Eye on Extremism
September 27, 2019
The
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Intelligence Finds Syrian Government
Conducted Chlorine Rocket Attack In May
“Syrian government forces carried out a chlorine attack in May, the
first confirmed violation of the international accord banning chemical
weapons since President Trump authorized a U.S. military strike on
Syria in 2018 over its alleged use of poison gas, a new U.S.
intelligence assessment says. The episode took place on May 19 near
the village of Kabana as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces sought to
subdue resistance in Latakia province, a senior U.S. official said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the assessment Thursday in an
effort to dissuade the Assad government from repeating its use of
chemical agents on the battlefield. “The United States will not allow
these attacks to go unchallenged,” Mr. Pompeo said. “Nor will we
tolerate those who chose to conceal these atrocities.” At least four
people were wounded in the rocket strike, which was alleged at the
time by the Syrian opposition but took months for U.S. intelligence to
confirm. The Syrian government has denied the attack.”
The
Washington Post: As Tensions Boil In The Persian Gulf, Iraq Seeks To
Rein In Iran-Aligned Militias
“Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have raised
the prospect that Iraq could again became the terrain on which these
two powers pursue their shadow war and a staging ground for attacks on
American and allied forces in the region. But recent developments
suggest that the government in Baghdad is trying to clip the wings of
the powerful Iran-aligned militias operating in Iraq, just as Tehran
is looking for its proxies and allies in the Middle East to intensify
the pressure on U.S. interests. Iraqi officials are worried that their
country could get sucked into the conflict, with concerns spiking
after a May 14 drone strike on a pipeline in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The officials were embarrassed to learn that the attack had not come
from Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, who had claimed responsibility for
the strike, but from Iraqi territory, said lawmakers and Western
officials who described the fallout.”
Voice
Of America: US-Backed Forces In Syria Defy Trump On
Islamic State Fighters
“U.S. efforts to have European countries immediately take back men
and women who left to fight with the Islamic State terror group in
Syria are meeting with unexpected resistance from U.S.-backed forces
on the ground. Officials with the political wing of the U.S.-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces, say they will only agree to release the
thousands of foreign fighters after they have been tried for their
crimes in Syria. “We want to sentence them in our area, so they don't
run from punishment,” Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Syrian Democratic
Council, said Wednesday in Washington during a meeting with a small
group of academics and journalists. “This is what we insist on.” The
SDC estimates it is currently holding 2,200 IS foreign fighters, as
well as another 6,000 who are mostly from Syria. Almost all of them
are being held in converted school buildings and other makeshift
prisons set up following the fall of the last IS Syrian stronghold of
Baghuz last March. But U.S. officials have warned of repeated breakout
attempts, adding the situation is “not sustainable.” Ahmed, speaking
through an interpreter, admitted the prisons “are not equipped” to
hold the captured IS fighters for the long term.”
The
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sending Patriot Battery, 200 Troops To Saudi
Arabia
“The U.S. military will send an antimissile battery, radar systems
and just over 200 additional U.S. service members to Saudi Arabia in
response to the suspected Iranian attack this month against Saudi oil
facilities, the Pentagon said. The deployment will include a Patriot
antimissile battery and four Sentinel radars, along with the 200
service members as support staff, Jonathan Hoffman, chief Pentagon
spokesman, said on Thursday. “This deployment will augment the
Kingdom’s air and missile defense of critical military and civilian
infrastructure,” said Mr. Hoffman, adding it would add to “an already
significant presence of U.S. forces in the region.” The U.S. in July
said it was deploying hundreds of troops and equipment to Saudi Arabia
in response to earlier threats from Iran. Last week, Defense Secretary
Mark Esper said President Trump had ordered additional forces and
hardware in response to the Sept. 14 cruise missile and drone attack
against two Saudi petroleum facilities.”
