“Hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban overran
the country nearly a year ago, even though security on the whole has imp











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Eye on Extremism


July 21, 2022



Associated Press: UN Slams Killings, Rights Abuses Under Afghanistan's Taliban
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“Hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban overran
the country nearly a year ago, even though security on the whole has improved
since then, the United Nations said in a report Wednesday. The United Nations
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also highlighted the poor situation of women
and girls since the Taliban takeover and how they have been stripped of many of
their human rights under Afghanistan's current rulers. “It is beyond time for
all Afghans to be able to live in peace and rebuild their lives after 20 years
of armed conflict. Our monitoring reveals that despite the improved security
situation since 15 August, the people of Afghanistan, in particular women and
girls, are deprived of the full enjoyment of their human rights,” said Markus
Potzel, deputy special representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan.
The report said as many as 700 people have been killed and 1,400 wounded since
mid-August 2021, when the Taliban overran the Afghan capital of Kabul as the
United States and NATO were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the
country. The majority of those casualties were linked to attacks by the Islamic
State group's affiliate in the country, a bitter rival of the Taliban which has
targeted ethnic and religious minority communities in places where they go to
school, worship and go about their daily lives.”



Axios: Hezbollah Threatens War Over Lebanon-Israel Maritime Border Dispute
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“With the U.S., Israeli and Lebanese governments hoping to finally reach a
deal on the disputed Israel-Lebanon maritime border, Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah again threatened war if Lebanon's “rights” in the Mediterranean
aren't respected. Why it matters: The dispute is focused on a potentially
gas-rich, 330-square-mile area of the Mediterranean Sea off of Israel and
Lebanon. The revenues from future natural gas production there could reach
billions of dollars. One major gas project, the Karish oil field, is expected
to come online this fall and is part of Israel's plans to become a major gas
supplier to Europe. Israel says Karish is south of the disputed area, but
Nasrallah warned that if Lebanon's rights aren't respected, Hezbollah won't
allow Israel to produce any gas there. Two weeks ago, the Israeli military shot
down three Hezbollah drones that were on their way to the Karish field. “We
might be going to war and we might not. We don’t want to open a new front, we
only want our rights. If someone in Lebanon thinks capitulation is the
solution, we think it’s unacceptable,” Nasrallah said yesterday. State of play:
U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein is mediating between the Israeli and Lebanese
governments, which are technically in a state of war and have yet to make a
breakthrough during years of stop-start diplomacy on this issue.”



United States



The Hill: Senate Defense Bill Signals Opposition To Pentagon’s Extremism
Efforts
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“The Senate Armed Services Committee signaled opposition to the Department of
Defense’s efforts to counter extremism in the military in a report on its
version of the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The
committee released the text of the bill this week, after voting 23-3 to advance
the measure last month. In the accompanying report, the committee says “the
vast majority of servicemembers serve with honor and distinction, and that the
narrative surrounding systemic extremism in the military besmirches the men and
women in uniform.” “The committee believes that spending additional time and
resources to combat exceptionally rare instances of extremism in the military
is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds and should be discontinued by the
Department of Defense immediately,” the report continues. The language in the
bill’s report was approved by a vote of 14-12, with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine),
who typically caucuses with Democrats, joining all Republicans voting in favor
of the language. Republicans have been open about their opposition to the
Pentagon’s efforts, essentially saying it creates problems where there aren’t
any. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a force-wide “stand down” to
address extremism in February of 2021, amid the revelation that some defendants
charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol had
some connection to the military.”



WKRN ABC: Sparta Woman Sentenced After Pleading Guilty To Terrorism Charges,
Aiding Foreign Terrorist Organization
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“A woman from Sparta, Tennessee was sentenced to five and a half years in
prison on Friday after pleading guilty to providing support and materials
intended to go to a foreign terrorist organization. A release from the
Department of Justice says in August 2019, a federal grand jury indicted
37-year-old Georgianna A.M. Giampietro on charges of attempting to provide
material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Giampietro was
charged in January 2022 with concealment of material support and resources
intended to be provided to a foreign terrorist organization; she pleaded guilty
to the charge in January. Once Giampietro is released from prison, she will be
under supervised release for 15 years. Court documents say in September 2018,
Giampietro spoke with an undercover agent who was interested in traveling to
Syria to join Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a designated Foreign Terrorist
Organization. The undercover agent reportedly told Giampietro that her husband
swore an oath of allegiance to HTS and that he intended to fight on behalf of
HTS.”



