Eye on Extremism
November 4, 2019
The
New York Times: Mali Says 54 Are Killed In Jihadist Attack On Army;
ISIS Claims Responsibility
“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
“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
“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.
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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'
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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?
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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.
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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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