Eye on Extremism
October 3, 2019
Huff
Post: White Nationalist Coast Guard Lieutenant Likely To Plead Guilty
In Domestic Terror Case
“Christopher Paul Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant who federal
prosecutors called a “domestic terrorist” and accused of stockpiling
weapons as part of a plot to “murder innocent civilians on a scale
rarely seen in this country,” will likely plead guilty in federal
court in Maryland on Thursday. The court docket in Hasson’s case
indicated that a rearraignment was scheduled for noon on Thursday. The
news was first reported by The Washington Post, which quoted a
spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
Maryland stating that rearraignment “in general” indicates that a
defendant is changing their plea. Hasson had pleaded not guilty when
he was first arraigned on the counts he is facing, so it now appears
he plans to plead guilty when he appears in court. The prosecution of
Hasson ― who allegedly amassed an arsenal as he plotted to murder
prominent Democrats and reporters ― demonstrated some of the issues
federal officials run into in “challenging” domestic terrorism cases.
Domestic terrorists have killed more Americans than terrorists
associated with designated foreign terrorist organizations in recent
years, but federal officials have much broader capabilities to target
individuals who support foreign terrorist organizations.”
Fox
News: Afghanistan Security Adviser Says Hard-Line Taliban Members
Defecting To ISIS, Merging With Al Qaeda
“More than 18 years after U.S. forces entered Afghanistan and
usurped the Taliban government from power, the country remains a
patchwork of progress, pain, and bloodletting. While the territorial
dominance and perpetual attacks orchestrated by the Taliban remains at
the forefront of the fragile nation’s woes, the presence of other
insurgent groups and blatant threats to U.S. interests also lurk in
the periphery.”
The
Wall Street Journal: Iran Opens a Second Front Along Israel’s
Border
“Israel is fighting off Iranian expansion across the Middle East,
but danger for the Jewish state lurks near its own borders.
Painstaking work by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their
loyal proxies has succeeded in laying the groundwork for a second
Iranian front with Israel in the Golan Heights. The first front is to
Israel’s north in South Lebanon. The Golan, which Israel won from
Syria in 1967, lies further east. Though Israel rules the skies, the
Syrian land adjoining Israel’s border appears increasingly to belong
to Iran. Reports from both Israelis and Syrian opposition groups have
revealed glimpses of the methods the Iranians and their allies have
employed to build a military infrastructure on the Syrian side of the
Golan.”
Reuters:
Malian Army Families Demand Answers After Deadly Raids Against
Soldiers
“Hundreds of wives and children of Malian soldiers demonstrated on
Wednesday in the capital Bamako, demanding information from the
government after at least 25 soldiers were killed and 60 went missing
in attacks by suspected jihadists. The raids on Monday on two army
camps in central Mali were among the deadliest this year against
soldiers struggling to repel increasingly brazen attacks by militant
groups, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State.”
The
New York Times: Facebook Encryption Eyed in Fight Against Online Child
Sex Abuse
“The New York Times reported on Saturday that Facebook Messenger,
which is not encrypted, accounted for nearly two-thirds of reports
last year of online child sexual abuse imagery. On Wednesday, the
Justice Department said that Facebook as a whole was responsible for
90 percent of the reports. Law enforcement agencies say encryption is
a major obstacle in child sex abuse, terrorism and other
investigations. “There are really good reasons to have end-to-end
encryption, but we have to acknowledge it comes with trade-offs,” said
Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who
helped develop technology in 2009 for detecting online child abuse
imagery. He suggested scanning for abuse content by making a
fingerprint of an image before the message was encrypted, and then
comparing the fingerprint with a database of known illegal material.
“I don’t think there’s a technical barrier here,” Dr. Farid said.
“They’re doing this because they want to avoid liability.”
