November 4, 2019

The New York Times: Mali Says 54 Are Killed In Jihadist Attack On Army; ISIS Claims Responsibility <[link removed]>

“At least 53 soldiers and one civilian have been killed in a jihadist attack on a military post in northern Mali on Friday, the government said on Saturday. In a post on Twitter, the army described it as a “terrorist attack.” On Saturday, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault on the army post in Indelimane, in the Menaka region, according to the group’s Amaq news agency. The attack was one of the deadliest strikes against the West African country’s military in recent memory. The violence is expected to further raise tensions in the capital, Bamako, where military families have already protested in the streets. Relatives say that soldiers have not been adequately protected on the ground as they face an array of jihadist groups. Mali has suffered sporadic violence since 2012, when Islamist militants took over the north of the country. The country is still reeling from deadly jihadist raids in late September that underscored the increasing reach and sophistication of armed groups operating in the region. A government spokesman, Yaya Sangare, said on Twitter early on Saturday that “54 bodies including one civilian” were found, along with 10 survivors, in the latest assault. The attack unleashed “considerable material damage,” he said, but added, “The situation is under control.”

CNN: US State Department Warns ISIS Grew And Evolved Worldwide As It Lost Territory In Syria <[link removed]>

“Despite the collapse of its territorial caliphate, ISIS remained a growing and evolving threat even as it lost territory in Syria, a top State Department official said Friday. Counterterrorism Coordinator Ambassador Nathan Sales, speaking just days after the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said the terrorist organization spread its influence through affiliates and individual actors. “Terrorist fighters are always looking for the next battleground,” Sales told reporters during a briefing to unveil the department's 2018 Country Reports on Terrorism. “And I think we're concerned about the possibility that jihadis who've been defeated in Syria might relocate elsewhere, whether you're talking about ISIS Khorasan in Afghanistan or moving into the Sahel.” President Donald Trump claimed the defeat of ISIS in Syria in December 2018 as justification for his hasty decision to remove US troops from that country -- a decision that he walked back and reinstituted in various iterations, including in the past several weeks. Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, announced in late March that the physical caliphate had been defeated. Trump has repeatedly touted his role in the group's territorial defeat.”

Fox News: State Department Says Iran Still Biggest State Sponsor Of Terror, Spends $1B Per Year On Proxies <[link removed]>

“Iran is still the “world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism” and Al Qaeda wants to reestablish itself as the “vanguard of the global jihadist movement,” the State Department said in its Country Reports on Terrorism 2018, which was released Friday. The Tehran regime has spent nearly $1 billion per year to support terror groups “that serve as its proxies and expand its malign influence across the globe,” the State Department said. Those groups include Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iran has also plotted its own terrorist acts around the globe, most notably in Belgium, France, and Germany, according to the department. Al Qaeda continued to fester in 2018, as well. “Despite our sustained efforts since Sept. 11, 2001, and the group’s leadership losses, Al Qaeda's regional affiliates continue to expand their ranks, plot, and carry out attacks, as well as raise funds and inspire new recruits through social media and virtual technologies,” the State Department said. The U.S. continues to combat terrorism on all fronts, and “pursue Al Qaeda globally” while also apply maximum pressure on Iran, “significantly expanding sanctions on Iranian state actors and proxies,” according to the department.”

The Washington Post: Hezbollah Had Been Nearly Untouchable In Lebanon. But The People Are Fighting Back. <[link removed]>

“The anti-corruption protests that have swept Lebanon over the past two weeks have a remarkable and little-noted feature: They’re in open defiance of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia that dominates Lebanese politics. And there’s another aspect of this reform movement that’s highly unusual for a Middle East that often seems addicted to bad news: It appears to be succeeding, at least initially. Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his government resigned on Tuesday, and President Michel Aoun said Thursday that he wants a new government of technocrats, as the protesters had demanded. “The new ministers must be chosen according to their expertise and experience, not political loyalties,” Aoun said Thursday night. A member of the protest movement told me after Aoun’s speech that Hezbollah might try to vet the new cabinet members, but added that his call for a nonpolitical government is a step forward.”

Daily News: Our Answer To Online Extremism: Our Project, Ctrl+Alt+Del-Hate, Is Designed To Counter A Rising Tide Of Radicalism <[link removed]>

“Each of us was once a notorious hatemonger. One, commander of the largest neo-Nazi organization in America. Another, creator of jihadi-cool propaganda that targets Muslims in the West. The third, a former white supremacist whose life inspired the Oscar-nominated “American History X.” Since the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh last year, we’ve been working together to formulate a solution to the rising threat posed by violent extremism. Today, we are launching the outcome of that collaboration. We call it Ctrl+Alt+Del-Hate, and we believe it can help turn the tide. Cltr+Alt+Del is a combination of computer keystrokes, but to us, it means something else. “Ctrl” is to sit in the space between stimulus and response. As Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once described, it is “in that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” “Alt” is to alter course, to create space free of hate and to generate alternative communities that offer the same meaning, purpose and camaraderie extremists offer their recruits.”

