“…The Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a nonpartisan advocacy organization, was
the first to notice the anti-Semitic and racist items. CEP wrote a let

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


April 7, 2021

 

JNS: E-Commerce Platform Sells Nazi-Glorifying Merchandise, Despite Removal
Request
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“…The Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a nonpartisan advocacy organization,
was the first to notice the anti-Semitic and racist items. CEP wrote a letter
to GearBubble CEO Donald Wilson on Feb. 4, informing him of the merchandise and
asking GearBubble to suspend the accounts that posted the objects. In the
letter, CEP noted that the items violate Gearbubble’s terms and conditions,
which state that nothing can be posted on the website that is “false,
defamatory, misrepresenting, infringes on any other entity’s intellectual
property or would interfere with or restrict any other user from using the
site. This includes, but is not limited to, posting anything unlawful, obscene,
libelous, indecent, invasive of privacy, intellectual property infringement or
anything that would cause the potential for civil liability or criminal
charges.” More than two months later, CEP still has not received any response
from GearBubble. The items remain listed online.”

 

PBS FRONTLINE: Repatriating ISIS Foreign Fighters Is Key To Stemming
Radicalization, Experts Say, But Many Countries Don’t Want Their Citizens Back
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“…Tunisia represents the world’s most ISIS fighters per capita. Its shared
border with Libya, where ISIS held territory, acted as a key entry point for
fighters both foreign and domestic. Tunisia has not taken a public stance on
repatriation. “More than 800 of [its] fighters have already returned — and
quite a few of them undetected,” said Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, a senior
director at the Geneva-based Counter Extremism Project. In February 2019, Human
Rights Watch called Tunisia’s efforts to repatriate its citizens “scant” and
reported that the number of returned fighters may be closer to 1,500. As of
July 2019, ICSR had identified at least 970 returnees. Common charges for
returnees who are prosecuted — a number that’s not public — include membership
in a terrorist organization and endangerment of national security, both of
which fall under a terrorism law that has been widely criticized for overreach.
“When you read it, you can apply it to protestors,” Schindler said.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: CBP Stopped Two Men On Terrorism Watchlist At Border, Says Such
Incidents Are Rare
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“Since January, agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have arrested
two men on the FBI's terrorism watchlist as they tried to cross the southern
U.S. border, the agency said Monday. The men, ages 33 and 26, who were from
Yemen, were apprehended in the El Centro, California, sector. They are also on
the no-fly list that bars certain people from boarding airplanes because of
their potential threat to national security. CBP said it does not release
overall numbers of immigrants stopped at the southern border whose names were
on the FBI's terrorism watchlist or the country's no-fly list, and it did not
provide the number of people who were encountered over the past year, but it
said the incidents are “very uncommon.” “While encounters of known and
suspected terrorists at our borders are very uncommon, they underscore the
importance of the critical work our agents carry out on a daily basis to vet
all individuals encountered at our borders,” an agency spokesperson said. Data
obtained by NBC News showed that in the first half of fiscal year 2018, six
migrants on the terrorism watchlist were apprehended trying to cross the
southern border illegally. The number had been inflated by the Trump
administration, which claimed that 4,000 known or suspected terrorists tried to
cross the border that year.”

 

NBC News: Tennessee Man Accused Of Helping Islamic State Group
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“A Tennessee man held a key role in spreading English-language propaganda for
the Islamic State group, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Benjamin Alan
Carpenter, 31, of Knoxville, has been in custody since his March 24 arrest,
according to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III’s
office. A detention hearing was held Monday, but a judge did not immediately
decide whether he should be free pending trial. Carpenter was charged in a
federal indictment with attempting to provide material support and resources to
ISIS. Carpenter, also known as Abu Hamza, provided English translations of ISIS
media content to a person he believed to be associated with ISIS, prosecutors
said. The person was actually a covert FBI employee, officials said.
Authorities said Carpenter was the leader of Ahlut-Tawhid Publications, an
international organization that disseminates pro-ISIS material in English. A
trial is set for June 1. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. It
was not known whether Carpenter was represented by an attorney who could
comment on his behalf.”

