“Hezbollah won’t be dragged into a civil war in Lebanon and has 100,000 trained
fighters ready to fend off foreign attacks but won’t be used locally,

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


October 19, 2021 

 

Bloomberg: Hezbollah Says It Has 100,000 Fighters, Won’t Be Used Internally
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“Hezbollah won’t be dragged into a civil war in Lebanon and has 100,000
trained fighters ready to fend off foreign attacks but won’t be used locally,
the head of the Iran-backed militant group said. In a televised speech,
Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah warned a rival Christian group “not to
miscalculate” and start a fight with the group and accused them of being behind
a “planned” attack on its supporters during a protest last week. “In the
military structure of Hezbollah, aside from the weapons and the capabilities,
taking into account only the Lebanese men who are trained, organized, armed and
experienced (they) number 100,000,” Nasrallah said. “Those are meant to defend
our country in the face of our enemies.” He said the group buried its
supporters and refrained from retaliating to “prevent a civil war.” Armed
clashes erupted last week between supporters of the Iran-backed group and its
opponents in Beirut during a protest by Hezbollah to remove a judge
investigating the Beirut port blast. The violence, worst in years, killed seven
people and wounded dozens others. Hezbollah claims protesters came under sniper
fire, prompting them to retaliate and accused a right-wing Christian party, the
Lebanese Forces, of being behind the attack.”

 

AFP: Iraq Arrests Suspect In 2016 Attack That Killed Over 320: PM
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“Iraq announced on Monday the arrest outside the country of the suspect behind
a 2016 attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed more than 320 in
Baghdad. It was one of the world's deadliest attacks since 9/11. “Five years
after the terrorist bombing of Karrada, our brave forces succeeded in capturing
the terrorist Ghazwan Alzawbaee in a complex intelligence operation outside the
country,” Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi said on Twitter. “He is the primary
culprit behind the Karrada atrocity and many others.” At least 323 people were
killed in the car bomb attack on July 3, 2016, when Iraqis were shopping before
Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of
Ramadan. It was later claimed by IS, the jihadist group that controlled large
swathes of Iraqi territory at the time before its defeat the following year by
Iraqi forces backed by an international coalition. Army spokesman Yahya Rassoul
said Alzawbaee “carried out many criminal operations against our people of
Iraq”, including several attacks in the capital. Alzawbaee's arrest comes a
week after Iraq said it captured IS's suspected finance chief, Sami Jasim
al-Jaburi, also in an operation abroad.”

 

United States

 

Reuters: HSBC Refutes Terror-Financing Claim At D.C. Circuit Hearing
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“A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., on Monday weighed whether to
uphold the dismissal of a lawsuit that claimed HSBC Holdings Plc indirectly
helped finance terror activity that killed two American contractors at a
military institution in Afghanistan in 2009. The three-judge panel of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit at times sounded
skeptical about the viability of the claim that HSBC could be held liable for
certain financial transactions with Iranian banks that allegedly are connected
to terror groups. “There's a difference between alleging that there are all of
these links between these entities and al Qaeda, and we can accept that,” D.C.
Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins said at the hearing. “But that's different than
alleging that the defendants here knew or should have known of those particular
links.” The plaintiffs' lawyer, Randy Singer of the Virginia Beach,
Virginia-based firm Singer Davis, did not immediately return a message seeking
comment. The firm sued Iran and HSBC on behalf of representatives of two people
killed in the suicide bombing, former Green Beret Dane Paresi and Jeremy Wise,
a former Navy SEAL.”

 

Newsweek: Chicago Man Convicted For Designing Computer Script To Spread ISIS
Propaganda
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“A federal court has convicted an Illinois man for allegedly attempting to
provide computer-based support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS),
the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday. Thomas Osadzinski, 22,
of Chicago, was convicted of attempting to provide material support and
resources to a foreign terrorist organization. Sentencing now rests in the
hands of a federal judge, and Osadzinski could receive a maximum penalty of 20
years in prison. Osadzinski designed and created a specialized computer script
that would allow ISIS to disseminate its propaganda in an easier manner, said
federal prosecutors. The DOJ stated that Osadzinski's script “would
automatically copy and preserve ISIS media postings in an organized format,
allowing social media users to continue to conveniently access and share the
content.” The majority of the content was disseminated on a cloud-based
messaging app called Telegram. Prosecutors said Osadzniski—who previously
attended Chicago's DePaul University, according to the Chicago Sun-Times—raised
his finger in the courtroom as a salute to ISIS. An investigation began in 2019
when undercover agents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), supported
by local law enforcement, first made contact with Osadzinski.”

