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Eye on Extremism
February 7, 2022
The New York Times: Lone ISIS Bomber Carried Out Attack At Kabul Airport, Pentagon Says
“A single Islamic State suicide bomber carried out the attack at Kabul’s international airport in August that killed 13 U.S. troops and as many as 170 civilians, and was not joined by accomplices firing into the crowd, according to a Pentagon report released on Friday. The findings by a team of Army-led investigators contradict initial reports by senior U.S. commanders that militants fired into the crowd of people at the airport seeking to flee the Afghan capital and caused some of the casualties. The report also absolved Marines of firing lethal shots into the crowd at the Abbey Gate entrance to the airport as some officials had suspected because of the large amount of ammunition the Marines fired after the attack, which took place on Aug. 26. “The investigation found no definitive proof that anyone was ever hit or killed by gunfire, either U.S. or Afghan,” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the head of the Central Command, told reporters in a video conference from his headquarters in Tampa, Fla. But the U.S. military’s assessment of what transpired highlights only a portion of what happened that day: Investigators did not speak to any Afghan witnesses and the chaos of the withdrawal left officials relying heavily on drone footage to reach their conclusions.”
“A Danish court found three members of an Iranian dissident group guilty of colluding with Saudi Arabia to support terrorist activity in Iran and espionage, the latest chapter in a spy war between Middle Eastern rivals on European soil. The three Iranians, who arrived in Denmark as refugees, were arrested in 2020 on charges of spying for Saudi Arabia from their base in Ringsted, a Danish town south of the capital Copenhagen, where the leader of the group ran a separatist television channel. They were accused of raising about $2.3 million for the armed wing of their group and attempting to raise a similar amount from a Saudi intelligence agency, and of condoning terrorist activities. In 2018, they publicly praised an attack on a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people. Tehran blamed the attack on Saudi Arabia and accused Denmark of harboring terrorists. The district court in the town of Roskilde will decide on sentencing in the coming weeks, according to lawyers involved in the case. The Iranian and Saudi embassies in Copenhagen didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Karoline Normann, a lawyer representing one of the defendants—the group’s spokesman, Yacoub al-Tostari—said she was vexed by the guilty verdict but noted that two jurors favored an acquittal and regarded the actions they were accused of as a legitimate freedom fight against the Islamic Republic.”
Syria
The New York Times: Five Takeaways From The U.S. Raid That Killed The Islamic State’s Leader
“The daring pre-dawn raid by U.S. Special Operations forces in Syria that resulted in the death of the Islamic State’s leader offered a vivid reminder that no matter how much the world might want to move on, the chaos in Syria continues to reverberate. The sudden roar of American Apache attack helicopters in a pastoral patch of northwestern Syria gave way on Thursday to a firefight inside a three-story building surrounded by olive trees. The raid resulted in the death of the target, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the largely unknown leader of the Islamic State, or ISIS, since 2019. U.S. officials said he blew himself up and killed 12 others as the commandos closed in. Mr. al-Qurayshi’s death came days after American forces backed a Kurdish-led militia in a bloody, weeklong battle to oust ISIS fighters from a prison in northeastern Syria, the largest U.S. combat assault on the Islamic State since the end of the jihadists’ so-called caliphate three years ago. That and the raid on Mr. al-Qurayshi has highlighted that the United States still cannot extricate itself completely from military engagement in Syria, and that its more than two-decade global fight against terrorist groups is far from over. Years of military action by the United States and its international partners aimed at stamping out terrorism have exacted major tolls, first against Al Qaeda and then against the Islamic State, which rose from the turmoil of the Iraq war and the collapse of the Syrian state.”
Associated Press: Stung By Prison Battle, Kurds Say They Need Help Against IS
“Weeks after the long, furious battle with militants from the Islamic State group over a prison in northeastern Syria, the mangled wreckage of a car used by suicide bombers still sat outside its perimeter. Cranes put in place new cement blast walls to close off the entrance. Gaping holes remained in the prison’s outer wall, an ominous reminder of the IS inmates who escaped during the fighting. The battle for Gweiran Prison is over; it took 10 days, but U.S.-backed, Syrian Kurdish-led forces finally defeated the militants who attacked the facility in the city of Hassakeh, aiming to break free their comrades jailed inside, in the group’s largest and most stunning operation in years. But the impact continues to reverberate. Residents in neighboring districts are locked down as Kurdish fighters hunt for fugitive militants hiding among them. “Ask everyone here, they will tell you the same: We are terrified,” said Muna Farid, a mother of five who lives in the Gweiran neighborhood, which gives the prison its name — echoing the worries of dozens of residents over hidden IS fighters. The region’s Kurdish administrators say the attack shows what they have long been saying: They are not getting enough help to face the Islamic State group as it regains strength. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces say the Jan. 20 prison attack was not a surprise to them.”