Vice:
New Video May Signal Dangerous Change For Neo-Nazi Terror
Cell
“The video shows James Mason, the author of influential works that
advocate for lone-wolf violence by white supremacists, joined by 12
masked men who are all members of Atomwaffen Division (AWD). This
video is notably less violent than previous Atomwaffen videos. Instead
it showcases what Joshua Fisher-Birch, a research analyst at the
Counter Extremism Project, described as a change in the group's
approach to propaganda. Fisher-Birch said the new video shows the
group’s "intention to enter a new violent phase" by acting before law
enforcement acts. "Escalating conditions of violence and disorder are
the exact type of situation that a group that follows Mason’s book
Siege hope for, because it can lead to the collapse of government
institutions and control," said Fisher-Birch.”
Syria
Financial
Times: The Men Making A Fortune From Syria’s War
“This summer, a pair of Syrian brothers journeyed across Europe.
Their story did not begin with a rubber dinghy afloat on the Aegean
and a scramble for safety on to a Greek island: a well-worn route for
many Syrian refugees fleeing a conflict that has lasted eight years
and taken an estimated half a million lives. Instead, these brothers
landed in Cannes; their transportation, a plane, then a pair of
Ferraris; their extravagances documented on social media and
culminating on the party island of Mykonos.”
Reuters:
Russia Watching Closely After Turkish Move On Syria Safety Zone:
Kremlin
“The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Moscow was watching closely
after Turkey said it would act alone on its plans to form a “safe
zone” in the northeast of Syria, which is a close ally of Russia.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey had no
choice but to act alone as too little progress had been made with the
United States on forming a “safe zone”, his most direct indication of
a cross-border offensive.”
The
Washington Times: In Syrian Endgame, U.S. Officials See Challenge From
ISIS, Bashar Assad
“Defeating the Islamic State inside Syria is going to require more
pressure from American forces and allies, even as the regime of Syrian
President Bashar Assad continues to use chemical weapons on civilians,
senior Trump administration officials warned Wednesday. “In order to
[achieve] a political solution to the Syrian conflict, … the Syrian
government’s behavior towards people and for the region is going to
have to change,” said Joel Rayburn, the State Department’s special
envoy to Syria, at a discussion hosted by the Council on Foreign
Relations. “That’s the path out of the conflict,” he continued. “That
will require serious pressure from the United States and from the rest
of the international community.” The persistence of the Islamic State
— despite the loss of its “caliphate” to U.S. and allied forces last
year — and the increasing aggression of the Assad regime pose a
dilemma for President Trump, who has made clear his desire to end the
U.S. military mission in the country. Mr. Rayburn said it was crucial
to prevent a resurgence of the terrorist group and “rehabilitate” the
detainees who were relocated to refugee camps, where Islamic State
operatives have been reportedly been actively recruiting both in
person and online since at least mid-July.”
The
National Interest: Can ISIS Make A Comeback?
“U.S. forces in northern Iraq, working with partners on the ground,
are confident that the remnants of the Islamic State can be
confronted, two years after ISIS lost the last pockets of land it
held. It has been five years since Washington committed forces to
Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. Today, operating
with a relatively small footprint across central and northern Iraq,
the operation is continuing but there are questions on the ground
about what comes next and whether an ISIS resurgence is in the works.
Lt. Col. Jace Neuenschwander, a battalion commander in Task Force
Nineveh which is part of the U.S.-led coalition effort, says that ISIS
has tried to adapt to finding new places to exploit gaps in security
in Iraq to stay alive. Located near Mosul, Neuenschwander and several
hundred personnel are part of the tip of the spear in terms of
identifying an ISIS resurgence. “[ISIS have] had a hard time staying
alive,” he says. ISIS keeps a low profile and is losing ground, safe
havens and smuggling routes. His sector, which stretches around the
city of Mosul towards the Syrian border is “not as active as it once
was” and the Iraqi Security Forces are doing a good job.”
Iran
The
National: The Only Way To Address Hezbollah Is Through Iran – Not By
Targeting Lebanon
“These are difficult times politically and economically for
Lebanon. More worryingly, the US appears to have abandoned
prioritising stability in its approach to the country. The mood in
Washington is shifting decisively towards raising the pressure,
whatever the consequences. Economically, Lebanon’s financial situation
is deteriorating, with the government and central bank barely managing
to keep up a facade of stability. The Lebanese pound has long been
pegged to the US dollar at a rate of $1 to LBP1,500 (about Dh3.65).
