“French forces in Mali have killed a long-time al-Qaida official active in
Algeria and Libya, French military authorities said Monday. France’s army c

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


March 8, 2022

 

Associated Press: French Forces Kill Long-Time Extremist In Mali Amid Pullout
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“French forces in Mali have killed a long-time al-Qaida official active in
Algeria and Libya, French military authorities said Monday. France’s army chief
of staff said in a statement that Algerian Yahia Djouadi, who went by the name
Abou Ammar al Jazairi, was killed north of Timbuktu Feb. 26 in a ground
operation supported by a helicopter and two drones. The operation took place
about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Timbuktu in a zone known as a hideout
for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) and two other extremist groups,
including the JNIM, a coalition of jihadi groups. The operation was significant
for France because it’s in the process of withdrawing its forces from Mali to
reposition them elsewhere in the region. The decision to withdraw was announced
last month amid increasing hostility toward the French armed presence in Mali.
France moved into Mali in 2013 in an effort to stop a drive by Islamist
extremists into Bamako, the capital. Islamists have regrouped and continue to
pose a major threat. On March 4, at least 27 Malian soldiers were killed while
repulsing an attack by an armed group, leaving 47 of the attackers dead,
according to Malian authorities. Two Malian soldiers were killed Monday. The
statement said that Djaoudi’s killing demonstrates that French forces continue
to mark battlefield successes despite the withdrawal.”

 

Reuters: Nearly 400 Civilians Killed In Afghanistan Since Taliban Takeover, UN
Says
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“Nearly 400 civilians have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan since the
Taliban takeover, more than 80% of them by a group affiliated to Islamic State,
a U.N. report shows, underscoring the scale of the insurgency faced by the new
rulers. It is the first major human rights report since the Taliban seized
power from the former U.S.-backed government in August, triggering concerns in
the West about a broader rollback of rights for women, journalists and others.
It covers the period from August 2021 to the end of February and said that 397
civilians were killed mostly in a series of attacks by the Islamic State
Khorasan (ISIS-K) group. More than 50 people with suspected ties to the extreme
militant group had been killed in the same period, it said, with some tortured
and beheaded and cast by the roadside. “The human rights situation for many
Afghans is of profound concern,” said Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for
Human Rights, in a speech introducing the report to the top rights body in
Geneva. ISIS-K, which first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014, is
thought to have spread in the wake of the Taliban takeover and is blamed for
several suicide attacks in recent months, including one at Kabul airport last
August.”

 

United States

 

NBC News: U.S. Sends Saudi Detainee Accused Of Link To 9/11 Home From
Guantanamo
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“A Saudi detainee at Guantanamo Bay who allegedly tried to take part in the
9/11 hijacking plot has been sent back to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said on
Monday. Mohammad Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani, 46, who has been held at the U.S. base
in Cuba since 2002, will receive treatment at a psychiatric facility. His
lawyers maintain that he has displayed symptoms of schizophrenia since a young
age, and in 2002 an FBI official saw al-Qahtani speaking to non-existent
people, hearing voices and crouching in a corner of his cell while covering
himself with a sheet for hours. A U.S. review board determined in 2021 that his
detention “was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant
threat to the national security of the United States.” In February, Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin informed Congress that al-Qahtani would be sent home.
“After two decades without trial in U.S. custody, Mohammed will now receive the
psychiatric care he has long needed in Saudi Arabia, with the support of his
family,” said Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York
who represented al-Qahtani with help from students for over a decade. “Keeping
him at Guantanamo, where he was tortured, and then repeatedly attempted
suicide, would have been a likely death sentence.”

 

Syria

 

Associated Press: Syria: 2 Civilians Killed In Israeli Airstrike Near Damascus
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“Israel fired several missiles toward Syrian military positions near the
capital of Damascus Monday, killing two civilians and causing material damage,
Syria's defense ministry said. It was the first Israeli attack inside Syria
since Russia, a key backer of President Bashar Assad, invaded Ukraine. The
Syrian defense ministry said Israeli warplanes flying over neighboring Lebanon
fired the missiles toward Syria, adding that Syrian air defenses shot down most
of the missiles. It gave no further details or say how the civilians were
killed. Israel did not comment on the attack and rarely acknowledges such
operations. But it has launched hundreds of strikes on targets inside
government-controlled parts of Syria during its past decade of civil war.
Israel relies on Russia for security coordination in Syria, where Russia has a
strong military presence, pushing Israel's prime minister to search for middle
ground between Russia and Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has
also assumed the unlikely role of mediator between Russia and Ukraine. Monday's
attack was the first since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, sparking the
current war. On that same day, three Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli
attack near Damascus. Israel says that its strikes inside Syria target bases of
Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, that fight on the side of
Assad’s forces.”

