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Eye on Extremism
January 31, 2022
Reuters: Biden Calls On Taliban To Release American Hostage
“U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday called on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to release a U.S. civil engineer who was abducted two years ago and is believed to be the last American hostage held by the Taliban. Mark Frerichs, a 59-year-old U.S. Navy veteran from Lombard, Illinois, who worked in Afghanistan for a decade on development projects. He was kidnapped a month before the February 2020 U.S. troop pullout deal was signed and was transferred to the Haqqani network, a brutal Taliban faction accused of some of the deadliest attacks of the war. Monday marks his second year in captivity. “Threatening the safety of Americans or any innocent civilians is always unacceptable, and hostage-taking is an act of particular cruelty and cowardice,” Biden said in a statement. “The Taliban must immediately release Mark before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy. This is not negotiable.” Biden pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in August in a chaotic withdrawal that drew sharp criticism from Republicans and his own Democrats as well as foreign allies and punctured his approval ratings. Frerichs' family has criticized the U.S. government for not pressing harder to secure his release.”
The New York Times: U.S. Allies Retake Control Of Prison In Syria, Subduing ISIS Fighters
“Kurdish-led forces regained full control of a prison in northeastern Syria on Sunday after a battle which spread to surrounding neighborhoods in the most intense urban combat involving American soldiers in Iraq or Syria since the self-declared ISIS caliphate fell in 2019. “We announce the end of the sweep campaign in al-Sinaa Prison in Ghweran neighborhood in Hasaka and the end of the last pockets in which ISIS mercenaries were holed up,” the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish militia, said in a statement. The U.S. Special Operations Joint Task Force said the militia had cleared the prison of “active enemy fighters” and was conducting recovery operations to make sure the area was fully safe. It said detainees were transferred to a more secure site. The Syrian Democratic Forces, American partners in the fight against ISIS, did not say whether the last remaining gunmen in the prison had surrendered since Saturday or whether they had been killed. S.D.F. officials said Saturday that the gunmen were believed to be holding teenage detainees hostage. Fighting in the past week has spilled into the residential areas of Hasaka near the prison. New York Times journalists saw several dozen bodies, some dressed in orange prison jumpsuits, being carted away over the weekend by Kurdish militiamen near the prison, an indication of the scale of fighting in recent days.”
United States
The New York Times: American Woman Accused Of Prominent Role In Islamic State
“The F.B.I. has arrested an American woman who federal prosecutors said had risen through the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria to become a battalion commander, training women and children to use assault rifles and suicide belts, the Justice Department disclosed on Saturday. The woman, Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, a former teacher from Kansas, was charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization. The circumstances of her capture in Syria were not immediately known, but the F.B.I. flew her to Virginia on Friday to face prosecution. Prosecutors described Ms. Fluke-Ekren as playing an unusually outsized role in the Islamic State as a woman and an American. Charges against American women involved with the Islamic State have been rare. Ms. Fluke-Ekren was smuggled into Syria in 2012 from Libya, court documents said. She traveled to the country, according to one witness, because she wanted to wage “violent jihad,” Raj Parekh, a federal prosecutor, wrote in a detention memo that was made public on Saturday. According to a criminal complaint that was filed in 2019, a witness told the F.B.I. that Ms. Fluke-Ekren and her husband brought $15,000 to Syria and used the money to buy weapons. Her husband, the witness said, was the commander of snipers for the Islamic State; he later was killed by an airstrike while trying to conduct a terrorist attack, investigators said.”
Syria
The New York Times: ISIS, Thriving In Unstable Places, Proves It’s Still A Threat
“One week after Islamic State fighters attacked a prison in northeastern Syria, where they have held out despite a heavy assault by a Kurdish-led militia backed by the United States, the terrorist organization published its version of what had gone down. In its official magazine, it mocked how many times in its history its foes had declared the Islamic State to be defeated. Its surprise attack on the prison, it crowed, had made its enemies “shout in frustration: ‘They have returned again!’” That description was not entirely wrong. The battle for the prison, in the city of Hasaka, killed hundreds of people, drew in U.S. troops and offered a stark reminder that three years after the collapse of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate, the group’s ability to sow chaotic violence persists, experts said. On Saturday, about 60 ISIS fighters still controlled part of the prison. In Iraq, ISIS recently killed 10 soldiers and an officer at an army post and beheaded a police officer on camera. In Syria, it has assassinated scores of local leaders, and it extorts businesses to finance its operations. In Afghanistan, the withdrawal of American forces in August has left it to battle the Taliban, with often disastrous consequences for the civilians caught in the middle.”
The Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Plotted Comeback Long Before Syria Prison Attack
“…The attack demonstrated again that Islamic State can adapt and survive after being driven from power over an area in Syria and Iraq the size of Britain. After a lull in Islamic State activity late last year, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency predicted the group would pick up violent attacks again after a period of “recuperation and recovery.” “The insurgency never went away,” said Gregory Waters, a research analyst who tracks Islamic State attacks with the Counter Extremism Project, a think tank. “They’ve been growing stronger.” There is little chance that the group could regain its former strength, according to local and Western security officials, who argue that regional security forces have improved their capabilities since 2014, when Iraq’s military crumbled in the face of an Islamic State onslaught. Islamic State now poses little threat to the U.S. homeland, although lone attackers could act in the group’s name, American officials say. However, the group’s persistence presents a challenge for Washington, with over 3,000 U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq with the main mission of assisting in the fight against Islamic State. The Biden administration has moved to reduce the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East and lean more heavily on the Syrian Democratic Forces to contain Islamic State and oversee prisons and camps holding its members.”
Al Monitor: Turkish-Backed Rebels Step Up Attacks On Islamic State In North Syria
“The Turkish-backed Syrian opposition has waged a security campaign against Islamic State (IS) cells in Azaz in the northern Aleppo countryside since Jan. 20, leading to the arrest of dozens of IS members and collaborators. The hunt for other members is expected to continue through the confessions of their fellows. The Azaz media office said in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Jan. 19, “The military police in the city of Azaz launched a large-scale security operation during which a number of IS cells operating in the area were arrested, following clashes between the two sides. The operation comes in response to blasts and booby-trapped explosions carried out by these cells, which killed a military police commander and a civilian, and injured a Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighter in two separate operations.” An FSA military police official, who declined to be named, told Al-Monitor, “The city of Azaz and its suburbs are on high-security alert. Military police are deployed at the city’s entrances and exits, and on the main roads in the vicinity of the city. Intensive searches for IS cells are also ongoing.” The official would not disclose how many members the military police have arrested in Azaz since the beginning of the campaign. On Jan. 13, the FSA-controlled areas witnessed three simultaneous explosions that killed and injured a number of people, including civilians, while civilian and military vehicles caught fire.”
Iraq
“Iraqi airstrikes killed nine suspected Islamic State fighters, including four Lebanese, in retaliation for an Islamic State attack on Iraqi army barracks earlier this month, officials said Sunday. Islamic State gunmen in Iraq broke into a barracks in the mountainous al-Azim district outside the town of Baqouba on Jan. 21, killed a guard and shot dead 11 soldiers as they slept. It was one of the boldest attacks by the militants in recent weeks and came amid an uptick in violence that stoked fears the group has been re-energized. Yehia Rasool, the spokesman for Iraq’s commander in chief, said the joint military operations room and the air force identified the cell behind the attack as its members hid in al-Azim, north of Baghdad. Three airstrikes were launched that killed the nine militants, he said. A security official told The Associated Press that four among the killed were Lebanese, natives of the northern town of Tripoli. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Tripoli is Lebanon’s second largest city and the country’s most impoverished. It has been prone to violence and militants who, inspired by the Islamic State group, launched attacks against Lebanon’s army in 2014 in the most serious bout of violence in the city.”
