|
Eye on Extremism
July 29, 2021
The New York Times: China Offers The Taliban A Warm Welcome While Urging Peace Talks
“China offered a high-profile public stage to the Taliban on Wednesday, declaring that the group rapidly retaking large parts of Afghanistan would play “an important role in the process of peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction” of the country. Chinese officials began two days of talks with a delegation of Taliban leaders in Tianjin, a coastal city in northeastern China, significantly raising the group’s international stature after steady military gains that have taken advantage of the withdrawal of American and NATO combat forces from Afghanistan. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, called the Taliban “a pivotal military and political force,” but urged their leaders “to hold high the banner of peace talks,” according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He pressed the group to work to burnish its diplomatic image and extracted a public pledge that the group would not allow fighters to use Afghan territory as a base to carry out attacks inside China, according to the statement. The Taliban have been on a regional diplomatic blitz over the last month, visiting Tehran, Moscow and the Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat for talks with officials, as their military ascendancy in Afghanistan has grown.”
The Boston Globe: Battling ISIS, Seeking Converts, Imagining Armageddon, Singing Together
“Though scarcely remembered now, the 2014 massacre of thousands of members of the Yazidi religion by ISIS, on Mount Sinjar, in Iraq, remains one of the most barbarous acts of genocide of recent years. In addition to these killings, ISIS abducted thousands of women and children and forced them to become sex slaves. As seen in Hogir Hirori’s “Sabaya” (the title is the ISIS term for these victims) many of them are still unaccounted for. Volunteers from the Yazidi Home Center — including freed sabayas, who infiltrate the dens of suspected ISIS cells — are determined to track them down and return them to their families. They focus their search on Al-Hol, in Syria, one of the most dangerous refugee camps in the Middle East. Hirori follows these determined men and women as they trace leads and search the camp’s labyrinth of tents and shacks, inhabited by 73,000 ISIS diehards. At first the rescuers seem in over their heads, equipped only with cellphones, flashlights, handguns, a few AK-47s, a battered van, and piles of photographs of the missing. But they are fearless, organized, and relentless in their pursuit. When they succeed they bring the freed women and children back to the center, where they are treated with kindness until they can be restored to their families.”
United States
“The federal government’s effort to deport Sacramento resident and Iraqi refugee Omar Ameen kicked into gear Wednesday, with a former FBI agent testifying that Ameen and his family members had been involved in terrorist activities with the group that evolved into the Islamic State. William Denton, who had served as the lead FBI agent on the Ameen investigation, said during an immigration hearing in Van Nuys that information from the U.S. Department of Defense and from Iraqi government officials tied Ameen and his family members to al Qaeda in Iraq, which ultimately became the Islamic State. “We were concerned, in particular, because the information from the Department of Defense indicated to us that his family members were actively engaged in terrorism, which was corroborated through our information that we obtained when we reached out to our partners within the government of Iraq,” the former agent testified. “In particular, the government of Iraq provided us with official documentation from their counter-terrorism service which indicated and corroborated the Department of Defense information that Mr. Ameen, as well as members of his immediate family and paternal cousins, were actively involved in terrorist activity from the inception of al Qaeda in Iraq to the present day.”
Syria
Arab News: Daesh Attack Kills Seven Syrian Troops: Monitor
“Daesh group militants killed at least seven soldiers and militiamen in eastern Syria on Wednesday, the latest in a series of deadly attacks, a Britain-based war monitor said. Several government positions came under attack in a desert area of Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Several troops were also wounded, some of them critically, while five militants were also killed. A Kurdish-led offensive overran the last patch of Daesh-held territory in Syria in March 2019 but sleeper cells continue to launch attacks in the vast desert that stretches from central Syria east to the Iraqi border.”
Iraq
Voice Of America: Will Winding Down The US Combat Mission In Iraq Affect Anti-IS Efforts In Syria?
“Middle East experts and analysts are questioning whether ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq, announced earlier this week, will negatively affect America’s counterterrorism operations against remnants of the Islamic State extremist group in neighboring Syria. U.S. officials have not announced any change to their mission in northeast Syria, where about 900 troops are providing support to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led military alliance which has been a major partner in the fight against IS. But, “It is hard to separate the U.S. military mission in Syria from the one in Iraq,” said Sadradeen Kinno, a Syrian researcher who closely follows military developments in the country. “Unlike Iraq, U.S. military presence in Syria hasn’t been at the invitation of the Syrian government,” he told VOA. “This fact makes Iraq such an important place for the U.S. in order to successfully carry on its mission in Syria. “The SDF is a non-state actor and therefore the U.S. has to rely on an allied government in Iraq to make sure its operation in Syria remains solid in terms of logistics and other matters related to supply transportation.” U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Monday that American forces will end their combat responsibilities in Iraq by the end of this year.”
Turkey
Long War Journal: U.S. Designates Al Qaeda Financial Facilitator Based In Turkey
“The U.S. Treasury Department announced today that two money men working for al Qaeda and Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS) have been designated. The designations are part of a broader U.S. effort to sanction individuals and entities taking part in the Syrian war. Other extremists and parts of Bashar al-Assad’s regime were also designated and sanctioned as part of the campaign. Hasan al-Shaban is one of the two bag men targeted by Treasury. He is described as a “Turkey-based al Qaeda financial facilitator” who “materially” assists the worldwide insurgency and terrorist network. Treasury says that an al Qaeda “fundraiser” provided al-Shaban’s “banking information…to prospective donors as a way for them to send money to support al Qaeda military efforts and the so-called mujahideen fighting in Syria.” Treasury’s brief announcement indicates that al-Shaban is part of a global illicit financing scheme that utilizes the “formal financial system” for nefarious purposes. Al-Shaban’s bank accounts are used by al Qaeda members “to coordinate the movement of money from associates across North Africa, Western Europe, and North America.” In addition, al Qaeda works with al-Shaban to “coordinate the transfer of funds to Turkey.”