New York Post: German City Declares ‘Nazi Emergency’ Amid Rise In Extremism <[link removed]>

“The German city of Dresden has declared a “Nazi emergency” — with local lawmakers citing years of increased far-right extremism in the area, according to a new report. Dresden city councilors passed a resolution this week warning that the strength of the movement was growing, CNN reported. The move is symbolic and has no legal consequences. “For years, politicians have failed to position themselves clearly and unequivocally against the right-wing extremists, and to outlaw them,” councilor Max Aschenbach told CNN. “There is a serious problem — similar to the climate emergency — with right-wing extremism right up to the middle of society,” he said. Dresden, in Germany’s east, is where anti-Islam protests broke out in the wake of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. A far-right movement called Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West first emerged in Dresden in 2013 and still holds rallies regularly in the city, according to the report. Far right party Alternative for Deutschland also won 27.5 percent of the vote there in this year’s state election. The “Nazi emergency” vote passed Dresden’s city council on Wednesday, 39 votes to 29. The center-right Christian Democratic Union party, which voted against the resolution, called it an “intended provocation.”

United States

Reuters: Racially And Ethnically Motivated Terrorism Rose Alarmingly In 2018: U.S. State Department <[link removed]>

“Ethnically and racially driven terrorism rose alarmingly in 2018 both worldwide and in the United States, and groups have often mimicked the tactics of armed Islamist militants to radicalize and recruit people, the U.S. State Department said on Friday. “Similar to Islamist terrorism this breed of terrorism is inspired by hateful, supremacist and intolerant ideology,” Nathan Sales, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator, told a briefing, adding that the 2018 attack by a gunman who killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh was an example of the rising trend. “Make no mistake we will confront all forms of terrorism no matter what ideology inspires it,” Sales said. He added that white supremacist and other racially motivated terror organizations were copying strategies from armed Islamist groups. “They are in a sense learning from their jihadist predecessors in terms of their ability to raise money and move money, in terms of their ability to radicalize and recruit.”

Global News: ‘It’s Healing’: How Former Extremists Are Working Together To Undermine The Far Right <[link removed]>

“Jesse Morton used to produce literature designed to lure youths into terrorism. But since his release from prison, he’s turned his persuasive skills against extremist groups. His latest project is an experimental work of counter-propaganda that takes direct aim at the far right. A magazine titled “Ctrl+Alt+Del-Hate,” it uses the first-person testimonies of reformed extremists to coax foot soldiers out of radical violence. On Monday, it will be strategically posted onto far-right internet and social media platforms in the hope of challenging extremist narratives and offering a way out. “It will be a conversation starter,” said Morton, a convicted former Al Qaeda supporter who teamed up with a Canadian ex-hate group leader on the project.”

Syria

The Washington Post: Inside Syria’s Teeming ISIS Prisons: Broken Men, Child Inmates And Orders To Break Free <[link removed]>

“They are the remains of the Islamic State, a once sprawling kingdom built by foot soldiers from around the world to terrorize and enslave those they conquered. Hollow-eyed and gaunt, the men and boys look broken. Days are spent in halting conversation with cellmates who still have the energy, or staring blankly across the teeming, fetid cells. Many have lost limbs in the battles that led them here. Others have lost eyes and ears, a result, they said, of airstrikes. As Islamist militants fought in March for their last square mile in eastern Syria, fighters and families from more than 60 countries streamed out of their stronghold to surrender into the custody of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led force. Eight months on, more than 10,000 men and children are still crammed into at least 25 makeshift prisons, lingering in legal twilight. The Kurdish-led force that holds them does not have the capacity to investigate or try them, and their home governments are mostly unwilling to take them back to face trials there.  Amid the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops and advancing Turkish and Syrian government forces, the shifting local landscape is posing an increasingly urgent question: What will become of these men and the potential threat they pose for the world outside their prison walls?”

