Eye on Extremism

October 28, 2021 

 

Reuters: Saudi Arabia Classifies Lebanese Association As Terrorist Entity For Hezbollah Links

 

“Saudi Arabia classified the Lebanon-based Al-Qard Al-Hassan association as a terrorist entity, citing links to activities supporting Lebanon's Shi'ite group Hezbollah, state media reported on Wednesday. “The association works on managing funds for the terrorist organization (Hezbollah) and its financing, including support for military purposes,” the state news agency said quoting a security statement. The statement said that all assets belonging to the association inside the kingdom should be frozen and “it is prohibited to carry out any direct or indirect dealings with or for the benefit of the association.” In May, the United States had called on governments worldwide to take action against Lebanon's Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on seven Lebanese nationals it said were connected to the group and its financial firm, Al-Qard Al-Hassan. Saudi Arabia has shunned Lebanon for years because of Hezbollah's strong influence in Lebanese state affairs, which it also says has sent fighters to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition fights another Iran-aligned group, the Houthi movement. Iran and Saudi Arabia, the leading Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East, have been rivals for years and cut diplomatic ties in 2016.”

 

Associated Press: Bombing In Myanmar City Highlights Escalating Violence

 

“Midday bombings near a busy government office injured at least nine people in Myanmar’s second biggest city on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the latest high-profile attack by militants opposed to the country’s military rulers. Other attacks by foes of the government were also reported on social media and news websites sympathetic to the opposition. Shootings and bombings in Myanmar’s cities and armed clashes in the countryside are daily occurrences, and U.N. officials and other observers have warned that unrest triggered by the military’s seizure of power in February is spinning toward civil war. Two explosions rocked an area near the Road Transport Administration Department in Mandalay, damaging at least 14 motorbikes, witnesses said by phone. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of being targeted by security forces for speaking to the media. A member of the Htarni Shae Rescue team said four people were hurt in the initial blast and five more from his and another rescue team when the second explosion took place after they arrived with ambulances. Such rescue teams are usually charity organizations and are common in many parts of Southeast Asia.”

 

Syria

 

Bloomberg: Turkey Reinforces Syria Troops For Possible Attack On U.S. Ally

 

“Turkey deployed hundreds more troops in northern Syria overnight in preparation for a long-suspended offensive against American-backed Kurdish forces, according to two officials, a move that could help President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shore up flagging domestic support and put pressure on the U.S. and Russia to rein in the Kurdish troops. Earlier this month, Erdogan signaled he was planning a new campaign after a spate of attacks by Kurdish YPG forces that Ankara regards as a mortal threat because of their link to Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. As the troop buildup was getting underway, he resumed his tough talk, without specifically declaring a military incursion was imminent. “Turkey is currently facing terrorist threats from across the border,” Erdogan said on his way home from Azerbaijan, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Wednesday. “We will continue our fight against terrorism with the same determination” at home and across the border, he said. In 2019, Ankara hit the brakes on an earlier planned Syria foray following separate cease-fire agreements with the U.S. and Russia, which both have forces stationed there. But he recently accused both countries of not fulfilling their promises to force the YPG to withdraw at least 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Turkish border.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The New York Times: Taliban Allow Girls To Return To Some High Schools, But With Big Caveats

 

“When Narges and her younger sisters were finally allowed to return to school last month, they braced for the new world outside their family’s gate. Following their mother’s lead, each layered on a black dress, black abaya, head scarf and niqab, as well as a face mask. Minutes later, overcome by anxiety, Narges’ sister Hadiya, 16, fainted even before leaving the house. When Hadiya finally stepped outside and saw a Talib for the first time, tears poured down her face. Still, the girls consider themselves lucky. In Mazar-i-Sharif, a commercial hub in Afghanistan’s north, the Taliban have allowed middle- and high school-aged girls back into the classrooms, even as in the rest of the country most have been forced to stay home. Under pressure from foreign governments and international aid groups, Taliban officials insist that things will be different for girls and women from the last time the militants were in power, and that some form of education for them will be permitted, including graduate and postgraduate programs. Some middle and high schools have already been allowed to reopen their doors to girls in the north, where women have long played a more prominent role in society than in the Taliban’s southern heartland.”

