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Eye on Extremism
February 9, 2021
Voice Of America: US-Backed Forces Stepping Up Campaign Against IS In Eastern Syria
“U.S.-backed forces have intensified their campaign against the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) terror group in eastern Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a military alliance that has been a major U.S. partner in the fight against IS, said it has captured dozens of IS members in the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour. “Our forces have already arrested over 30 terrorists,” said Siyamend Ali, a press officer with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main element within SDF. “This ongoing campaign is targeting (IS) hideouts and underground tunnels that have been instrumental in their recent insurgency,” he told VOA in a phone interview. The SDF said in a statement last week that its latest campaign was in retaliation for the recent killing of two female officials by IS, adding that the “large-scale operation” targets the terror group “across the entire Deir el-Zour desert and along the Syrian-Iraqi border.” Seda al-Faisal al-Hermas and Hind Latif al-Khidr, two local leaders in eastern Syria, were reportedly kidnapped and killed by IS militants in late January … In January, IS militants carried out at least 46 attacks in central Syria, killing at least 55 pro-Syrian government fighters and 26 civilians, according to the Counter Extremism Project.”
Al Monitor: Nigeria Deepens Security Ties With Egypt To Battle Boko Haram
“Egypt is concentrating on strengthening its economic and security influence in Nigeria and consolidating relations with the ruling regime there. On Jan. 27, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a letter from his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, which included a formal request from Nigeria to cooperate with Egypt in security fields, especially combating terrorism by organizing training courses and exchanging technical expertise. Buhari’s letter, delivered to Sisi by Nigerian Ambassador Joseph Kishi, dealt with ways to enhance Nigerian-Egyptian cooperation in the fields of the economy and trade, and how to benefit from Egypt's role in supporting Nigeria in infrastructure projects, particularly roads and power generation. The Egyptian interest in Nigeria has recently increased, stressed Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria Ihab Awad, during his meeting with Buhari Jan. 28. He said, “Ties with Nigeria have grown stronger in recent years, in light of Egypt's keenness to do so.” Samir Ghattas, head of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor that the Egyptian-Nigerian relations include several areas, most notably the security field. “Egypt supports Nigeria against the extremist organization Boko Haram.”
United States
The Hill: Overnight Defense: Pentagon Says Extremist Groups 'Very Aggressively Recruit' Troops
“As the Pentagon looks to root out extremists from its ranks, one of the issues it faces is extremist groups actively recruiting service members. On Monday, the Defense Department’s top spokesman said such groups “very aggressively recruit” service members who are about to leave the ranks. “Some of these groups are very organized, they very aggressively recruit soon-to-be veterans,” press secretary John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. Why the interest? Veterans are a major recruitment pool for far-right militia movements due to their experience with weapons, organization and leadership skills. Pentagon leaders have long struggled with rooting out such thinking in the military and preventing service members from entering extremist groups, though the issue came to the forefront after the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol by supporters loyal to former President Trump. Possible solutions: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and military leaders are discussing potential new training for troops before they enter the military, while they are actively in the service and before they leave. “We certainly need to take a look at how we’re educating potential recruits when they’re still civilians and before they sign on the dotted line, clearly.”
NPR: State Department Condemns Group It Removed From Terrorist List
“Two days after removing a terrorist designation for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the Biden administration criticized the militant group for its continued attacks in Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. A statement from the U.S. State Department on Sunday called on the Houthis to “immediately cease attacks impacting civilian areas inside Saudi Arabia and to halt any new military offensives inside Yemen.” State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. remains “deeply troubled” by the group's actions and that President Biden has endorsed a negotiated settlement to the war in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Reuters reports that the Saudi-led military coalition intercepted and destroyed four armed drones heading to southern Saudi Arabia early Sunday. A spokesman for the coalition said those drones were launched by Houthis. The Houthis captured Yemen's capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country's northwestern territory, a region bordering Saudi Arabia, in late 2014 and early 2015. The group toppled the Saudi-backed government in power. The United Nations, which has called Yemen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, estimates that more than 200,000 people have died from fighting and war-related problems such as hunger.”
The National Interest: Why The Flames Of White Supremacy Are Still Raging
"Riot, attempted coup, terrorist insurrection—whatever it was the scenes of the Capitol building engulfed by a mob of people (each with varying degrees of attachment to reality) was certainly traumatic, both for those inside the building and those watching this act of desecration unfold. But the trauma and visceral shock of events like these also tend to unleash what Atlantic journalist Graeme Wood dubbed the “moronic inferno” of online commentary. Before that, British literary titan Martin Amis pondered if the term “moronic inferno” might describe a future in which America’s dream-like state transformed from metaphor into reality—the only reality. Well, American unreality just erupted into the street with the Capitol siege, as Viking helmets and beer bellies descended upon a sacred symbol of American democracy to halt the stolen election of their paranoid imaginations. The civilizational retreat into our living rooms to escape plague and pestilence has degraded the faltering boundaries between digital, imaginary, and the real world like never before, challenging all of us to maintain perspective and a grip on baseline reality. No surprise then, that some commentary in response to the disgraceful spectacle of unreality at the Capitol has created an alternate reality of its own making. But like the eruption of the paranoid and fantastical into the streets that occurred on Jan. 6, a moral panic, which was largely confined to the digital realm until now, risks real-world policy consequences in response to the complex challenge of the far-right."