 

Reuters: U.S. Designates Al Qaeda-Affiliated Group As 'Specially Designated
Global Terrorist'
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“The U.S. Department of State said on Monday it was designating an al
Qaeda-affiliated group which operates primarily in the Idlib, Syria as a
“Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” In addition to the designation, the
Katibat-al-Tawhid wal-Jihad group has been added to a sanctions list, requiring
all U.N. member states to implement an assets freeze, a travel ban, and an arms
embargo against the group, the State Department said in a statement.”

 

Iran

 

The Wall Street Journal: Israel Says Iran Tried To Fly Arms To Hamas Using
Drones
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“Israel accused Iran of trying to use long-range drones to fly small arms to
Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an evolution in
Tehran’s use of unmanned vehicles against its Middle East rival. Israeli
military officials said they used F-35 jet fighters to shoot down two drones
launched from Iran in March last year, marking the first time the advanced
planes have been used to bring down unmanned vehicles. On Monday, nearly a year
after the incident, the Israeli military released video from the F-35s showing
the shoot down of the drones and details of the subsequent investigation. While
Israel has accused Iran of using neighboring Syria, Iraq and Lebanon as
launchpads for attacks on Israel, this is the first time the military charged
Tehran with dispatching drones directly from Iran bound for Israel. One Israeli
military official said Iran appeared to be carrying out trial flights to see if
it could successfully use drones to carry weapons and ammunition to Palestinian
militants. “We see this as a kind of test,” the official said. Iranian
officials didn’t respond to requests for comment. Israeli officials said they
waited nearly a year to publicize the information on the incidents because of
regional sensitivities with its friendly neighbors. The details come as the
U.S. and its allies are close to reaching an agreement to revive the 2015
nuclear deal with Iran that would free up billions in Iranian money currently
frozen by international sanctions.”

 

Afghanistan

 

The Washington Post: Taliban Arrests Canadian Aid Worker Amid Widening
Crackdown On Activists And Foreigners
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“A dozen men identifying themselves as members of the Taliban stormed Nadima
Noor’s office, informed her she was under arrest and ordered her into a car
parked in the street outside. She initially refused, but when the men
threatened to begin executing her colleagues, she had to comply. That was
nearly a month ago, according to her brother Dastaan Noor, who has been able to
piece together that day’s events by speaking to some of her colleagues who were
released. Nadima Noor, a 38-year-old dual Canadian-Afghan national, remains in
prison. She ran a small humanitarian organization with a Western colleague, who
was also arrested that day. It is unclear whether she has been charged with a
crime. Her family has not been informed of any formal charges, and the Taliban
refuses to comment publicly on the matter. Half a year after the Taliban’s
military takeover of Afghanistan, there is a widening crackdown on Afghans and
foreigners alike across the country. Targeted arrests are on the rise, and once
detained, many people are held for months. Two journalists working for the
United Nations are the only foreigners who have been released so far. Taliban
launches sweeping house-to-house raids across Kabul in search of weapons. A
senior Taliban intelligence official said he did not know what Noor is charged
with, but most Westerners are arrested on suspicion of espionage, human
trafficking or lack of proper documentation.”