Al Jazeera: Over A Dozen Killed In Car Bomb Attack Near Turkey-Syria Border <[link removed]>

“At least 13 people have been killed in a car bomb explosion in a Syrian town on the border with Turkey, according to the Turkish defence ministry. The blast on Saturday ripped through a crowded market in Tal Abyad, a town controlled by Turkish-backed opposition fighters. “Based on first findings, 13 civilians were killed and around 20 others injured” in the explosion, Turkey's defence ministry said in a statement. The northeastern town has witnessed some of the heaviest fighting since the Turkish military launched an operation in northeast Syria last month against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is spearheaded by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and was for years allied to the United States in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group. An AFP news agency correspondent in Tal Abyad saw the skeletons of two motorbikes ablaze in the middle of a rubble-strewn street. A group of men carried the severely burned body of a victim onto the back of a pickup truck, as a veiled young woman stood aghast by the side of the street. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-Turkey fighters and civilians were among the dead and wounded in the car explosion.”

Fox News: Anti-ISIS Coalition Destroys Terror Group's Tunnel Systems <[link removed]>

“The Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) anti-ISIS coalition recently uncovered and destroyed several of the terror group's tunnel systems and suspected safe havens in northern Iraq, according to military officials. OIR used demolition material -- rather than the more common precision strike -- to destroy a 1,300-foot tunnel in Ninewah Province, which shares a border with northeastern Syria. The subterranean hideout was considered a long-term safe haven for Islamic State (ISIS) members, and it contained “bed down areas, a stove for cooking and electrical material for lighting,” coalition officials said in a press release Saturday. “There is an awareness to where Daesh is hiding,” OIR Commander and Air Force Maj. Gen. Eric Hill said, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym. The announcement came one week after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed himself by detonating an explosive vest during a raid by U.S. forces at a compound in northern Syria. The terror group since announced a new leader and has threatened to get revenge on the U.S. Meanwhile, the French Air Force on Thursday bombed an ISIS weapons cache in Iraq and posted footage of the assault online. Two other tunnel systems under an unoccupied village in Ninewah Province were also blown up, one by demolition material and the other by an F-35 airstrike, the coalition said.”   

The Epoch Times: ‘If We Can Keep The Oil Away From ISIS, They Will Never Regenerate:’ Graham <[link removed]>

“A day after ISIS confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and named his successor, Abu Ibrahim Hashimi al-Quraishi, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) reiterated the importance of keeping oil out of the reach of the terrorist group in order to stem its expansion. Speaking to reporters on Friday in Pendleton, South Carolina, Graham clarified what he believes will keep the terror group, which has been decimated by U.S. and allied forces in recent years, from making a comeback. “ISIS will never come back in Syria if we can keep the oil out of their hands,” he said. “That’s how the caliphate got so large—$45 million a month was generated in oil revenue used by ISIS to keep the caliphate going.” “If we can keep the oil away from ISIS, they will never regenerate like they did before, and a small number of troops over there [Syria region] working with the Kurds will keep them [ISIS terrorists] from coming back,” he added. Graham also added that he envisions the United States will maintain “a military presence in Syria and make sure the oil fields do not fall into the hands of ISIS or Iran,” and “continue to partner with the SDF Kurdish forces and make sure ISIS doesn’t regenerate.” Weeks earlier, Graham also expressed his optimism about the situation in Syria.”

Iran

Los Angeles Times: Forty Years Later, Former U.S. Embassy Hostages Reflect On The Future Of Relations With Iran <[link removed]>

“Forty years after having been taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, some survivors of the 444-day ordeal say that despite their own deep-seated scars, and those that remain between the U.S. and Iranian governments, it would be beneficial for the two nations to get beyond the enmity of the past. But they are not particularly optimistic it will happen. “It’s still regrettable that we have this adversarial relationship with Iran,” said William J. Daugherty, a 72-year-old former CIA case officer who spoke to The Times from Savannah, Ga. Daugherty was among the 52 Americans tormented by a seemingly never-ending regime of interrogations, psychological torture and beatings after several hundred Iranian student activists stormed the American compound on the morning of Nov. 4, 1979, and captured many of the diplomats and employees inside.”

Al Jazeera: US Calls Iran World's Leading 'State Sponsor Of Terrorism' <[link removed]>

“It is part of an annual report which claims Iran spends nearly $1bn a year, supporting what the United States describes as "terrorist groups". The US State Department report has accused Iran of being the world's leading "state sponsor of terrorism". In the report, it praised Gulf countries for making progress, but says more needs to be done. Al Jazeera's Victoria Gatenby reports.”

Associated Press: Iran Spins More Centrifuges On US Embassy Crisis Anniversary <[link removed]>

“Iran on Monday broke further away from its collapsing 2015 nuclear deal with world powers by announcing it’s doubling the number of advanced centrifuges it operates, calling the decision a direct result of President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement. The announcement — which also included Iran saying it now has a prototype centrifuge that works 50 times faster than those allowed under the deal — came as demonstrators across the country marked the 40th anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover that started a 444-day hostage crisis. By starting up these advanced centrifuges, Iran further cuts into the one year that experts estimate Tehran would need to have enough material for building a nuclear weapon — if it chose to pursue one. Iran long has insisted its program is for peaceful purposes, though Western fears about its work led to the 2015 agreement that saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.”