The
Washington Examiner: Despite $380M In US Aid For Religious Minorities
Persecuted By ISIS, 1 Million From Nineveh Plains Remain
Displaced
“Two years after Vice President Mike Pence promised help to Iraq’s
displaced religious minorities, a U.S. official said American aid has
yielded mixed results, with many displaced individuals still unable to
return to their hometowns. The United States has given $380 million to
rebuild northern Iraqi communities belonging to Christians, Yazidis,
and other religious minorities, according to Hallam Ferguson, Senior
Deputy Administrator in the Middle East Bureau for the U.S. Agency for
International Development. But almost a million people from the
Nineveh Plains, the historic homeland of the predominantly Christian
Assyrian people, remain displaced in the wake of a genocide
perpetrated by ISIS. “The objective of the United States government is
for people to return there and in that way, reverse the effects of
genocide by ISIS,” Ferguson told members of the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom at a hearing Thursday. Despite the
hundreds of millions of dollars devoted to northern Iraq, Ferguson
said, there has been "only modest success in our efforts."
Euronews:
Exclusive: 'France Doesn't Want Us' — Europeans Who Joined ISIS Face
Iraqi Justice
“Months after the final collapse of the so-called Islamic State in
the deserts of eastern Syria, tens-of-thousands of its fighters and
those that lived within its so-called caliphate face an uncertain
future. Many are in the north-eastern Syrian region of Rojava, where
Kurdish authorities hold 10,000 ISIS fighters, including 2,000
foreigners, and wish to see them tried in local courts. “We’re asking
for an international tribunal. Why should these courts be here?
Because ISIS fighters' atrocities were committed here, and because the
evidence, the proof, the witnesses, are all here,” Abdulkarim Omar,
co-chair of foreign relations in the Kurdish administration, told
Euronews’ Anelise Borges in northeastern Syria. But certain countries,
including France and Belgium, have reportedly negotiated with third
nations the process of bringing their citizens to justice. At least 11
French nationals have been tried in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, says
Nabil Boudi, a lawyer who represents European nationals held in Syria
and Iraq for suspected links to ISIS. Boudi has warned that there
could be consequences for France. “If France’s involvement in the
transfer (of French prisoners from Syria to Iraq) is documented,
proved, France will be condemned in international and European
courts,” he said.”
United States
The
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sanctions Russian Firm For Alleged Fuel
Sales To Syria
“The Trump administration imposed sanctions Thursday against a
Moscow-based firm and five vessels the Treasury Department said
shipped fuel to Syria used to support the Assad regime’s bombing
campaigns against civilians. The action announced by the U.S. Treasury
Department is designed not only to disrupt fuel deliveries to Syria,
but to highlight Russia’s military support for a government accused by
the U.S. and others of committing war crimes. The move came as the
U.S. accused the Syrian government of carrying out another chlorine
attack, in May, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment. That
adds to several years of incidents under investigation by the
international watchdog agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons. President Bashar al Assad’s “despotic regime is
under an international spotlight for using chemical weapons and
committing atrocities against innocent Syrian civilians, and they rely
on these types of illicit networks to stay in power,” said Sigal
Mandelker, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial
intelligence.”
Syria
The
New York Times: U.S. Concludes Syria Used Chemical Weapons In May
Attack
“The United States has concluded that Syria used chlorine gas in an
attack against rebels last May, saying Thursday that it was the latest
use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad’s government in
the eight-year civil war but stopping short of threatening a military
response. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Mr. Assad’s government
that “we’re going to do everything we can reasonably do to prevent
this kind of thing from happening again.” But he said that chlorine
attacks amounted to a “different situation” than the suspected use of
sarin, a nerve agent, that killed 80 people and provoked missile
strikes against a Syrian air base by the Trump administration in April
2017. One year later, in April 2018, at least 40 people died in a
chemical attack that may have involved sarin or chlorine — or possibly
elements of both. That galvanized the United States, Britain and
France to launch airstrikes against Syrian chemical weapons storage
facilities and military depots.”
