“Israel is beefing up its military forces in the West Bank and carrying out a
wave of arrests as its leaders grapple with the deadliest surge of terro

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


March 31, 2022

 

The Wall Street Journal: Israel Boosts Security Amid Deadly Wave Of Terrorist
Attacks
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“Israel is beefing up its military forces in the West Bank and carrying out a
wave of arrests as its leaders grapple with the deadliest surge of terrorist
attacks on the country’s soil in years. At least 11 Israelis have died from
three attacks in the past week. Fearing more, the Israeli military said it is
sending 12 additional battalions into the West Bank—from where Tuesday’s
attacker hailed—as well as two additional battalions to its border with the
Gaza Strip and 15 companies of special forces to aid Israel’s police.
Authorities said the police are suspending normal routines to focus on
counterterrorism within Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has put
the country on crisis footing as calls grew for a strong response that could
include major military operations. He called on Israelis to step up and help
security forces defend the country. “Whoever has a license to carry a weapon,
this is the time to carry it,” said Mr. Bennett in a video statement. He said
all trained combat soldiers in active or reserve duty could carry their weapons
home, announced an operation to seize illegal weapons in Arab-Israeli
communities and said civilian volunteers might be recruited to keep watch. Mr.
Bennett said security forces were carrying out more than 200 investigations or
arrest operations.”

 

The Washington Post: British Militant Accused Of Torture Says He Was ‘Simple
ISIS Fighter’
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“El Shafee Elsheikh has admitted in numerous media interviews that he helped
the Islamic State seek ransoms from the families of Western hostages captured
during the Syrian civil war, beating the prisoners and demanding personal
information. But on trial in Alexandria, Va., federal court and facing a
potential life term, Elsheikh is arguing that those admissions were false and
that surviving hostages who identify him as one of four British militants known
as the “Beatles” are mistaken. Elsheikh was “a simple ISIS fighter,” his
attorney Edward MacMahon said in his opening statement Wednesday at the outset
of a trial that could last through April. “Mr. Elsheikh was not a member of the
‘Beatles’ and not involved in the kidnapping, torture and deaths of any of
these individuals.” The Islamic State is also known as ISIS. Elsheikh is the
only one of the four on trial. Executioner Mohammed Emwazi, better known as
“Jihadi John,” died in a drone strike in 2015. Aine Davis is in prison in
Turkey. Alexanda Kotey pleaded guilty in Alexandria last year. Although they
always wore masks, the British captors stood out as “utterly terrifying”
compared with other guards, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gibbs said in his
opening statement.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Miami Herald: What’s Happening In Afghanistan? What To Know As Experts Warn Of
Taliban’s Extremism
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“Only hours after schools reopened for girls for the first time in months in
Afghanistan, the Taliban announced that those above the sixth grade would not
be allowed to attend. The news came as a shock to both Afghans and the
international community as the Taliban had assured that girls could return to
classrooms in the Persian New Year, or March 20, according to Time. “It shows
that the Taliban is exactly the same as before – they are against girls’
education,” Shukria Barakzai, an Afghan politician and journalist, told Al
Jazeera. Is the Taliban really the same as before 2001, and should foreign
countries be worried? Here’s what experts say. After U.S. troops left
Afghanistan, the government collapsed in August and the Taliban quickly assumed
power of the country. Now, the Taliban is imposing repressive measures, taking
the country back in time — women must cover their bodies and faces, travel
accompanied by a male, and stay home from school, Dipali Mukhopadhyay, senior
expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, wrote in Foreign Affairs on March 28.
International media such as Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) have also been banned from the country, according to VOA.”

 

Pakistan

 

Associated Press: Militants Attack Troops In Northwestern Pakistan, Killing 6
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“Militants attacked Pakistan’s paramilitary security forces in the country’s
northwest early on Wednesday, triggering a shootout in which at least six
troops and three insurgents were killed, the military and police said.
Spokesman Mohammad Khurasani of the Pakistani Taliban — also known as
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, an outlawed militant group — claimed
responsibility for the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Local police
official Zahid Khan said about two dozen security personnel were also wounded
in the attack, but that the paramilitary forces had apparently taken control of
the situation. In a statement, the military said troops retaliated after coming
under attack and killed all three insurgents involved in the assault. The
Pakistani Taliban have been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban last year
seized power across the border in Afghanistan. They have stepped up attacks on
Pakistani security forces since December when a month-long cease-fire between
the TTP and the government ended. Pakistani authorities say most of the
fighters and leaders of the TTP are hiding in Afghanistan.”