Afghanistan
“Civilian casualties and Taliban attacks in Afghanistan are mounting as the U.S. withdrawal nears completion and the Afghan military continues its collapse, according to a new quarterly report from a U.S. government watchdog that describes a country ravaged by Covid-19 and violence. The report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, found a “dramatic increase in enemy-initiated attacks” from January through March of this year compared to the same time in previous years. There were 10,431 attacks this year, up from 7,620 last year and 6,358 in 2019. Attacks have been increasing since the U.S.-Taliban agreement on Feb. 29, 2020, with more attacks in each three-month period since the agreement than in the same quarters in the previous year. The number of attacks against the Afghan military and civilians has increased significantly this year, the report says, with many attacks coming during the Taliban offensive now sweeping across the country. The Taliban launched an offensive in May after U.S. and coalition military forces began withdrawing. The offensive accelerated in June and July. However, the report notes that Afghan forces have stopped reporting attacks as their situation deteriorates, and it says the U.S. stopped collecting attack data effective May 31 with the end of the U.S. training and advisory mission.”
Nigeria
All Africa: Nigeria: U.S. Offers To Support Nigeria End Killings, Extremism
“As Nigeria continues to grapple worsening insecurity occasioned by terrorism, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes, the government of the United States of America has stated its intention to help the country stop the killings and other forms of extremist violence in the country. Chargé d'Affaires of the United States Embassy in Abuja, Kathleen FitzGibbon, said this when she joined the chief of air staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, and his leadership team to inspect the first batch of six A-29 “Super Tucano” Light Attack aircraft that newly arrived in Nigeria. According to a statement issued yesterday by the public affairs division of the United States Embassy, the aircraft represent a historic level of cooperation between the U.S. and Nigerian militaries. FitzGibbon said that “beyond the new hardware that you see on this runway, this programme has brought our two militaries closer in formal training, professional development, air base construction, logistics planning, and negotiations. “We are proud to partner with Nigeria in its 'whole of government' approach to end violent extremism and ensure a more stable, prosperous country for all Nigerians.” The Super Tucano platform for Nigeria is the United States' largest Foreign Military Sales programme in Sub-Saharan Africa, valued at almost $500 million.”
Africa
The National: Extremist Threat Expected To Spread Across Africa As Terrorists Consolidate Power
“Terrorist groups in Africa are consolidating their power before potentially launching a global campaign, according to leading security analysts. ISIS and Al Qaeda have a world view that could lead them to “knit together” other groups in order to launch a continent-wide offensive and establish hardline policies, the US Combating Terrorism Centre heard. The warnings come as French forces reduce numbers in the Sahel region of West Africa and international forces withdraw from Libya, giving terrorists greater freedom to operate. Various extremist groups have grown in recent years and could be readying to commence a co-ordinated campaign, the online seminar, Scoping the Threat: do African Salafi-jihadi groups threaten the West? was told. “It seems that these groups are really consolidating their positions across the continent from the west to the east with new beltways to the southern region to Mozambique,” said Idriss Lallali, of the African Centre for the Research on Terrorism, based in Algeria. He highlighted the extremist motorway going from the Atlantic coast in Mauritania across to Djibouti, allowing terrorists to travel around the continent. Previously, security analysts told The National that ISIS attacks in Mozambique are probably being co-ordinated with the terrorist group's core leadership as part of an expanding campaign across Africa.”
Germany
Arab News: German Woman Indicted Over Her Time With Daesh In Syria
“A German woman who traveled to Syria to join the Daesh group and whose husband bought a Yazidi woman as a slave has been charged with membership in a terror group and being an accessory to a crime against humanity, German prosecutors said Wednesday. The indictment of Leonora M., whose full name wasn’t released because of local privacy rules, is the latest in a string of cases in Germany involving women who went to the area held by Daesh and were involved in holding women captured by the extremist group as slaves. Federal prosecutors said the suspect went to Syria and joined Daesh in 2015 and became the “third wife” of a member of the group. She is accused of enabling her husband’s activities for Daesh by running their household in Raqqa and writing his application for a job in the group’s intelligence service. The suspect herself allegedly worked at an Daesh-controlled hospital and snooped on wives of Daesh fighters for the group’s intelligence service. Prosecutors said her husband bought a 33-year-old Yazidi woman as a slave in 2015 with the aim of selling her with her two small children. Leonora M., they said, cared for the woman so that she could be sold on at a profit — which she subsequently was.”
Europe
Associated Press: Moroccan Arrested In Greece On Suspicion Of Being IS Member
“A 28-year-old Moroccan man appeared in a court in the Greek city of Thessaloniki on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing after being arrested on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State group. The man, who was not identified publicly, was detained by anti-terrorism police in the northern city on Tuesday on an international arrest warrant issued by Morocco, which is seeking his extradition. According to a court official, the international arrest warrant was issued in 2017 and alleges the man was a member of IS since 2014. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on the record. Appearing in court Wednesday, the suspect said he did not want to be extradited to Morocco. The court ordered him to stay in custody pending an extradition hearing.”
| |
Click here to unsubscribe.