A rocket attack on the airport in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday
killed a civilian contractor with the American-led military coalition and

 

 


<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
Eye on Extremism


February 16, 2021

 

The New York Times: Rocket Attack In Iraq Kills A U.S. Military Contractor
<[link removed]>

 

“A rocket attack on the airport in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday
killed a civilian contractor with the American-led military coalition and
wounded six others, including a U.S. service member, according to a coalition
spokesman. Several other rockets landed in residential areas of the city, the
capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including one close to the Chinese
Consulate. The attack, rare in the normally peaceful Kurdish city, raised
tensions already heightened by threats of Iran-backed militias on American
targets in Iraq. It was not clear who carried it out, but previous attacks have
been attributed to militias funded and directed by Iran. Iran has made clear
that it intends to retaliate further for the American drone strike in Baghdad
in January 2020 that killed a top Iranian general, Qassim Suleimani, and a
senior Iraqi security official. Days after that strike, the Iranian government
launched missile attacks against U.S. forces at the Ain al Assad air base in
Iraq’s Anbar Province, wounding more than 100 troops. On Monday, minutes after
the rocket attack on Erbil, the Kurdish regional government called on residents
to stay indoors and the international airport canceled departing and arriving
flights.”

 

Reuters: Chad Reinforces Troops Against Militants In Sahel As France Mulls
Changes
<[link removed]>

 

“Chad will deploy some 1,000 troops to the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina
Faso and Mali to reinforce national armies that, backed by French and European
allies, are battling Islamist insurgents, according to French and Chadian
sources. The deployment will be announced during a summit on Feb. 15-16 in the
Chadian capital N’Djamena held to tackle the situation in the Sahel, a French
presidency official and a senior Chadian security official said. It comes as
France, which sent troops to the region in 2013 to help repel jihadists who had
occupied northern Mali, considers adjusting its military presence. This could
entail France pulling some of the 5,100 soldiers that are involved in
counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel. Although France has claimed military
successes against Islamist insurgents over the past year, it is searching for
an exit strategy. The grinding operation has cost billions of euros and left 55
French soldiers dead, yet violence is persisting with signs it is spreading to
coastal West Africa. The French official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said President Emmanuel Macron could decide to hold off for a few weeks before
adjusting his forces as he continues to consult with Sahel and European
partners on the way forward.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: Biden DHS Plans To Expand Grants For Studying, Preventing Domestic
Violent Extremism
<[link removed]>

 

“The Biden administration plans to expand grants from the Department of
Homeland Security to study and try to prevent domestic violent extremism, two
DHS officials said, as part of a departmentwide effort to make combating the
kind of violence seen last month at the U.S. Capitol “a top priority.” “We have
successfully advocated for additional funds. We intend to keep building on
preventing domestic terrorism departmentwide,” one of the officials said. The
new grants would expand on those funded at the end of the Trump administration
by DHS' Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention, which included
over $500,000 for a project at American University that studies the “growing
threat of violent white supremacist extremist disinformation.” The program is
aimed at preventing spread of the disinformation through what researchers call
“attitudinal inoculation.” Similar grants, including one to study neo-Nazis,
had been awarded by the Obama administration, but they were canceled by the
Trump administration in 2017. The idea of attitudinal inoculation is to give
people who may be vulnerable to disinformation the skills to recognize it and
argue against it, much as a vaccine builds antibodies to a virus before the
body encounters it.”

 

Syria

 

Voice Of America: IS Winning Battle In Syria’s Displaced-Persons Camps
<[link removed]>

 

“A combination of rising bloodshed and increased criminal activity at
displaced-persons camps in northeastern Syria has gotten the attention of U.S.
officials, who fear security forces are losing the battle to contain supporters
of the Islamic State terror group. U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of
anonymity because of the nature of the intelligence, blame recent killings —
including at least one beheading and multiple execution-style killings — on IS
operatives and supporters, warning they are now rapidly turning camps like the
densely populated al-Hol into a base for the terror group’s operations. And
they caution the brutal violence, long a hallmark of IS, is just part of the
problem. “Security services at al-Hol have struggled to address ISIS
recruitment and fundraising,” one U.S. official told VOA, using an acronym for
the terror group. The camp’s perimeter is also proving to be increasingly
porous. “ISIS has moved ISIS families out of al-Hol using smuggling networks in
Hasakah and Deir el-Zour provinces, and smuggled weapons into the camps in
recent months,” the official added. Other officials warn al-Hol, home to more
than 60,000 mostly women and children, has already solidified its role as a key
node for the terror group’s financial network, helping to move its estimated
$100 million in cash reserves.”