Pakistan
The New York Times: Separatists Kill 10 Pakistani Soldiers In Attack On Outpost
“The assault on a military post in a remote southwestern district lasted for several hours. Dozens of attackers, belonging to a Baluch separatist group, heavily armed with rocket launchers and sophisticated weapons, outnumbered the Pakistani soldiers. A heavy gunfight killed 10 Pakistani soldiers and one attacker, and the rest managed to escape, officials said. The ambush, on Tuesday evening, was one of the deadliest on Pakistani soldiers in recent years and comes at a time of heightened unrest. The country’s security forces were already in a state of alert after a string of terrorist attacks this month — and officials said they are bracing for more attacks in the coming months as militant groups extend their reach and scale of attacks. The Pakistani military officially confirmed the Baluchistan attack Thursday evening, a day after it tried to downplay the incident and restricted the local news media from reporting on it. Military officials stressed that they were still trying to get details of the attack, which happened in Kech, a remote mountainous district of southwestern Baluchistan, a natural gas and mineral-rich province where an insurgency has simmered for decades. In a statement, the military said that three people had been arrested in a clearing operation, and it was still looking for other attackers.”
Associated Press: Roadside Bomb Kills 4 Police In Restive Southwest Pakistan
“A roadside bomb killed four policemen and wounded eight others as they were travelling in a restive zone of southwest Pakistan on Friday, a top elected official and police said. The attack happened in the town of Sui in Baluchistan province. No one claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on separatist groups who have claimed previous such attacks on security forces in the area. Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, the provincial chief minister, condemned the bombing and called it an act of terrorism. He vowed to make all efforts to arrest those who orchestrated the attack. Bizenjo said the slain and wounded were part of a special local police force known as the Peace Force. The latest attack came two days after militants attacked a security post in Baluchistan, triggering a firefight that killed 10 soldiers and an assailant. Baluchistan has been the site of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, mainly on government troops and police. The separatists in the province have been demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistan's government says it quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.”
Lebanon
Al Jazeera: Lebanon Will Not ‘Hand Over’ Hezbollah Weapons: Foreign Minister
“Lebanon will not “hand over” Hezbollah’s weapons, the country’s foreign minister said ahead of a meeting with his Gulf Arab counterparts to mend ties. Saudi Arabia and its allies suspended diplomatic ties with Lebanon after the airing of comments by the then Information Minister George Kordahi who criticised the Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen. Kordahi, an ally of Hezbollah, resigned in December. “I am not going (to Kuwait) to hand over Hezbollah’s weapons. I am not going to end Hezbollah’s existence, it is out of the question in Lebanon. We are going for dialogue,” Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Al Jazeera, referring to a meeting aimed at mending ties between Beirut and Gulf Arab states. In a nod to Gulf concerns, Lebanon will however say that the country will not be “a launchpad for activities that violate Arab countries”, according to sources familiar with a draft government letter responding to Gulf terms for improved ties, Reuters reported. Lebanon is due at the meeting in Kuwait on Saturday to deliver its response to the terms for thawing relations, which have suffered as the Hezbollah armed group, a close ally of Iran, has grown more powerful in Beirut and the region.”
Middle East
Arab News: Terrorist Involved In Deadly Bahrain Attacks Jailed
“An individual who was wanted on terrorism charges was extradited from Serbia with the help of Interpol and has been imprisoned, Bahrain’s Public Prosecution said. The individual was sentenced to four life sentences and a 10-year prison term for terror-related offenses between 2013 and 2015. He was also given a fine, Bahrain News Agency reported on Saturday. The individual had been found guilty of the attempted murder of police officers and citizens, and other terror offenses, the chief of public prosecution said. He added that the individual was involved in managing and training terrorist cells, and manufacturing and preparing explosive materials with the aid of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups, in both Iraq and Bahrain. The individual was also involved in planning, directing and financing terror attacks in Bahrain, including one that targeted security forces in the Bahrain village of Al-Daih in 2014, which led to several police officers being killed, the chief of public prosecution added. Security forces were able to find evidence linking the individual to terror offenses, which also led to the confiscation of explosive materials.”
