“Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Sunday aired drone footage of Israeli ships in a
disputed gas field in the Mediterranean Sea, highlighting the tension at the











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Eye on Extremism


August 1, 2022



Associated Press: Hezbollah Airs Video Of Israeli Barges In Disputed Gas Field
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“Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Sunday aired drone footage of Israeli ships in a
disputed gas field in the Mediterranean Sea, highlighting the tension at the
center of U.S.-mediated maritime border talks between Lebanon and Israel. The
footage was aired as the U.S. energy envoy, Amos Hochstein, was landing in
Beirut to mediate ongoing talks between Lebanon and Israel over their sea
borders. Lebanon claims the Karish gas field is disputed territory under
ongoing maritime border negotiations, whereas Israel says it lies within its
internationally recognized economic waters. Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah
Bou Habib in a statement Friday said Hochstein will inform Lebanon of Israel’s
response to Lebanon’s June proposal, adding that he was optimistic about
reaching an agreement soon. There was no immediate response to the video from
Israel. The footage aired on the Iran-backed party and militia’s Al-Manar
television, showed barges from reconnaissance drones over the Karish gas field
and their coordinates. It ended with footage of a rocket with the words “within
range” in Arabic and Hebrew.”



BBC News: Mali And Burkina Faso: Did The Coups Halt Jihadist Attacks?
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“Widespread anger at chronic insecurity in the West African countries of Mali
and Burkina Faso paved the way for military men to kick out failing governments
over the past two years. “There's no more room for mistakes,” said Mali's coup
leader as he seized power in August 2020. “We have more than what it takes to
win this war,” echoed Burkina Faso's new man in charge earlier this year. So
are citizens now more safe? The short answer is, no. In both countries, attacks
by Islamist militants on civilians have only increased. The same is true of
civilian deaths - more ordinary people are being killed by Islamists, militants
and the military. “The tallies for each year are increasing year by year,” says
Héni Nsaibia, a senior researcher covering West Africa's Sahel region for the
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled). Data supplied to the
BBC by Acled in June compares the 661 days before and after Mali's coup in
August 2020, and the 138 days before and after Burkina Faso's coup in January
2022. To gather this data Acled relies on a network of “informants and
professionals” as well as media reports, but Mr Nsaibia says tracking violence
is particularly hard in the Sahel because of “Russian-driven disinformation,
and the states themselves often feed the media with fake reports to make them
appear more successful than they really are.”



United States



Houston Chronicle: Richmond Man Helped ISIS Share Propaganda, Forged
Passports, Prosecutors Say
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“A 24-year-old Richmond man facing charges of conspiracy to support ISIS was
accused by federal prosecutors in a Friday detention hearing of helping spread
the organization’s propaganda, stealing credit card information and forging
travel documents and identification. Abdulrahman Al Qaysi, who was indicted in
December 2020 but not arrested until earlier this summer, had ties to the
United Cyber Caliphate, a group of hacking organizations that supports ISIS,
prosecutors said. For years he used Facebook to share propaganda such as videos
of beheadings and photoshopped images of the Statue of Liberty flying an ISIS
flag, they added. On at least two occasions he shared a so-called “kill list”
to dox U.S. military and State Department personnel, said Homeland Security
special agent H. Albert Wittliff in his testimony. Prosecutors argued Al Qaysi,
an Iraqi refugee who came to the United States when he was 10, was a flight
risk because of the money he receives monthly from an uncle overseas and what
they said was a history of creating fake U.S. passports for himself and others.
“He has the means to run,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani. “Not
only in cash but in IDs.”