Al Jazeera: Profile: Who Was Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurayshi?
“…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. Iraqi security officials said al-Qurayshi fled across the border to Syria when ISIL was routed in 2017 and had since been hiding out in remote areas, moving around to avoid detection and trying to resuscitate ISIL. Michael Pregent, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, told Al Jazeera that al-Qurayshi’s death was a “significant strike” against ISIL, but would likely have a limited impact on its operations in the longer term. “As fas as ISIL operations, they’re still alive, they’re still capable of conducting cross-border operations into Iraq and also have a presence in Syria,” he said.”
Iran
Associated Press: Alleged Leader Of US-Based Iran Militant Group Goes On Trial
“The alleged leader of the militant wing of a U.S.-based Iranian opposition group went on trial Sunday, state TV reported. He’s accused of planning a 2008 bombing at a mosque that killed 14 people and wounded over 200. In 2020, Iran’s intelligence service detained Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German national and U.S. resident. Iran said he is the leader of Tondar, the militant wing of the opposition group Kingdom Assembly of Iran. Sharmahd’s family says he is only the spokesperson for the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, known in Farsi as Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran, and has accused Iran of kidnapping him in Dubai. His hometown is Glendora, California. Sharmahd confessed to having a relationship with both the FBI and the CIA, state TV alleged. A state TV reporter claimed he was in contact with nine FBI and CIA agents and his last meeting was in January 2020, without elaborating. Iranian state television long has been believed to be overseen by intelligence agencies in the country and its channels routinely broadcast coerced confessions. Sharmahd’s family has accused Iran of keeping their father in “555 days of solitary confinement without charges” prior to the hearing. At the time of his detention, Iran alleged Sharmahd was behind the 2008 bombing that targeted the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in the city of Shiraz and that he was planning other attacks around Iran.”
Arab News: Terrorist Roads All Lead To Tehran
“…Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project and former coordinator of the UN Security Council’s Daesh, Al-Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team, predicted that retaliation was likely once the group has named Al-Quraishi’s successor. “Most likely it is going to be an Iraqi, simply because there is a big structure in Iraq and Daesh is originally from that country, and they chose Al-Quraishi because of his tribal affiliation,” Schindler told the Jerusalem Post. As soon as 2022 began, Daesh strongly returned to the fore by carrying out operations in unstable countries such as Iraq, Syria and Libya. Last year, the group managed to significantly increase its funding, which led to the reorganization of its ranks in these countries, especially Iraq. It is not surprising that Daesh’s terrorist operations have been escalating amid the Iraqi political dispute. The results of last October’s elections pulled the rug from under the feet of the pro-Iranian militias, who had insisted on taking all the credit for the liberation of Mosul and the defeat of Daesh in 2017. The leaders of the Iranian proxy militias and their supporters act as if they control Iraq and its citizens under the pretext of protecting their honor and liberating their lands.”
Iraq
Al Jazeera: Iraqi Militia Attack On UAE A ‘Message From Iran’
“The drone attack by a little-known armed group in Iraq on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week has raised questions about Baghdad’s involvement in regional tensions between Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Saudi-led coalition. Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq (AWH), or the True Promise Brigades, claimed responsibility for the strike on the UAE on Wednesday, saying in a statement it launched “four drones targeting vital facilities in Abu Dhabi” in retaliation for the Emirates’ policies in Iraq and Yemen. Several analysts linked the strikes to a shadowy militia Kataib Hezbollah (KH), a powerful Iran-backed Shia armed group in Iraq that has been listed by the United States as a “terrorist organisation”. The incident brought to light that the UAE was now being targeted from its north and south, after three recent attacks launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Following the drone strikes, Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr condemned the attack in a statement, saying some “terrorist outlaws” have dragged Iraq into a “dangerous regional war” by targeting a Gulf state. Although al-Sadr called for an end to the war in Yemen and the normalisation of ties with Israel, he denounced violence as a means to these ends.”