However, in recent months the central bank has squeezed the purchase
of dollars, to the extent that most commercial banks will only allow
it in limited amounts, forcing those who need dollars to buy them from
money-changers, who charge LBP1,600 (Dh3.9) to the dollar. Officially,
the fixed rate of LBP1,500 to the dollar still applies officially and
the central bank will change at that rate for certain merchants in
need of bigger amounts to pay for imported necessities. However, for
the vast majority of Lebanese citizens who have to operate through
money-changers, the value of the pound has effectively depreciated,
exacerbated by the fact that many sellers are being charged in dollars
by importers and driving up prices.”
Washington
Examiner: Inside Iran's Escalating Threat To
Americans
“While domestic attention this week is focused on the Ukraine
impeachment saga, our foreign policy attention is on China and North
Korea. But we would do well to keep a close eye on Iran as well. As
U.S.-Iran tensions escalate and Iranian attacks, such as the recent
strikes against Saudi oil facilities, go largely unpunished, there is
a growing risk that Iranian hardliners will attack U.S. interests. My
specific concern is that Iran will go beyond shooting down American
drones, and instead endanger American lives. There are two issues
here.”
Iraq
Reuters:
Iraq Declares Curfews As Gunfights Rage And Protests Spread
Nationwide
“Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Wednesday declared a
curfew in Baghdad until further notice after at least seven people
were killed and more than 400 were injured during two days of
nationwide anti-government protests. Curfews were imposed earlier in
three southern cities while elite counter-terrorism troops opened fire
on protesters trying to storm Baghdad airport and deployed to the
southern city of Nassiriya after gunfights broke out between
protesters and security forces, police sources said. “All vehicles and
individuals are totally forbidden to move in Baghdad as of 5 am today,
Thursday, and until further notice,” Abdul Mahdi said in a written
statement. Travelers to and from Baghdad airport, ambulances,
government employees in hospitals, electricity, and water departments,
and religious pilgrims are exempt from the curfew, the statement said.
It was up to provincial governors to decide whether to declare curfews
elsewhere. Curfews were imposed in Nassiriya, Amara and Hilla as
protests that began on Tuesday over unemployment, corruption and poor
public services escalated. Demands on Wednesday included the “fall of
the regime” and protesters set government and political party
buildings ablaze in two other southern provinces.”
Iraqi
News: Military Intelligence Kill IS Leader, Four Aides In Northern
Iraq
“Iraqi military intelligence announced on Wednesday that a
notorious leader of the Islamic State militant group and four of his
aides were killed during a military operation in Salahuddin province,
north of Iraq. “Troops of the Iraqi Military Intelligence Directorate,
in cooperation with the 88th brigade of the Popular Mobilization
Forces and the Iraqi Air Force, carried out a military operation in
Hamrin Mountains in Salahuddin, leaving an IS leader and four of his
aides dead,” Alghad Press quoted the directorate as saying in a press
statement. The IS leader was identified as Talib Garw al Azzawy, the
directorate said. The troops also destroyed nine terrorist hotbeds in
the operation, added the statement. Iraq declared the collapse of
Islamic State’s territorial influence in November 2017 with the
recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which
was the group’s last bastion in Iraq. IS declared a self-styled
“caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A
government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition and
paramilitary forces, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions,
managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the
group’s previously proclaimed capital.”
The
Washington Times: ISIS Fighters Find Refuge, Rebuild Networks In
Northern Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga Warn
“The black-clad figures are barely visible through binoculars from
atop this mountaintop lookout in northern Iraq. One crouches near
stagnant water at the end of a dry riverbed. His companion stands over
him and then walks out of view beneath an escarpment, moving without
any apparent fear of exposure. From their position on top of the
mountain, the Kurdish peshmerga, the renowned armed forces of the
autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, say Islamic State fighters
are living in caves in the no man’s land between Kurdish and Iraqi
security forces on the plains below. This area of northern Iraq
includes disputed territories of the central government in Baghdad and
the regional authorities in Irbil. It is in ungoverned spaces like
this where Kurdish officials say ISIS is rebuilding its networks and
running guns between clusters of caves to desert holdouts. The
development is troubling after the grinding struggle and sacrifice
involved in rolling back the Islamic State group and its
self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria over the past three
years. President Trump has said the caliphate, which once covered a
broad swath of territory and such major cities as Mosul and Fallujah,
has been “decimated,” but security analysts say the Islamic State has
been scattered but not defeated and still claims the allegiance of
thousands of fighters.”
