on Saturday, following a week of protests in Pakistan that sought
to highlight the community’s plight. The visiting Afghan leader, Karim Khalili
is also an ethnic Hazara. Members of the mostly Shiite community live in both
Pakistan and Afghanistan and have suffered persecution from the majority Sunni
Muslims in both countries. The Sunni militant Islamic State group, which is
headquartered in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan,
as well as Pakistani Sunni militant groups have repeatedly targeted Shiites.
Khalili’s visit is seen as part of an effort to repair the troubled relations
between the two neighboring countries in parallel with the peace talks underway
in Qatar between the Afghan government negotiators and the Taliban. The warring
sides are trying to find a political roadmap that would bring an end to decades
of war in Afghanistan.”

 

Yemen

 

Arab News: US Move To Designate Houthis Terrorist Organization Will Help Yemen
Peace Efforts: Officials, Analysts
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“America’s decision to designate the Iran-backed Houthis as a foreign
terrorist organization will help pave the way for peace in Yemen, government
officials and analysts claim. The designation, due to come into effect the day
before US President Donald Trump’s administration leaves office, would curb
Houthi human rights abuses and the group’s resistance to peace efforts, while
weakening financial sources that fuel the war in the country, they said. But
critics have argued that the move might exacerbate the humanitarian crisis,
escalate violence, and encourage the Houthis to strengthen ties with Iran.
Yemen’s parliament has urged American legislators to approve the designation to
punish the Houthis for crimes carried out against Yemenis. It believes the move
would force the Houthis into accepting unfulfilled peace agreements and current
peace efforts, the official news agency SABA said. “The Houthi militia has
destroyed the land and people of Yemen and posed a threat to international
peace and security,” the parliament said in a statement.”

 

Nigeria

 

Sahara Reporters: Six Nigerian Soldiers Killed In B'Haram Ambush In Yobe
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“Nigerian troops killed Twenty-six Boko Haram terrorists on Saturday, hours
after the terrorists killed at least six soldiers in an ambush in Yobe State.
But military authorities in Yobe said one soldier was killed and another one
injured. Credible sources said the soldiers were on their way for an induction
ahead of their deployment to the North East's battlefields when the terrorists
laid siege on the highway. One of the sources said six soldiers died at the
ambush spot, and many others were injured. “The terrorists attacked our troops
who were heading towards Buni Yadi and then retreated towards the dreaded
Alagarno village,” he told DailyTrust. It was learnt that the terrorists
ambushed the troops at Gonan Kaji, a village in Gujba Local Government Area
along the Damaturu- Biu Road. The Nigerian Army under “Operation Tura Takai
Bango” confirmed that troops deployed soon after the ambush killed 28
terrorists. In a statement signed by the acting Director, Defence Media
Operations, Brigadier- General Benard Onyeuko, the Army noted that soldiers
from headquarters and those from 27 Task Force Brigade, Buni Gari, and others
from Special Forces Training School, Buni Yadi, repelled the attack.”

 

Africa

 

Africanews: Militants Continue To Stage Deadly Attacks As Insecurity Expands
Into Previously ‘Safe’ Zones In West Africa, Sahel, Top Official Tells Security
Council
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“Insecurity across West Africa and the Sahel has expanded into areas
previously considered safe, with militants continuing to stage deadly attacks,
the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the region told the Security
Council today, as delegates called for consolidating gains in democratic
governance recently expressed by several countries in their successful conduct
of elections. “We need to confront the all-too-well-known root causes of
exclusion, strengthen democratic governance and give a new and decisive push to
fight insecurity,” said Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative and Head of
the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS). Describing a
year of multiple challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the
outbreak plunged most countries into recession and led to the diversion of
resources from productive investments and the fight against insecurity. Nowhere
has resilience been more sorely tested than in the Sahel, he emphasized,
pointing out that massive floods have affected more than 1.7 million people. On
the security front, he welcomed swift efforts to rescue 300 boys taken hostage
on 11 December by militants allegedly affiliated with Boko Haram, in
north-western Nigeria.”

