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Eye on Extremism
February 24, 2022
The Hill: Biden Sanctions Yemen's Houthi-Financing Network Amid Increase In Terrorist Attacks
“The Biden administration on Wednesday issued sanctions targeting an international business network that funds Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their attacks on civilians in Yemen and the Persian Gulf, an action that is part of efforts to bankrupt funds that prolong the country’s seven-year civil war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the sanctions were closely coordinated with Gulf partners as a response to Houthi attacks inside Yemen and recent terrorist attacks targeting civilian sites in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over recent weeks, which have caused numerous civilian casualties. “We continue to work closely with our regional partners to act decisively against those seeking to prolong this war for their own goals,” Blinken said in a statement. “The United States remains firmly committed to helping Saudi Arabia and the UAE defend themselves and the tens of thousands of U.S. citizens living in the Gulf against these Houthi attacks.” The Biden administration is under pressure to more forcefully confront Yemen’s Houthis, which are backed by Iran, after lifting a terrorist designation on the group that was imposed by former President Trump in the waning days of the administration.”
Associated Press: Pakistan Says Forces Kill 10 Insurgents In Baluchistan
“Security forces in Pakistan's volatile southwest raided a militant hideout Wednesday, triggering an intense firefight that killed 10 insurgents, the military said. The operation took place in Hoshab, a remote district in Baluchistan province, the military said in a statement. It said the militants were involved in multiple recent attacks on security forces. Troops also recovered a cache of weapons from the hideout. The slain insurgents were believed to be from the Baluchistan Liberation Army, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. in 2019. Baluchistan province has witnessed a low-level insurgency by small groups who demand independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in the province has persisted.”
United States
The New York Times: 3 Men Plead Guilty In Plot To Attack U.S. Power Grid
“Three men pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a plot to attack power grids in the United States, which they believed could lead to economic and civil unrest and create the opportunity for white leaders to rise, federal prosecutors said. The men, Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Ind., and of Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wis., each pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Columbus on Wednesday to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. They will each face up to 15 years in prison when they are sentenced. A date has not been scheduled. Kenneth Parker, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said in a statement on Wednesday that the three men “conspired to use violence to sow hate, create chaos, and endanger the safety of the American people.” Timothy Langan, assistant director of the F.B.I. counterterrorism division, said in a statement that the three men expected their plot to lead to “economic distress and civil unrest.” “These individuals wanted to carry out such a plot because of their adherence to racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist views,” Mr. Langan said. Samuel Shamansky, a lawyer for Mr. Frost, said on Wednesday that Mr. Frost had “accepted complete responsibility for his reprehensible conduct.”
WTOP News: The Hunt: Cyberattacks, Physical Harm Americans Could Encounter
“On this episode of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green, Dr. Hans Jakob Schindler Sr., director of the Counter Extremism Project, discusses concerns about possible cyberattacks and physical harm Americans could encounter.”
Syria
The Independent: Resurgence Of Isis Spreads Fear In Syria As Fresh Violence Reopens Old Wounds
“Five years after giving birth on death row in a prison run by Isis, Sara is scared for her life once again. The Syrian mother started receiving threatening text messages from the militant Islamist terrorist group, thought to have been defeated by Russian forces and a US-led coalition nearly three years ago. “Go back to your good Islamic principles,” reads the first text she shows The Independent. “Stay away from working with the infidels. Or else.” The militant Islamist group made its last stand in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, where Sara lives. After the final surrender, when Syrian and foreign Isis members were packed off to jail, the west largely forgot about this corner of the war-torn country…”
Al Monitor: Yazidis React To Killing Of Islamic State Leader
“The death of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, also known as Abdullah Qaradash, in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib on Feb. 3 sparked various reactions among Yazidis, against whom IS committed war crimes and atrocities since it occupied their historic homeland in Iraq in August 2014. Seif Mito, a 19-year-old Yazidi, told Al-Monitor how he suffered at the hands of IS during its rule. He said IS fighters kidnapped him from Sinjar in northern Iraq, along with his brother Zeid, who is five years younger than him, after his entire family was killed. Commenting on Qurayshi’s role in the genocide against the Yazidis, Mito said, “After the soldiers of the caliphate captured us, they moved us — there were hundreds of Yazidi boys and girls — to the technical institute in Solagh, east of Sinjar, on Aug. 15, 2014. Then, Qurayshi arrived with some IS figures in a Toyota Prado, and told us that we will be the next generation of the caliphate and the soldiers of their Islamic state. He then gave the Yazidi girls to his soldiers as sex slaves, and chose young Yazidi girls as sex slaves for himself. I recognized three of the girls, including a neighbor of mine. Then they moved us to Raqqa in Syria.”