Turkey
Al
Monitor: Islamic State's Money Transfer Network Busted In
Turkey
“Turkey’s Middle Eastern borders have always been porous and prone
to smuggling and clandestine crossings. After the Syrian turmoil broke
out in 2011, long-standing smuggling routes became supply channels for
armed rebels, including the Islamic State (IS). Having lost control on
the ground, IS may be unable to use the smuggling routes as before,
but its cross-border dealings are far from over. IS members, it turns
out, have resorted to traditional methods of money transfer via
exchange offices and jewelry companies they have set up in Syria and
Turkey, called al-Haram, al-Hebo, al-Khalidi and Saksouk. On Sept. 19,
the Turkish police detained 22 suspects accused of running
transnational money-transfer networks for IS in simultaneous raids on
37 locations in eight provinces across the country. The police
operation, which focused on al-Haram in particular, followed the US
Treasury’s Sept. 10 announcement of counterterrorism sanctions on
al-Haram, al-Khalidi, al-Hebo, Saksouk and individuals associated with
those entities. Al-Haram was set up as a company dealing in foreign
exchange, trade and transport.”
Afghanistan
Fox
News: Afghanistan Security Adviser Says Hard-Line Taliban Members
Defecting To ISIS, Merging With Al Qaeda
“More than 18 years after U.S. forces entered Afghanistan and
usurped the Taliban government from power, the country remains a
patchwork of progress, pain, and bloodletting. While the territorial
dominance and perpetual attacks orchestrated by the Taliban remains at
the forefront of the fragile nation’s woes, the presence of other
insurgent groups and blatant threats to U.S. interests also lurk in
the periphery. “Many Taliban commanders, hardliners that did not want
to join the peace process. We had intelligence that showed they are
going to join ISIS. That threat may increase over a period of time,”
Afghan National Security Adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, told Fox News on
Tuesday. “For the time being, ISIS is not a strategic threat to us. We
have been able to get rid of them in places they have taken hold. But
if the peace process goes wrong and doesn’t really integrate all of
the Taliban, the hardliners may join ISIS, which is when it will
become a strategic threat to us and our international partners.” Last
month, President Trump abruptly canceled the year-long Doha talks
after the death of an American soldier in a Taliban-executed bombing,
throwing the future of the talks into disarray.”
The
New York Times: To Disrupt Elections, Taliban Turn To An Old Tactic:
Destroying Cell Towers
“There are several reasons Afghan officials are struggling to
determine how people voted in the presidential election last week —
possible fraud, misplaced biometric data and the country’s vast
geography. But there is one factor that has complicated the effort
more than any other: the Taliban’s tactic of destroying cellphone
towers. Afghanistan’s growing cellular network has long been
considered a benchmark for the country’s modernization and growth. But
the destruction of the towers prevented voting officials from
communicating with election workers in the country, while instigating
fear and intimidation in the affected areas. The Taliban have sought
support in the rural hamlets and towns that harbor militants, even as
they fight the government in Kabul. The cellphone tower strategy
augments the group’s more conventional, and deadly, forms of
insurgency. There were scores of attacks on election targets on
Saturday that killed police officers and wounded civilians. While
officials praised the Afghan security forces for their performance in
defending against widespread smaller attacks, the Taliban still
managed to create a cloud over the elections.”
Xinhua:
5 IS Militants Killed In Drone Strikes In E.
Afghanistan
“At least five Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed in
NATO-led coalition drone strikes in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar
province, the provincial government said Wednesday. “The coalition
pilotless planes fired missiles on two militants' compounds in Wazir
Tangai locality of Khogyani district on Tuesday, killing five IS
militants,” the government said in a statement. Some weapons and
ammunition belonging to militants were also destroyed, according to
the statement. The IS militant group has not made a comment on the
report yet.”