Al
Monitor: SDF, Coalition Crack Down On Islamic State Remnants In
Syria
“Backed by the US-led international coalition, the Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF) are conducting near-daily air raids against
Islamic State (IS) cells, which in turn carry out assassinations and
bombings against the SDF and civilians who collaborate with it in the
northern and eastern provinces of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah. IS
sleeper cells have hung leaflets on the gates of mosques, vowing to
punish those who cooperate with the SDF. The war on IS is supposed to
be over, but the battles are far from finished; September has provided
numerous examples of this. On Sept. 24, the Institute for the Study of
War warned that IS “is preparing to free its loyal fighters and
followers from prisons and displacement camps across Syria and Iraq.”
ISW referred to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call Sept. 16 for his
supporters to practice jihad, stressing the need to liberate his
fighters and their families held by the SDF. Baghdadi ordered his
fighters to target security people, investigators and judges at
prisons where other IS fighters are held. Meanwhile, the SDF said in a
Sept. 21 statement that it had arrested three people suspected of
being part of an IS cell responsible for the assassination of
Legislative Council co-Chairman Marwan al-Fateh last year.”
Al
Jazeera: US Accuses Syria's Assad Of Chemical Attack In
Idlib
“The United States has concluded that Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's forces used chemical weapons in an attack in May, Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo has said, vowing a response. The Assad regime
used chlorine on May 19 as part of its deadly offensive in the last
rebel stronghold of Idlib, Pompeo said on Thursday at a news
conference in New York, where he has been attending the United Nations
General Assembly. “The Assad regime is responsible for innumerable
atrocities some of which rise to the level of war crimes and crimes
against humanity,” Pompeo told reporters. “The US will not allow these
attacks to go unchallenged nor will we tolerate those who choose to
conceal these atrocities.” Pompeo added that the US would continue to
pressure the Assad regime to end the violence and participate in the
United Nations-led political process. The US said in May it had
received numerous reports that appeared consistent with chemical
exposure after an attack by Syrian government forces in northwest
Syria, but it had made no definitive conclusion as to whether they
used chemical weapons. International investigators say that the
Russian-backed forces of Assad have repeatedly used chemical weapons
against civilian targets in its brutal quest to end the civil
war.”
Al
Jazeera: Women Of ISIL: Life Inside The Caliphate
“Teachers, nurses, mothers, torturers - under the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group's rule, women
played crucial roles in the organisation, some as willing
participants, others as coerced victims. ISIL, it was like a disease,
an epidemic like the flu that infects everyone. Unfortunately, it
infected my home. It infiltrated through my husband. Through a series
of rare testimonies, women from Syria and Iraq share what everyday
life was like under the armed group. Their accounts reveal an
organisation that is both brutal and uncompromising. Women hired as
religious police patrolled the streets, looking for people who broke
dress codes or committed other moral offences. Teachers taught
schoolchildren Islamic lessons beyond their age. Nurses were forced to
work at ISIL-controlled hospitals. Schools were closed and repurposed
as training centres. Make-up was forbidden. Movement was restricted.
And torture was a regular punishment, used for offences as minor as
wearing nail polish. In Women of ISIL, we speak to the women fully
integrated into the organisation, playing active roles in punishment
and torture, as well as those who resisted through everyday acts of
defiance, including running a salon, or teaching schoolchildren in
private.”
Yahoo
News: In Syria, A Vast Underground Hideout Housed Rebel
Base
“Tunnels run for hundreds of metres, connecting caves strewn with
mattresses that formed what the Syrian army and its Russian allies say
was a vast rebel underground network. The road leading to the entrance
of the tunnels in Lataminah in northwestern Syria is lined with the
charred shells of cars and armoured vehicles. According to the Russian
army, which organised a press tour of the site for dozens of
journalists, the network of caves dug into a rocky outcrop could
shelter up to 5,000 people. "We think this network was dug about four
years ago with sophisticated machinery, of a kind which is not
available in Syria," a Syrian army colonel said as he led reporters
into the tunnels, escorted by Russian demining experts.”