Afghanistan
Vice: Senior Taliban Minister Brags About Record Number Of Suicide Attacks
“A senior Taliban minister has boasted about “historic” numbers of suicide attacks the Islamist group has carried out, while complaining that the group has yet to be recognised as Afghanistan’s official government by any other country in the world. Muhammad Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, appeared in a video broadcast on national television and distributed by pro-Taliban social media accounts on Monday, in which he showed off about the brutal levels of violence meted out by the group over the past 20 years. The Taliban swept to power in August after the US military withdrew from the country. So far, not a single country has recognised the hardline Islamists as the country’s official government because of the group’s history of sheltering jihadi groups and its terrible human rights record against women, ethnic and religious minorities and anyone who dares criticise them. Hanafi — a senior member within the Haqqani network, which is notorious for extortion and kidnappings — was taking part in a conference talking about the “struggle” with being branded an international pariah. Hanafi’s ministry works as the country’s feared moral police, an institution found in some countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. It had been scrapped under the US-backed government, but the Taliban brought it back last year and put its headquarters in the former women’s ministry.”
Pakistan
Asia Times: Abandoned US Arms Fueling Militancy In Pakistan
“Sophisticated military weapons abandoned by retreating US and NATO forces in Afghanistan are now openly for sale at thriving illegal weapons markets in tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border. Those markets are where several militant, separatist and terror groups operating in Pakistan against state forces shop for their wares, evidenced in recent attacks on Pakistani security forces where militants used advanced Western weapons. The advanced weapons threaten to intensify the already gathering security threat posed by militant groups opposed for various reasons to the Pakistan state. They could also put already deteriorating Pakistan-Afghanistan relations on a dangerous new footing, particularly if perceptions grow the ruling Taliban is funneling the arms to the militants. Last year, Pakistani customs officials foiled a bid to smuggle US and NATO-issued arms into the country from Afghanistan. Officials recovered two huge catches of M4A1 carbine rifles, Glock 9mm pistols, Beretta pistol barrels and ammunition from a vehicle traveling from the Afghan capital of Kabul. But other shipments of unknown origin are known to have gone undetected, representing a potent new security threat to Pakistan emanating from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.”
Yemen
“The United Arab Emirates designated one individual and five entities as terrorists, saying they are linked to supporting Yemen's Houthis, the state news agency (WAM) reported on Wednesday. The United States earlier on Wednesday sanctioned a sprawling international network run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a Houthi financier that provided tens of millions of dollars to the Houthi rebels, the U.S. Treasury said. Both the U.S. and the UAE's latest terrorism designations included Abdo Abdullah Dael Ahmed, a UAE- and Sweden-based commodities trader and his company, Moaz Abdallah Dael Import and Export. Yemen's Houthi movement, battling a Saudi-led military coalition that includes the UAE, recently launched missile attacks at the Gulf country, saying the attacks would continue as long as the UAE backs militias that are blocking their attempts to capture oil-producing regions in Yemen.”
Middle East
Gulf News: Kuwait: Last Group Of Hezbollah Funding Suspects Released
“Kuwait has released the last group of suspects in a high-profile case related to funding the pro-Iran Lebanese Hezbollah group, according to a local newspaper. Public prosecution has released the last five suspects, who were still in detention in connection to the case, on a bail of KD5,000 per each, added Al Rai. Earlier this month, three other suspects in the same case were released on a bail of KD5,000 each and barred from travel abroad. The case dates back to last November when Kuwait dismantled a cell suspected of having links with and funding Hezbollah. The arrests were made after authorities received a security report from an unspecified “sisterly” country, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Seyassah said at the time. The suspects were questioned by the Kuwaiti State Security Service on charges including money laundry for Hezbollah and encouraging young Kuwaitis to collaborate with the Lebanese movement, carry out terror acts and smuggle drugs in Syria and Yemen. The paper said the suspects had admitted in investigations that they had collected donations in mosques in Kuwait without approval from authorities.”
Nigeria
Associated Press: Islamic State Group Claims Attacks On Nigeria Soldiers
“Dozens of Nigerian soldiers were killed and wounded in recent attacks in Nigeria’s insecure northeast region, according to a statement from the Islamic State group, which said its West Africa members carried out the assaults. The attacks using explosives targeted soldiers on patrol at various checkpoints in Borno state, killing and wounding more than 30 soldiers, said the statement on the latest of the attacks released late Tuesday. The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) is a breakaway faction of the Boko Haram extremist group which launched a rebel insurgency against the Nigerian government more than a decade ago. Nigeria’s military did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment to confirm the attacks, but also reported killing “several” extremists and recovering a “large cache of weapons” and vehicles from the militants during “clearance operations” on Monday in Borno state in a location different from where IS said its fighters attacked. On Tuesday, IS militants targeted a Nigerian army patrol team with four explosive devices followed by mortar shells launched at a military camp in the town of Mallam Fatori, a few miles (kilometers) away from Nigeria’s northern neighbor Niger, the group said in one statement.”