Pakistan
Voice
Of America: US, Taliban Peace Negotiators Arrive In
Pakistan
“U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad
and Taliban political negotiators have arrived in neighboring Pakistan
amid a renewed diplomatic push to resurrect peace talks between
Washington and the insurgent group. The Taliban delegation arrived in
Islamabad early Wednesday hours after the Khalilzad-led team landed in
the Pakistani capital. Both the teams will stay in the country for
several days. While both sides insisted they are visiting Pakistan for
official meetings with representatives of the host government,
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told VOA “I don’t rule out” direct
talks between the 11-member insurgent team and the U.S. delegation.
He said the Taliban delegation will stay in Islamabad until October 6.
The widely unexpected visits come several weeks after President Donald
Trump abruptly called off the yearlong U.S.-Taliban talks just when
the two adversaries had come close to signing a peace agreement that
could have ended the 18-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest
overseas military intervention. A U.S. embassy spokesperson told VOA
Khalilzad, who led the U.S. team in the peace talks with the Taliban,
is in Islamabad “this week participating in consultations” with
Pakistani counterparts.”
Yemen
Gulf
News: Al Houthis Changing Demography Of Yemeni
Capital
“Yemen’s Iran-aligned Al Houthi extremists are seeking to carry out
a demographic change in the capital Sana’a that has been under their
control for about five years, a Yemeni newspaper has disclosed. The
militants’ plan is based on bringing loyalists from the provinces of
Hajjah in north-western Yemen, Saada in the far north, and Amran in
the centre and re-settling them in Sana’a, independent online
newspaper Aden Al Ghad said, citing local sources.”
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Yemen: Houthis Continue To Blackmail Sanaa's
Merchants
“The Houthi militias are once again targeting merchants and small
shopkeepers in Sanaa by blackmailing and threatening them as well as
illegally imposing huge sums of money on them under different
pretexts. Traders and shopkeepers in the capital told Asharq Al-Awsat
that the coup militias raided earlier this week a number of
barbershops, bakeries, and laundries and forced them to pay 20 percent
of their income, claiming it was for “Khoms”. Traders confirmed that
the armed militias stopped at their shops and threatened them in a
humiliating manner in case they do not pay the required amount. They
said Houthis even raided women’s workplaces like hairdressers. The
merchants and shopkeepers reiterated their rejection of these
continuing levies, demanding to end the militias’ injustice. They
said, in separate interviews with Asharq Al-Awsat, that the illegal
money deduction imposed by the militias are described as Khoms, war
effort, taxes, or Zakat. Also, the coup militias issued a new circular
preventing merchants in Sanaa from using new editions of monetary
categories issued by the Central Bank in Aden. Another circular
required merchants to pay royalties and financial levies under the
pretext of “food convoys to support the militia on fronts.”
Middle East
The
Hunt: Why Has AQAP Been So Silent?
“CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler joins host J.J. Green
to discuss the status of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),
considered to be one of world's most innovative and dangerous terror
groups. Schindler notes that AQAP is just as big a threat as it’s ever
been.”
The
Jerusalem Post: 13 Arrested Overnight In West Bank For Terror-Related
Activities
“During the night, 13 wanted suspects were arrested by IDF
soldiers, Border Police and Israeli police on suspicion of involvement
in terrorist activity, civil terror and violent order violations
against civilians and the security forces. Reports also stated that
one person arrested in the Palestinian city of Ramallah early on
Thursday morning was a suspect connected to the murder of Rina Shnerb
near the settlement of Dolev. The suspects were taken away for
questioning. IDF soldiers also carried out operations through the
night and seized a cache of find illegal weapons in the city of
Nablus.”
