Eye on Extremism

October 19, 2021 

 

Bloomberg: Hezbollah Says It Has 100,000 Fighters, Won’t Be Used Internally

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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?

 

“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

 

“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?

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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’

 

“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

 

“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

 

“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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