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Eye on Extremism
March 11, 2022
Associated Press: IS Confirms Its Leader Was Killed In Syria, Names New Chief
“The Islamic State group confirmed for the first time on Thursday that its leader was killed in a U.S. strike in northwestern Syria last month and named his successor. It was the first official comment from the militant group about its leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi since U.S. officials said he blew himself up along with members of his family as American forces raided his hideout in the northwestern Syrian town of Atmeh, near the border with Turkey, on Feb. 3. In an audio message released Thursday, IS spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer confirmed the death of the leader, as well as that of the group’s former spokesman, Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, in the raid. Al-Muhajer also said that IS has named a successor to the former leader, identifying him as Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and saying the late IS chief has chosen him as the next caliph. There was no immediate information about the new leader and it wasn't known whether he is Iraqi like his two predecessors, both killed in rebel-held parts of Syria. Last month's U.S. strike was the second time in three years that the United States took out the top IS leader. None of the al-Qurayshis are believed to be related. Al-Qurayshi is not their real name but comes from Quraish, the name of the tribe that Islam's Prophet Muhammad belonged to.”
“The American military is asking President Biden to station several hundred commandos in Somalia to help blunt the spread of al Qaeda’s aggressive local affiliate, al-Shabaab, according to U.S. officials. Military commanders want the White House to reverse then-President Donald Trump’s last-minute order to withdraw some 700 Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Marine Raiders from bases in Somalia, where they had been training an elite local unit to fight al-Shabaab, according to the officials. The Pentagon moved most of the American commandos to neighboring Djibouti and Kenya. “Since U.S. forces have come out of Somalia last January, we assess there is an uptick in al-Shabaab activities,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, adding that “there has been no pressure on al-Shabaab at this point and they have freedom of movement.” The Pentagon considers al-Shabaab to be al Qaeda’s most-potent franchise world-wide and estimates its strength at 5,000 to 7,000 fighters. The U.S. has conducted a special-operations war against the group since 2007, much of it shielded from public view. The military is asking Mr. Biden to deploy troops now stationed in Djibouti and Kenya back to Somalia.”
United States
Axios: The Rise Of White Nationalist Hispanics
“Nick Fuentes, identified as a “white supremacist” in Justice Department filings, made headlines last week for hosting a white nationalist conference in Florida. His father is also half Mexican American. The big picture: Fuentes is part of a small but increasingly visible number of far-right provocateurs with Hispanic backgrounds who spread racist, antisemitic messages. Driving the news: Cuban American Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, a group the Anti-Defamation League calls an extremist group with a violent agenda, was arrested Tuesday and charged with conspiracy in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. What they're saying: Experts tell Axios far-right extremism within the Latino community stems from three sources: Hispanic Americans who identify as white; the spread of online misinformation; and lingering anti-Black, antisemitic views among U.S. Latinos that are rarely openly discussed. Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University, said in an interview that the trend is “part of the mutation that takes place as the racist fringe tries to become more mainstream.” Racism is deeply rooted in Latin American and Caribbean nations, where slavery was common, Tanya K. Hernández, a Fordham University law professor and author of the upcoming book, “Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias,” told Axios.”
Saudi Arabia
Reuters: Drone Attack On Refinery In Saudi Capital Did Not Affect Supplies -SPA
“A refinery in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, was attacked by a drone on Thursday morning but petroleum supplies were not affected, Saudi state news agency SPA reported early on Friday. The attack caused a small fire that was controlled and did not result in any injuries or casualties, SPA said citing a statement by an energy ministry official. "The refinery's operations and supplies of petroleum and its derivatives were not affected," the statement said. It did not specify where the attack originated from. The world's top oil exporter has faced frequent missile and drone assaults by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group that has been battling a coalition led by Riyadh for seven years. The Houthis have not announced any strikes against the kingdom in recent days and the Saudi-led coalition had not issued a statement regarding Thursday's incident. "These repeated acts of sabotage and terrorism on vital installations and civilian structures ... do not just target the Kingdom but aim to undermine the security and stability of global energy supplies," the statement said.”