Somalia
Reuters:
Somali Commandos, U.S. Air Strike Repel Islamist Insurgent
Attack
“Cameras picked up the two white trucks carrying bombs and fighters
through the bush towards Somalia’s most secure military base, home to
U.S. special forces, foreign trainers and the Somali special forces
they mentor. The alarm was raised. By the time the al Shabaab
insurgents were a few hundred yards from the perimeter of Baledogle
military airfield on Monday, Danaab - Somalia’s elite commandos - were
waiting, their trainers beside them. One truck bomb detonated far from
the perimeter fence. Eight attackers in uniforms jumped from the
other, but Danaab soldiers gunned them down almost immediately, said a
Somali security official. Then the second truck was hit by a U.S. air
strike. The explosion was captured on video footage provided to
Reuters by two security experts. Al Shabaab, an Islamist militant
group, has launched a string of complex attacks in the past two months
on Somali security forces, African Union peacekeepers and - on Monday
- European Union and U.S. forces. But local and international security
officials dismissed Monday’s attack on Baledogle - which followed a
separate bomb attack on an Italian military convoy - as a high-profile
stunt rather than a serious assault.”
Africa
The
Guardian: 'We Cry And Cry': Pain Endures For Mothers Of Missing Chibok
Schoolgirls
“Last week, Yana Galang left her small farm in Borno state,
Nigeria, in the care of seven of her eight children and travelled by
bus and train for the first time to the capital, Lagos. From there,
she became the first member of her family ever to board a plane, and
came to New York. The mother of one of the 112 Nigerian schoolgirls of
Chibok still missing after being abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 came
to the city during the UN general assembly, on a mission to remind the
world that – five years on – their children still have not been
brought home. Galang feels the world had forgotten about the kidnapped
girls.”
Europe
El
País: In Spain, Summer Surveillance Triggers Alerts For Returning
Jihadists
“Between mid-July and mid-September, Spanish police monitoring
travel across the Strait of Gibraltar detected 46 individuals
suspected of being returning jihadists, according to a European
Commission report. Part of a border control effort dubbed Operation
Minerva, the 46 anti-jihadist alerts did not result in any arrests as
there were no existing warrants against the suspects. As part of
Operation Minerva, officers from the National Police and Civil Guard
were deployed at Spain’s busy seaports of Algeciras, Tarifa and Ceuta,
a Spanish exclave city located on the northern coast of Africa. Law
enforcement experts from 16 other EU states and observers from the
United States were also present. The European Commission report shows
that for the nearly two months that Operation Minerva was in place,
and during which time 1.7 million people returned to Europe in 372,000
vehicles, authorities found 220 undocumented migrants, recovered 21
stolen vehicles, confiscated 1,629 kilograms of drugs as well as
weapons, and made over 480 arrests. The report underscores that the
operation also served to open new lines of investigation into
terrorist activities, after officers detected 46 individuals suspected
of being returning jihadists, known by the police as foreign terrorist
fighters.”
Southeast Asia
Fair
Observer: Sri Lanka Stands Up To Extremism
“On July 30, a remarkable event took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka,
when representatives of multiple religions — Buddhism, Islam,
Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism — came together to express
solidarity with the victims and survivors of the terrorist attacks
that shook the island nation in April. Three churches celebrating
Easter Sunday mass, as well as three luxury hotels filled mostly with
foreign tourists, were targeted. The National Tawheed Jamaat, in
concert with the so-called Islamic State (IS), orchestrated eight
attacks across the capital and cities around the island. At least 259
people were killed and scores more injured. In some cases, entire
families perished. With no history of jihadist violence, the attacks
came as a shock. Since January 2017, there were reports from multiple
Muslim community members about the National Tawheed Jamaat becoming
increasingly sympathetic with Islamic State ideology and its methods.
Furthermore, the US and India warned about impending attacks weeks in
advance. Despite these warnings, the Sri Lankan government did not
arrest individuals who joined IS (which later claimed responsibility
for the attacks), because at the time joining foreign terrorist groups
was not a criminal offense.”
Technology
The
New York Times: E.U.’s Top Court Rules Against Facebook in Global
Takedown Case
Europe’s top court said on Thursday that an individual country can
order Facebook to take down posts, photographs and videos and restrict
global access to that material, in a ruling that has implications for
how countries can expand content bans beyond their borders.
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