 

Al Monitor: Islamic State Escalates Attacks In Syrian Desert
<[link removed]>

 

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) wrote on Facebook Jan. 29 that
the Islamic State organization (IS) escalated activities in January within the
Aleppo-Hama-Raqqa triangle, in addition to the desert area of Homs and Deir
ez-Zor. Military operations are conducted on a daily basis in this area as part
of the Syrian regime's and Russia's attempts to stop IS activities. According
to SOHR statistics, IS killed 153 members of the regime forces and pro-regime
militias in January in the Syrian Desert, out of which 70 members were killed
in five IS ambushes. The rest were targeted in clashes, roadside bombs or
landmines. In contrast, 81 IS militants were killed in Russian airstrikes and
clashes with the regime forces and pro-regime militias. The escalation
continued in February, with IS killing 19 members of the regime forces and
pro-regime militias Feb. 3 in an offensive in the Ithriyah-Sukhna axis in the
Syrian Desert. That is the harbinger of a new escalation in the area. A few
days ago, Assad's forces announced a “sweeping campaign” in the Deir ez-Zor,
Homs and Hama governorates. The operation aims to secure the highway that links
Damascus to Deir ez-Zor.”

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Reports Of Int’l Coalition Strike Killing ISIS Oil Commander
In East Syria
<[link removed]>

 

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday the targeting of
ISIS commander Abu Yassin al-Iraqi by a drone strike staged by the US-led
International Coalition in the countryside of Syria’s northeastern province of
Deir Ezzor. According to sources reporting to the UK-based war monitor,
al-Iraqi was the successor of Abu Ward al-Iraqi, who was assassinated early on
in 2020. Al-Iraqi is believed to be the head of the terror group’s oil network
in the area. “Abu Al-Ward al-Iraqi was an ISIS official who was in charge of
oil wells in Fulayteh, Al-Azraq and Al-Melh,” the Observatory reported. “Even
after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US-led International
Coalition) had captured the area, al-Iraqi remained a coordinator and mediator
between SDF and ISIS to facilitate the passage of oil trucks to areas under the
control of SDF and regime forces,” it added. “Al-Iraqi was also the “Emir of
Al-Badia” (the commander of Al-Badia sector) and he was in charge of forming
and supporting ISIS cells.” This follows a US defense official announcing that
US forces in Syria are focused on fighting the remnants of the ISIS group and
are not guarding oil fields as previously ordered by ex-president Donald Trump.”

 

Kurdistan 24: With Coalition Support, Kurdish-Led SDF Capture ISIS Suspects In
Eastern Syria
<[link removed]>

 

“The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday that it
had captured nine members of the so-called Islamic State in Deir al-Zor, with
the support of the US-led Coalition to defeat the terrorist organization. The
SDF media center said that they together with the Coalition carried out two
security operations in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor on Feb. 10 and
11. “On 10th February, an operation resulted in arresting eight terrorists, and
one terrorist was arrested on 11th February,” the SDF said. “During the two
operations, a number of weapons, ammunition and communication devices were
seized,” the statement added. Although the SDF and anti-ISIS Coalition
announced the territorial defeat of the Islamic State in Syria in March 2019,
sleeper cell attacks persist – especially in liberated territories – in an
apparent campaign to destabilize the area. SDF fighters recently stepped up
operations against the armed group in response to several recent assassinations
for which it is thought the Islamic State group to be responsible. A Pentagon
Inspector General (IG) report covering the last quarter of 2020 (October 1,
2020 – December 31, 2020) said that “ISIS carried out nearly half of its
attacks in Syria this quarter in Dayr az Zawr (Deir al-Zor) province, followed
by more than 15 percent in Homs province and 14 percent in Hamah province.”