Lebanon
Associated Press: On Appeal, UN-Backed Court Convicts 2 In Hariri Killing
“Appeals judges at a United Nations-backed tribunal on Thursday overturned the acquittals of two members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The five-judge appeals panel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicted Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi of five charges linked to the assassination, including conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and being accomplices to intentional homicide. The unanimous appeals decision said that judges in the original trial verdict “committed errors of law invalidating the Judgment and errors of fact occasioning a miscarriage of justice,” the tribunal said in a statement. Merhi and Oneissi were originally cleared in August 2020 of involvement in the assassination outside a seaside hotel in Beirut. A third Hezbollah member, Salim Ayyash, was convicted at the time as a co-conspirator on five charges linked to his involvement in the 2005 suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others and wounded 226 people. Prosecutors said Merhi and Oneissi played “a significant role” in the plot by distributing a video with a false claim of responsibility after the bombing. “The acts for which they have been convicted were callous and manipulative, designed not only to shield the real perpetrators from justice but to deceive the Lebanese people,” Prosecutor Norman Farrell said in a statement.”
Nigeria
All Africa: Nigeria: Children On The Battlefield - ISWAP's Latest Recruits
“Schools have always been a primary Boko Haram target; now both its factions are using boys in combat. In January, the violent extremist group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) released a video showing young boys undergoing strenuous combat training. As the clip ends, some children are seen executing soldiers captured from the battlefield. One of the instructors explains that the boys are being prepared for graduation and deployment. The recruitment and use of child soldiers by the Boko Haram faction Jama'tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (JAS) is widely known. However it's been unclear whether ISWAP, its rival faction, has been doing the same. It seems ISWAP's supposed strategy of not targeting civilians has deflected attention from its recruitment of young boys. This is the latest in a long list of abuses of children, who have been particularly hard hit by the Boko Haram crisis. Many have been subjected to grave human rights violations, including kidnapping, slavery, starvation, rape, denial of access to formal education, and death. According to former Boko Haram members, as many as 200 young boys starved to death in the group's training and radicalisation camps - Darul Quran - before Boko Haram split into two factions in 2016.”
“Civilians in the Northeast, Northwest, Northcentral and Southeast regions of Nigeria are usually caught in the middle of ongoing conflicts between the Federal Government and multiple Armed Opposition Groups, AOGs that have grown from Boko Haram since 2009. Between 2020 and 2021 alone, the report stated that 7,691 civilians had been killed in armed conflicts ranging from attacks by terrorists in the North East, deaths either in kidnappers' dens or in the course of being to the dens that are scattered across forests in the country, in two years. A breakdown of this figure showed that 3,457 civilians were killed in 2020 while 4,234 civilians were killed between January and September 2021. On the other hand, 1, 496 security personnel also lost their lives within the period under review. Some of the civilians who were displaced from their homes in the process are being accommodated in Internally Displaced Persons IDPs camps across the six states in the northeast and other states. Protection for the civilian population, especially during armed conflict is a basic element of humanitarian law. In fact, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 additional protocols contain specific rules to protect civilians.”
Africa
The New York Times: ‘Inadequate’ Security Led To Deaths Of 3 Americans In Kenya Attack, Report Finds
“A series of security lapses and an “inadequate focus” on threats on the ground helped lead to a deadly assault on a sprawling military base in Kenya in 2020 that killed three Americans, a Pentagon investigation has concluded. The inquiry, led by the United States Africa Command, also found what the head of the command described as “shortcomings” in the sharing of intelligence and deficiencies in the preparation of security forces charged with guarding the base. “We were not as prepared at Manda Bay as we needed to be,” Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commander of Africa Command, said in a video presentation of the findings at the Pentagon on Thursday. The report found that “certain senior officers contributed to the inadequate force protection posture at Manda Bay, and allowed a climate of complacency and poor understanding of the threat.” Eight officers and enlisted personnel were disciplined for their actions or their failure to act, the Air Force said. But a spokeswoman for the service declined to describe the punishments or the fate of those personnel. The brazen assault by 30 to 40 Shabab fighters at Manda Bay, a sleepy seaside base near the Somali border, resulted in the largest number of U.S. military-related fatalities in Africa since October 2017, when four soldiers were killed in an ambush in Niger.”