Iran
Fox
News: Israeli Ambassador Danon: Don’t Be Fooled By Iran – Evil Regime
Embraces Terrorism, Bloodshed And Blackmail
“The annual opening session of the United Nations General Assembly
is replete with high-level notable moments. In 1960, Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe on the table to interrupt British
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s speech. In 1974, Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat infamously delivered his remarks with a gun holstered to
his side, in violation of U.N. protocol and international decorum. In
2009, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi ripped up the U.N. Charter. And
Wednesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke about creating a
“Coalition of Hope” to guarantee stability and security in the Strait
of Hormuz. Rouhani’s suggestion that Iran will spearhead a
multilateral organization comprised of the Gulf countries is a brazen
attempt to persuade the international community that the Iranian
regime is a sheep – not a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It indicates how
foolish he believes the world is in viewing Tehran as the victim in
the escalating conflict with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.”
BBC:
Iran Nuclear Deal: EU Nations Warn Tehran Over
Breaches
“Britain, France and Germany have warned Iran against any further
breaches of the international nuclear deal signed in 2015, the BBC has
learnt. In New York on Thursday, the three EU signatories to the deal
said they would trigger a special dispute mechanism if there were
further violations. Iran began breaching its commitments under the
deal after the US abandoned it and imposed sanctions last year. The UN
nuclear watchdog has said Iran is using banned enrichment technology.
The warning was issued at a meeting with Iranian ministers on the
fringes of the UN General Assembly, reports the BBC's James Landale at
the UN. If the dispute mechanism is triggered, the entire nuclear
agreement could collapse and the UN could reinstate sanctions on Iran,
which would be applied by all member states, our correspondent says.
This would have a devastating impact on the Iranian economy, he
adds.”
BBC:
Iranian Spying Charge 'Preposterous', Prisoner's Wife
Says
“The wife of a British-Iranian dual national who has been jailed
for 10 years in Iran says allegations he was a spy for Israel are
"bogus". Anoosheh Ashoori, a 65-year-old retired civil engineer from
London, was convicted in July of spying for Israel's Mossad
intelligence agency. His wife, Sherry Izadi, said the claims were
"preposterous" and asked the UK government to help free him. The
British Foreign Office has urged Iran to reunite him with his family.
Speaking for the first time since his arrest, Ms Izadi told the BBC
her husband had been visiting his 86-year-old mother in Iran in August
2017 when he was "bundled into a car" by Iranian authorities. She said
the father of two had been held in solitary confinement on and off for
four months. Ms Izadi, 56, said her husband was forced to represent
himself at his trial and that his appeal has been rejected.”
Iraq
The
Daily Mail: Amal Clooney Addresses Diplomats At The United Nations
Over Plans To Put 20,000 ISIS Fighters On Trial In
Iraq
“Amal Clooney appeared at the United Nations in New York for the
second time this week on Thursday. The human rights lawyer addressed a
meeting of high-level officials from 20 countries who convened to
discuss placing ISIS fighters on trial in Iraq. Clooney sat next to
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok, who has taken the initiative of
setting up possible tribunals for some 20,000 ISIS members. Blok is
working alongside his Iraqi counterpart, Ali Alhakim, who helped
organize a meeting that included diplomats from 20 countries,
according to the Dutch news site NRC. There are an estimated 20,000
ISIS fighters in Iraq - 1,000 of them being foreigners from European
and other Western countries. Clooney, the wife of actor George
Clooney, was also scheduled to address the officials on Thursday. For
years, Amal Clooney has represented ethnic Yazidi women who were taken
captive and forced into sexual slavery by ISIS. Yazidis are a minority
community in Iraq who were recognized by the UN as victims of genocide
by ISIS. Clooney represents Yazidi women and girls who were held in
the house of Umm Sayyaf, the wife of Islamic State financier Abu
Sayyaf. Kayla Mueller, an American humanitarian aid worker, was also
held there for a time.”