 

Iraq

 

Voice Of America: SDF Hands Over 100 IS Prisoners To Iraq
<[link removed]>

 

“U.S.-backed Syrian forces have handed over nearly 100 alleged Islamic State
fighters held in Syria to the Iraqi government, a local official told VOA. The
senior official with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who requested
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the transfer took place
last week at a border crossing between Syria and Iraq. The transferred
individuals were all Iraqi nationals who had been held in SDF-run detention
centers in northeast Syria, the SDF official added. Iraqi military spokesman
Yahya Rasool did not respond to a VOA request for comment about this matter,
but an Iraqi security source confirmed to the French news agency on Sunday that
Iraqi detainees were received by Iraqi authorities from Syrian Kurdish forces.
The SDF, a Kurdish-led military alliance, says it currently holds more than
10,000 IS fighters, including about 2,000 foreign nationals. Most of them were
captured following the 2019 U.S.-led campaign that destroyed IS’s so-called
caliphate in eastern Syria. There are also 70,000 people, mostly families of IS
fighters or sympathizers of the terror group, held in al-Hol Camp and other
detention camps in northeast Syria. The SDF says the detainees come from some
60 countries.”

 

Turkey

 

Reuters: Turkey Says Militants Executed 13, Including Soldiers, Police, In Iraq

<[link removed]>

 

“Militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have executed 13
kidnapped Turks, including military and police personnel, in a cave in northern
Iraq, Turkish officials said on Sunday, amid a military operation against the
group. Forty eight PKK militants were killed during the military operation,
while three Turkish soldiers were killed and three wounded, Defence Minister
Hulusi Akar said in a statement. Twelve of the kidnapped Turks had been shot in
the head and one in the shoulder, he said. Turkey launched the military
operation against the PKK in northern Iraq’s Gara region, some 35 km (22 miles)
south of the Turkish border, on Feb. 10 to secure its frontier and find
citizens who had been kidnapped previously, he said. The governor of Malatya
province in southeast Turkey named six soldiers and two police officers,
kidnapped in separate incidents in 2015 and 2016, as being among those killed
in the cave. Three of the dead have yet to be identified in autopsies being
carried out in Malatya. One senior security source told Reuters that Turkish
intelligence personnel were among the dead. “According to initial information
given by two terrorists captured alive, our citizens were martyred at the start
of the operation by the terrorist responsible for the cave,” Akar said at the
operation’s control centre near the Iraq border.”

 

The Guardian: Turkey Catches New Zealanders Linked To Isis Entering From Syria
<[link removed]>

 

“Three New Zealanders, including a woman alleged to be a member of Islamic
State, have been caught trying to enter Turkey illegally from Syria, according
to Turkish authorities. The New Zealand nationals were caught by border guards
in the Reyhanli district in the southern province of Hatay, bordering war-torn
Syria, Turkey’s ministry of defence said on its official Twitter account.
“Three New Zealand nationals trying to enter our country illegally from Syria
were caught by our border guards,” it said. A 26-year-old woman named ‘S A’
“was identified as a DAESH (Islamic State) terrorist wanted with a ‘blue
notice’,” the tweet said. An Interpol blue notice is issued to collect
additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in
relation to a crime. New Zealand’s foreign ministry confirmed it was aware of
the issue but offered no further details on the matter.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The New York Times: The Taliban Close In On Afghan Cities, Pushing The Country
To The Brink
<[link removed]>

 

“The Taliban have been encroaching on key cities around Afghanistan for
months, threatening to drive the country to its breaking point and push the
Biden administration into a no-win situation just as the United States’ longest
war is supposed to be coming to an end. Around the northern city of Kunduz,
despite the winter’s fierce cold, the Taliban have taken outposts and military
bases, using small armed drones to terrorize Afghan troops. In neighboring
Pul-i-Khumri, they have seized important highways in a stranglehold of the
city, threatening main lifelines to Kabul, the country’s capital. And in the
city of Kandahar, a bedrock of historic and political importance and an
economic hub for the country’s south, Taliban fighters have pummeled the
surrounding districts, and moved closer to taking the provincial capital than
they have in more than a decade. The Taliban’s brazen offensive has put the
Biden administration into a dangerous political bind. Under the deal struck by
President Donald J. Trump with the Taliban last year, all foreign troops —
including the remaining 2,500 American service members who support
Afghanistan’s beleaguered army and security forces — are scheduled to withdraw
by May 1, leaving the country in an especially precarious state.”