All Africa: Nigeria: 41 Terrorists Surrender Following Troops Onslaught In Borno
“Troops of 144 Battalion while on clearance Operations received 41 surrendering Boko Haram Terrorists comprising 22 females,11 males and eight children. The Nigerian Army on its official Facebook page said the troops also carried out some civil military projects such as road maintenance along Damboa-Wajiroko road in Borno State. “Ongoing offensive clearance operations records another feat as BokoHaram terrorists, and their families numbering 41 comprising 11 males, 22 females and 8 children surrendered to troops of 144 Battalion in Dissa Village axis of Borno State on Monday 21 February 2022. “Additionally, In a bid to enhance Civil Military relations as well as deny BHT/ISWAP opportunities to plant IEDs, troops of 28 Task Force Bde in conjunction with CJTF conducted some minor road maintenance including patching of potholes along Damboa-Wajiroko road in Borno State,” it stated.”
Somalia
All Africa: Somalia: Al-Shabaab Spent U.S.$24 Million In Arms Purchasing Deals In 2021 - Report
“Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab spent 24 million US dollars for arms procurement in 2021, a report by Hiraal Institute, a Mogadishu-based Research group has revealed. The report titled “Al-Shabaab's Arsenal from Taxes to Terror” indicated that the Al-Qaeda linked terror outfit spends 2 million US dollars monthly, where 1.8 million is used on 'in-house' explosives while other weapons manufacturing goes for 150,000 dollars per month. “Additional expenditure from within the Amniyat budget - which in total is assessed at over USD 21 million per year - is likely: some procurement does take place through local units, mainly focused on small arms and ammunition, but it is unclear if other Amniyat equipment is financed from within the Amniyat or arms procurement budgets,” the report read in part. Hiraal Institute stated that the militant group was believed to have an annual revenue collection of about 180 million dollars as of 2021 with planned expenditure of around 100 million dollars. “Of this security-associated expenditure accounts for the vast majority of AS planned expenditure, at around 70-75 per cent. This security related expenditure includes that which is undertaken by the Jaish and Amniyat,” the report said.”
Mali
Vice: ‘I’m Very Nervous’: Young Malians On How They Feel As France Quits Jihadist War
“After nine years, France is ending its anti-jihadist military task force in the West African state of Mali, following months of escalating tensions between Paris and Bamako’s ruling military junta. As France closes its bases and its 2,400 troops prepare to retreat from Mali, young Malians - who have grown up under the shadow of French imperialism - have been left with mixed emotions. “I am very nervous,” Bintou, a 22-year-old student at the University of Bamako, told VICE World News speaking under a pseudonym. “I really hope France’s withdrawal won’t cause jihadist groups to move toward Bamako.” The move will see France withdraw its Barkhane and Takuba special task-forces from counter-terror engagement in Mali, where they have been fighting Islamist extremist groups and ethnic conflict alongside Malian Armed Forces since 2013. Central Mali has been one of the most violent hotpots of the war against the Islamic State and its regional affiliates across the Sahel, a conflict-stricken region in West Africa. Fighting has killed an estimated 5,317 in Mali and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2021. Last year also saw 948 violent incidents in Mali - the highest number in nearly a decade - and 400,000 people are displaced.”
United Kingdom
The National: UK Urged To Separate Extremist Inmates After Manchester Arena Terrorist Formed Gang
“The UK’s independent adviser on terrorism has urged the authorities to look at separation centres to prevent extremists from forming gangs in prison. It comes as three convicted ISIS terrorists, including the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, formed a gang in Belmarsh prison, London, and attacked a prison officer. Ringleader Hashem Abedi, 24, Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan, 22, and Muhammed Saeed, 23, were this week given longer jail sentences after they attacked Paul Edwards in May 2020. Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said the case demonstrated an attempt by an “established gang” to seize power from authority. He suggested that measures such as “separation centres” could be used to keep terrorists in custody away from one another. “I think it’s a problem that they were allowed to associate in a way that led to the formation of a gang,” he said. “In terms of what you do about it, I think you’ve got to recognise that these are not just gangs like any other gangs. “This is a gang led by a terrorist mass murderer, and the consequences of this sort of gang led by this sort of individual having influence within the prison are so serious that it has to be disrupted – in terms of the impact on other prisoners, recruitment and radicalisation within prison, and potential encouragement to further offences against the authorities.”
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