Xinhua:
Iraqi Forces Seize Large IS Caches Of Ammunition In Western
Iraq
“Iraqi security forces on Thursday seized large caches of
ammunition belonging to the militant group Islamic State (IS) in the
western Anbar province, the Iraqi military said. A joint force from
Anbar's Operations Command and the intelligence service conducted a
search operation in the area of Wadi al-Qadhif in south of the town of
al-Rutba, some 400 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, said a
statement by the Joint Operations Command. The troops found caches of
ammunition containing 360 improvised explosive device (IEDs), 42
anti-tank mines, 200 rocket propelled grenades (RPG-7), 95
heat-seeking missiles and 18 jerrycans filled with ammonia nitrate.
Another force from Anbar's Operations Command carried out a search
operation in the area of al-Saggar, east of the town of al-Qaim near
the border with Syria, the statement said. The troops discovered seven
IS hideouts and a cave containing four IEDs, anti-tank land mines and
various explosive devices and supplies, the statement said, adding
that the troops seized the ammunition and destroyed all the hideouts
and the cave. The security situation in Iraq has dramatically improved
after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants
across the country in late 2017.”
Afghanistan
Reuters:
Afghanistan Bolsters Security As Taliban Threatens Presidential
Poll
“Afghanistan deployed more than 100,000 troops and police on
Thursday to guard polling stations in a presidential election which
the Taliban has threatened to disrupt with suicide bombings and rocket
attacks. Every election in the last decade has been marred by violence
in Afghanistan, where Taliban Islamic militants are fighting
U.S.-backed government forces and demand the withdrawal of foreign
troops from the country. Violence in Saturday’s election, in which
President Ashraf Ghani is widely expected to win a second five-year
term, could deepen political instability, embolden the Taliban and set
back efforts to get stalled peace talks back on track. Of the 18
candidates, only Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who as chief executive
of a unity government is effectively prime minister, have a realistic
chance of victory. Russia says it will help revive Afghan peace talks
between Taliban, U.S. The winner will be key to efforts to forge peace
with the Taliban and efforts to reset talks between the insurgents and
the United States, which were called off earlier this month. Security
will be tight as the more than 29,500 polling stations set up in
schools, mosques, hospital compounds and district centers.”
Reuters:
Russia Says It Will Help Revive Afghan Peace Talks Between Taliban,
U.S.
“Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday it would
help revive Afghan peace talks between the United States and the
Taliban that collapsed earlier this month, the RIA news agency
reported. U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled secret talks
with the Taliban at his Camp David retreat that were planned for Sept.
8 and has since said the talks are “dead.”
Middle East
The
Wall Street Journal: Saudi Arabia Agrees To Partial Cease-Fire In
War-Shattered Yemen
“Saudi Arabia has moved to impose a partial cease-fire in Yemen,
say people familiar with the plans, as Riyadh and the Houthi militants
the kingdom is fighting try to bring an end to the four-year war that
has become a front line in the broader regional clash with Iran. Saudi
Arabia’s decision follows a surprise move by Houthi forces to declare
a unilateral cease-fire in Yemen last week, just days after claiming
responsibility for the Sept. 14 drone and cruise missile strike on
Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. While the Houthis fired two missiles at
Saudi Arabia earlier this week, the strike wasn’t seen by Saudi
leaders as a serious attack that would undermine the new cease-fire
efforts. Houthi leaders initially said they were responsible for the
attack on the oil facilities, but Saudi, U.S. and European officials
have dismissed the claims as a transparent attempt to obscure Iran’s
role in the strike. Yemeni fighters, these officials say, have neither
the weapons nor the skills to carry out such a sophisticated
strike.”