The Defense Post: Israeli System Downs Isis Drones In Mozambique
“The Mozambique Army downed three ISIS drones using an Israeli counter-drone system in the country’s north, Israel Defense reported, citing the army. The MC-Horizon 360D V3 counter-drone system reportedly jammed the drones that were likely sent to gather information on troops. According to The Jerusalem Post, the drones were also going to be used to bomb the soldiers. The downing happened within a year of the Kfar Saba-based MCTECH RF Technologies craft being sold to the East African country. The system provides 360-degree coverage and detects drones through a “signaling channel and radio transmission (both the uplink and downlink),” at a radius of 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles), triggering a “neutralization system which deactivates the drone/quadcopter from any operation,” the manufacturer wrote. The 20 kilograms (44 pounds) modular system can be carried in a backpack and attached to a vehicle or vessel. Citing the CEO of Israeli private security company Orad, The Jerusalem Post reported that MCTECH RF Technologies has sold the system to many militaries worldwide since 2014 and that the downing was the first by a foreign military. “In Mozambique, ISIS is attacking troops with drones. They use drones to identify troops, to bomb troops, and even to identify troops and then navigate artillery to hit forces.”
Gulf News: UAE Re-Affirms Right To Protect Soil, Gains From Terrorism Threats
“The UAE has reaffirmed its inherent right to self-defence in response to armed aggression and to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity under international law, reiterating that the attacks perpetrated by terror groups will not proceed without a comprehensive response, and that the UAE has the legal and moral right to prevent terrorism from threatening its soil. This came in a speech delivered by Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, Minister of State, during the 157th ordinary session of the Arab League Council, which was held at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo at the foreign ministerial level. Al Marar, who headed the UAE delegation, added that the UAE has faced vicious terrorist attacks by the terrorist Houthi militias that targeted civil areas and objects and led to civilian casualties and in-kind losses. Similarly, Houthi terrorist attacks on civilian objects in Saudi Arabia have continued, he added, referring to the large number of ballistic missiles and drones used in Houthi aggression. He stressed that the vigilance and readiness of the UAE Armed Forces and their professionalism in confronting these attempts have thwarted large-scale terrorist operations that targeted the more than 200 nationalities living in the UAE, noting that over “two million citizens from brotherly Arab countries are living in the UAE.” “We express our deep thanks to brotherly Arab countries for standing in solidarity with us and for the unanimous issuance of Resolution No. 8725 during the extraordinary session of the Arab League Council on January 23, 2022.”
United Kingdom
The Irish Times: Lisa Smith Trial: Court To Rule On Admissibility Of Political Scientist’s Evidence
“The Special Criminal Court will rule Friday on whether it will consider the opinion evidence of a political scientist who told the trial of Lisa Smith that anyone who travelled to Syria to support the Islamic State was a member of the terrorist organisation Isis. Lawyers for Ms Smith have argued that the opinion evidence is not admissible and should not be considered as evidence by the three judges of the non-jury court. Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, said the court will deliver its judgement on the legal issue on Friday. Ms Smith (40), from Dundalk, Co Louth travelled to Syria after terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on all Muslims to travel to the Islamic State. She has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful terrorist group, Islamic State, between October 28th, 2015 and December 1st, 2019. She has also pleaded not guilty to financing terrorism by sending €800 in assistance, via a Western Union money transfer, to a named man on May 6th, 2015. Dr Florence Gaub, a director with the European Union Institute for Security Studies, has told the trial that the Islamic State or caliphate announced by al-Baghdadi was the same thing as the terrorist organisation Isis and that a person became a member of Isis when they joined the state “actively with any type of act of support.”