 

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“The Boko Haram insurgency has had devastating consequences on Lake Chad boat
transporters, a socio-economic group that has been the locomotive of local
trade for decades. An effective crisis response must address the needs of this
often overlooked group. Interventions to deal with the Boko Haram threat have
largely ignored the impact on the economic activity of boat drivers who have
been affected since 2015. Not being able to cross over to Nigeria has deprived
Chadian boat operators of their main, if not their only, source of livelihood.
Before the Boko Haram crisis, generations of boat drivers contributed to a
flourishing formal and informal economy based on the movement of people and
goods. Their activity helped make the Lake Chad Basin a sub-regional trade hub.
Compared to road transport, boats offered a faster solution to delivering large
quantities of goods. This meant income for traders and boat drivers, and lower
prices for consumers. Every week, canoes crowded with hundreds of people and
goods (smoked fish, corn, wheat, cow and camel skins, among others), would
leave Bol and Baga Sola in Chad, in the direction of Baga Kawa in Nigeria.”

 

Latin America

 

The Wall Street Journal: Cuba’s Support For Terror
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“After a five-year hiatus, the State Department on Monday returned Cuba to its
list of state sponsors of terrorism. What took so long? State’s practice of
listing countries that “have repeatedly provided support for acts of
international terrorism” has been in place since 1979. President Reagan added
the tropical communist regime in 1982. Cuba remained so designated until
President Obama removed it from the list in 2015 in its campaign to normalize
relations. But Havana doesn’t want to be normal, and it has deepened and
broadened its commitment to terrorism. The collapse of Venezuela’s democracy
over two decades has been run out of Havana by Cuba’s military-intelligence
apparatus. The once-sovereign South American nation is now essentially a Cuban
satellite used as a base for transnational crime and terrorism. A 2019 report
by the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism found that “Cuba and
Venezuela continued to provide permissive environments for terrorists.” The
report noted that “individuals linked” to dissident members of the Colombian
drug-trafficking group FARC, “who remain committed to terrorism notwithstanding
the peace accord,” as well as the smaller rebel National Liberation Army (ELN)
and “Hizballah sympathizers” were in Venezuela.”

 

Technology

 

NBC News: Extremists Move To Secret Online Channels To Plan For Inauguration
Day In D.C.
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“Right-wing extremists are using channels on the encrypted communication app
Telegram to call for violence against government officials on Jan. 20, the day
President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, with some extremists sharing
knowledge of how to make, conceal and use homemade guns and bombs. The messages
are being posted in Telegram chatrooms where white supremacist content has been
freely shared for months, but chatter on the channels has increased since
extremists have been forced off other platforms in the wake of the siege of the
U.S. Capitol last week by pro-Trump rioters. Telegram is a Dubai-based
messaging service that does little moderation of its content and has a sizable
international user base, particularly in eastern Europe and the Middle East. In
the days since the Capitol attack, for example, an Army field manual and
exhortations to “shoot politicians” and “encourage armed struggle” have been
posted in a Telegram channel that uses “fascist” in its name. Chris Sampson,
chief of research at the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and
Radical Ideologies, a defense research institute, said his group is focused on
and concerned about users of the channel and has alerted the FBI about it.”

 

Politico: Right-Wing Extremist Chatter Spreads On New Platforms As Threat Of
Political Violence Ramps Up
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“With the threat of future political violence looming, a surge in online
extremist chatter is increasingly taking place in private groups and encrypted
messaging apps with little, if any, rules about what is posted. Law enforcement
nationwide is on high alert after last week’s riot at the Capitol, with reports
suggesting that several extremist groups have planned armed demonstrations
across the country to protest the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. But the
severity of the threat is increasingly hard to ascertain, in part because of
the crackdown that authorities have already put in place on message boards.
That crackdown has driven would-be insurrectionists further underground and
scattered their activity across innumerable platforms, including one — TikTok —
that’s best known as a hub for teens to share videos. The diffuse, chaotic
nature of the online chatter has fed into a climate of fear. Ahead of Joe
Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, the FBI has reportedly warned law enforcement
agencies across the country to be on high alert for potentially violent
protests in all 50 states over the next few weeks, and has gathered
intelligence about an armed group planning to travel to D.C. to stage an
uprising on the day of the inauguration.”



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