“A risky predawn raid by U.S. Special Operations forces that resulted in the
death of the Islamic State’s leader on Thursday was set in motion months

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


February 4, 2022

 

The New York Times: Raid Targeting ISIS Leader Came After Months Of Planning
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“A risky predawn raid by U.S. Special Operations forces that resulted in the
death of the Islamic State’s leader on Thursday was set in motion months ago
with a tip that the top terrorist was hiding out on the top floor of a house in
northwest Syria. In brief remarks at the White House, President Biden said the
decision to send about two dozen helicopter-borne commandos to capture or kill
the leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was made to minimize the risk
of civilian harm. Military officials said attacking with a bomb or a missile
would have been safer for the troops but could have endangered more than a
dozen civilians in the house, including several children. “We made a choice to
pursue a Special Forces raid, at a much greater risk than our — to our own
people, rather than targeting him with an airstrike,” Mr. Biden said. “We made
this choice to minimize civilian casualties.” Aides said Mr. Biden had approved
the raid on Tuesday morning after months of military planning, including dozens
of rehearsals and an exercise involving a tabletop model of the building. On
Thursday, he called the operation a warning to all terrorist groups. “This
operation is testament to America’s reach and capability to take out terrorist
threats no matter where they try to hide anywhere in the world,” he said.”

 

Associated Press: Twin Attacks In Pakistan Kill 7 Troops, 13 Separatists
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"Twin attacks by separatists on Pakistani military posts in the volatile
southwestern Baluchistan province triggered intense firefights that lasted
hours and killed seven soldiers and 13 assailants, Pakistan's interior minister
and the military said Thursday. A recently formed separatist group, the
Baluchistan Nationalist Army, had claimed responsibility for the attacks late
Wednesday in a post on Twitter. In one of the attacks, four soldiers and nine
militants were killed when the assailants raided a security camp in
Baluchistan's remote Naushki district on Wednesday evening. The other attack,
on a security post in the province’s Panjgur area, killed three soldiers and
four militants, according to a statement released by the military.”

 

United States

 

CBS News: Kansas Woman Charged With Leading An All-Female ISIS Battalion In
Syria Ordered Jailed Ahead Of Trial
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“The Kansas woman accused of traveling to Syria in support of the Islamic
State was ordered detained pending trial on Thursday following her arrest late
last month. Allison Fluke-Ekren, described in charging documents as a mother
and teacher-turned ISIS battalion leader, was last in the U.S. on or about
January 8, 2011, government travel records show, before ultimately emerging in
Syria in 2014. Once there, according to one of at least six government
witnesses who say they interacted with the defendant, Ekren allegedly presented
a plan of attack to a paid U.S. foreign government source. That plan,
prosecutors say, was for Ekren and other members of the ISIS community in Syria
to "dress like infidels" and attack an American college campus with a backpack
full of explosives. The attack was ultimately put on hold, court documents
explain. During an interaction with another government witness in Syria as
described in court filings, Ekren is accused of presenting an attack whereby
she could park a car full of explosives on the first floor of a parking garage
and detonate the bomb with a cellphone trigger "Any attack that did not kill a
large number of individuals," the described mother of young children allegedly
told the government witness, was a "waste of resources."

 

The Jerusalem Post: US Should Brace For Retaliation After ISIS Chief Dies In
Raid – Experts <[link removed]>

 

“…Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project
(CEP) and former coordinator of the ISIL, al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team
of the UN Security Council, told The Media Line, “This seems to have been a
combination of an air operation and special ground forces, which significantly
reduces the risk to kill civilians.” However, he added, “Every
counter-terrorism operation always carries the risk of collateral damage. No
intelligence information report is super-perfect.” And most likely, Schindler
continued, “The civilians announced killed in the news may actually be
Qurayshi’s family.” Qurayshi succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the previous
leader of the organization who was also killed during a US military operation,
in 2019.”

 

Syria

 

NBC News: U.S. Kills ISIS Leader, But Another Is Already Waiting In The Wings
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“The death of the Islamic State leader in a raid by U.S. special forces on his
Syrian hideout was a devastating blow to the resurgent terrorist group, but his
replacement is already waiting in the wings, experts said Thursday. And while a
successor to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi has yet to be revealed, he will
most likely be another Iraqi steeped in both Islamic fanaticism and terror,
they said. "So far we don’t know the name of who is waiting in the wings to
replace him, but you can be sure that ISIS has already designated somebody,"
James Franklin Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and former special
envoy on Syria, told NBC News. "The shelf-life of an ISIS leader of late is
about three years, and so they are prepared for that eventuality." Dr. Daniel
Milton, the director of research at the Combatting Terrorism Center at West
Point, agreed. "I'm not aware of a specific individual, but ISIS has
experienced a number of leadership hits so they are prepared to fill the latest
vacancy," Milton said. Whoever ISIS picks will be somebody familiar with
"Islamic jurisprudence" and battlefield experience, Milton added. "There will
be a rapid succession," he said. But there may not be a public announcement,
said Seth G. Jones, a counterterrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies.”