 

Syria

 

Kurdistan 24: SDF-Linked Security Forces Arrest 22 ISIS Suspects In Syria's
Deir Al-Zor
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“The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Monday that affiliated
fighters arrested 22 suspects with alleged links to ISIS in the Deir al-Zor
countryside, with support from the US-led coalition. The SDF’s Coordination and
Military Operations Center, in a tweet, said that the Asayish special forces
“have broken the back of an ISIS cell,” in a “huge step in the mission” to
defeat ISIS. Although the SDF and the coalition announced the territorial
defeat of ISIS in Syria in March 2019, sleeper cell attacks continue in
northeastern Syria. Most of ISIS’s activities occur in the Deir al-Zor
province, plagued by assassinations, tribal tensions, and terrorist activities.
On Oct. 14, the coalition confirmed that the SDF carried out a successful
anti-ISIS operation that resulted in the arrest of an ISIS financier in the
notorious al-Hol camp. Two days earlier, the coalition reported that four ISIS
suspects were arrested in Deir al-Zor province. The SDF said on Sept. 26 that
ISIS launched 20 attacks in August, killing 15 civilians and security
personnel. In the notorious al-Hol camp in Hasakah province alone,
ISIS-affiliated assailants killed 11 people and wounded four others in August.
Over the same period, 83 ISIS suspects were arrested with the support of the
coalition.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Vice: ‘Hard Not To Respect That’: Why White Nationalists Are Toasting The
Taliban
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“When the Taliban captured Kabul in August, sealing a remarkable victory in
its nearly 20-year war of attrition against the world's leading superpower,
jihadist networks around the world erupted in jubilation. But the victory was
also met with praise from an unlikely quarter: far-right activists in the West.
While they loathe Islam, viewing it as an existential threat, some on the
far-right expressed their grudging respect for the Islamist militants, and even
applauded their victory. “I raise a glass to the liberators of Afghanistan, the
Taliban,” the notorious US white nationalist Nick Fuentes said on his “America
First” web show, lifting his coffee mug in a tongue-in-cheek toast to the
militants. “That’s Taliban land. What are Americans doing there?” As VICE News
reported at the time, some far-right activists went further, lauding the
Taliban victory as a model for their own extremist movement to learn from. One
far-right Telegram user, prefacing his comments by affirming his contempt for
Islam, wrote of his admiration for the way the Taliban’s “farmers and
minimally-trained men fought to take their nation back.”

 

The Jerusalem Post: Why Aren’t Attacks On Mosques In Afghanistan A Crime
Against Humanity?
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“Recent mass murders of Muslims in attacks on mosques in Afghanistan have
resulted in casualties numbering in the hundreds. The first occurred on October
9, with nearly 100 dead, and then again on Friday in Kandahar, which led to the
deaths of almost fifty people. These are targeted attacks, during Friday
prayers, designed to commit genocide against Shi’ite Muslims. Despite all that,
such attacks are generally ignored by the international community. Countries
that have backed the kind of extremism that leads to attacks on Shi’ites, such
as Pakistan’s support for extremists like the Taliban, generally prefer not to
condemn these attacks. Yet the same countries tend to speak out about
“Islamophobia” in the West and condemn attacks on mosques in places like New
Zealand.  Why aren’t attacks on mosques in Afghanistan considered a crime
against humanity? This is one of the enduring questions that linger over how
the international community confronts genocide. TARGETED ATTACKS against
religious and ethnic minorities, which the Hazara Shi’ites are, usually would
be defined as genocide. In addition, the kind of ethnic cleansing and
discrimination against Hazaras that groups like the Taliban, Al Qaeda and now
ISIS have conducted, would tend to fit into the definition of genocide.”