Turkey
Daily Sabah: 'Turkey Determined To Root Out Terrorists Threatening Regional Peace'
“No matter what anyone says, Turkey is determined to root out terrorist organizations that threaten the security, peace and stability of the country and the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday. Speaking to reporters on his way back from Ukraine where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Erdoğan said that the recently launched operation Winter Eagle is a reflection of Turkey's resolve to eliminate terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq and Syria. “I congratulate our heroes who took part in these operations. The terrorists are feeling surrounded by these operations. Their wireless communications show this desperation as members suggest to each other to 'take care of themselves.' But none of them will find a place to escape. We are determined to root out terrorism at its source.” He also commented on Iraqi officials' perspective of Turkey's counterterrorism operations targeting the country's north. Referring to Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and KRG President Nechirvan Barzani, Erdoğan said: “In terms of northern Iraq, the stance of the Barzanis is very different. And they are carrying out this policy in collaboration and solidarity with Turkey. They also have a different stance against the PKK as their actions are proving that.”
Afghanistan
Voice Of America: Explaining US Sanctions Against Taliban
“The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan last August and the humanitarian crisis that followed have confronted the Biden administration with a dilemma: How to keep the flow of international assistance into a country facing mass hunger while ensuring the aid money does not enrich Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders? The answer has wide implications, not just for easing the suffering of more than 35 million Afghans but also for international efforts to get the militant group to moderate policies seen by many as harsh, even brutal. “It is an almost impossible needle to thread,” said Jordan Strauss, a managing director at risk consulting firm Kroll, who worked as a Justice Department official in Afghanistan from 2014 to 2015. When the Taliban seized Kabul, wide-ranging sanctions dating back to their first rule followed them. To deny them access to funds, the Biden administration then froze more than $7 billion in Afghan government reserves held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The asset freeze exacerbated a simmering economic crisis. “The absence of a functioning banking sector and risk of economic collapse continue to pose obstacles to mounting the scale of response needed to prevent a humanitarian crisis,” Bernice G. Romero, executive director of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), told VOA.”
Pakistan
Associated Press: Pakistan: Areas Cleared After Militant Attacks Kill 9 Troops
“Pakistan's military said security forces cleared two areas in a southwestern province of separatist militants after they attacked two army camps, leaving nine soldiers dead and six others wounded. Twenty militants were killed in intense, hours-long firefights and follow-up operations, it said. The military statement issued late Saturday said militants attacked security forces camps in Baluchistan province in the districts of Naushki and Panjgur late Wednesday and both attacks were eventually repulsed. A recently formed separatist group, the Baluchistan Nationalist Army, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a Twitter post. The military said nine attackers were killed in Naushki, while four troops, including an officer, were killed. It said in Panjgur, security forces repulsed the attack after an intense exchange of fire and the attackers fled the area. Security forces began an operation to hunt down the fleeing attackers and a curfew in the areas was imposed. Four fleeing militants were killed in Panjgur, while four who were hiding elsewhere were killed in a Saturday operation when they refused to surrender, the military said. It said three other militants linked to the attacks were killed in the district of Kech on Friday. Five soldiers were killed and six others wounded in follow-up operations.”
Middle East
Reuters: Factbox: Pushed Into The Shadows, Islamic State Still Has Global Reach
“Since the peak of its power seven years ago, when it ruled millions of people in the Middle East and struck fear across the world with deadly bombings and shootings, Islamic State has slipped back into the shadows. Its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria folded under a sustained military campaign by a U.S.-led coalition, and it has suffered other setbacks in the Middle East. This week it lost its second leader in two years when Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi detonated explosives during a U.S. military raid in northwest Syria, killing himself and family members. But Islamic State expanded in Africa's Sahel region last year and the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan may open up opportunities to strengthen its presence there. In the core area of its insurgency, Iraq and Syria, it claimed hundreds of attacks last year. In January it launched an attempted jail-break in northeast Syria in which more than 100 prison guards and security forces were killed. Here is a summary of the group's presence around the world. Iraq, where the group originated, and neighbouring Syria remain the epicentre of Islamic State operations.”