 

The New York Times: The Islamic State Has Shown That It Can Still Pull Off
Military Operations.
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“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.”

 

Reuters: Turkey Says Its Forces 'Neutralise' 43 YPG Militants In Northern Syria

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“Turkish forces have "neutralised" 43 Kurdish militants in northern Syria in
retaliation for a bombing in the town of al Bab that killed nine people, the
Defence Ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said the militants had also
opened fire on Turkish bases in al Bab and three others in the region,
prompting the retaliation. Turkey uses the word "neutralised" to mean killed,
wounded or captured. Turkey has launched three incursions into northern Syria
against the Kurdish YPG militia, which it considers a terrorist organisation.”

 

The Medialine: US Should Brace For Retaliation, Experts Say, After ISIS Chief
Dies In Commando Raid In Syria
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“…Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project
(CEP) and former coordinator of the ISIL, al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team
of the UN Security Council, told The Media Line, “This seems to have been a
combination of an air operation and special ground forces, which significantly
reduces the risk to kill civilians.” However, he added, “Every
counter-terrorism operation always carries the risk of collateral damage. No
intelligence information report is super-perfect.” And most likely, Schindler
continued, “The civilians announced killed in the news may actually be
Qurayshi’s family.” Qurayshi succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the previous
leader of the organization who was also killed during a US military operation,
in 2019. Dr. Michael Barak, a senior researcher at the International Institute
for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University in Herzliya, pointed out in
an interview with The Media Line that Qurayshi was killed in the same area as
his predecessor, in Idlib Governorate. Schindler expressed astonishment because
Qurayshi “was actually in the place where he was most likely to be.” Meaning
that he would have thought the ISIS leader would have been better hidden
somewhere else.”

 

U.S. News & World Report: Can Biden Overcome Accusations Of Weakness With Isis
Raid?
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“…Biden’s own national security officials have warned, for example, that ISIS
could reconstitute and attack the U.S. within a matter of months. “All in all,
things are actually looking up for ISIS at the moment,” says Hans-Jakob
Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project. “They were able to
counter al-Qaida pressure in West Africa, integrate most of Boko Haram – by
essentially destroying the competing faction in Boko Haram that remained
independent – establish a new affiliate in Central Africa as well as increasing
their activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.” “It would be risky to relax
and take the death of al-Qureishi in combination with the slightly reduced
number of terror attacks in Europe and the U.S. – mainly due to COVID
restrictions reducing the soft target environment – as a sign that this is over
or better. We are still very much in the middle of the fight here,” Schindler
adds. Others see Thursday’s raid as a successful demonstration of the “over the
horizon” operations that Biden used as a central justification for withdrawing
from U.S. bases in Afghanistan and that have come under intense scrutiny among
those who don’t see how drone strikes can replace a U.S. presence in that
particular hotbed of violence.”

 

Al Jazeera: Profile: Who Was Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurayshi?
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“…In 2014, al-Qurayshi helped al-Baghdadi take control of the northern city of
Mosul, according to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) think-tank. The
think-tank said al-Qurayshi “quickly established himself among the insurgency’s
senior ranks and was nicknamed the ‘Professor’ and the ‘Destroyer'”. He was
well-respected among ISIL members as a “brutal policymaker” and was responsible
for “eliminating those who opposed al-Baghdadi’s leadership”, it said. US
officials described al-Qurayshi after his death as the “driving force” behind
the 2014 genocide of minority Yazidis in northern Iraq, and said he oversaw a
network of ISIL branches from Africa to Afghanistan.”

 

Iraq

 

AFP: Dead Is Chief Was Iraqi Ex-Officer Nicknamed 'Destroyer'
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“…Serving in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein, the late dictator toppled by
the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Qurashi joined the ranks of Al-Qaeda after
Hussein was captured by US troops in 2003, according to the Counter Extremism
Project (CEP) think-tank. In 2004, he was detained by US forces at the infamous
Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq, where Baghdadi and host of future Islamic
State figures met. After both men were freed, Qurashi remained at Baghdadi's
side as he took the reins of the Iraqi branch of Al-Qaeda in 2010, then
defected to create the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), later the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In 2014, Qurashi helped Baghdadi take control of the
northern city of Mosul, the CEP said. The think-tank said Qurashi "quickly
established himself among the insurgency's senior ranks and was nicknamed the
'Professor' and the 'Destroyer'". He was well respected among IS members as a
"brutal policymaker" and was responsible for "eliminating those who opposed
Baghdadi's leadership", it said. He is probably best known for playing "a major
role in the jihadist campaign of liquidation of the Yazidi minority (of Iraq)
through massacres, expulsion and sexual slavery," said Jean-Pierre Filiu, a
jihadism analyst at the Sciences Po university in Paris.”

