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Eye on Extremism
December 7, 2021
Reuters: Niger President Says Regional Armies Are Outmatched By Tech-Savvy Jihadists
“West African armies need a new strategy to combat the growing jihadist threat because improved technologies have given militants the upper hand as they seek to destabilise the Sahel region, Niger's president Mohamed Bazoum said on Monday. Groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have expanded their reach in the central Sahel since 2017, staging regular attacks that have killed thousands of people and displaced millions across Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. “Technological advances are now allowing rebel groups to access a number of tools which used to be the privilege of state forces,” said Bazoum, noting the use of satellite phones, motorcycles which make them more mobile than the army, and advanced weapons smuggled from Libya. “Sahel states must adopt a military strategy adapted to the challenges of their techniques to make the war less unbalanced,” he said. He was speaking at the Dakar Peace and Security Forum which opened on Monday in Senegal's capital, bringing together several heads of state and European ministers to discuss stability and cooperation in post-pandemic Africa. Senegalese President Macky Sall said budget-tightening by many African countries meant their armies had become less well-equipped to counter the growing jihadist threat in recent years.”
CBS News: Taliban Declares Women “Free,” But Rights Activists See Little Cause To Celebrate
“Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have issued a “special decree” outlining women's rights under the regime, but getting an education or a job are not among them. The United States welcomed the decree but noted that more was needed to ensure women's rights in Afghanistan. Women's rights activists in the country were entirely unimpressed, meanwhile, dismissing the new proclamation issued on Friday as Taliban posturing intended for the international community, not Afghan women. The decree, attributed to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, bans child marriage and states that “no one can force a woman to marry by coercion or pressure.” Child marriage and forced marriages are common across much of rural Afghanistan and have been for centuries — even under the U.S.-backed government that held sway for 20 years until the Taliban's takeover in the summer. Girls are often given away as brides to resolve disputes and settle debts between rival tribes and families. Low-income families will commonly marry their young girls to much older men in exchange for a large payment or dowry. In 2018 and 2019, in the western provinces of Herat and Badghis alone, UNICEF registered 183 cases of child marriages and 10 instances of children being sold by their families.”
United States
“The new Twitter account looked like it came from a smiling blond woman who lives in D.C., retweeting neighborhood news about a Thanksgiving giveaway, a bald eagle sighting and bike lanes near Lincoln Park.
She wrote in her bio that she was a journalist who recently got a dog and loved avocados. She included the hashtag “#DCStatehood.” Then she finally sent the first tweet of her own: “HAPPENING NOW,” she wrote on Saturday. “About 500 men with riot shields are marching in #WashingtonDC.” But this was not just a march on the National Mall, a common occurrence in a city accustomed to protests. The men were part of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group that rebranded after one of its members plowed his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville in August 2017, killing anti-racism protester Heather Heyer. And the Twitter account that announced the march wasn’t real, anti-hate group and disinformation researchers say. The small march — about 100 people — and the attention it generated, experts said, displayed the ways hate groups such as Patriot Front use the nation’s capital as a backdrop for propaganda materials and manipulate social media to their advantage. “It shows how a small troupe of fascists in uniform can … exploit the loopholes around a social media company like Twitter and absolutely make themselves look much more fearsome, look much more scary,” said Michael Edison Hayden, senior investigative reporter and spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, “and give themselves a much better shot at getting the mainstream coverage they so desperately crave.”
NBC News: Man Threatened To Shoot Up New York City Pride March, FBI Says
“Federal prosecutors arrested a man Monday who they said threatened to attack this year's New York City Pride March with “firepower” that would “make the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting look like a cakewalk.” Officials from the FBI and the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force announced that Robert Fehring, 74, was charged with mailing dozens of letters threatening to assault, shoot and bomb LGBTQ-affiliated individuals, organizations and businesses, including New York City's annual Pride festival. After executing a search warrant at his home in Bayport, New York, last month, law enforcement agents recovered photographs from a Pride event on Long Island this year, two loaded shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, two stun guns and a stamped envelope addressed to an LGBTQ-affiliated attorney containing the remains of a dead bird, federal prosecutors said. “Fehring’s alleged threats to members of the LGBTQ+ community were not only appalling, but dangerous, despite the fact he hadn’t yet acted on his purported intentions,” Michael J. Driscoll, the assistant director-in-charge of the FBI's New York Field Office, said in a statement. A criminal complaint released Monday said Fehring had sent more than 60 threatening letters to members of and organizations affiliated with the LGBTQ community since 2013 and as recently as September.”
Iraq
Reuters: Iraqi Forces, Kurdish Peshmerga Retake Northern Village From IS Fighters - Sources
“Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have recaptured a village in northern Iraq on Monday after Islamic State militants took it over the previous day, security and police sources said. Elite Iraq interior ministry forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters managed on early Monday to control Luhaiban village, though the militants have left some houses booby-trapped with explosive devices, the sources said. In a separate attack on Sunday, Islamic State militants killed four Peshmerga soldiers and a civilian, and wounded six other people when they attacked Qara Salem village in northern Iraq, security sources said. The Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said in a statement that the attack caused casualties, but did not confirm the toll. Peshmerga are the military forces of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. One Peshmerga colonel said Islamic State fighters were using hit-and-run tactics in night attacks on their positions. “They avoid holding the ground for longer time ... More reinforcement forces were dispatched to the area to prevent further attacks,” the colonel said. Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reinforced their troops in the area on Monday where the attacks had been carried out by militant group with Iraqi military helicopters flying over to chase militants, two Iraqi security sources said.”