Egypt
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Egypt Calls For Holding Erdogan Accountable Over Terrorism,
Targeting Of Kurds
“In a sharp statement, Cairo made several accusations against
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging the international
community to “hold him accountable” for what the Egyptian Foreign
Ministry called “all of his crimes”. The statement, released on
Wednesday by Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ahmed Hafez, said
that Erdogan was supporting terrorism, arming extremists and
deliberately targeting the Kurds. It also listed human rights
violations in Turkey under Erdogan’s leadership, including thousands
held as political prisoners, the suspicious deaths of dozens of
detainees due to torture or inhuman prison conditions, and the closure
of thousands of universities and educational institutions. Hafez said
that Erdogan “claimed to defend the values of justice in his speech,
but at the core showed feelings of hatred and spite toward Egypt and
its people who have nothing but appreciation for the people of
Turkey.” His remarks came in response to Erdogan’s speech during the
UN General Assembly meetings, in which he raised doubts on Mohammed
Morsi’s death in court last June.”
Egypt
Today: Court Revokes Death Sentence Of 8 Defendants In Terrorism
Case
“The Court of Cassation on Thursday has cancelled the death
sentence issued against eight defendants in the case known in media as
“terrorist Imbaba cell,” but upheld life imprisonment sentence against
four others in the case. Giza Criminal Court in March, last year,
upheld death sentences for 10 defendants in the case, after the
court’s January verdict was approved by the Grand Mufti. The court
also handed down life sentences to another four defendants, another
one in absentia for a fleeing defendant, and the suspension of the
court sentence for another defendant because of his death. The
defendants were charged with forming an outlawed group; attacking
state institutions; targeting Christians, police and armed forces
officers; and endangering public stability and order, along with the
illegal possession of firearms. According to the prosecution’s
investigations, two of the defendants were public servants, another
two were working as drivers, and one was an employee at the state
broadcaster Maspero, along with a sports coach, an electrician and a
technician.”
Nigeria
AllAfrica:
Nigeria: UN Kicks As Boko Haram Kills Another Aid
Worker
“The United Nations has condemned the killing of one of the six
workers held in captivity by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. The
insurgents had Wednesday uploaded a video online showing how the
humanitarian worker was beheaded, two months after six workers of
Action Against Hunger (AAH), an international humanitarian
organisation, were abducted. Ahmad Salkida, a journalist well known
for his link with the group, had equally through his verified Twitter
handle, said the aid worker, a male was executed at a close range.
Salkida said that he saw the video of the execution. Salkida added
that the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), said it took
the action because “the government deceived them,” following months of
secret negotiations between a team of intermediaries and unnamed
officials. “#ISWAP has executed one of the six aid workers, working
with the Action Against Hunger that was abducted two months ago in
Borno,” Salkida tweeted. “One of the male aid workers was executed at
close range in a short video clip seen by this reporter. “The group
said it took the action because 'the government deceived them,'
following months of what is now known as secret negotiations between a
team of intermediaries and unnamed officials.”
Xinhua:
Airstrikes Hit Boko Haram Militants, Destroy Camp In NE
Nigeria
“Airstrikes by the Nigerian military have destroyed a logistics
base of terror group Boko Haram during a raid in the northeast region,
defense authorities said on Thursday. The logistics base also served
as a training camp for the terrorists at a community called Kusuma on
the fringes of Lake Chad. The airstrikes on Wednesday were executed
after credible intelligence reports had established that a section of
the settlement was serving as a training camp for the terrorists,
Ibikunle Daramola, the spokesman for the air force, said in a
statement made available to Xinhua. “Some buildings within the camp
were being used to store their fuel, arms, and ammunition as well as
other logistics supplies,” Daramola said. During pre-attack
surveillance, the air force spokesman said, scores of Boko Haram
fighters were seen attempting to flee the location upon hearing the
sound of the attack aircraft. “They were engaged by the attack
aircraft in successive passes, neutralizing many of them,” he said.
According to him, the terrorists' logistics supply store, which was
also hit, was seen engulfed in flames due to the raid.”