 

Al Jazeera: Who Is The Shadowy Iraqi Militia That Attacked The UAE?
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“As tensions between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran-backed Houthi
rebels over the war in Yemen continue to rise, a little-known armed group in
Iraq has come to the fore. Calling itself Awliyat al-Waad al-Haq, or the True
Promise Brigades, the group claimed responsibility for a drone attack on the
UAE on Wednesday, saying in a statement that it launched “four drones targeting
vital facilities in Abu Dhabi” in retaliation for the Emirates’ policies in
Iraq and Yemen. The UAE’s defence ministry said it had intercepted and
destroyed three drones that penetrated the Gulf country’s airspace over
unpopulated areas on Wednesday. The attack was the latest in a series of aerial
assaults on the Gulf state over the past few weeks. The previous three attacks
were all claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The UAE, which began fighting in
Yemen as part of a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition in 2015, has not been a
primary target of attacks by Houthis and other armed groups in recent years.
Before Wednesday, the Iraqi militia’s only other claimed attack was in January
2021 when it said it had launched drones targeting the Yamama Palace in the
Saudi capital, Riyadh.”

 

Lebanon

 

Al Jazeera: Dozens Escape Security Crackdown, Poverty In Lebanon To Join ISIL
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“For Um Ibrahim, life has been sheer agony since her 19-year-old son, Ibrahim,
disappeared a few months ago from their home in Tripoli in northern Lebanon.
The teenager, who was studying at a vocational institute to become an
electrician, left his home in the densely populated Al-Qubba neighbourhood on
an early Thursday in October last year. When the family woke up, Ibrahim’s bed
was empty, and he was nowhere to be found. “The night before, Ibrahim was
chatting away with his siblings. Everything seemed normal,” wept his mother.
When his phone would not pick up, the family reached out to Ibrahim’s closest
friend – 20-year-old Osama – but he, too, did not respond to any calls or
messages. Hours later, Ibrahim’s family was shocked to learn that Osama had
also disappeared from his home. “That’s when my heart sank,” said Um Ibrahim.
“I knew something was wrong.” Disappointed to find the authorities had no
answers to her questions about Ibrahim’s whereabouts, the family continued to
search. Three weeks later, Um Ibrahim’s phone rang."

 

Nigeria

 

The Sahara Reporters: Boko Haram Is Child’s Play If Nigeria Allows ISWAP
Fighters To Grow – Borno Governor
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“Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has warned that Boko Haram’s menace
will be “a child’s play” if the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP)
is allowed to grow. He gave the warning when he appeared on the weekly briefing
organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the State House, Abuja, on
Thursday, Daily Trust reports. Zulum, who asked the Nigerian Army to
re-strategise and defeat ISWAP, said the group posed a threat to the entire
nation. He said ISWAP is building up in Borno through exploiting its closeness
to the Sahel President Muhammadu Buhari was urged to re-engage external
mercenaries for additional support in the battle against terrorism. Zulum,
while speaking on the successes achieved so far in the war against insurgency
in the North East, said, “All that I have said now, would never have been
feasible without the support of the government. But notwithstanding all the
contributions of the federal government, we still have some challenges “ne, I
said it before, a growing number of ISWAP in some parts of the state is a
matter of great concern to everybody. In the shores of Lake Chad, again in
southern Borno State. Luckily, I was told there was military deployment
yesterday to southern Borno state to fight the insurgents in the Tudun
Katarangwa area.”

 

Technology

 

Vox: Does Banning Extremists Online Work? It Depends.
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“It’s been over a year since Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube banned an array of
domestic extremist networks, including QAnon, boogaloo, and Oath Keepers, that
had flourished on their platforms leading up to the January 6, 2021, Capitol
riot. Around the same time, these companies also banned President Donald Trump,
who was accused of amplifying these groups and their calls for violence. So did
the “Great Deplatforming” work? There is growing evidence that deplatforming
these groups did limit their presence and influence online, though it’s still
hard to determine exactly how it has impacted their offline activities and
membership. While extremist groups have dispersed to alternative platforms like
Telegram, Parler, and Gab, they have had a harder time growing their online
numbers at the same rate as when they were on the more mainstream social media
apps, several researchers who study extremism told Recode. Although the overall
effects of deplatforming are far-reaching and difficult to measure in full,
several academic studies about the phenomenon over the past few years, as well
as data compiled by media intelligence firm Zignal Labs for Recode, support
some of these experts’ observations.”

 

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