Germany
Deutsche Welle: Germany Marks First-Ever National Remembrance Day For Victims Of Terrorist Violence
“In Germany, there are three cases of violent extremism that stand out in recent memory: the series of murders committed by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Underground (NSU) from 2000 to 2007, the 2016 Islamist attack on the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market in Berlin and the racist killing spree in the city of Hanau in February 2020. On Friday, the victims of these attacks will be remembered when Germany marks its very first National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Terrorist Violence. The date, March 11, has special significance — it's also the European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism, created after a series of bombings on trains in Madrid killed 191 people and injured more than 2,000 on March 11, 2004. Ahead of a planned memorial for German victims of terrorism in Berlin, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser spoke of those who had been affected. “These attacks have dramatically changed the lives of so many people. Many, with a great amount of strength, are still fighting their way back to their normal lives. We must not abandon them,” she said. Faeser's portfolio includes domestic security, and she vowed that Germany's national security services and domestic intelligence were doing all they could to help survivors and prevent further attacks.”
Europe
The National: Denmark Charges 'ISIS Fighter' With Treason
“Danish prosecutors have for the first time charged a citizen accused of being an ISIS fighter in Syria with treason. The man was recruited in 2013 and remained with the group for four years until it was defeated on the battlefield, officials said. The 31-year-old, who has not been identified by authorities, was said to have appeared in an online ISIS video with three other men threatening other Danes and using their images as target practice. The man has been charged with treason under a law that came into force at the end of 2015 as Denmark was part of the international coalition fighting the terrorist group. From the eastern city of Aarhus, he faces other charges including recruiting others to the ISIS cause. He was arrested in 2019 after he was expelled by Turkey and has since remained in prison. He is due to stand trial in November in a case that is expected to last nearly six months and prosecutors say he faces up to life in prison if found guilty. The prosecution says it can show that the man signed up for ISIS, joined a combat unit and fought against the coalition when “the Danish state was a party on the opposite side”, said Lise-Lotte Nilas, the public prosecutor for Copenhagen. She said the case was particularly serious because he fought for a long period of time “until he was no longer able to participate actively because of physical injuries.”
Technology
“In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Aleksandr Zaldostanov, the leader of a pro-Putin biker gang, the Night Wolves, turned to Facebook to disparage the Ukrainian president and push falsehoods about the war. “Ukraine is a torn off piece of Russia, which is shrinking in pain and bleeding still,” he posted on March 1 to more than 18,000 followers. “Russia did not start a war now!!!! Those who divided us started it!” A former physician known by his nickname, “the Surgeon,” Zaldostanov has been on the U.S. government sanctions list since 2014, amid allegations that he helped Russian troops confiscate weapons during the country’s invasion of Crimea. The sanctions block Zaldostanov’s assets and generally prohibit U.S. citizens from “dealing” with him, but on Facebook he maintains a very active account, posting frequent support of Russia since the invasion. The multitude of sanctioned entities and individuals who, like Zaldostanov, maintain a robust Facebook and Instagram presence is the subject of a pair of new whistleblower complaints, filed in December and February, arguing that Facebook parent company Meta engaged in “reckless or willful” violations of U.S. sanctions law by permitting the accounts, according to redacted copies reviewed exclusively by The Washington Post.”
Reuters: Facebook Allows War Posts Urging Violence Against Russian Invaders
“Meta Platforms (FB.O) will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a temporary change to its hate speech policy. The social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, according to internal emails to its content moderators. "As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. The calls for the leaders' deaths will be allowed unless they contain other targets or have two indicators of credibility, such as the location or method, one email said, in a recent change to the company's rules on violence and incitement.”
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