Quartz
Africa: Nigeria’s Military Is In A Battle With Humanitarian NGOs In
The Country’s Troubled Northeast
“Nigeria’s military has resumed hostilities in the country’s
northeast with one of its frequent targets. Not military action
against Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa but instead verbal
warfare with humanitarian and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Over the past two weeks, the army has shut down regional offices of
two prominent NGOs operating in the country’s northeast amid a brutal
insurgency led by Boko Haram. First, it sealed offices of Action
Against Hunger, the global non-profit focused on providing food aid.
It accused the international body of supporting terrorists. That was
followed by the closure of four offices of Mercy Corps, another
prominent non-profit in the troubled northeast region. (In response,
Mercy Corps has suspended its operations in parts of the region.)”
Somalia
Daily
Sabah: Bomb Attack Targeting Turkish Officials In Mogadishu Injures 3
Teachers
“A bomb attack that hit a vehicle carrying engineers of Turkey's
Maarif Foundation in the Somalian capital Mogadishu injured three
people on Thursday. Speaking to Daily Sabah, Maarif Foundation
Chairman Birol Akgün said that the attack was part of ongoing attacks
that targeted Turkish foundations and companies in the region for a
while. Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility
for the attack through their propaganda radio. The three injured
people were Turkish citizens teaching in Maarif schools in the
country, who were taken to Mogadishu Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Hospital for
their treatment.It is known that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) are some countries that have influence in the
region. Somalia was the first country where the Maarif Foundation
successfully made its foray, in a bid to replace schools once operated
by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The Maarif Foundation, which was
founded in June 2016 in cooperation with the Ministry of National
Education with the purpose of providing educational services abroad,
now runs schools that used to belong to FETÖ.”
Africa
The
Punch Nigeria: Global Response To Terrorism In West
Africa
“With a motley assortment of terrorist groups rapidly mushrooming
across the entire landscape of West Africa, leaders of the sub-region
seem to have however agreed on the wisdom of forging a united front to
effectively combat the frightening crisis of insecurity in their
domains. This new thinking follows a meeting held recently in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where the current security situation was
extensively reappraised, a pledge of $1 billion made to combat
insecurity from 2020 to 2024, and greater global support was
canvassed. Although multinational forces are already in place, trying
to fight off a dangerous mix of homegrown terror groups and their
counterparts of foreign origin that have gained a foothold in the
region, the forces still seem to operate in a desultory manner. The
insurgents have continued to strike their targets tellingly and with
unhindered frequency, adopting the guerrilla and asymmetric tactics.
While Nigeria, confronted with a decade-old challenge of Boko Haram
Islamist group and its mutants, is allied with Cameroon, Niger and
Chad, another group referred to as the G5 Sahel Joint Force, backed by
France, also operates in the region, drawing its membership from Mali,
Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Chad and Niger.”
United Kingdom
BBC
News: Terror Accused 'Denies Manchester Arena Attack Was
Real'
“An Islamic State supporter accused of plotting a drone strike on
the British Army does not believe the Manchester Arena terror attack
was real, a court has heard. Hisham Muhammad, 25, allegedly hoarded an
arsenal of weapons for a “lone wolf” attack, the Old Bailey was told.
The weapons, including a tomahawk, a machete and bear claws, were
discovered at his rented terrace in Bury. Mr Muhammad denies engaging
in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism. The 25-year-old, of
Victoria Avenue, Whitefield, told the court he had become interested
in “researching” so-called Islamic State after the Manchester Arena
attack. “I wanted to find out the truth of what actually happened. I
didn't believe it had happened and people were saying, yes it did,”
said the father-of-two. He said he watched “two different videos of
what was happening and each person was saying something different”. “I
thought it was the Government trying to take away people's rights,” he
said. When asked who he believed they were trying to target, he told
the court: “Mainly Muslims.” Mr Muhammad also claimed so-called
Islamic State was “created by the American Government to take away the
rights of Muslims”, and that technology could be used to make
“anything look real.”