Iraq



Reuters: Turkey Says Attack On Iraq's Dohuk A Terror Act, Calls On Iraq To
Avoid Terror Propaganda
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“Turkey believes an attack on Iraq's northern Dohuk region which killed eight
and wounded 23 others was a terror attack and calls on Iraqi authorities to
avoid making statements influenced by “terrorist organisation propaganda”,
Ankara's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Earlier, Iraqi state media said
the attack was carried out by Turkey. In a statement, the Turkish Foreign
Ministry said Ankara was saddened to hear about the casualties in the attack,
and added Turkey took maximum care to avoid civilian casualties or damage to
historic or cultural sites. It said Turkey was ready to take any necessary
steps to uncover the truth behind the attack.”



Asharq Al-Awsat: Six Iraq Police Killed In Attack Blamed On ISIS
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“Six Iraqi police were killed and seven wounded early Wednesday in an attack
by militants on their position in a remote area north of Baghdad, a military
source said. “Between 10 and 15 ISIS group militants attacked this federal
police forward position around 12:30 am (2130 GMT Tuesday). The attack lasted
around an hour,” the source said, asking not to be identified. The attackers
struck near the village of Al-Jillam in an area 140 kilometers north of Baghdad
where extremists remain active, AFP reported. ISIS established a so-called
“caliphate” across swathes of Syria and Iraq from 2014. It was defeated in Iraq
in 2017 after offensives by Iraqi forces with the support of the US-led
coalition that has included more than 80 countries, among them Britain, France
and several Arab nations. Even though Iraq declared victory against ISIS in
December 2017, the group's remnants still carry out sporadic attacks against
security forces, particularly in sparsely populated desert or mountain areas.
The last major attack claimed by the extremists came in July last year, when
they bombed a market in the Baghdad Shiite district of Sadr City. The US-led
coalition formed to fight ISIS formally ended its combat mission in Iraq in
December, shifting to a training and advisory role. The 2,500 US and 1,000
other coalition troops had been acting as advisers and trainers since mid-2020.”



Turkey



Asharq Al-Awsat: Turkey Arrests 5 ISIS Members Who Were Active In Syria, Iraq
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“Turkish security forces arrested Tuesday five suspected ISIS terrorists in
Adana, southern Turkey. Counter-terrorism forces had launched a raid in the
city after receiving information about the presence of six suspects who were
reportedly fought in Syria and Iraq, security sources said. Five were arrested,
while efforts are ongoing to arrest the last suspect. The sources did not
reveal the nationalities of the detainees, who were transferred to Adana’s
Security Directorate for interrogation. Last week, security forces in Izmir,
western Turkey, arrested five people suspected of carrying financing ISIS
activities. The operation was carried out based on a report by the Financial
Crimes Investigation Board on the financing of the terrorist organization in
Syria. The suspects were arrested in separate areas across the province and the
interrogation process is still ongoing. Turkish security forces have continued
to crack down on ISIS cells operations targeting ISIS cells since 2017, after
the terrorist organization attacked the Reina nightclub in Istanbul on New
Year's Eve, killing 69 people, most of whom were foreigners. ISIS had
previously claimed responsibility for several terrorist operations across
Turkey between 2015 and 2017, killing over 300 people and injuring dozens
others. The Interior Ministry announced that between December 2015 and December
2020, 8,143 foreigners were deported on suspicion of terrorism. About 100,000
people are banned from entering the country for the same reason.”



Reuters: Turkey Says It Will Meet Finland, Sweden In August To Evaluate
Terror-Related Pledges
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“Officials from Turkey, Finland and Sweden will meet in August to evaluate
the progress made in fulfilling Ankara's counter-terrorism demands from the
Nordic countries to lift its veto on their NATO membership bid, Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday. Finland and Sweden have applied for
NATO membership in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but were faced
with opposition from Turkey, which accused them of supporting groups it deems
terrorists. The three countries signed an accord last month to lift Ankara's
veto in exchange for promises on counter-terrorism and arms exports. Speaking
to state broadcaster TRT Haber, Cavusoglu said the meeting in August would be
the first of a monitoring committee formed under the accord, but repeated that
Turkey would block the Nordic countries' memberships if they did not keep their
promises.”



Afghanistan



The New York Times: Reporter Says Taliban Forced Her To Publicly Retract
Accurate Articles
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“The Taliban forced a longtime war correspondent to publicly retract some of
her articles this week, telling her that she would go to jail if she did not,
she said, in the latest crackdown on press freedom in Afghanistan. The
reporter, Lynne O’Donnell, an Australian who writes for Foreign Policy and
other publications, explained her circumstances on Wednesday, after she had
safely left Afghanistan. “They dictated. I tweeted,” she wrote on Twitter.
“They didn’t like it. Deleted, edited, re-tweeted. Made video of me saying I
wasn’t coerced. Re-did that too.” In an article on Wednesday in Foreign Policy,
Ms. O’Donnell wrote that Taliban intelligence agents had “detained, abused and
threatened me.” She said the Taliban had taken issue with articles that she
wrote in 2021 and 2022 about the threat of forced marriages by Taliban fighters
and the violence facing L.G.B.T.Q. people living in Afghanistan. She wrote that
one intelligence officer had told her that “there are no gays in Afghanistan,”
while another had told her that he would kill anyone he learned was gay. A
spokesman for the Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The forced retraction by a Western journalist underscores the increasing
restrictions on the press in Afghanistan, where new leadership that promised to
allow media freedom is instead harassing and detaining journalists.”