The Wall Street Journal: Iran Marks Anniversary Of U.S. Embassy Siege As Jailed Americans Await Thaw <[link removed]>

“Iranian conservatives on Monday celebrate the 40th anniversary of an event that has poisoned U.S.-Iran relations, and introduced what has become a frequent Iranian tactic: detaining foreigners as political pawns. Since a mob of Iranian students during the 1979 Islamic Revolution climbed the walls of the American Embassy in Tehran and took 52 diplomats hostage for 444 days, Iran has routinely imprisoned foreigners, including Americans. The images of U.S. hostages—blindfolded and with hands bound—created a deep well of popular resentment that has ebbed little over four decades. “The hostage crisis was America’s first fully televised foreign crisis,” said Gary Sick, who was the main White House aide on Iran in 1979. “And that image of Iranians as ferocious, fanatic bearded men shaking their fists at the camera crept into the American consciousness in a way that basically has never been changed.”  

Iraq

The Wall Street Journal: Protesters Attack Iranian Consulate In Iraqi City <[link removed]>

“Iraqi protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in the city of Karbala, in the latest sign of mounting anger against Tehran’s involvement in the country’s affairs. Protesters scaled the consulate’s walls late Sunday while hauling an Iraqi flag. Security forces fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters who were throwing Molotov cocktails over the wall, video footage witnesses provided to The Wall Street Journal showed. The attack on the consulate came days after Iraq’s top cleric warned foreign powers, including Iran, not to interfere in Iraq. It also followed weeks of accusations by protesters and human-rights organizations against Iranian-backed militias for alleged violence against protesters. The protests, which began in October, are rooted in grievances about government services, but have expanded into demands for the toppling of the entire political class.”

The Washington Post: Iraq Officials: 3 Killed In Protest Outside Iran Consulate <[link removed]>

“Iraqi security forces shot dead three protesters and wounded 19 when they dispersed a violent demonstration outside the Iranian Consulate in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, police officials said Monday. Iraq has seen mass protests in the capital and across the mostly Shiite south in recent days that are fueled by economic grievances and directed at the government and powerful political parties. The protesters have increasingly directed their anger at Iran, which has close ties to the government, Shiite political factions and paramilitary groups. On Sunday night, dozens of Iraqi protesters set tires ablaze in Karbala and attacked the Iranian Consulate, scaling the concrete barriers ringing the building as other lobbed firebombs over the walls. They tried to bring down the Iranian flag and replace it with the Iraqi one but could not reach it. They then placed an Iraqi flag on the wall around the consulate.”

Turkey

Reuters: Turkey Says It Will Send Back Islamic State Prisoners Even If Citizenships Revoked <[link removed]>

“Turkey will send captured Islamic State members back to their countries even if their citizenships have been revoked, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday, criticizing the approach of European countries on the issue. Turkey launched an offensive into northeastern Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia last month following a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from the region. The move prompted widespread concern over the fate of Islamic State prisoners in the region. The YPG is the main element of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has been a leading U.S. ally in beating back Islamic State in the region, and has kept thousands of jihadists in jails across northeastern Syria. The United States and Turkey’s Western allies have said Ankara’s offensive could hinder the fight against Islamic State and aid its resurgence. Turkey, which views the YPG as a terrorist group linked with insurgent Kurdish militants on its own soil, has rejected those concerns and vowed to combat Islamic State with its allies. It has repeatedly called on European countries to take back their citizens fighting for the jihadists. Speaking to reporters, Soylu said Turkey would send back any captured Islamic State fighters to their countries even if their citizenships are revoked.”

Asharq Al-Awsat: Did Turkey Know Where Baghdadi Was Hiding? <[link removed]>

“As US intelligence analysts comb through electronic and paper documents seized from the lair of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, one question is foremost on their minds: How was the ISIS leader able to find refuge in a Syrian province secured by the Turkish military and its proxy forces? Three US national security officials told me that they want to know more about Turkey’s knowledge of Baghdadi’s whereabouts. One important task for the team now going through the material seized in the Baghdadi raid and another raid that killed organization’s spokesman, Abul Hassan al-Muhajir, is to map out the relationship between Turkey’s intelligence service and ISIS. Both men were hiding close to the Turkish border in Syrian territory. Muhajir was found in Jarabulus, a town in the Aleppo province patrolled by Turkish forces. Baghdadi was found in Idlib province, where there are numerous Turkish military checkpoints. It’s possible, of course, that two of the most wanted terrorists in the world managed to slip under the noses of a NATO ally. But US intelligence officials are suspicious. And this suspicion is based not just on where Muhajir and Baghdadi were found in Syria. In the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the Turkish intelligence service allowed foreign recruits from Europe and Africa to travel through Turkey into Syria.”