Syria
Agence France-Presse: IS Ambush Kills 26 Pro-Regime Fighters In Syria
“The Islamic State group Monday killed 26 pro-regime fighters in eastern Syria, as alarm grew following a spate of murders including beheadings in a camp housing families of the jihadists. Almost 10 years into Syria's civil war, the jihadists have lost the last scrap of their so-called “caliphate” but continue to use Syria's vast desert as a springboard for attacks. After the battles against them, thousands of alleged jihadists and family members live in jails or overcrowded camps in the country's Kurdish-run northeast. Early Monday, an IS ambush in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor killed 26 pro-regime fighters, including seven Syrian troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Eleven jihadists were also killed, it said. It was the latest in a long string of attacks on pro-regime forces. Last week IS killed 19 in central Syria, and in December nearly 40 Syrian troops died when IS ambushed a bus carrying soldiers travelling home for the holidays. The desert in Deir Ezzor province provides a “safe haven” for jihadists planning attacks on regime forces and other rivals, the UN has said. Meanwhile, a Kurdish official said 14 killings, including three beheadings, had rocked the largest displacement camp housing alleged IS relatives since the start of the year.”
Afghanistan
France 24: Afghanistan's Vice President Saleh: Taliban 'Have Not Honoured' Deal With US
“In an interview with FRANCE 24, Amrullah Saleh, the first vice president of Afghanistan, said that the Taliban had breached their commitments under the landmark deal agreed with the US last year. He also welcomed the decision of the Biden administration to review US policy on Afghanistan with “wide eyes and open ears”. Vice President Saleh pointed out that a recent Congressionally-mandated report had advocated delaying the full withdrawal of US troops after the May 1 deadline set under last year's US-Taliban deal. He stressed that any further troop withdrawal should be based on conditions on the ground. Saleh said that the Taliban had breached their commitments under the deal, pointing to a spate of recent attacks and especially to intelligence showing they had not severed their ties to al Qaeda. He said the Taliban have not stopped fighting at all, adding that Taliban prisoners freed by the Afghan government as part of the US-brokered deal had in fact resumed fighting instead of going back to their homes. Despite his strong criticism of the Taliban, Saleh said dialogue with them should still be the preferred option.”
Pakistan
Al Jazeera: Pakistan: UN Report ‘Vindicates’ Stance On Cross-Border ‘Terrorism’
“Pakistan’s foreign ministry has hailed a counterterrorism report by the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team that identifies an increased threat from fighters based in neighbouring Afghanistan. In a statement released late on Sunday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the report “vindicates” its stance that Afghan and US-led NATO forces need to do more to fight groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jamaat-ur-Ahrar(JuA), and Hizb-ul-Ahrar (HuA) that pose a regional threat from their bases in Afghanistan. Last year, the TTP, JuA, HuA and others reunited under the banner of the TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, which Pakistani intelligence officials say is based in eastern Afghanistan. “This [merger] increased the strength of TTP and resulted in a sharp increase in attacks in the region,” said the UN monitoring team’s report. The report said the strength of the unified group was estimated at between 2,500 and 6,000 fighters, while one UN member state that contributed to the report estimated that the TTP “was responsible for more than 100 cross-border attacks [into Pakistan] between July and October 2020”. The TTP formed in 2007 as an umbrella organisation for a number of local militias across Pakistan’s northwest that were calling for the imposition of a strict form of Islamic law across the country.”
Lebanon
Associated Press: Wife: No Signs Of Torture On Body Of Slain Hezbollah Critic
“An independent autopsy revealed no signs of torture on the body of a well-known Lebanese publisher and vocal critic of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group shot dead in his car last week, his wife said Monday. Lokman Slim, a 58-year-old political activist and commentator, was found dead with six bullets in his body Thursday on a deserted rural road in the country's south. He was visiting friends there and was due back in Beirut late Wednesday when his family reported him missing. Slim's family has expressed skepticism that a national investigation would lead to those who killed him, citing a history of unresolved assassinations and political crimes in Lebanon. They hired a private forensic pathologist to carry out their own examination of Slim's body. Monika Borgmann, Slim's German wife who also has Lebanese citizenship, said a private autopsy was necessary to get all the needed information. There was speculation in Arab media that Slim may have been tortured before he was shot. The circumstances of his killing remain unclear and Borgmann said a full autopsy report wasn't yet ready. Borgmann has called for an international investigation, saying she has suspicions but no proof that his killers were members or supporters of Hezbollah.”