 

Los Angeles Times: Deadly U.S. Capitol Attack Amplifies Police Union Calls To
Beef Up Recruitment And Retention
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“Last week’s deadly attack has renewed focus on both security surrounding the
U.S. Capitol, and the beleaguered police force whose union is demanding
Congress act to ensure the force can improve the recruitment and retention of
its officers. Union Chairman Gus Papathanasiou warned that without action, the
U.S. Capitol Police force could face a mass exodus, adding in a statement that
Friday’s attack and the Jan. 6 insurrection have decimated morale. Within five
years, 500 officers will reach retirement age, Papathanasiou said. And while
some can retire now, “I’ve had many younger officers confide in me that they’re
actively looking at other agencies and departments right now,” he added. Even
ahead of what he sees as a looming crisis, the force is more than 200 officers
below its authorized level of more than 2,000 officers, Papathanasiou
maintained. This gap has caused the force to struggle in meeting “existing
mission requirements even with the officers working massive amounts of forced
overtime,” he said. The U.S. Capitol Police echoed the union’s sentiments in an
unsigned statement to the Los Angeles Times on Monday, writing: “we appreciate
and join in the Union’s support for increased hiring, retaining our current
officers and implementing many of the recommended security enhancements as
quickly as possible.”

 

The Independent: The ‘Canary Caliph’: How ISIS Leader Betrayed His Fellow
Jihadists To US Interrogators
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“The current leader of Isis betrayed his fellow jihadists and the secrets of
his organisation to his American interrogators while in captivity, enabling
western forces to carry out successful operations to arrest and kill “high
value” targets. Such was his eagerness to inform on other Islamists that Sa’id
Abd Al Rahman al-Mawla became known as the “canary caliph” while behind bars,
“singing like a bird” according to one analyst who said the revelations were
bound to sow deep discord within Isis. Newly released intelligence files show
that the questioning of al-Mawla at an American prison, Camp Bucca, in
British-administered southern Iraq in 2008, revealed his hostility towards
foreign fighters who had begun to arrive in the Middle East in large numbers at
the time. They also show that he was fundamentally opposed to women taking part
in an armed struggle. Abu Jasim Abu Qaswarah, then the deputy leader of the
Islamist State in Iraq, which later became Isis, was among those whose details
were passed on by al-Mawla. Abu Qaswarah, a Swedish-Moroccan Islamist who had
recruited volunteers in Scandinavia to fight in Iraq, subsequently died in a
firefight with the Americans in Mosul.”

 

Syria

 

The New York Times: In A Syrian Rebel Bastion, Millions Are Trapped In Murky,
Violent Limbo
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“Among the millions of Syrians who fled as the government bombed their towns,
destroyed their homes and killed their loved ones are 150 families squatting in
a soccer stadium in the northwestern city of Idlib, sheltering in rickety tents
under the stands or in the rocky courtyard. Work is scarce and terror grips
them whenever jets buzz overhead: New airstrikes could come at any time. But
the fear of government retribution keeps them from returning home. More than
1,300 similar camps dot Syria’s last bastions under rebel control, eating up
farmland, stretching along irrigation canals and filling lots next to apartment
buildings where refugee families squat in damaged units with no windows.
“People will stay in these places with all the catastrophes before they go live
under the regime of Bashar al-Assad,” said Okba al-Rahoum, the manager of the
camp in the soccer stadium. On a rare visit to Idlib Province, examples
abounded of shocked and impoverished people trapped in a murky and often
violent limbo. Stuck between a wall to prevent them from fleeing across the
nearby border with Turkey and a hostile government that could attack at any
moment, they struggle to secure basic needs in a territory controlled by a
militant group formerly linked to Al Qaeda.”