Afghanistan

Al Jazeera: Nine Children Killed In Afghanistan Landmine Blast <[link removed]>

“Nine children were killed when a planted roadside bomb exploded as they walked to school in a northeastern province of Afghanistan, government and police officials said. The blast happened in Darqad district of Takhar province on Saturday, when the children, aged between eight and 11, stepped on the bomb planted on a road in a Taliban-controlled village. “In the morning on roadside, nine children were killed in a landmine blast placed by the Taliban. Three children, who were part of the group, are missing,” Jawad Hejri, a spokesman for the Takhar provincial governor, told Al Jazeera.  No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, and the Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the deaths of the children, the latest victims in a growing toll of civilian casualties in the war. “This area is under Taliban control and since security forces launched attacks to clear it, the Taliban have planted anti-personnel mines,” Khalil Asir, a spokesman for the provincial police, told Reuters news agency. In May, a landmine killed seven children and wounded two more in the southern province of Ghazni. Last month, the United Nations released a report saying an “unprecedented” number of civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan from July to September this year.”

Xinhua: Afghan Forces Kill 10 Militants In Western Farah Province <[link removed]>

“At least 10 militants have been killed as government forces backed by warplanes have stormed the Taliban hideouts in the western Afghan province of Farah since Saturday, a provincial police spokesman said on Sunday. In the ongoing crackdown on militants, the warplanes pounded Taliban hideouts in Raj and Shorabad villages outside the provincial capital of Farah city, killing seven insurgents, spokesman Mohibullah Mohib said. Three more militants have also been killed in Garji and Mahajiran villages as the cleanup operation has been ongoing outside the provincial capital and its vicinity, Mohib added. Taliban militants who have presence in parts of the troubled Farah province over the past few years have not commented on the report.”

Saudi Arabia

Asharq Al-Awsat: US State Department Hails Saudi Role In Combating Terrorism <[link removed]>

“The United States hailed on Friday Saudi Arabia’s efforts in combating terrorism and the threat of ISIS and al-Qaeda sympathizers. In its annual terrorism report for 2018, the State Department said Saudi Arabia “continued to maintain a strong counter-terrorism relationship with the United States and responded to terrorist threats from violent militant groups, ISIS sympathizers, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Iran-backed Houthi militants based in Yemen.” Based on local reporting, the Kingdom continued to see a reduction in the number of deaths attributable to terrorist violence as the government actively and effectively improved its counter-terrorism readiness. “Through a range of counter-terrorism initiatives, many in partnership with the US government, Saudi Arabia took tangible steps to strengthen its counter-terrorism capabilities in border security, counter terrorist financing and countering violent extremism,” said the report. Saudi Arabia remained a key member and active participant in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and co-leads the Defeat-ISIS Coalition’s Counter-ISIS Finance Group, it stressed. The Kingdom co-chairs the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) with the United States, an initiative founded in 2017 to increase US-Gulf multilateral collaboration to counter terrorist financing.”

Lebanon

The National: Hezbollah Will Go To Great Lengths To Protect The Power It Has Won Over Decades <[link removed]>

“Dear Nasrallah, all of them means all of them, and you before all of them.” So read a placard held by a woman from Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs – a nod to protesters’ demands that Lebanon’s entire political class should step down. The mass demonstrations that have swept through Lebanon for the past fortnight have targeted the ruling elite with widespread criticism – including Hezbollah. Like all of Lebanon’s traditional political parties, it has seen rarely voiced dissent from within its traditional support base. Researchers say a taboo has been broken in Shiite communities, which now feel able to criticise their leaders. With 13 seats in parliament and three cabinet positions, the party has not been spared accusations of corruption aimed at Lebanon’s entire political elite Lebanon’s dismal economy and US sanctions – part of Washington’s maximum-pressure campaign on Iran and its proxies – have affected Hezbollah’s ability to provide jobs and community services, which had won it loyalty historically. And with 13 seats in parliament and three Cabinet positions, the party has not been spared accusations of corruption aimed at Lebanon’s entire political elite. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, at first appeared to support the demonstrations, saying they “surpassed sects, doctrines, regions and political orientations.”