 

Pakistan

 

The Washington Post: Bomb Hits Police Bus In SW Pakistan, Killing 1, Wounding
15
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“A roadside bomb exploded near a police bus parked outside a university in
southwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least one officer and wounding 15
other people, mostly civilians, a provincial minister said. The attack happened
outside Baluchistan University in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province,
said Mir Ziaullah Longove, provincial interior minister. He said rescuers
transported the dead and wounded to a government hospital. No one immediately
claimed responsibility but previous such attacks have been blamed on militants
including separatists. Baluchistan is the scene of a long-running insurgency by
Baluch secessionist groups that for decades have staged attacks mainly on
security forces to press their demands for independence. Pakistan insists it
has quelled the insurgency but violence has continued there.”

 

India

 

Reuters: Explainer: What Is Behind The Recent Surge In Violence In Indian
Kashmir?
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“A surge in violence in Indian Kashmir in recent weeks, including a spate of
militant attacks on civilians and a widespread crackdown by security forces,
has left 33 people dead in the heavily militarised region since early October.
Kashmir, which is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but ruled in parts
by both countries, has been the site of a bloody armed insurrection against New
Delhi since the 1990s. The fresh wave of killings by suspected militants appear
to be targeted towards non-Kashmiris, including migrant workers, and members of
the minority Hindu and Sikh communities in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.
On Sunday, militants shot at three migrant workers in Kashmir's Kulgam
district, killing two and wounding one, a day after two labourers from northern
India were gunned down in two separate incidents. Last week, two teachers - one
Hindu, another Sikh - were shot dead inside a government school in Kashmir's
main city of Srinagar.  Suspected militants have killed a total of 11 civilians
since Oct. 6. Indian security officials have said that some of the
assassinations have been carried out by The Resistance Front (TRF), which they
describe as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group, and
Hizbul Mujahideen, a group traditionally made up of local fighters.”

 

Yemen

 

AFP: 150 Yemen Rebels Killed In Strikes: Saudi-Led Coalition
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“The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Monday it had killed 150 Huthi rebels
near Marib, as fierce fighting raged for the strategic city in a war that has
raged for seven years. Air strikes “destroyed 13 military vehicles and killed
150 terrorist elements” in Abdiya within the past 24 hours, the coalition said
in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The latest toll
takes to more than 1,100 the number of rebels the coalition says it has killed
in the past week around Abdiya which is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from
Marib, the internationally recognised government's last bastion in oil-rich
northern Yemen. The Iran-backed Huthis rarely comment on losses, and the
numbers could not be independently verified by AFP. In a televised speech on
Monday, rebel leader Abdelmalek al-Huthi called for continued fighting. “We
must... confront the aggression with all firmness until the siege is lifted,
the aggression and the occupation ends,” he said. Tens of thousands of Huthi
sympathisers took part in a rally on Monday in areas under the control of the
insurgents, AFP correspondents reported. In video footage shot by AFP,
government loyalists shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) as they fired
assault rifles on a rebel position in Marib and clouds of smoke billowed from
the base of a mountain range.”

 

Nigeria

 

The Washington Post: 30 Killed As Gunmen Attack Rural Area In Nigeria's
Northwest
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“Gunmen have killed at least 30 people in northwest Nigeria in the latest
round of violence in which hundreds have been killed so far this year and
thousands more displaced. Aminu Tambuwal, Sokoto state governor, said Monday
that the gunmen stormed Goronyo community on Sunday evening to carry out the
attack that lasted through the night. The area attacked is just 75 kilometers
(46 miles) away from the Sokoto state capital, unlike past attacks which were
in more remote areas. “Between last night, yesterday evening till this morning,
we were greeted with a very dastardly attack in Goronyo local government,
particularly Goronyo township, where scores and tens have lost their lives and
still counting. We’re not sure of the figure. But it is 30 something,” Tambuwal
said in a statement. The governor was speaking when he received Lt. Gen. Farouk
Yahaya, Nigeria’s army chief of staff, who recently commissioned special
military operations to bring under control the country’s rising violence. Those
operations, in addition to extreme measures such as blockades of
telecommunications and curfews, have not stopped the armed groups from
attacking communities. The gunmen often kill dozens of residents in areas with
little security presence.”