Iraq



Arab News: Iraq’s PMF Says Daesh Attack Thwarted In North Of Baghdad
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“The Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said it thwarted an
attempted attack by Daesh in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad, the Iraq
News Agency (INA) reported on Friday. “A force from the 12th Brigade of the
Popular Mobilization repelled an attack by [Daesh] that targeted the Tarmiyah
district, north of Baghdad, and the force was able to thwart a [Daesh] attempt
to infiltrate the district and carry out terrorist operations,” the PMF said in
a statement carried by INA. The militants launched a counterattack in the
district to secure the area and conducted security sweeps in search of fleeing
Daesh fighters, the statement added. Iraq’s PMF – a state-sanctioned umbrella
organization of mostly Shiite militias backed by Iran – was created when
influential Shiite cleric Ali Al-Sistani urged the public to take up arms
against Daesh. While the militias were first created to fight the terrorist
organization, the PMF’s biggest faction Hashd Al-Shaabi has also been
responsible for dozens of attacks on US forces in Iraq since its formation.”



Kurdistan 24: Iraqi Airstrikes Kill 8 Suspected ISIS Members
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“Eight suspected ISIS members were killed by twin Iraqi airstrikes in the
west of Nineveh province on Thursday, according to a statement from the army’s
media. The airstrikes targeted a “cave” in the province’s Adiya Mountain range
based on intelligence provided by the security forces, the Security Media Cell
announced. The hideout was completely destroyed, the statement added. An Iraqi
Army unit visited the site to assess the damage, and they found the strikes
yielded “positive results”. The Iraqi Air Force regularly targets ISIS remnants
and their hideouts in remote areas of the country. Even though the group was
declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, it still poses a
threat. At least seven people were killed by a recent series of attacks across
a number of provinces. In the face of the increasing attacks by the group,
cooperation between the Iraqi and Kurdish forces is urgently needed,
particularly in the disputed territories, the Kurdistan Region President
Nechirvan Barzani warned in a statement. He called for continued coalition
support to Iraqi and Kurdish forces to combat the group.”



Afghanistan



NBC News: Taliban Are Enforcing Their Rule With A Vengeance, Veteran
Correspondent Warns
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“Veteran Afghanistan correspondent Lynne O’Donnell says she has never seen
the Taliban more brutal or the millions of people the austere fighters again
govern more wretched. “I really never expected to find it as bad and as awful
as I did. It’s a very very sad, unhappy, traumatized, depressed place,” she
said after revealing she was forced to retract hard-hitting reports on the
fundamentalist Islamic group. “They’re worse,” she said, commenting on the
changes in the Taliban since their first time in power more than 20 years ago.
The Australian journalist was speaking during a phone interview after being
ejected from Afghanistan after just four days in the capital, Kabul. The
account of her experiences there garnered widespread attention after she was
visited by Taliban intelligence officers who she says brought her to their
headquarters July 19 and demanded she give up her sources for previous reports.
O’Donnell said she was held in a messy office, where the four officers wanted
her to apologize for her work from 2021, focusing on reports on members of the
Afghan LGBTQ community and on minors being forced into a life of sexual
servitude to Taliban members. She said she was forced to recant reporting about
the Taliban via Twitter, and issue tweets apologizing for three or four reports
accusing authorities of forcefully marrying teenage girls.”



Reuters: One Dead In Clashes Between Taliban, Iran Border Forces, Afghan
Police Official Says
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“Clashes between Taliban forces and Iran border guards on Sunday have left at
least one dead on the Afghanistan side, an Afghan police official said. “We
have one killed and one wounded; the cause of the clash is not clear yet,” the
police spokesman of the southern Afghan province of Nimroze, Bahram Haqmal,
told Reuters. Maysam Barazandeh, the governor of the Iranian border area of
Hirmand, was quoted by the semi-official news agency Fars as saying the clashes
had stopped and there were no casualties. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said
clashes broke out after Taliban forces tried to raise their flag “in an area
which is not Afghan territory”. Local sources told Reuters that people living
near the border on the Afghan side fled their homes to take cover when the
clashes intensified. Since taking over Afghanistan a year ago, Taliban forces
have frequently clashed with security forces of Iran, which neighbours the
country to the west, as well as Pakistan, which neighbours it to the east.”