Yemen



Arab News: Houthis Besiege, Attack Small Village In Yemen’s Al-Bayda
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“The Iran-backed Houthis have laid siege to a small village in the Yemeni
central province of Al-Bayda and begun indiscriminately bombarding houses,
Yemen’s government and rights activists said on Wednesday. Residents and local
media reports said that the Houthis besieged Khubzah village in Al-Bayda’s
Ghaifa after the Yemeni militia accused villagers of assassinating allied
operatives. The villagers denied the Houthi accusations, and tribal mediations
failed to convince the Houthis to stop their siege and shelling of the village.
Yemen’s government said that the Houthis are besieging the village, preventing
people — including the wounded or children and women — from leaving, warning of
a humanitarian crisis in the village if the Houthis did not end the siege and
the attacks. “The Govt. condemns in the strongest terms the #Houthi militia’s
attack on the Khubzah village in #AlBayda Governorate & imposing a siege on its
residents, preventing the delivery of food & medical supplies,” the Yemeni
government said on Twitter. It slammed the Houthis for seeking to undermine the
UN-brokered truce that has largely reduced violence across the country. “Such
continuous attacks undermine the truce and efforts made to extend it.” Local
activists circulated a letter from tribesmen pledging to hand over fellow men
to the Houthis if they substantiated their allegations.”



Middle East



Long War Journal: Ayman Al Zawahiri Is Alive; Taliban And Al Qaeda “Remain
Close,” UN Reports
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“Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of Al Qaeda who served as Osama bin Laden’d
deputy on 9/11, “is confirmed to be alive” and is “communicating freely,”
according to a report from the United Nations’ Analytical Support and Sanctions
Monitoring Team. Additionally, the UN said the Taliban-Al Qaeda alliance
remains strong, as reported by FDD’s Long War Journal, and the leaders of Al
Qaeda’s branches in North and East Africa have assumed roles in Al Qaeda’s line
of succession. While it is not news that Zawahiri is alive, well, and
communicating comfortably, some terrorism analysts previously claimed Zawahiri
was dead as recently as Nov. 2020. While not explicitly stated, Zawahiri is
likely operating inside Afghanistan. “Member States note that al-Zawahiri’s
apparent increased comfort and ability to communicate has coincided with the
Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and the consolidation of power of key [Al
Qaeda] allies within their de facto administration,” the United Nations
Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team noted in its latest report on
the status of Al Qaeda and its rival, the Islamic State.”



Somalia



Voice Of America: Al-Shabab Attacks Somali Towns Close To Ethiopian Border
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“Heavy fighting was reported Wednesday after al-Shabab militants attacked two
Somali towns along the border with Ethiopia. Regional officials who confirmed
the attack with VOA Somali said militants clashed with Liyu police, members of
Ethiopia’s controversial paramilitary forces that have long been present in
Somalia’s southwestern Bakool region towns of Yeed and Aato. Ethiopian National
Defense Forces (ENDF) operating in Somalia as part of a bilateral security deal
between Ethiopia and Somalia rely on Liyu police for border protection and
supply route safety and logistics. A security official who requested anonymity
because he is not allowed to speak with media told VOA’s Somali Service that
al-Shabab first attacked a Liyu police camp in Aato town; a local Bakool region
official confirmed the al-Shabab then carried out a second attack on Yeed,
where militants again entered a Liyu police encampment. Militants later
attacked Washaaqo village with mortars, possibly to disrupt Liyu police
reinforcements from arriving on the scene. Yeed and Aato are within 80
kilometers of each other, while Washaaqo is slightly further inside Somalia.
Casualties are not yet known. Telephone networks in the area had been down most
of Wednesday.”



All Africa: Somalia: Al-Shabaab Members Detained In Army Operation
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“Somali government forces have carried out an operation in several areas in
southern Somalia, targeting key Al-Shabaab bases, officials said. The operation
was conducted in villages near Wanlaweyn town in the Lower Shabelle region,
which lies on Mogadishu-Baidoa road, where Al-Shabaab stages ambush attacks. An
unspecified number of Al-Shabaab members were detained by the military forces
during their sweep-up operation that comes amidst an intensified crackdown on
the militants. Al-Shabaab is yet to comment on the SNA claims. The region has
witnessed deadly battles between Al-Shabaab and the Somali army along with AU
soldiers from ATMIS.”



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