Egypt
Al Jazeera: Egypt Court Sentences 10 To Death On Charges Of Planning Attacks
“An Egyptian court has sentenced to death 10 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group for coordinating and planning attacks on the police, the state-news agency MENA has reported. The identities of the defendants were not revealed and it was not possible to determine how they had pleaded to the charges. Nine were in custody while one was sentenced in absentia, a judicial source was cited as saying on Sunday by the AFP news agency. The verdict will now be referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s top theological authority – a formality in death penalty cases – before the court meets on June 19 to confirm the sentences. The 10 who were sentenced to death had formed a group called “Helwan Brigades”, MENA said, in reference to a city south of Cairo. They were part of a broader plot to attack police targets in the Cairo area with the aim to topple the government, it added. Capital punishment for civilian convicts in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is carried out by hanging. According to Amnesty International, Egypt carried out the third highest number of known executions in the world last year, after China and Iran. Cairo’s handing down of death sentences, or long jail terms after mass trials, have drawn condemnation from the United Nations and rights groups including Amnesty.”
Africa
The Wall Street Journal: After Coup, Burkina Faso Pleads For Support For Militant Fight
“Burkina Faso’s military leader has called on the world to back the country in its fight against Islamist militants. But by seizing power this week, the young junta chief could make it harder for the nation to secure continued military support from the West to smother the worsening conflict. Political analysts said the confused picture in the West African country could instead open the door for Russia to expand its influence across the restive region. Speaking in his first national address on Thursday, Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba sought to justify Monday’s putsch by blaming ousted President Roch Kabore for failing to arrest the advance of al Qaeda- and Islamic State-linked militants in the north of the country. Wearing a red beret and military fatigues, he vowed to restore the constitution when he considered the conditions right and pleaded for international support. “I call on the international community to support our country so it can exit this crisis as soon as possible,” he said. Lt. Col. Damiba, 41 years old, has been at the forefront of Burkina Faso’s efforts to stop the spread of Islamist militias in the north of the country, part of the arid Sahel region that stretches across the southern fringes of the Sahara.”
Reuters: Tunisia Thwarts Alleged Terrorist Attack Targeting Tourist Areas
“Tunisian police thwarted an attack planned by a woman coming from Syria, where she received training “with terrorist groups,” targeting tourist areas in the country, the interior ministry said on Friday. It added that the woman, who was planning attacks with an explosive belt, was imprisoned. The ministry said the woman returned to Tunisia from Syria via Turkey on Jan. 10 after spending a year of training in Syria, where she planned the attack. Tunisian security forces have thwarted most militant plots in recent years and they have become more efficient at responding to those attacks that do occur, Western diplomats say. In November police shot and wounded an extremist who sought to attack them with a knife and cleaver in the capital. The last major attacks in Tunisia took place in 2015 when militants killed scores of people in two separate assaults at a museum in Tunis and a beach resort in Sousse.”
Reuters: France Committed To Keep Up Fight Against Islamists In Sahel Region -Minister
“France will keep fighting Islamist militants in the Sahel region, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday, and repeated his view that the situation in Mali had become “untenabe” following a May 2021 coup. European allies agreed on Friday to draw up plans within two weeks for how to continue their fight against Islamist militants in Mali.”
United Kingdom
The Independent: Britain’s Youngest Islamist Terrorist Back Behind Bars
“Britain’s youngest Islamist terrorist is back behind bars for breaking his release conditions after being jailed for plotting a beheading and massacre aged just 14. The man, from Blackburn, Lancashire, identified only by the letters RXG, was described as a “deeply committed extremist” who, aged 14, was days away from helping stage a “massacre” at an Anzac Day parade in Australia in April 2015. Six months later he was sentenced to life at Manchester Crown Court and told he would only be eligible for parole in October 2020 after serving a minimum of five years in custody after admitting inciting terrorism overseas. He was arrested last month and, now in his early 20s, is back in custody at a jail in the north of England, security sources told the PA news agency. RXG was found to be in possession of a smartphone, which broke the terms of his release on licence. The nature of the material on his phone is not known to PA but sources said the fact that he had the internet-enabled device meant he was held. RXG had exchanged more than 3,000 encrypted messages from his Samsung phone instructing a jihadist in Australia, Sevdet Besim, to launch “martyrdom” attacks during an Anzac Day remembrance parade in Melbourne.”
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