 

Middle East

 

The Times Of Israel: Amid Terror Jitters, Police Shoot And Injure Two During
Arrest In Jerusalem Market
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“With security forces on high alert following a spate of deadly terror
attacks, police on Wednesday shot two East Jerusalem Palestinians in the city’s
main public market during an arrest that turned violent. The suspects suffered
light injuries to their lower extremities. An officer was also hurt. Police
said that the men raised suspicions with their behavior and remarks as they
were traveling on the Jerusalem Light Rail, which they took the Mahane Yehuda
Market. Members of the public then alerted police. Officers arrived at the
scene and after a search located the men in a butcher shop in the market. As
police approached them, the two suspects “brutally attacked officers with
punches and chokeholds,” the statement said. “In light of the danger to police
at the scene due to the unusual violence the suspects showed toward them,” an
officer shot the suspects in the lower body, causing them light injuries,
police said, citing medical assessments of their condition. The arrested men
were taken away for medical treatment. One officer was also injured in the
face. Jerusalem District Commander Doron Turgeman arrived at the scene and held
a situational assessment, and police said they opened an investigation into the
incident.”

 

The Jerusalem Post: Shades Of Terror: Fatah Vs Hamas Vs ISIS - Analysis
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“Part of the challenge facing security forces in the face of the terrorist
attacks over the past eight days has been their source: the perpetrators came
from radically different sectors, and do not fit into a conventional box that
holds a clear answer on what to do next. The initial two terrorist attacks in
Beersheba and Hadera were committed by Arab-Israelis inspired by ISIS.
Suddenly, everyone remembered the violence and riots that erupted within Israel
proper during the May war with Hamas in Gaza. Security officials said they
would also shift to more actively tracking and reviewing the status of
Arab-Israelis who had prior minor convictions related to links to ISIS.
Included in this group would be those who volunteered to fight with ISIS in
Syria against Bashar Assad’s regime, but not against Israel per se. However,
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad jumped on the bandwagon of the
ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks, hoping to broaden the “appeal” and piggyback
onto the new terrorism momentum. Hamas has not only been encouraging terrorism
in its public relations, but in facts on the ground: on March 7, for instance,
it took credit for a terrorist stabbing attack on the Temple Mount, the second
attack that week in the area of Jerusalem’s Old City.”

 

Nigeria

 

Premium Times Nigeria: ANALYSIS: What Nigeria, Others Should Do To Defeat Boko
Haram
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“The devastation caused by Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin is not limited to
deaths and displacements. It includes severe disruptions to economic
activities. And it’s not just the violent extremists who are making it
difficult for communities to sustain their livelihoods – but also the
government’s measures to counter the insurgency. New research by the Institute
for Security Studies (ISS) found that the Lake Chad Basin had thriving fishing
and agro-pastoral activities before the conflict. It also had a vibrant
transborder trade sector, exchanging goods produced in and outside the region.
Today the work of fishers, farmers, traders and transporters is hampered by
both Boko Haram and the government’s responses to terrorism. The ISS study
covered Cameroon (North and Extreme North), Chad (Lac and Hadjer-Lamis), Niger
(Diffa) and Nigeria (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe). These areas were already
marginalised socio-economically before the conflict, and the uneven presence of
the state and government services enabled Boko Haram to appropriate economic
activities for its benefit. Violent extremists came in and destroyed farms,
killing or displacing farmers. Fishing areas became no-go zones after locals
were murdered or displaced.”

 

Somalia

 

Voice Of America: US Ambassador To Somalia Condemns Al-Shabab Attacks
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“U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Larry André has condemned a recent wave of attacks
by al-Shabab militants across the country that killed more than 60 people.
Speaking to VOA Somali on Tuesday, André said the attacks in Mogadishu,
Beledweyne and elsewhere were intended to prevent Somalia from moving toward
stability. “We condemn those who seek to murder and destroy,” the ambassador
said. “They are stopping the revival of Somalia and they're taking many lives
in doing so. We support those who seek to build a secure, prosperous and
peaceful Somalia. That is what our cooperation with the Somali authorities,
with the Somali people, with Somali civil society is all aimed at.” A daring
March 23 attack by al-Shabab on Mogadishu's heavily fortified airport killed at
least seven people including five foreigners, according to Somali police
spokesperson Major Abdifatah Aden Hassan. On the same day, two deadlier
explosions in Beledweyne claimed the lives of 48 more people including a female
lawmaker, Amina Mohamed Abdi. Al-Shabab attacks continued into this week as the
militant group carried out a raid and roadside explosion in Puntland, killing
five soldiers. Another attack on Tuesday night in the town of Wanlaweyn injured
a security official and killed his teenage son.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: Lincoln Teenager Arrested For Terror Offences
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“A 19-year-old man from Lincoln has been arrested on suspicion of terror
offences. Lincolnshire Police said East Midlands counter-terrorism officers
detained the teenager in a pre-planned operation shortly before 07:30 BST on
Wednesday. He remains in custody and will be interviewed at a local police
station. The arrest, south of the city centre, was part of the unit's
“year-round work to assess and respond to potential threats”, the force said.”