Middle East

Asharq Al-Awsat: Houthis Intimidate International Aid Organizations Amid UN Silence <[link removed]>

“Houthi militias have escalated their violations against international and local organizations present in areas that fall under their control, especially those operating in the medical field. These violations come in line with the militiasط attempts to hinder these organizations’ work and terrorize their staff to impose guardianship on them, serve their suspicious agendas and achieve illegal political and materialistic gains, amid an unjustified UN silence. Workers in several international humanitarian and health organizations in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat they were harassed and blackmailed by Houthi elements many times and in more than one region. They said the militias’ criminal behavior against them as workers and against international organizations reveals their terrorist nature.”

Egypt

Reuters: Egypt's Sinai Province Swears Allegiance To New Islamic State Leader <[link removed]>

“Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate, Sinai Province, has sworn allegiance to the new leader named by the group following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the affiliate said on Telegram on Saturday. Sinai Province, which has waged an insurgency against the Egyptian state, posted pictures of around two dozen fighters standing among trees, with a caption saying they were pledging allegiance to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi. Quraishi was named on Thursday in an audio message that also confirmed Baghdadi’s death and vowed revenge against the United States. U.S. special forces killed Baghdadi in a raid in northwest Syria. Islamic State has resorted to guerrilla attacks since losing its last significant piece of territory in Syria in March, and has posted dozens of claims of responsibility for attacks in several countries since Baghdadi’s death. Conflict in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula escalated after President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was toppled by the military in 2013. Egyptian ground and air forces launched a major offensive focussed on North Sinai early last year. Military operations and militant attacks continue in the area.”

Nigeria

Xinhua: Nigerian Troops Kill 6 Boko Haram Fighters In Gunfight <[link removed]>

“At least Six Boko Haram fighters were killed by Nigerian troops in a gunfight, as they attempted to take over a military base in the northeastern state of Borno, defense sources said on Sunday. The troops engaged the Boko Haram militants in a gunfight on Friday night, as they targeted the military base in Gwon town of Mafa local government area, located around 10 km north of Maiduguri, the state capital, a senior defense official who preferred anonymity told Xinhua. The gunfight lasted for about three hours, causing more militants to escape with bullet wounds, said the source. Another source said the militants stormed the military base with four gun trucks and motorcycles. In their attempt to gain entry into base, they destroyed two gates leading to the military formation. Following the repelled attack, troops have intensified search for Boko Haram militants in the locality, added the source. The Nigerian military is yet to officially confirm the development.”

Somalia

Reuters: Somalia's Islamic State Affiliate Vows Support For Group's New Leader <[link removed]>

“Somalia’s Islamic State affiliate, one of the most important outposts of the militant group, swore allegiance in a statement on Sunday to the new leader named by the organization following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Somalia’s Province posted pictures on Telegram of around a dozen fighters standing among trees, with a caption saying they were pledging allegiance to Quraishi. Quraishi was named as the organization’s leader on Thursday in an audio message that also confirmed Baghdadi’s death and vowed revenge against the United States. U.S. special forces killed Baghdadi in a raid in northwest Syria.”

Africa

The Washington Post: Militants Linked With Al-Qaeda And ISIS Can Still Strike Hard In Mali. Here’s Why. <[link removed]>

“A deadly attack on a remote military outpost in Mali has highlighted the resilience of Islamist fighters across huge stretches of Africa, even as President Trump boasts of the defeat of Islamic State forces in other parts of the world. At least 53 soldiers and one civilian were killed Friday when militants attacked the outpost near Mali’s border with Niger. It is one of the deadliest attacks against Malian forces and a bloody reminder that militants linked with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Mali are working to gain ground in the region, experts say. Many factors driving the rise of these militants — grinding poverty, government neglect, pervasive insecurity and exploitation of ethnic differences — are similar to what enabled the Islamic State in 2014 to amass a statelike apparatus in Iraq and Syria until U.S.-backed Iraqi and Syrian forces pushed them out in 2017. And the absence of adequately addressing these concerns, experts say, is also what’s helping to drive their regrouping in West Africa and beyond. Mali is a sprawling country twice the size of Texas and neighbors seven countries with porous borders. It is in the region of Africa known as the Sahel, an extremely arid area stretching from one shore of the continent to the other.”