 

Somalia

 

Capital News: Kenyatta Says Tremendous Progress Made In Degrading Al-Shabaab
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“President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that terrorism and border incursions in the
country have significantly dropped since Kenya launched a military operation in
the neighboring Somalia 10 years ago. Kenyan troops entered Somalia on October
14, 2011 in response to attacks from the Somalia-based terrorist outfit,
Al-Shabaab, who had staged a series of kidnappings and attacks in different
parts of the country particularly the coastal strip. Speaking on Saturday
during the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Kenya Defence Forces
(KDF) Day at Kahawa Garrison, Kenyatta said that Kenyan troops had made a major
contribution towards regional stability with their involvement in different
peace keeping missions. “As was the case with those in whose footsteps you
follow, our forces have contributed to global peace stability and sustainable
development while deployed in various capacities in international and regional
assignments under both the United Nations as well as the African Union,” said
Kenyatta. “Through that service as peacekeepers and protector so f the most
vulnerable you have brought pride to our nation and to our flag,” he added.”

 

Mali

 

Long War Journal: Al Qaeda Field Commander Reported Killed In Mali
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“Saghid Ag Alkhoror, a field commander and leader of a sub-unit within al
Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), was reportedly killed
yesterday in a French operation in Mali’s northern Timbuktu region. JNIM has
not yet issued a statement on the reports as of the time of publishing. The
French military tweeted yesterday that its forces within the counter-terrorism
Operation Barkhane launched an operation that killed “five terrorists from
Katibat Gourma” north of the town of Gossi in northern Mali.  France has not
yet provided more information on the operation as of the time of writing, but
its forces have been focusing its efforts more closely in the Liptako-Gourma
area in recent weeks.  Fahad Ag Almahmoud, the secretary-general of the Imghad
Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies (GATIA), a pro-Bamako Tuareg militia in
northern Mali backed by France, later tweeted, however, that among those killed
in the operation was Saghid Ag Alkhoror.  Almahmoud also confirmed the
operation took place near the town of Tin Assakok in Mali’s Timbuktu region. 
Alkhoror, also known as Abou Nasser, was the leader of JNIM’s Katibat Gourma.
Katibat Gourma is named after the eponymous administrative division of Mali’s
Timbuktu region and the wider region of Liptako-Gourma, which straddles
sections of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.”

 

Africa

 

AFP: Three Policemen Killed In Niger Jihadist Assault
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“Jihadists attacked a police post overnight in Niger's troubled frontier zone
with Burkina Faso killing three policemen and wounding seven others, local
officials told AFP on Monday. Since 2017, jihadist groups have rocked the
Tillaberi region, a vast area covering 100,000 square kilometres (38,000 square
miles) near the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso. The flashpoint area is
frequently targeted by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the
Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims. “There was an
attack on a border checkpoint at Petelkole,” an elected official from Tillaberi
said. “Two policemen died and seven were injured.” Another official who visited
the site later said the body of a third policemen had been found. Petelkole is
a western border post located merely 10 kilometres from Burkina Faso, which is
also facing a wave of jihadist attacks. The first official said the attackers
burnt two vehicles and took away weapons. According to a municipal worker armed
men on motorbikes had tried to attack the post on Saturday afternoon but fled
after the police fought back. In May 2017, two policemen and a civilian were
killed at the same post.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The Telegraph: We Are Having The Wrong Conversations About Extremism In Britain