 

Voice Of America: Islamic State Kidnaps 19 People In Central Syria
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“Militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) terror group kidnapped at
least 19 people, mostly civilians, near a town in central Syria, state media
and a monitor group said. The abduction on Tuesday occurred after a group of IS
fighters carried out a “surprise attack” against Syrian government forces near
the town of al-Sa’an in Syria’s central province of Hama, the Britain-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. At least 11 civilians were among
those kidnapped by IS militants, according to the observatory. The other eight
were reportedly Syrian government soldiers. The attack also left one civilian
dead and several others wounded, state news agency SANA reported. Despite its
territorial defeat in March 2019, IS continues to carry out deadly attacks
throughout Syria. In recent weeks, the militant group has also targeted
U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria. A road sign is pictured
in the Badia, located in the southeast Syrian desert, June 13, 2017. Rami
Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory, said despite nearly daily
airstrikes carried out by Russia, a major Syrian government ally, on IS targets
in central Syria, IS militants still pose a threat to the forces of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.”

 

The Straits Times: French ISIS Widow In Syria Camp, Veil-Free, Wants To 'Go
Home'
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“In a Syrian detention camp for people linked to the Islamic State group,
French mother-of-five Emilie Konig has swapped her all-engulfing black robe for
a sweatshirt and baseball cap. The 36-year-old widow - who is on UN and US
blacklists of dangerous militants, accused of recruiting ISIS fighters and
inciting attacks in the West - says she's now desperate to go home. Joining
ISIS “wrecked” her life, said Konig, who was captured in late 2017 by Kurdish
forces battling the Islamist terrorists in the eastern Syrian town of Shadadi.
“I want to go home to France,” she told AFP. “I have my family there. I want to
start my life over and right my mistakes.” Konig - who frequently appeared in
ISIS propaganda videos, including in a 2013 clip showing her training with a
shotgun - now lives in the Kurdish-run Roj camp in northeast Syria. Now
sporting a hooded top, faux leather leggings and white hightop trainers, she
said: “I'm already dressing ... to get used to my returning”. She said she
hopes to work as an accountant back in France - even if Paris has been
reluctant to repatriate citizens with ISIS links and would likely seek to try
them on terror-related charges.”

 

Kurdistan 24: Prominent ISIS Member Captured In Al-Hol Camp In Syria
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“The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Asayish on Monday captured a
leading Islamic State leader in the notorious al-Hol camp in northeast Syria.
The SDF and their linked Interior Security Forces (Asayish in Kurdish) found
Ahmed Khoshua with information gathered during the recent security operation in
the camp, Coalition spokesperson Col. Wayne Marotto said Tuesday. The Syrian
Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported that Khoshua, nicknamed Abu Khaled,
was responsible for Islamic State cells in al-Hol. “Abu Khaled is an Iraqi from
Anbar Governorate, born in the city of al-Qaim 1992, and is considered one of
the most dangerous leaders of ISIS cells in Al-Hol,” the ANHA report said. Six
other suspected Islamic State group members with Iraqi and Syrian backgrounds
were arrested on Tuesday morning, including two women, Um al-Bara' and Um
Mohamed, said to be part of  the Hisbah, (the self-imposed female morality
police made up of women affiliated with the Islamic State), ANHA reported. They
were accused of harboring wanted persons and aiding Islamic State cells in the
camp.”

 

Turkey

 

Daily Sabah: Turkish Police Detain 35 Daesh Terrorists In Nationwide Raids
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“Turkish security forces detained at least 35 suspects, including foreign
nationals Wednesday over alleged links to the Daesh terrorist organization. The
counterterrorism squads and special operations squads conducted simultaneous
operations across Istanbul to nab eight suspects after technical and physical
monitoring. Four Turkish nationals, a Syrian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz and an Iraqi
national were detained in a raid in the Bağcılar district, Demirören News
Agency (DHA) reported. Multiple documents and digital materials were seized in
the operations. Separately, as many as 27 Daesh suspects were nabbed in 33
separate locations in 11 provinces. Efforts are ongoing to arrest the remaining
ones.”