The Washington Post: In Kenya’s Battle Against Al-Shabab, Locals Say The Military Is Fighting Terror With Terror <[link removed]>

“As the newly elected representative for this remote village of sheep and camel herders out in the expanse of Kenya’s red-sand borderlands with Somalia, Issa Ahmed Abdi decided to dig a well for his community. But the drill made a lot of noise — “like a chopper or a tank,” he recalled. “Mothers were running away with children on their backs, like terrified antelope. I had to go into the bush to convince them it wasn’t the military.” The people who live here are Kenyan citizens, yet they say they fear their country’s military more than al-Shabab, an extremist group that controls the area across the border as well as most of rural southern Somalia, imposing a strict Islamic code and drafting young men into its battles. Eight years into Kenya’s U.S.-backed offensive to combat al-Shabab, both in Somalia and domestically, residents of Kutulo say the Kenyan military is fighting terror with terror. They say the Kenya Defense Forces, or KDF, regularly round up noncombatants from Kenya’s ethnic Somali population as a form of collective punishment for al-Shabab attacks on Kenyan soil. Some detainees are released and sworn to silence about their interrogation. But sometimes a neighbor finds a decomposing body on the side of a road days or months later.”

Bloomberg: Burkina Faso Lawmaker Killed In Area Ravaged By Militants <[link removed]>

“A Burkinabe Parliament member, who was also one of the last authorities in a region ravaged by militants, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in the northern Djibo region on Sunday, security and government officials said. The lawmaker, Oumarou Dicko, who had gone to officiate the launch of a Red Cross program to tackle youth employment, was traveling back to the capital Ouagadougou when his car hit a roadside bomb that killed the driver before gunmen opened fire and killed the lawmaker, a civil servant and Dicko’s cousin. The assault comes as Burkina Faso grapples with an Islamist insurgency that has displaced more than half a million people, according to the U.N. Over 200,000 people have been displaced in the last four months, most of them from the West African nation’s northern regions. The Sahel, a semi-arid region on the southern fringe of the Sahara, stands out as a region where violent extremism is on the rise in contrast to progress made fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The spike in violence has lead to increasing discontent with how President Roch Marc Christian Kabore’s government is tackling the situation. Senior opposition politicians have called for Kabore step down.”

Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Mali Attack <[link removed]>

“Islamic state has claimed responsibility for an attack in northeastern Mali that killed at least 53 soldiers, the group’s Amaq news agency reported on Saturday without citing evidence. Mali government said that the soldiers and one civilian had been killed in an attack on an army post in northern Mali, in one of the deadliest strikes against the West African country’s military in recent memory.”

United Kingdom

The Telegraph: Terrorist Propaganda And Gruesome Execution Videos Should Be Banned Under New Laws, London Bridge Coroner Recommends <[link removed]>

“New terror laws should ban possession of gruesome extremist images to help thwart future atrocities, the coroner who oversaw inquests into the London Bridge attack has said. Mark Lucraft QC, who investigated the deaths of eight victims and three killers in the June 2017 rampage, suggested a gap in legislation was currently hampering counter-terror police. In his report on “Action to Prevent Future Deaths”, the Chief Coroner of England and Wales said his concern was piqued by similarities in the investigations into the London Bridge and Westminster Bridge ringleaders. Khuram Butt, orchestrator of the London Bridge plot, had been under investigation by MI5 and Scotland Yard since 2015 and was known to obsessively view Isil related material. The security service had similarly been aware that Khalid Masood, the Westminster Bridge killer, browsed extremist content and on one occasion praised the 9/11 attacks in New York. Mr Lucraft called on the Home Secretary to consider new laws that mirror extreme pornography legislation, which outlaws possession of “carefully defined categories of the most offensive material”. He highlighted that, by contrast, offences in counter-terror legislation only banned the possession of documents likely to assist a terrorist act or the dissemination of terrorist publications.”

The Guardian: Isis Women Driven By More Than Marriage, Research Shows <[link removed]>

“Women and girls who attach themselves to Islamic State are driven by a complex combination of factors beyond just love or marriage, including feelings of social exclusion and the appeal of sisterhood, according to research by a counter-extremism thinktank. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) has put together guidance to help people working with women and girls who have returned from Isis-held territories. The guidance, based on interviews with intervention providers who have collectively worked with more 250 radicalised women and girls in the UK and the Netherlands, says there is a mainstream perception that women and girls affiliated with Isis – often called “jihadi brides” – are motivated only by love or marriage. It has been reported that around 100 British women and girls left the UK to join Isis, making up 12% of all British citizens who travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the group. Judges are considering the Home Office’s decision to revoke the citizenship of one such woman, Shamima Begum. The guidance says marriage is a factor in many cases but adds: “A simplistic view of the motivations of women and girls affiliated with Islamist extremism can reinforce misleading stereotypes and biases that suggest that women are passive followers rather than active, ideological supporters.”