 

Agence France-Presse: Taliban Warns NATO To Push Ahead With Troop Withdrawal
In Afghanistan
<[link removed]>

 

“The Taliban on Saturday warned NATO against seeking a “continuation of war”,
as the alliance weighs a planned withdrawal from Afghanistan. Defense ministers
from the Washington-backed allies are to meet next week to discuss whether
NATO's 10,000-strong mission -- mostly carrying out support roles -- should
stay or go, as Taliban violence rages. “Our message to the upcoming NATO
ministerial meeting is that the continuation of occupation and war is neither
in your interest nor in the interest of your and our people,” the Taliban said
in a statement. “Anyone seeking extension of wars and occupation will be held
liable for it just like the previous two decades.” Former US president Donald
Trump struck a deal with the Taliban last year under which the United States
agreed foreign troops would leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in return for
conditions including cutting ties with Al-Qaeda and opening peace talks with
the Kabul government. Joe Biden's administration has said it would review the
deal, with the Pentagon accusing the Afghan insurgent group of not meeting
their commitment to reduce violence. The Taliban in turn has accused the US of
breaching the agreement and insisted it will continue its “fight and jihad” if
foreign troops do not leave by May.”

 

Al Jazeera: Several Killed, Injured In Blasts And Clashes Across Afghanistan
<[link removed]>

 

“At least four Afghan security force members, including a commander, have been
killed and seven critically injured in blasts in eastern and southern
provinces, officials say, adding that three civilians were injured in the east.
No armed group immediately claimed responsibility for the three attacks, which
come amid a surge in violence in Afghanistan as clashes intensify between
government forces and Taliban fighters. A string of near-daily roadside
bombings in recent weeks has killed government officials, judges, journalists
and activists. The bloodshed comes as United States-brokered peace talks in
Qatar between the Taliban and representatives of the Afghan government have
staggered in recent months. US President Joe Biden’s team is reviewing a
peace-building deal that the government of his predecessor Donald Trump sealed
with the Taliban in February 2020. The pact requires all US and allied forces
to leave the country by May 1. The US has reduced the number of troops in
Afghanistan to 2,500 from the 12,000 there when the agreement was signed. But
violence remains high, with the US and Afghan governments largely blaming the
Taliban.”

 

Arab News: 30 Taliban Killed ‘Making Bombs’ Inside Northern Afghan Mosque —
Officials <[link removed]>

 

“Thirty Taliban insurgents, six of them foreign militants, were killed by an
explosion inside a mosque where they had gathered for a “bomb-making training”
session in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said. “As a result of
the explosion of a mine in a mosque, 30 terrorist Taliban, including six
foreign nationals who were professional mine-makers, were killed,” a Defense
Ministry statement said. “This incident happened as a number of Taliban . . .
had gathered for mine-making training . . . “ it added. The incident took place
at 9.15 a.m. in the Qitla village of the Dawlat Abad district of Balkh
province, which lies some 450 km to the north of the capital city Kabul and
shares its border with Uzbekistan, ministry officials said. Fawad Aman, a
spokesman for the ministry, said: “There were no survivors from the blast,”
calling it the “deadliest of its kind” for the insurgents. “In the past, the
enemies would have suffered like six, eight or 10 people while either planting
a bomb or making a mine, but this is the first time they suffered such heavy
losses,” he told Arab News. The Taliban confirmed the blast but denied reports
of any loss of lives. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the
explosion had occurred last night in a room used for storing ammunition and
“not today as reported by government officials.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Attack On Pakistani Post Kills 4 Soldiers, 4 Militants In NW
<[link removed]>

 

“A group of militants attacked a security post in a former Taliban stronghold
in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, triggering a shootout that killed
four troops and four insurgents, the country's military said Friday. The
overnight attack took place in Makeen, a border town in the former tribal
region of South Waziristan, the military said in a statement. It gave no
further details, saying only that troops were still searching the area. No one
immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the mountainous region
served as a headquarters for local and foreign militants until 2017, when the
army said it had cleared the region of insurgents following several operations.
The region still sees sporadic attacks, mainly targeting security forces.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) internationally
recognized border known as the Durand Line, which was drawn in the 19th century
when the British dominated South Asia. Afghanistan has never recognized the
boundary. The two sides also often accuse each other of turning a blind eye to
militants operating along the porous frontier.”