Nigeria
Sahara Reporters: Boko Haram Terrorists Kill Six Nigerian Soldiers
“At least six Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush on their convoy during the weekend by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno, military sources told SaharaReporters on Monday. The soldiers were attacked along the Goniri-Gorigi Road as they were returning from a clearance operation. “The terrorists fired a rocket-propelled grenade on the convoy which hit one of the vehicles with about 8 soldiers in it, six of them died while two others were injured,” a source said. The source added that several weapons and ammunition were stolen during the attack. Another source, a captain in the Nigerian army confirmed the attack, calling it a huge setback for the military. Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province, have killed thousands and displaced millions in North-Eastern Nigeria. Nigerian army has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency had been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses. In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents, who lay ambush on their path. The Boko Haram insurgency has caused over 40,000 deaths and displaced millions of individuals mainly in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States. The terror group wants an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.”
Institute For Security Studies: West Africa: Soldiers For Rent In The Boko Haram Crisis
“Following Boko Haram's brutal attack on dozens of farmers in Nigeria's Borno State last November, the state governor called on federal authorities to enlist mercenaries to counter the terror group's activities in the Lake Chad Basin. This reflected popular wariness about the ability of countries in the to defeat the insurgents alone. Using mercenaries against Boko Haram isn't a new idea in the region, but it raises tricky questions. Cameroon's infamous Rapid Intervention Battalion, trained by Israeli mercenaries under Eran Moas, has been involved in fighting the extremists. It's uncertain whether Chad and Niger have engaged the services of mercenaries but their citizens appear to be working as guns for hire in other countries. In December 2014, Nigeria's government recruited South African mercenaries to stop Boko Haram attacks on its north-eastern cities before the 2015 elections. A report at the time by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) mentions at least three private military companies' involvement. These are Conella Services, Pilgrims Africa, and Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection International (STTEP).”
United Kingdom
Reuters: UK Lowers Terrorism Threat Level To 'Substantial'
“Britain’s terrorism threat level from international terrorism has been lowered to ‘substantial’ from ‘severe’, the third highest tier which means an attack is deemed to be likely as opposed to highly likely. The threat level is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and the security services. It has five levels moving from low to moderate, substantial, severe and critical. The United Kingdom was moved on to a severe setting last November following attacks in France and Austria.”
“The country's youngest convicted terrorist, who led a neo-Nazi cell from his grandmother's house, has avoided custody. He was 13 when he obtained instructions for explosives, and a year later had collected a haul of terror material and was sharing far-right ideology in chatrooms. An Old Bailey judge gave the teenager - now 16 - a two-year youth rehabilitation order, as he was sentenced on Monday with his grandmother holding his hand. A picture has emerged of him standing in front of a Nazi flag and giving a Nazi salute. The defendant, from southeast Cornwall, had pleaded guilty to 10 counts of possessing terrorist material and two of disseminating terror documents. Judge Mark Dennis QC told the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, that he had entered an “online world of wicked prejudice”. He said a custodial sentence would undo the work to rehabilitate him and noted his remorse, as well as saying he was “susceptible to the influence of others”. However, he warned that any reoffending would mean “ever-lengthening terms of incarceration”. His grandmother was with him as he was sentenced by video-link from Bodmin Magistrates' Court. The court previously heard that between October 2018 and July 2019 the teenager had collected a large stash of far-right material.”
The Guardian: Manchester Police Warned In 2016 Over Terrorism Strategy, Arena Inquiry Hears
“Greater Manchester police were warned about shortcomings in their terrorism response plans six months before the Manchester Arena bombing, the public inquiry into the attack has been told. The inquiry heard on Monday how the police inspectorate outlined a number of concerns it had identified, as part of a national review, in a November 2016 “hot debrief” with GMP’s counter-terrorism lead, Catherine Hankinson. Among the inspectorate’s conclusions was the risk of a force duty officer becoming overwhelmed in the event of a marauding terrorist firearms incident (MTFA). Inspectors found that the majority of force duty officers “felt ill-equipped” to deal with a terrorism incident and needed more training before enacting Operation Plato, the police codename for a continuing marauding attack. The inquiry heard that the inspectorate report quoted an unnamed force duty officer as saying: “I get two days on how to command vehicle pursuit and approximately one to two hours in MTFA.” The inquiry has previously heard that, on receiving reports of gunshot injuries and an active gunman during the arena attack on 22 May 2017, Insp Dale Sexton, the force duty officer at GMP HQ, declared Operation Plato, believing an armed terrorist was on the loose.”
Southeast Asia
“A 33-year-old radicalised Malaysian working as a cleaner here has been arrested and deported to Malaysia for planning to travel to Syria with his Singaporean wife to take up armed violence for terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Internal Security Department (ISD) on Tuesday (Feb 9) said the man's 34-year-old wife, a religious teacher who was radicalised by him and had wanted to go with him, has been placed on a Restriction Order for two years. Her teaching accreditation has been suspended. The man, Mohd Firdaus Kamal Intdzam, was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in July 2020. The ISD said there was no indication he had made any specific plans to cause violence in Singapore. Investigations revealed that Firdaus started being radicalised in 2016, when he went online to deepen his religious knowledge and was exposed to pro-ISIS content. “Through sustained exposure to pro-ISIS materials, Firdaus was convinced by early 2018 that ISIS was fighting for Islam, and that its use of violence to create an Islamic caliphate was justified,” said ISD. It added that Firdaus had regarded a self-declared leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the true Islamic ruler.”
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