Yemen
“The security forces in Aden have revealed the identities of suspects accused of involvement in two deadly attacks in the southern Yemeni city. Counter-terrorism forces captured the suspects, who are being linked to October's attacks on the city's governor Ahmed Lamlas, in which six people died, and a blast at Aden airport that killed five. The Supreme Security Committee said on Sunday that the October 10 attack on Mr Lamlas and Salem Al Socotra, a government minister, “was orchestrated and carried out by a Houthi-funded terror cell led by a terrorist called Mohammed Ahmed Al Maisari, along with another terrorist called Ahmed Ali Al Baydani”. The October 30 attack at Aden’s airport claimed the lives of five civilians and injured more than 40 people. The Supreme Security Committee said this was orchestrated and carried out by terrorists belonging to a Houthi-backed cell led by a man called Saleh Wadeea Hadad. The committee posted video footage in which the men admitted that they were working for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. They said they had travelled to the capital, Sanaa, where they were hosted by senior Houthi leaders. The October blasts were followed by a November 9 car bomb attack on journalist Mahmoud Amin Al Otmi, which killed his pregnant wife and their unborn baby.”
Middle East
The Jerusalem Post: Incitement Behind Rise In Palestinian Terror Attacks
“It’s hard to point to a specific reason for the latest wave of terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank. What is certain, however, is that the attacks are the result of the ongoing and increasing incitement against Israel by Palestinian officials, factions and media outlets. The attacks are also the result of calls by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other Gaza-based groups for stepping up the “resistance” against Israel. Hamas and PIJ say they are working to ignite a new intifada (uprising) against Israel, especially in Jerusalem and the West Bank. They want to take the fight against Israel to the streets of Jerusalem and the West Bank, while keeping the situation in the Gaza Strip calm. Hamas, PIJ and their followers know that an attack in Jerusalem or the West Bank can gain more attention in the media than another military confrontation with Israel in the Gaza Strip. The two groups also want to show that their members are operating beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip. They want to show that their members are even active in Jerusalem. Hamas and PIJ are seeking to present themselves to all Arabs and Muslims as the “defenders” of al-Aqsa Mosque. They want to demonstrate that they are the only ones fighting against the IDF and settlers in the West Bank.”
Nigeria
“Some of the Boko Haram terrorists that surrendered their arms may rejoin the terrorist group if the Nigerian government continues to fail in its promises, Irish Times report. A former Boko Haram insurgent, Mohammed disclosed this, stressing that education, shelter and employment are main benefits the government offered them to desert the deadly group. Mohammed narrated how his child found a leaflet on the ground, and because he (Mohammed) is illiterate, who could not read it, he pocketed the piece of paper, only showing it to a friend in the dead of night. The 42-year-old commander said the terrorists, like him, were being encouraged by the President Muhammadu Buhari government to surrender, and that the Nigerian authorities would not kill them, but would give them a place to live and training that could help them start a small business. He further revealed that he was tired of a life of violence, and convinced dozens of others to defect with him, swearing on the Quran that they would all be safe. His wife was one of the hardest to persuade. “Even if I get killed, my children will not get killed,” he told her. Eventually, 41 people escaped together. In the 15 months since, the same path has been followed by thousands of other so-called “repentant” Boko Haram fighters. Irish Times said in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State which is the besieged northeast Nigerian city known as the birthplace of the Islamic terrorist group, Mohammed was exhausted and with teary eyes.”
Somalia
All Africa: Somalia: Somali Military Destroys Al-Shabaab Bases In Lower Shabelle
“The Somali military has destroyed Al-Shabaab bases military in operation against the militants in lower Shabelle region. In a statement, the Somali National Army (SNA) said the operation was part of the ongoing operation in the country to hunt down Al-Shabaab fighters. “Somali Army's commandos Danab destroyed Al-Shabab hideouts and killed several terrorists in a planned security operation near Leego village in Lower Shabelle region, on Saturday,” read part of the statement. The operation comes as 100 Somali Gorgor (Eagle) soldiers trained in Turkey arrived back home. According to Somali military infantry commander, Mohamed Tahlil Bihi, the troops received modern commando training in Isparta, Turkey, and will be deployed on the frontline to fight against Al-Shabaab. Turkey has trained the Somalia military and supports the federal government in the areas of health, education and security.”
United Kingdom
BBC News: Manchester Arena Inquiry: No Sign Of Abedi's Extremism At School, Teacher Says
“The Manchester Arena bomber's former head teacher has told an inquiry there was no sign of his extremism while he was at school. Twenty-two people were killed when Salman Abedi detonated a bomb in the venue's foyer on 22 May 2017. Abedi studied at Burnage Academy for Boys in Manchester for about 18 months between 2009 and 2011. The public inquiry into the attack heard he was “aggressive and rude” to teachers and was suspended from school. Former head teacher Ian Fenn said there was “no indication” from school staff that Abedi or his family had extreme or radical views. “He never came across as somebody who was opinionated, who was driven, that had an agenda. He was a typically lacklustre child who drifted around,” he told the hearing. The inquiry heard that Abedi's school record was a “catalogue of misdemeanours, criminality and disengagement”. Mr Fenn said on one occasion Abedi swore at one of his colleagues after being told to report to a senior member of staff. He was also temporarily excluded from school for stealing a mobile phone. “This was the first time I'd used the CCTV [at school] and I caught him. A prefect had put a phone down on the reception table and he'd just gone past and swiped it and walked off with it,” Mr Fenn said. The inquiry heard Abedi was also suspended for a day for setting off fireworks outside school.”
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