Reuters: Two Killed In Kabul Cricket Stadium Grenade Attack, Police Say
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“Two people were killed in the grenade explosion that shook Kabul's main
cricket stadium during a domestic league match on Friday, police said on
Saturday, updating their previous casualty toll. The blast occurred in the
crowd as spectators watched a match between two teams from the local Shpageza
cricket league, the Afghan Cricket Board (ACB) said. “The blast happened due to
a grenade, two have been killed and some of our countrymen injured,” Kabul
police spokesman Khalid Zadran said on Saturday, adding that security forces
were looking for those responsible for the attack. “The match stopped for a
while. After clean-up of the area the match restarted,” Zadran told Reuters.
Initially, officials including ACB Chief Executive Nassib Khan had reported
four injuries and no deaths as a result of the explosion. No ACB staff or
players were hurt, Khan added. Cricket is a hugely popular sport in
Afghanistan, with the country's national team continuing to do well on the
international stage despite limited resources and instability at home. A number
of Afghans are ranked among the top players in the world. Friday is a weekly
holiday in Afghanistan, and the eight-team domestic league, which has been
running for the last 10 days, had attracted a sizeable audience at the stadium
in the capital.”



Lebanon



Al Arabiya: Congress Calls On EU To Designate Hezbollah In Its Entirety As A
Terrorist Group
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“The US House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) passed a measure calling on
the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terror group in its entirety.
Lawmakers on the committee also passed a separate resolution calling for the US
government to dismantle narcotics networks of the Assad regime, specifically
Captagon, an amphetamine-type stimulant. The resolution, which now will be
voted on by the House, applauds and expresses support for the continued,
increased cooperation between the US and EU in thwarting Hezbollah’s criminal
and terrorist activities. It also calls on the EU to sanction
Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists in tandem with the US. The resolution “urges
the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist
organization and increase pressure on the group.” Pressure on the group would
include better cross-border cooperation between European Union members in
combatting Hezbollah, issuing arrest warrants against members and active
supporters of the group, freezing Hezbollah’s assets in Europe and banning
fundraising activities in support of it.”



Middle East



The Times Of Israel: Palestinian Charged With Terror For Paving Stone Attack
That Seriously Injured Man
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“Terror charges were filed Sunday against a Palestinian accused of bashing a
Bnei Brak man over the head with a piece of paving stone and seriously injuring
him earlier this month. Prosecutors said the terror attack was aimed at sowing
panic among the Israeli public. Ahmad Rashdan, 33, a resident of the West Bank
town of Einabus, near Nablus, was indicted at the Tel Aviv District Court for
attempted murder and aggravated assault as acts of terrorism, as well as
obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, Rashdan “tried to murder a
person of Jewish origin” with a paving stone for “a nationalist-ideological
motive and with the aim of raising fear or panic among the public.” Prosecutors
say the attack was premeditated and that Rashdan had visited the footbridge
between the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak and neighboring Givat Shmuel two
days earlier to plan how to carry it out. Then, on July 5, he arrived at the
bridge and put a piece of paving stone he found into his bag. Rashdan noticed
Yitzhak Dahan, 47, as he was heading to morning prayers. The two walked past
each other, at which point Rashdan pulled out the paving stone and used it to
hit Dahan on the head. Dahan fell to the floor bleeding and Rashdan ran off,
prosecutors said.”



Somalia



Voice Of America: Al-Shabab Militants Execute 7 By Firing Squad In Somalia
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“Somali-based militant group al-Shabab has executed seven men in Somalia’s
southwestern region of Bay. The execution that was conducted publicly took
place in the vicinity of Buula-Fulay in Somalia’s Bay region late Saturday. Six
of the executed men were accused of spying for the Somali government and the
U.S. Three of them were also accused of providing intelligence that led to the
killing of senior al-Shabab leaders, Yusuf Jiis and Abdulkadir Commandos, who
were targeted in U.S. airstrikes in 2020. An al-Shabab judge told local
spectators that the six men have confessed, without providing evidence.
Al-Shabab courts don’t allow lawyers who can defend the accused. Meanwhile,
Ethiopia’s Somali state president Mustafe Omar said that the region’s special
forces operations against al-Shabab militants inflicted the group heavy
casualties. He said they believe that the troops killed 600 al-Shabab fighters
during their operations against the militant group who a week ago infiltrated
Ethiopia, sparking new confrontations near the Ethiopian border with Somalia.”