 

Deutsche Welle: Turkey Jails 4 Over Attack That Killed German Tourists
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“A Turkish court sentenced four men to life in jail on Tuesday for their roles
in a suicide bombing in Istanbul in January 2016. The incident, on the city's
historic Sultanahmet square, killed 12 German tourists and wounded 16 other
people. Turkey's government blamed the so-called Islamic State for the
incident, but the group has never claimed responsibility. The four suspects,
already in jail, received aggravated life sentences. The Istanbul court that
handed out the sentences ruled that the attack represented “an attempt to
violently overthrow the constitutional order,” the private DHA news agency
reported. Aggravated life sentences are the most severe prison terms possible
in Turkey since it abolished the death penalty in 2002; there is no chance for
parole. Additionally, each was also sentenced to 328 years for aiding
deliberate murder with terrorist intent, among other charges, according to
state news agency Anadolu. Tuesday's sentences are final after an appeals court
overturned a 2018 verdict against a total of 26 suspects. One further suspect
was sentenced to over six years in jail for membership in a terrorist
organization. The court acquitted 18 further suspects, citing lack of evidence.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Statesman: Support For Taliban Must Cease For Afghan Peace
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“Afghanistan as a nation has only witnessed wars and bloodshed for the past
four decades. Its turmoil began with the Soviet invasion in December 1979 and
continues to date. The US entered after the 9/11 attack. After two decades, the
US is now firming its plans to pull out. It has realised that it would never
achieve the goals that it had set for itself when it entered Afghanistan. At
the end of the day, it would leave the country in a similar mess as Libya or
Iraq, where multiple terrorist groups continue fighting one another as also the
elected government for control of territory. Ultimately, it is only the
populace which suffers and bears the brunt of the violence. Unlike Donald
Trump, who was pushing the Afghan government to sign a peace deal with the
Taliban, President Joe Biden is seeking to bring forth an interim inclusive
government involving the Taliban and the current elected dispensation in a
power sharing formula. This is not being attempted by conviction and
convincing, but by arm-twisting and coercion. In addition, the US is planning
to delay its troop pull out beyond the agreed date of 1 May.”

 

Pakistan

 

Yahoo News: Five ISIS Terrorists Arrested From Mosque For Distributing Hate
Material Among People: Officials
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“Five terrorists belonging to the banned Islamic State outfit were arrested
from a mosque in Pakistan’s Punjab province where they were distributing hate
material among people and collecting funds from them, officials said on
Tuesday. The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Police said that it
received credible information that the members of ‘Daesh’ (the ISIS) were
present near Bhatta Chowk in Lahore’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA). “The CTD
raided a place in Bhatta Chowk and arrested five terrorists belonging to Daesh
(ISIS),” the CTD said in a statement. These terrorists – identified as Nazif
Ullah, Zia ur Rehman, Muhammad Ishtiaq, Abdul Rehman Butt and Malik Kashif -
were distributing hate material among people and collecting funds for their
organisation, the statement said. According to the FIR, the suspected
terrorists were nabbed from a mosque at Bhatta Chowk. The terrorists were
distributing hate material among the public when they were apprehended, a CTD
spokesman said. The anti-terror body said that 40 banned books, funds and two
receipts of Daesh have been recovered from their custody. One of the alleged
terrorists was carrying a receipt book with a printed Daesh monogram and hate
material.”