 

Associated Press: Watchdog: 30 Recent Cases Of Violence To Afghan Journalists

 

“More than 30 instances of violence and threats of violence against Afghan journalists were recorded in the last two months, with nearly 90% committed by the Taliban, a media watchdog said Wednesday. More than 40% of the cases recorded by The Afghanistan National Journalists Union were physical beatings and another 40% were verbal threats of violence, said Masorro Lutfi, the group’s head. The remainder involved cases in which journalists were imprisoned for a day. One journalist was killed. Most of the cases in September and October were documented in provinces across Afghanistan outside the capital Kabul, but six of the 30 cases of violence took place in the capital, ANJU said. Lutfi, in a news conference Wednesday, said while most of the instances of violence — or threats of violence — were perpetrated by Taliban members, three of the 30 cases were carried out by unknown persons. The report comes as Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers attempt to open diplomatic channels with an international community largely reluctant to formally recognize their rule. They are trying to position themselves as responsible rulers, who promise security for all.”

 

Foreign Policy: Foreign Aid Won’t Moderate The Taliban

 

“Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August, foreign aid has frequently been framed as a possible lever the international community can use to push them to moderate their rule. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres argued after the takeover that “humanitarian assistance is an entry point for effective engagement with the Taliban.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that aid would not be released until the Taliban met the European Union’s conditions, including the promotion, protection, and respect of human rights. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken similarly noted that the Biden administration is looking for ways to use foreign assistance to “successfully incentivize positive actions by the [Taliban] government.” The logic here is simple: Foreign aid is a carrot. In exchange for foreign assistance, which the Taliban desperately need to prevent economic collapse and ensure their own political survival, donors expect they can extract political concessions.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Gunmen Kill 4 Pakistani Police Near Border With Afghanistan

 

“Unidentified gunmen attacked a police patrol overnight in northwest Pakistan, killing four before fleeing the scene, a police official said Wednesday. No group claimed responsibility for the attack in Lakki Marwat, a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Police official Umar Khan said a search operation for the culprits was still underway. Khan provided no further details and only said the funeral of slain officers was held Wednesday morning. Pakistan has witnessed scores of such terrorist attacks in recent years, most of have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group. Both organizations have been emboldened by Taliban resurgence in neighboring Afghanistan, where Pakistani militants are still believed to be hiding. Before the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan often accused each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along their porous border.”

 

Nigeria

 

AFP: 12 Million Children 'Afraid' To Go To School, Nigeria’s President Says

 

“Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said 12 million children are scared to go to school in the country, where jihadis and heavily armed criminals have kidnapped hundreds of students for ransom. The first mass school abduction in Africa's most populous nation was in the northeast in 2014, when Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from Chibok, triggering a global campaign called #BringBackOurGirls. Since then, attacks on schools “have grown in number and spread across the northern part of the country,” said Buhari on Tuesday, addressing a conference on safety in education in the capital, Abuja. Gunmen in northwest and central Nigeria have increasingly targeted schools, kidnapping more than 1,000 students since December. As a result, Buhari said, “there are more than 12 million children currently traumatized and afraid of going to school.” Girls were particularly affected, he added. Young girls who leave school early are at risk of being married off, experts warn. Save the Children said earlier this month that an “estimated 44% of girls in Nigeria are married before their 18th birthday, one of the highest rates of child marriage globally.” Most kidnapped students are released after negotiations with their captors.”