The
Independent: Shamima Begum: ISIS Bride Says She Is 'In A Really Bad
Way' And Wants To Return Home To UK
“Isis bride Shamima Begum has said she struggling with mental
health issues after the death of her three children and wants to be
able to stand trial in the UK. The 19-year-old has been stripped her
of her British citizenship and is currently living in a Syrian
internment camp. The teenager who was just 15 when she left the UK
with two friends to join the caliphate in the wartorn Middle Eastern
country after being groomed online said she was struggling to cope
with the loss of her three children, she had with her husband, the
Dutch Isis fighter Yago Riedijk. “My mental health situation is not
the best,” she told The Daily Mail. “My physical health is OK. I am
still young and I do not get sick. That is not my problem. “Mentally,
though, I am in a really bad way. I need therapy to deal with my
grief. It is so hard. I have lost all my children.” Ms Begum added
that none of her fellow prisoners “know what I have experienced.” She
said: “They are not like my school friends who I could always talk to.
They do not understand what I have been through. There is no mental
health provision. I have heard that in other camps there is
psychiatric help, but not here.”
Europe
The
Defense Post: Spain Charges 7 Catalan Separatists With ‘Terrorist
Organization’ Membership
“Seven Catalan separatists arrested on suspicion of planning
violent attacks have been charged with belonging to a “terrorist
organization” and remanded in custody, Spanish judicial authorities
said on Thursday, September 26. The seven were among nine people
detained on Monday on accusations they were planning attacks with
possible explosives. The other two were released. A judge in Madrid
ruled that there was evidence suggesting the seven were members of an
organization intending to achieve Catalan independence “by any means
including violence,” a court statement said. No details of the accused
were given. The suspects were being held on charges of “rebellion,
terrorism and possession of explosives” for an attack planned for the
coming weeks which could have caused “irreparable damage,” the
prosecution said on Monday. The seven suspects have also been charged
with making and possessing explosives. Police searched the region and
particularly the city of Sabadell, 25 km (15 miles) north of
Barcelona, and found “equipment and substances considered to be used
for the manufacture of explosives,” Spain’s Guardia Civil said.”
Technology
The
New York Times: At Tech’s Leading Edge, Worry About A Concentration Of
Power
“Each big step of progress in computing — from mainframe to
personal computer to internet to smartphone — has opened opportunities
for more people to invent on the digital frontier. But there is
growing concern that trend is being reversed at tech’s new leading
edge, artificial intelligence. Computer scientists say A.I. research
is becoming increasingly expensive, requiring complex calculations
done by giant data centers, leaving fewer people with easy access to
the computing firepower necessary to develop the technology behind
futuristic products like self-driving cars or digital assistants that
can see, talk and reason. The danger, they say, is that pioneering
artificial intelligence research will be a field of haves and
have-nots. And the haves will be mainly a few big tech companies like
Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook, which each spend billions a
year building out their data centers.”
CNBC:
Facebook Is The Tech Giant Most Likely To Be Punished In Silicon
Valley Antitrust Crackdown
“Mark Zuckerberg had a face-to-face meeting with President Donald
Trump in the White House last week, and if the current view from
technology executives is any indication, it was a wise move: The
Facebook CEO can use all the friends he can get in the nation’s
capital as antitrust scrutiny increases. More than half of technology
executives (55%) recently surveyed by CNBC believe Facebook is the
most likely to face punitive action as a result of the federal
government’s antitrust review of Silicon Valley and technology
corporate giants, which also includes Alphabet and Amazon. Technology
executive sentiment on Alphabet’s antitrust outlook was less
pessimistic, according to results of the third-quarter 2019 survey of
the CNBC Technology Executive Council. Roughly 17% of tech executives
said the Google parent was the most likely to face punitive action —
tied with the percentage of respondents who said none of the three
tech giants would suffer punishment. Only 7% of survey respondents
said Amazon, the technology company Trump has spent the most time
criticizing, was the most likely to be hit hard.”
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