Voice Of America: At Least 10 Killed In Al-Shabab Attack Of Town On
Somalia-Ethiopia Border
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“At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others injured Friday when
al-Shabab extremists attacked a town that sits on the Somali side of the border
with Ethiopia, according to witnesses and officials. “The militants launched a
surprise dawn attack on the town of Aato in the Bakol region of Somalia this
morning [Friday], triggering fierce gun battles with a joint Ethiopian
paramilitary Liyu police officers and Somali forces,” witnesses who requested
anonymity fearing reprisals told VOA. One of the witnesses said the militant
fighters began their attack using car bombs and mortar shells, then used guns
as they fought the opposing forces. At the time of the attack, members of
Somalia’s parliament were in the town to distribute food aid sent from
Mogadishu to drought-affected residents. It was not clear if the government
delegation was the target of the al-Shabab attack. “Heavily armed militants,
using mortar shells and machine guns mounted on vehicles attacked the town,
confronting joint Somali and Ethiopian forces in the streets of the town in a
battle that ensued for three hours,” Aden Mohamed Nor, a Somali lawmaker, in
the town during the attack, told VOA by phone. Nor said he saw the dead bodies
of more than 10 combatants from both sides, and that al-Shabab took most of its
dead and wounded fighters as they were repulsed.”



Africa



The Washington Post: Why Dangerous Content Thrives On Facebook And Tiktok In
Kenya
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“The shooter approaches from behind, raising a pistol to his victim’s head.
He pulls the trigger and “pop,” a lifeless body slumps forward. The shot cuts
to another execution, and another. The video was posted on Facebook, in a large
group of al-Shabab and Islamic State supporters, where different versions were
viewed thousands of times before being taken down. As Facebook and its
competitor TikTok grow at breakneck speed in Kenya, and across Africa,
researchers say the technology companies are failing to keep pace with a
proliferation of terrorist content, hate speech and false information, taking
advantage of poor regulatory frameworks to avoid stricter oversight. “It is a
deliberate choice to maximize labor and profit extraction, because they view
the societies in the Global South primarily as markets, not as societies,” said
Nanjala Nyabola, a Kenyan technology and social researcher. About 1 in 5
Kenyans use Facebook, which its parent company last year renamed itself Meta,
and TikTok has become one of the most downloaded apps in the country. The
prevalence of violent and inflammatory content on the platforms poses real
risks in this East African nation, as it prepares for a bitterly contested
presidential election next month and deals with the threat of terrorism posed
by a resurgent al-Shabab.”



Associated Press: U.N. Peacekeepers Kill 2, Wound 15 At Border Post In Congo
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“U.N. peacekeepers returning from leave opened fire at a border post between
Congo and Uganda, killing at least two people and wounding at least 15 more,
the U.N. mission and Congo government officials said Sunday. Tensions between
the population in restive eastern Congo and the U.N. peacekeeping force have
risen dramatically in the past week, with nearly 20 killed in protests calling
for the force to leave the region. Bintou Keita, head of the U.N. mission in
Congo and special representative of the U.N. secretary general, said she was
deeply shocked by the shootings in Kasindi, the border town with Uganda in the
Beni territory of Congo's North Kivu province. She said it was not clear why
the peacekeepers opened fire. “This serious incident has caused loss of life
and serious injuries,” said Keita. “Faced with this unspeakable and
irresponsible behavior, the perpetrators of the shooting were identified and
arrested pending the conclusions of the investigation, which has already
started in collaboration with the Congolese authorities.” She said the
soldiers' home country has been contacted so that legal proceedings could
begin. Their nationality was not given. Congo's government strongly condemned
the shootings, confirming a provisional toll of two dead and 15 wounded.”