Nigeria
Africanews: 96 Terrorism Financiers Uncovered In Nigeria
“Nigeria has announced the existence of 96 secret financiers of terrorism across the country who are backing Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP). At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, information and culture minister, Lai Mohammed said the discovery by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit also involved 123 companies and 33 bureau de change operators linked with terrorism in the country, in addition to 26 suspected kidnappers and 7 co-conspirators. The minister added, 45 people suspected of funding terrorism had been arrested and would soon be prosecuted. Nigeria's financial crimes agency had recovered at least $750m (£550m) in local and foreign currency linked to corruption, the minister said. Responding to the minister's revelation, a former commissioner of police, Emmanuel Ojukwu, claimed in an interview with a local TV station that Nigerian government officials have compromised the prosecution of terrorists in the country. The former police spokesperson at the Force headquarters, Abuja, lamented that terrorists had brought enormous hardships on Nigerians. He tagged the unnamed public officials benefitting from the security crises plaguing Nigeria as “disaster merchants who have compromised” the prosecution of suspected Boko Haram sponsors.”
“Deputy Governor Idi Barde Gubana, who is Chairman, Yobe State Education Appeal Fund Raising Committee, said 167 students and three teachers have been killed by Boko Haram insurgents in over a decade-long uprising in the state. He gave the figures at a media briefing to announce the next stage of fundraising activity scheduled to take place in Abuja next week. Gubana also said that during the peak of the insurgency, apart from destroying schools’ infrastructures, 86 students and two teachers were seriously injured in several attacks by the insurgents in their futile attempts to eliminate education in the state. He lamented that since the creation of Yobe State in 1991, successive administrations had made several efforts to develop the education sector with not very encouraging results and this was further compounded by the activities of Boko Haram terrorists who took arms against the state. According to him, this prompted the present administration in the state to adopt a multi-faceted approach to address obstacles facing the education sector that were huge threats to stability and socio-economic development, hence the reason behind the declaration of a state of emergency on the education sector by Governor Mai Mala Buni in 2019.”
Africa
Reuters: Islamic State Claims Responsibility For Eastern Congo Jail Break
“Islamic State has claimed responsibility for freeing about 20 prisoners during an attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province this week, according to a statement published on Friday by the SITE Intelligence Group. Witnesses and an army spokesman blamed the attack, which killed at least three people, on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) - a Ugandan armed group which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which follows militant websites, republished an IS communique on Friday that claimed fighters had stormed and looted the town of Nobili before breaking into the jail and recruiting prisoners into its ranks. “The soldiers of the Caliphate attacked a post of the Crusader Congolese army in the town of Nobili, near the Ugandan border, two days ago, causing its personnel to flee,” the statement said, adding that “they were able to free nearly 20 Muslims detained in the prison there.” ISIS has branded the ADF, alongside fighters in Mozambique, as its “Central Africa Province” (ISCAP), although the two groups are operationally distinct. The United States attributed the deaths of 849 civilians to the group, which it calls ISIS-DRC, in 2020. More than 1,200 people were killed in similar attacks in 2021, according to United Nations figures.”
United Kingdom
“Nothing about the terrorist’s 8ft by 5ft cell seems exceptional, at least at first glance. Single bed, thin blue mattress, toilet, sink, wooden table. But the windows are a different matter. Impossible to penetrate, they feature sound-blocking glass ‘bafflers’ to prevent the cell’s highly dangerous occupant from communicating with – and trying to radicalise – inmates on other wings. Here at Britain’s first dedicated prison ‘terrorist wing’ – where those caught trying to radicalise fellow inmates are cocooned – the security measures are as much designed to stop extreme ideologies from getting out as they are to keep the extremists locked in. Last week, The Mail on Sunday, accompanied by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, became the first newspaper to report from the ‘separation centre’ – or jail within a jail – at HMP Frankland near Durham. It is reportedly home to, among others, Hashem Abedi, who helped organise the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, and at least one Islamic State fighter. One prison official said the unit is the ‘least worst option’ for handling the prisoners. It is, he added, about ‘protecting the many from the few’. For years, the unit at Frankland, established in 2017, was the only one of its kind in operation.”
“…David Ibsen, executive director at the Counter Extremism Project, said: 'Al-Hikam should not be permitted to educate young British citizens in its nursery when there is a track record of espousing objectionable and oppressive beliefs.' An Ofsted spokeswoman said: 'We have been alerted to these concerns and are looking into them. 'While we are unable to share information about individual providers, we take safeguarding concerns very seriously and consider all the information we receive.' Mr Hussain said: 'The observations and comments which have been made previously have been made with the intention of alerting the Islamic Community to the injustices which are taking place around them.' The funeral of Akram took place in Blackburn on Friday after his body was flown back from the US. Around 50 friends and relatives paid their last respects before his family released a statement apologising for his actions and speaking out against hatred.”
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