 

Yemen

 

The New York Times: U.S. Prepares To Lift Terrorist Designation Against Yemeni
Rebels, Despite New Attacks
<[link removed]>

 

“Houthi rebels in Yemen will be stripped of a U.S. terrorist designation next
week, the State Department said on Friday, despite a recent surge of violence
that officials said may have been carried out with Iran’s help. Secretary of
State Antony J. Blinken said the designation would be formally revoked on
Tuesday, in “recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.” It was
imposed on Jan. 19, the day before President Donald J. Trump left office, in a
final attempt to cut off funding, weapons and other support for Iran’s proxy
fight against a Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia in a six-year civil
war. Mr. Blinken said the terrorist designation instead threatened to deepen
the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by denying civilians food, fuel and other
basic commodities, given its chilling effect on importers who would have faced
criminal penalties should the goods fall into Houthi hands. Most of the food in
Yemen is imported, and the Houthis control strategic ports as well as the
country’s capital, Sana. Yet in the week since the Biden administration
signaled it would lift the designation, Mr. Blinken has had to condemn the
rebels for an attack at an international airport in Abha, Saudi Arabia, that
hit a civilian airliner on Wednesday.”

 

Nigeria

 

Voice Of America: 5,000 Nigerians Displaced By Boko Haram Ready To Return,
Cameroon Says
<[link removed]>

 

“Cameroon says 5,000 of the 103,000 Nigerians, mostly women and children, who
fled across the border from Boko Haram terrorists have agreed to return to
Nigeria. Government officials from the two countries, meeting in the northern
Cameroonian town of Maroua, agreed Nigeria would reintegrate the displaced
people and provide security. Cameroon announced Friday that the departure date
is set for February 27. Most of those displaced volunteered to return to Borno
state when Nigeria assured them Boko Haram is no longer a major danger,
according to Benjamin Ojioko, spokesperson for the Nigerians in Cameroon's Far
North region, which shares a border with Nigeria's Borno state, a former Boko
Haram epicenter. “It is not that they are not feeling fine here, but we usually
say that home is the best place,” Ojioko said. “We thank the Nigerian
government and Cameroon for what they are doing so that our brothers can go
back to Nigeria. We have been here for long.”  Both Cameroon and Nigeria say
5,096 refugees agreed to return to Nigeria during the first phase of the
voluntary repatriation exercise. Of that group, 285 are over 60 years old and
more than 1,100 are between a month and 4 years old. About 2,700 are women.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Independent: Man Accused Of Planning Isis-Inspired Attack ‘Became Friends
With Terror Offenders In Prison’
<[link removed]>

 

“An alleged terror plotter made friends with at least two terrorist prisoners
while serving a previous sentence, a court has heard. Sahayb Abu told an
undercover police officer that he “loved” pro-Isis propagandist Husnain Rashid,
who was jailed for calling for attacks on targets including Prince George. The
27-year-old said he also spent time with Abuthaher Mamun, who assisted another
Isis-inspired plot to groom a “mini militia” of children who could launch
simultaneous terror attacks across London. Abu, who denies preparing an act of
terrorism, bought a sword, knife, balaclava and gloves while allegedly planning
his own attack last year. The Old Bailey previously heard that two of Abu’s
brothers died after going to fight for Isis in Syria in 2015, and that three
other relatives were jailed for disseminating terrorist publications. Abu was
befriended by an undercover police officer, who was posing as an Islamist
extremist, after joining a jihadist chat group on encrypted messaging app
Telegram. The jury was told that in a chat on 29 June, Abu told the officer he
met Rashid in HMP Wandsworth. “I love the brother he was so full of imaan
[belief] but his senses wasn’t with him,” Abu allegedly wrote. “Kept inciting
to target the royal family on Telegram and a spy snitched him. That's why we
shouldn’t even talk too much akhi [brother]… get it done rather than talk and
get 28 years.”

 

BBC News: Gloucestershire Man Charged With Terrorism Offences
<[link removed]>

 

“A 43-year-old man has been charged with terrorism offences after an operation
involving three police forces. Toby Shone, of The Cross in Drybrook,
Gloucestershire appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court earlier. Initially
arrested on 18 November, he was re-arrested on Wednesday and charged the
following day. Properties in Lydbrook and Coleford in the Forest of Dean and
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire were searched as part of the investigation. The
operation was led by Counter Terrorism Policing South East and involved
officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South West and Gloucestershire
Constabulary. Mr Shone faces the following terrorism charges: Providing a
service to others that enabled them to obtain, read, listen to or look at a
publication, and intending the effect of his conduct would be a direct or
indirect encouragement or other inducement to the commission, preparation or
instigation of acts of terrorism contrary to section 2 of the Terrorism Act
2006. Inviting others to provide funds intending, or having reasonable cause to
suspect, that it would be used for the purposes of terrorism contrary to
section 15 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Possession of information likely to be
useful to a terrorist contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”

 

BBC News: Terror Suspect Who Sparked Manhunt Pleads Guilty
<[link removed]>

 