United Kingdom



Daily Mail: Exclusive: Convicted Terrorist, 29, Who Recruited ISIS Fighters
And 'Radicalised' Manchester Arena Bomber Salman Abedi Could Be Freed From Jail
As He Makes Bid For Parole
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“A convicted terror boss and a friend of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi
has been told he can bid for freedom. Rochdale-born Abdalraouf Abdallah is
expected to go before the Parole Board in November and could be back on the
streets in the New Year. The fanatic was jailed in 2016 after being found
guilty of helping people travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group. He
was released on license in November 2020, but returned to jail a few months
later for breaching strict conditions requiring good behaviour. Abdallah, now
29, was staying at an approved premises at the time and the rule breaches were
not terror related. A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: 'We can confirm
the parole review of Abdalraouf Abdallah has been referred to the Parole Board
by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.
'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could
represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the
community. 'A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including
details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as
explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.”



Canada



The Washington Post: Life Sentence For Canadian Man Who Joined ISIS, Narrated
Propaganda Videos
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“A Canadian man who was radicalized online, uprooted his life and joined the
Islamic State in Syria, rising to a top position in the terrorist group’s
English-language propaganda arm, was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
Mohammed Khalifa, 39, was the English-language narrator in approximately 15
Islamic State propaganda videos, including some of its most influential and
violent fare, prosecutors said. But he also had a starring role. Khalifa
admitted that he appears in the final scenes of two documentary-length Islamic
State videos — “Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun” and “Flames of War II:
Until the Final Hour” — executing Syrian soldiers who had been forced to dig
their own graves. Khalifa pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to provide
material support to terrorism resulting in death. Prosecutors asked for the
maximum penalty of life in prison. Khalifa’s attorneys had requested a sentence
of 20 years, noting that he had killed two Syrian soldiers but no Americans,
and that he had a wife and three children. The text of the statute under which
Khalifa was charged does not require that victims who died be American. U.S.
District Judge T.S. Ellis III described Khalifa as “the Pied Piper who played
the tune,” enabling the Islamic State to reach English speakers in the United
States and Europe with violent propaganda.”



Australia



Brisbane Times: Alleged Brisbane Extremist Charged With Encouraging Terrorist
Attack
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“An Australian man already accused of funding an overseas fighter to travel
to Syrian to join terrorist groups battling government forces, has also been
charged with advocating for a terrorism act. Omar Saghir, 40, was arrested on
July 16, 2019, by Australian Federal Police officers when he landed at Sydney
Airport from Saudi Arabia, where he had been since 2019. The AFP allege Saghir
played a senior role in a Brisbane group that held a “religiously motivated
violent extremist ideology” and a desire to travel to Syria to fight. Saghir
has also been accused of co-founding an organisation that provided funds to
people who later fled Australia to join Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group fighting
against Syrian government forces. Saghir is accused of transferred $1010 on
August 8, 2013, to ‘Witness 1’ – who was in Turkey, but later went to Syria and
fought against government forces. Witness 1 has provided a full statement to
the AFP against Saghir, including details of conversations they had. These
allegedly included discussions of ‘jihad’, providing Syrian anti-government
fighters with “men and armaments” and asking the Mujahideen militant group to
help with the fight in Syria. Saghir is also accused of posting videos to his
Facebook account in mid-2019 showing the fighting in Syria and encouraging
followers to join and support the cause.”



Technology



Vice: Is Joe Biden Dead, Replaced By 10 Different Deepfake Body Doubles? An
Investigation
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“…“The difference in Biden’s overall appearance between the two videos
appears to be just a result of different lighting in the room,” Hany Farid,
image forensics expert and professor at University of California, Berkeley told
Motherboard. And in the original video from the conference, he noted, “you can
clearly see that the claims being made about blinking and other artifacts are
unfounded.” According to Giancarlo Fiorella, an investigator at Bellingcat, to
achieve the uncanny valley effect of the side by side comparisons, an editor
had to zoom in on Biden’s face in the YouTube video. Software zooms famously
distort images. Fiorella noted this when Motherboard spoke with him about the
videos. “[Zooming in] reduces the quality and maybe accounts for some of the
‘uhh, is this guy ok?’ effect,” he said. “I bet if you zoom in on anyone’s face
when they’re talking they’d look weird, sorta like an uncanny valley effect.”



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