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“It seems every new extremist attack we face is followed by the almost
inevitable, gut-wrenching news: the attacker was known to authorities.
Manchester bomber Salman Abedi was on MI5’s radar; Usman Khan, the Fishmonger’s
Hall knifeman participated in deradicalisation and rehabilitation schemes both
inside and outside prison walls. One of the 2017 London Bridge attackers’
extremism was so well documented that he appeared in a Channel 4 undercover
programme: ‘The Jihadis Next Door’. Sir David Amess MP’s alleged assailant,
meanwhile, was previously referred to Prevent, the Government’s
counter-radicalisation strategy. Forget ‘lone wolves’ - try known wolves. As
with the rest of the regrettably long list of attacks we’ve experienced, many
will ask whether the authorities missed some crucial opportunity to avert
tragedy. At this stage, so little is known that jumping to grand conclusions is
a risky business. Nevertheless, police are investigating ‘Islamist extremist’
motives and it seems the suspect, 25 year old Ali Harbi Ali of Kentish Town,
was offered one-on-one mentoring through Prevent after being referred while
still in Sixth Form. It is important to note that Prevent is not the security
services and a referral means no offence has yet been committed, so reaching
Prevent would not have put Harbi Ali on any watchlist or investigation that
might somehow have thwarted his plans.”

 

The National: UK 'Ignoring Report On Laws That Allow Groups To Glorify
Terrorism’
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“The UK government has been accused of ignoring top-level advice to change
laws to curb hate, as a former policing boss gave a warning that existing
legislation allows people to “glorify terrorism”. Sir Mark Rowley, co-author of
a review into the country’s counter-terrorism strategies, said eight months
after submitting the findings of his probe he has yet to hear anything back
from ministers. He said the review, which he carried out in collaboration with
the Commission for Countering Extremism, found new laws were needed to stop
hateful groups from “operating with impunity”. Sir Mark spoke out about the
lack of response after the killing of Sir David Amess, a 69-year-old
Conservative MP who was stabbed to death while holding a constituency surgery
in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on Friday. Officers investigating the killing have
declared it a terror incident. The victim's family have said they are
“absolutely broken” by the father-of-five's death. Sir Mark’s review, submitted
in February, said extremists were exploiting gaps within existing hate crime
and terrorism legislation. It argued that terrorists including the London
Bridge attack ringleader could have been arrested earlier had tighter laws been
in place.”

 

Europe

 

The New York Times: In Norway Attack, ‘Sharp Object,’ Not Arrows, Killed 5,
Police Say <[link removed]>

 

“The attacker who went on a rampage in a town in Norway killed his five
victims using a “sharp object,” not a bow and arrow as had been widely
reported, the Norwegian police announced on Monday. Espen Andersen Brathen, who
confessed to the crime, did shoot arrows at people from a hunting bow during
part of his attack last Wednesday in the town of Kongsberg, which also wounded
at least three people. At some point in the rampage, the police said at a news
conference Monday, he discarded the bow. The fatal blows are now said to have
been delivered by a stabbing weapon or weapons, which the police did not
identify. Four women and one man were killed in the attack about 50 miles
southwest of Oslo. But it was the rarity of the other weapon used in the attack
that caught the world’s attention, and if the hunting bow did not cause any
deaths, it was responsible for at least one injury, that of an off-duty police
officer who was struck by an arrow. One eyewitness, Rebecca Uttgard, 17, said
she was in the town square Wednesday night near a shop owned by her mother and
frequented by two of the people killed, when she heard warning shots fired by
police officers responding to the scene. “I saw the arrows strewn on the
ground,” Ms. Uttgard said. “I didn’t think, I just ran.”

 

The Jerusalem Post: Western Countries Training Far-Right Extremists In Ukraine
- Report
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“Canada, the US, France, the UK and other Western countries have helped
trained far-right extremists in Ukraine, a report by the Institute for
European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at George Washington University
revealed last month. The report found that members of Centuria, a far-right
organization intent on reshaping Ukraine's military to its ideology, received
training from Western countries while at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National
Army Academy (NAA). Centuria describes itself as a military order of “European
traditionalist” military officers who aim to “defend” the “cultural and ethnic
identity” of European peoples against “Brussels’ politicos and bureaucrats,”
according to the report. The group is led by people with ties to Ukraine's
far-right Azov movement. Members have been photographed giving Nazi salutes and
have made extremist statements online. One of the leaders of Centuria wrote on
VK in 2016 that Jews were “the destruction of humanity” and shared a post
saying that Jews had tried to “exclude Ukraine from world history and the map
of the world.” Ukraine's current president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. The
group has claimed that its members have taken part in joint military exercises
with France, the UK, Canada, the US, Germany, and Poland.”



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