“A terror suspect who cut off an electronic monitoring tag and fled his home
has pleaded guilty to breaching counter terror rules. The man, who cannot be
named for legal reasons, is a senior member of the banned terrorist group
al-Muhajiroun. He caused a security alert and triggered a manhunt when he
absconded in September. His actions resulted in increased checks at UK ports,
causing delays for travellers.Appearing at the Old Bailey by video link from
prison, he admitted six breaches of his Terrorism Prevention and Investigation
Measures (TPIM). TPIM notices allow the authorities to monitor and control
people considered to be terrorists - but who are not facing criminal charges.
Subjects face measures such as wearing an electronic tag, curfews, relocation,
bans on internet use, and limits on who they can meet and where they can go. A
TPIM can currently be imposed on a person for a maximum of two years. Ministers
are seeking to lower the standard of proof needed to impose a TPIM. The latest
official figures showed three people were the subjects of TPIMs. On 15
September last year, the man - known as LF - cut off his tag, obtained an
unauthorised mobile phone, ordered a taxi to London, and left his home in the
middle of the night. He was arrested within 24 hours.”

 

Arab News: MI5 Knew Terrorist Was Plotting Attack Before Deadly London
Stabbings <[link removed]>

 

“British intelligence agency MI5 knew that Usman Khan — the convicted
terrorist who murdered two people in a London attack in 2019 — was plotting an
attack before he was released from jail, a court was told yesterday. Khan was
labeled as being at “high risk of carrying out an attack” following his release
from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for his part in a London Stock
Exchange bomb plot. He stabbed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, two graduate
students who were attending a prisoner rehabilitation conference in London in
November 2019. A pre-inquest hearing found that police and probation officers
had eased Khan’s release restrictions, allowing him to travel to the conference
at London’s Fishmongers’ Hall — less than a mile from his original target. The
findings raise alarm over the growing risks posed by Islamist extremists
released from prison. Just three months after the attack, Sudesh Amman, another
convicted terrorist, was shot dead by police after carrying out a spree of
stabbings in South London after his release from prison. Khan, 28, wore a fake
explosive vest during the 2019 attack. He was brought to the ground by members
of the public before being shot dead by police.”

 

Germany

 

Asharq Al-Awsat: Germany: 5 Tajiks Charged With Membership In ISIS Group
<[link removed]>

 

“German prosecutors said Monday they have charged five Tajik men with being
members of the ISIS group, accusing them of participating in a cell of the
extremist organization in Germany. Federal prosecutors filed the indictment at
the Duesseldorf state court, where an alleged associate of the five was
convicted last month of membership in ISIS for co-founding the German cell and
supporting two planned attacks. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. The
suspects now charged were identified only as Farhodshoh K., Muhammadali G.,
Azizjon B., Sunatullokh K., and Komron B., in keeping with German privacy
rules. Prosecutors say that Azizjon B. administered propaganda channels and
helped collect money for a Russian- and Tajik-language ISIS online network.
They say he also personally recruited ISIS members, leading to the founding of
a cell in western Germany in early 2019 that aimed to carry out attacks in
Germany. The rest of the accused - along with Ravsan B., the man convicted last
month - are alleged to have belonged to that cell. Prosecutors say that they
trained their military skills in paintball games, and that participants in
those included “other people from the extremist scene” who were in contact with
the gunman who killed four people in an attack in Vienna in November.”

 

Technology

 

USA Today: YouTube Continues To Push Dangerous Videos To Users Susceptible To
Extremism, White Supremacy, Report Finds
<[link removed]>

 

“Google's YouTube is still recommending extremist and white supremacist videos
to viewers already susceptible to racial hatred, a new report found. Though the
nation's most popular social media platform has removed large amounts of
extremist content under political pressure, exposure to harmful videos is still
common, and users who view extremist videos are still being recommended new
clips in the same vein, according to a national study from the  Anti-Defamation
League  (ADL) released Friday, an advance copy of which was shared exclusively
with USA TODAY. One in 10 study participants viewed at least one video from an
extremist channel, and 2 in 10 viewed at least one video from an “alternative”
channel, according to the study, which examined the viewing habits of 915
respondents. The study's authors defined extremist and alternative by drawing
from published research on online radicalization.  The mainculprit? YouTube's
recommendation algorithm. When users watched these videos, they were more
likely to see and follow recommendations to similar videos, the study found.”



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<[link removed]>