 

Nigeria

 

CNN: Nigeria's President Buhari Describes Prison Break Which Freed Nearly 2000
Inmates As 'Act Of Terrorism'
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“Nearly 2000 inmates broke free from a prison in southeast Nigeria Monday
after armed men invaded the site and used explosives to blast parts of the
prison, authorities said. Six of the 1,844 inmates who escaped from the Owerri
Custodial Centre, Imo State, have voluntarily returned, according to a
spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service. Thirty-five others chose not
to abscond during the attack, authorities said. “The attackers who stormed the
facility at about 0215hrs on Monday 5th April, 2021, gained entrance into the
yard by using explosives to blast the administrative block,” said Francis
Enobore, spokesman to Nigerian prison service. The Nigeria Police Force has
blamed outlawed secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and
its paramilitary wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) for the attack. The
police said the gunmen, who had also stormed the Force headquarters in the
state, were armed with a variety of sophisticated weaponry and military
hardware. “The attempt by the attackers to gain access to the Police armoury at
the Headquarters was totally and appropriately resisted by Nigeria Police
Force,” the force said in a statement Monday, adding that no lives were lost in
the incident.”

 

Africa

 

Reuters: At Least 7 Killed On Military Patrol In Eastern Burkina Faso
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“At least three police officers and four members of a government-backed
civilian militia were killed while on patrol in eastern Burkina Faso on Monday,
government and security sources said on Tuesday. The victims were ambushed in
the town of Tanwalbougou, in Gourma province, said the sources, requesting
anonymity because the are not authorised to speak publicly. The sources said
that the death toll could increase.  The four civilian fighters killed in were
members of the Homeland Defence Volunteers (VDP), a group that receives funds
and training from the government to help contain an Islamist insurgency. There
was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Attacks by insurgents
linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State are frequent in Burkina Faso as well as in
neighbouring Mali and Niger, where insurgents have expanded their reach and
attacks in recent years. In neighbouring Mali, the army said in a separate
statement that it had killed 12 jihadists in the central Mopti region on
Tuesday morning and that one soldier had died in the fight. The Tuesday attack
is the fourth by insurgents on Malian forces and United Nations peacekeepers
since Friday.”

 

Voice Of America: Over 10,000 Flee Mozambique Town After Jihadist Attacks
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“The United Nations reports more than 11,000 people have fled the coastal town
of Palma in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province since jihadist
insurgents attacked the town nearly two weeks ago. Civilians arriving in Pemba,
the capital of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, are telling aid workers that
thousands of people are trapped inside Palma and the surrounding area. They
also report that people fleeing Mozambique have been refused entry into nearby
Tanzania. U.N. refugee agency spokesman Babar Baloch says it is very worrisome
that people fleeing for their lives are being prevented from seeking asylum.
“More than 1,000 tried to cross into Tanzania, tried to cross the border from
Mozambique into Tanzania, and they were turned back,” Balloch said. “At this
stage, we do not know how this happened, who did this, but we are trying to
seek clarification from the authorities on the other side, inside Tanzania.”
The UNHCR is appealing to Mozambique’s neighbors to allow entry to people
escaping violence and seeking protection. Dozens of people reportedly were
killed by Islamist militants who attacked Palma on March 24. Thousands of
people have been displaced and the economic fallout from the onslaught is
potentially huge.”

 

France

 

The North Africa Post: Morocco’s Intelligence Tips Enabled France To Foil
Terrorist Plot
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“Morocco’s domestic intelligence agency, the General Directorate of
Territorial Surveillance (DGST), conveyed France essential information about a
French woman of Moroccan origin, who was plotting a terrorist attack in a
church. The information was transmitted by the DGST on April 1, 2021, to the
French external and internal intelligence services (DGSE-DGSI). The data
enabled France to prevent the attack, a statement from the spokesperson of the
DGST said this Tuesday. The data also enabled French services to make several
arrests last weekend (April 3 & 4) and to seize materials used to manufacture
explosives. French news outlet Le Point announced the arrest of five
“radicalized” women on Sunday. The news outlet added that the investigation
said that the five suspects were planning to commit an “imminent violent action
in Montpellier.” Police said that none of the suspects were known to the French
security services. The information provided by the DGST to the relevant French
security services included personal data on the main suspect and on her
electronic identity data, as well as on the terrorist project she was preparing
to carry out in coordination with elements of the terrorist ISIS group, the
spokesman said.”



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