 

Africa

 

Voice Of America: Abuses By Sahel Security Forces Against Citizens In Burkina Faso Down

 

“Once commonplace, abuses by state security forces against civilians in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have dropped sharply in the previous year, according to rights groups. Boubacar, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, said last year unidentified gunmen came to his home at night, shot and wounded his wife and son, then killed his brother. The next day, on doctors' orders, he traveled to Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, for medical treatment to save his son’s injured hand from amputation. While he was away, he said, Burkinabe security forces kidnapped two of his brothers. Neighbors, he said, identified the forces. Since then, the family has had no word and doesn’t know if the two are alive or dead. Abuses by security forces in the Sahel conflict, where Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger battle terror groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida, were once common. Last year, the number of civilian fatalities caused by security forces was approaching those caused by terror groups. Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, ACLED, shows the number of civilian fatalities caused by security forces has fallen dramatically in the last year to Oct. 1, compared with the previous year. They have dropped by 77% in Burkina Faso, 74% in Mali, and 65% in Niger. Rights groups say they have also observed the change and suggest why it might have occurred.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: Manchester Arena Inquiry: Bomber's Messages Held 'For Years' Before Attack

 

“Messages between the Manchester Arena bomber and an Islamic State recruiter were held by police for years, but the killer was not identified until months after the attack, an inquiry has heard. The inquiry into the atrocity was told the texts showed Salman Abedi providing his full name and discussing martyrdom. They were found on a phone seized from Abdalraouf Abdallah in November 2014. The subsequent prosecution of Abdallah relied on the messages, but police did not immediately identify Abedi. The Manchester Arena Inquiry has been looking at what was known about Abedi before the May 2017 bombing, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more. The hearing was told police first realised the relevant messages were from the bomber in 2018. Abdallah was jailed in July 2016 for facilitating the movement of extremist fighters and money to Syria. Nicholas De La Poer QC, counsel to the inquiry, said one message from Abedi included audio that spoke of “soldiers of sacrifice advancing forward and the crushing the stronghold of the enemy”. He said the texts showed Abdallah “promoting the idea of martyrdom, talking about maidens of paradise” to a contact named Salman.”

 

WTOP News: The Hunt: Online Videos Linked To Killing Of British MP

 

“David Amess, a British politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP), was killed by a 25-year-old self-radicalized man on Oct. 15. On this episode of The Hunt, with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green, Dr. Hans Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, said online videos were largely responsible for it.”

 

Europe

 

Associated Press: Dutch Court Convicts Iranian Refugee On Terror Charges

 

“A court in the Netherlands convicted an Iranian refugee Wednesday of preparing and financing terror attacks in his homeland targeting the Iranian government and its supporters. The 42-year-old man was sentenced to four years imprisonment. The man, whose identity was not released in line with Dutch privacy rules, was linked to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, a separatist group in the oil-rich Ahwaz region of southern Iran. The man, is from Ahwaz, but he was tried in Rotterdam District Court because he has lived in the Netherlands since being granted residency as a refugee. The court said in a statement that the defendant was in contact with separatists who planned and carried out attacks in Iran, including torching banks, but also targeting people linked to the Iranian government. He discussed possible targets, offered financial support and urged separatists to make video recordings of attacks, the written judgment said. Through his actions, “the suspect played an important role in a criminal and terrorist organization whose goal was to support attacks in Iran,” the court said. Prosecutors sought a six-year prison sentence, but judges said they gave a lower sentence because of the man’s personal history, which he said included being imprisoned and tortured in Iran.”

 

France 24: Norway Police Say 24 Were Targeted In Bow And Arrow Attack

 

“Norwegian police said on Wednesday that 24 people were now being treated as victims of a bow and arrow attack earlier this month in which five people were killed. A man rampaged through the town of Kongsberg west of Oslo on October 13, firing arrows and attacking people at random in their homes. Main suspect Espen Andersen Brathen, a Dane living in Kongsberg, was arrested at the scene and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, with police believing mental illness is behind the attack. “So far we have 24 victims in the case,” police inspector Per Thomas Omholt told a press conference, giving a total figure for the first time. He said the number included the five killed, three who were injured and 16 others who had been “subjected to different events”, “These are typically attempted murders and attempted woundings, mostly those who were shot at with a bow and arrow,” he said, stressing that the number could change. Omholt said police were “keeping the door open” on the motive for the attack. Brathen had previously said on social media he had converted to Islam, leading to speculation it was a jihadist attack.”

 

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