 

Yemen

 

Associated Press: Report: Wanted Norwegian Al-Qaida Member Held In Yemen
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“A Norwegian citizen who became a member of al-Qaida in Yemen has been
arrested in Yemen by the country's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, Norwegian
broadcaster NRK said Monday. According to the report, Anders Cameroon Østensvig
Dale is being held in a hospital in Sanaa. He is sought at home on suspicion of
terrorism and was put on a blacklist by the United States. Norwegian prosecutor
Haris Hrenovica with the Norwegian security service PST said the suspect's
hospital detention “makes us believe that there is an injury.” It was unclear
when and how he was apprehended and there was no immediate confirmation from
the Houthis. The broadcaster said Ostensvig Dale converted to Islam in 2008 and
visited Yemen several times before eventually joining al-Qaida’s branch there,
known as Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. NRK added that he left Norway for
good in 2011. Three years later, PST suspected him of taking part in a terror
organization and he was sought internationally. Hrenovica told NRK that there
could be “challenges” to having Østensvig Dale extradited to Norway because of
the Houthis, who control Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. The rebels have been
at war since 2015 with a Saudi-led coalition that has been trying to restore
Yemen's internationally recognized government to power.”

 

Mali

 

Reuters: Attacks Kill Two Soldiers And Two U.N. Peacekeepers In Mali
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“At least two soldiers and two United Nations peacekeepers were killed in
separate attacks in Mali on Monday, the army and the U.N. mission said.
Militants attacked Malian troops posted in the northern region of Gao early in
the morning, the army said, three days after another clash left at least 27
soldiers dead and 32 wounded. The army said it was pursuing the assailants and
had killed nine so far. Hours later, a convoy belonging to the U.N.
peacekeeping mission MINUSMA hit an improvised explosive device north of the
central city of Mopti, the mission said. The blast killed two peacekeepers and
wounded four others, it added. Mali has been battling an Islamist insurgency
for a decade, with groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State expanding their
reach in recent years despite the presence of French troops and about 13,000
U.N. peacekeepers deployed to stem the violence. MINUSMA says more than 250 of
its personnel have died since 2013, making it the deadliest of more than a
dozen U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide. France said last month that it
would end its counter-terrorism mission in Mali after relations soured with the
West African country's ruling military junta.”

 

Africa

 

Associated Press: Official Says 27 Killed In Attack In Disputed Abyei Region
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“A local official says at least 27 people were killed and four others wounded
in an attack in the Abyei region that's disputed between South Sudan and Sudan.
A spokesman for the government of the Abyei special administrative area, Ajak
Deng Miyan, blamed local herders and fighters from Sudan for Sunday's attack on
ethnic Dinka. The statement called on the U.N. peacekeeping force there to
protect civilians. Oil-rich Abyei has been contested since South Sudan gained
independence in 2011.”

 

United Kingdom

 

The National: British-Moroccan Woman Who Joined ISIS Loses Appeal To Return To
UK From Syria
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“A British-Moroccan woman stripped of her citizenship after travelling to
Syria with her husband to join ISIS has lost an appeal to return to the UK to
join her three children. The woman, named only as U3, claimed she only went to
Syria to save her marriage with an extremist who beat, kicked and subjected her
to extreme violence during six years of marriage. The ruling was the first
significant decision in the UK about depriving someone of their citizenship
since the country’s highest court ruled last year that Shamima Begum, who left
the UK to join ISIS as a teenager, would not be allowed to return. The woman,
now aged about 30, travelled to Syria via Turkey with her husband and two
children, then aged 2 and 1, in 2014. The couple had another child in 2016. She
claimed that she had never been radicalised or even knew about ISIS atrocities
before she travelled to the country. But it was heard at a special immigration
hearing that she lied to family and friends by claiming that she was in Turkey
when she had already crossed the border to Syria. The tribunal heard that the
woman had been a victim of abuse at the hands of her husband even before they
married in 2011 and he allegedly beat her with an electrical cable during their
time in ISIS territory in Syria.”

 

Europe

 

Daily Beast: White Nationalists Are Tearing Each Other Apart Over Ukraine
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“…This internal turmoil has led a few white nationalist groups to waffle in
their public messaging on the conflict. Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher at
the Counter Extremism Project, recounted how one notable Telegram channel made
a pro-Russian post on Feb. 21, “claiming that they were fighting against Jews,
liberalism, and globalism.” But the channel soon deleted it, and days later
issued a wishy-washy statement about supporting white people rather than a
nation. Fisher-Birch pointed out that the founder of the group behind that
channel and several of his associates had worked with Ukraine’s far-right,
anti-Kremlin Azov movement in the past, making the initial post awkward and
inconsistent.”

 

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