Germany 

Deutsche Welle:Turkey Demands Germany Take Back 20 Captured 'Islamic State' Members <[link removed]>

“Turkey has demanded that 20 captured German members of “Islamic State” (IS) be repatriated, according to media reports. “We need the full cooperation and active partnership of our allies in the fight against terrorism,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's communications director, Fahrettin Altun, told Germany's Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper in an interview published Monday. According to Altun, four German IS fighters have been captured since the Turkish military and allied militia began a cross-border military operation in northeast Syria against Syrian Kurdish-led forces on October 9. Another 16 German nationals who had joined the jihadi terrorist group were already in Turkish custody.On Saturday, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu criticized European states for not repatriating imprisoned IS members in Turkey. “We are not a hotel for IS members from any country,” he said. European states have been wary of repatriating their citizens who went to fight for an IS “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq, fearing a political backlash, complications with gathering evidence to convict them and the risk of extremist attacks at home. Soylu's remarks were directed at several countries — including the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom — which have moved to strip dual national IS members of their citizenship or refused to repatriate them.”  

Europe

Reuters: Italy To Ban Flights By Iran's Mahan Air From Mid-December <[link removed]>

“Italy is set to ban flights by Iran’s Mahan Air, an Iranian industry official said on Saturday, as the United States seeks action against the airline accused by the West of transporting military equipment and personnel to Middle East war zones. Germany and France have both already banned flights by the airline, and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in early October that Rome was set to make a decision on whether to follow suit. Italy’s air authority ENAC said in a statement that the ban on Mahan’s flights to Rome and Milan would take effect in mid-December. The Association of Iranian Airlines (AIA) confirmed the news of the ban. “Along with their pressure on our country, the Americans have pressed Italy to stop Mahan Air flights to Rome and Milan,” Maqsoud Asadi Samani, secretary of the AIA, was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency Mehr."

Southeast Asia

Free Malaysia Today: Malaysia Remains Transit Point For Terrorist Groups, Says US Report <[link removed]>

“Malaysia remains a “source and transit” point for terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS), Abu Sayyaf, al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, says a US government’s report on terrorism in 2018. The Country Reports on Terrorism 2018, published yesterday, takes note of Malaysia’s efforts to combat terrorism by various means, including monitoring social media, border patrols and rules to counter financing of terrorism. This includes Bank Negara’s “Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Policy-Digital Currencies” directive. The report said that while there were no-IS affiliated attacks in Malaysia last year, suspected IS supporters from Turkey and individuals travelling to the southern Philippines to support IS-affiliated groups used Malaysia as a transit point. “Malaysia monitored, arrested, deported and tried suspected supporters of terrorist groups,” said the report. Last year, the report said police arrested some 20 individuals in Sabah for alleged terrorism-related activities, including smuggling militants into southern Philippines, enabling kidnapping operations, recruiting children as militants and human shields, as well as participating in Abu Sayyaf beheadings.”

Technology

Vice: Twitter Has Been Flooded With ISIS Propaganda Since Al Baghdadi's Death <[link removed]>

“In the moments on Twitter following the breaking news of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death, hashtags sprung up in al-Baghdadi’s name and that of the Islamic State. Under the cover of these threads, a network of ISIS accounts showing signs of automated and semi-automated behavior went to work. Tagging terrorist content such as al-Baghdadi’s final video address, and other videos highlighting the “blessed mujhadeen of the State,” the accounts hashtagged their content with the trending topics of the day across the Middle East and North Africa, including Saudi football clubs, a luxury rental car company in Dubai, and even a hashtag for finding a Sudanese wife. Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) researchers monitored this Arabic ISIS-Twitter account network for a full week, and tracked the tactics and content of these account showing strong signs of automation and semi-automation following the death announcement of the “Caliphate’s” first charlatan-in-chief of a leader, al-Baghdadi. As of Friday, the accounts were tweeting out audio content produced by al Furqan media heralding the ascension of the new ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al Hashimi al Qurashi."

The Times Of Israel: Twitter Suspends Hamas- And Hezbollah-Affiliated Handles <[link removed]>

“Twitter has suspended accounts affiliated with the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups as well as a Palestinian news outlet. As of Sunday, access to Hamas’s English and Arabic handles as well as several of those belonging to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV was no longer available. Access to three Quds News Network accounts was also cut off. When The Times of Israel searched for the accounts, a message stating that they had been suspended appeared. The message said that the social media company “suspends accounts which violate the Twitter rules.” Twitter’s website features a list of rules, including that one may not “threaten violence against an individual or group of people” or “threaten or promote terrorism or violent extremism.” Both the US and Israel consider Hamas and Hezbollah to be terrorist organizations. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and has vowed to destroy Israel, has fought three wars with the Jewish state in the past 12 years. Its officials have frequently praised stabbing, shooting, rocket and ramming attacks against Israelis. Al-Manar said Twitter’s suspension of its accounts was a result of “political pressures.”



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The Counter Extremism Project - United States
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