 

France

 

The Guardian: Suicide Vest Of Paris Attacks Defendant Was Faulty, Expert Tells
Court
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“A police explosives expert has told a court that the suicide vest worn by the
main suspect on trial for the 2015 Paris terror attacks that left 130 people
dead and hundreds injured was faulty. The witness said the detonators on the
front and back of the vest abandoned by Salah Abdeslam near a rubbish bin were
“defective” and there was no switch or battery present. “I suppose it could
have been set off with a match or a lighter. And if the TATP [explosive] was
dry enough it could have gone off unexpectedly by itself,” he said. The
testimony threw doubt on Abdeslam’s claims that he willingly backed out of
taking part in the attacks at the last minute. The police expert admitted it
was impossible to know if Abdeslam had tried to detonate the vest. “We can’t
know that: it’s instant; either it works or it doesn’t work,” he said. When
Abdeslam called friends in Belgium to ask them to come and collect him on the
night of the attacks, he told them the vest had not worked. On Wednesday, he
claimed this was a lie. “I chose not to set off my suicide vest. Not out of
cowardice or fear, but I didn’t want to do it. I wore it but I didn’t set it
off. That’s all. I was ashamed that I hadn’t gone through with it when I knew
what the others had done. I was 25 and I was afraid of what others would think.
It was the fact I was ashamed. Simply that,” he told the court.”

 

Canada

 

Vice: Home Linked To International Neo-Nazi Propagandist Raided By Police:
Sources
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“Multiple sources have told VICE News that the last known address of an
infamous artist who created propaganda for listed neo-Nazi terrorist
organizations has been raided by police in Canada. For years, the artist,
Patrick Gordon MacDonald, a 20-something graphic designer living in Ottawa and
going by the alias “Dark Foreigner,” produced work for Atomwaffen Division–a
U.S.-based terror group that has subsequently rebranded with a new name—and
other organizations within the ultraviolent neo-Nazi terror movement. In the
summer of 2021, VICE News revealed that he was operating a graphic design
studio out of the Canadian capital and living with his parents, after having
quietly produced art for multiple organizations. (As VICE News reported, for
example, it’s believed he not only produced art for Sonnenkrieg Division but
also traveled to the United Kingdom to meet with members; the group’s founder
was convicted last year of 15 terrorism-related offenses, including terrorism
funding.) One tipster, who did not want to be identified, said that the raid
began in the early-morning hours and involved the RCMP—Canada’s federal police
force, which is responsible for counterterrorism operations—as well as the
Ottawa Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police.”

 

Europe

 

AFP: Irish Ex-Soldier Was Not IS Member, Says Lawyer
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“The lawyer for an Irish ex-soldier accused of being a member of the so-called
Islamic State group on Wednesday denied she was involved in terrorist
activities, speaking on the final day of her trial. Lisa Smith, 40, from
Dundalk, on Ireland's east coast, has pleaded not guilty to membership of an
unlawful terrorist group between October 28, 2015 and December 1, 2019. She has
also denied funding terrorism by sending 800 euros ($900) to aid medical
treatment for a Syrian man in Turkey. As the nine-week trial wrapped up,
defence lawyer Michael O'Higgins pushed back against arguments by experts that
his client was a member of the Islamic State because she had moved to
IS-controlled territory. It was inaccurate to describe everyone who travelled
to the hardline jihadists' self-styled caliphate as a “foreign fighter”
regardless of what role they actually played, he argued. The only act that
“might at a stretch be argued as some form of assistance” was that Smith had
kept a home for her husband, he added. O'Higgins reminded the three judges at
the Special Criminal Court in Dublin that Smith had told Irish police in
interviews that she would “never join a group like that”. The court has been
told that she was a member of the Irish Defence Forces from 2001 to 2011 but
left after converting to Islam.”

 

Asia

 

Reuters: Russia Concerned At Islamic State's Plans To Destabilise Central Asia
-Report
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“Russia is concerned about the plans of militant group Islamic State to
destabilise central Asia and spread instability to the country as well, the RIA
news agency said. It was quoting remarks on Thursday by Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov at an Afghanistan-focused conference in China. Lavrov
added that the first diplomat appointed by Afghanistan's Taliban government
started work in Moscow last month after being accredited by Russia.”

 

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