Eye on Extremism
August 31, 2022
The Wall Street Journal: Drone Attack On Syria Base Came From Iraqi Militants, U.S. Officials Say
“The drones that attacked a U.S. military compound in southeast Syria on Aug. 15 were launched by Iranian-backed militants in central Iraq, U.S. officials say, posing a challenge for the White House as it seeks to navigate Baghdad’s tumultuous politics. The Iraqi militia’s alleged involvement was briefly made public last week when a U.S. military command in the Middle East tweeted a map showing that the attack had been launched from Iraq and providing photographs of remnants of the Iranian drones. But officials at the White House’s National Security Council and the Pentagon expressed concerns about the disclosure. The Defense Department instructed that the tweet be deleted “due to operational sensitivities in the region,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Defense Department spokesman, told The Wall Street Journal. U.S. officials say the information in the tweet was accurate and that the drones were launched from Iraq’s Babil province in an area controlled by Kataib Hezbollah, a militia with close ties to Tehran. A screenshot taken by The Wall Street Journal showing a since-deleted tweet by the U.S.-led command that is helping Iraqi and Syrian forces fight Islamic State militants.”
ABC News Australia: Inquiry Into Far-Right Extremism In Victoria Makes 12 Recommendations To Counter Spread
“The findings of a six-month inquiry into the re-emergence of far-right extremism in Victoria have been released, highlighting issues such as decreasing public trust in mainstream media and government and young people engaging with extremism. Key points: A parliamentary inquiry has made 12 recommendations to the government to counter far-right extremism in Victoria. The government will have six months to respond to the recommendations. The inquiry heard that minors are increasingly the subject of terrorism investigations. Chaired by Northern Metropolitan member Fiona Patten, a committee investigated the spread of far-right extremism in Victoria since 2015, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and possible preventative measures to stop radicalisation. “This report, its findings and recommendations are not the complete answer to the problems caused by extremism nor all the answers to combating it,” Ms Patten said. “They should be seen as a starting point. More work is required to understand extremism and further ways to prevent it.” The committee made 46 findings and 12 recommendations, based off submissions from dozens of interest groups and stakeholders around the state. The government has six months to respond in writing to the recommendations.”
Iraq
Egypt Today: Group Of Daesh Terrorists Arrested In Iraq's Kurdistan Over Publishing Leaflets
“A group of Daesh terrorists were arrested Tuesday over publishing leaflets containing expiatory phrases in Bazian area, announced Asayish Directorate, west of Sulaymaniyah in Kurdistan province. Over the past period, it has been noticed the existence of leaflets and slogans promoting Daesh ideologies in several public places in Bazian area, the directorate said in a statement carried by Alsumaria TV. Four terrorists have been arrested and they confessed to carrying out terrorist acts against governmental institutions in the area in order to undermine internal peace, it added.”
Afghanistan
Voice Of America: Fears, Uncertainty Torment West With Taliban In Charge Of Afghan Security
“A year after the last U.S. troops left Kabul, there appears to be little consensus on whether the world, and the West in particular, is any safer from the terrorist groups that call Afghanistan home. One of the most polarizing developments in the debate came on July 31 of this year, when a U.S. airstrike — the first in Afghanistan since U.S. forces departed on August 30, 2021 — targeted a safe house in downtown Kabul, killing al-Qaida terror group leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. U.S. officials said al-Zawahiri had moved to the Afghan capital months earlier, residing in a house owned by members of the Taliban’s ruling coalition and that Taliban officials were aware he was there. “The United States does not need a permanent troop presence on the ground in harm’s way to remain vigilant against terrorism threats or to remove the world’s most wanted terrorist from the battlefield,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson wrote in a memo issued Monday. A recently declassified U.S. intelligence assessment also downplays the threat from al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida in particular “does not have a capability to launch attacks against the U.S. or its interests abroad from Afghanistan,” according to the assessment, which added that the group “has not reconstituted its presence in Afghanistan since the U.S. departure in August 2021.”
Fox News: US Withdrawal From Afghanistan 'Weakened' NATO Prior To Putin's Invasion: Experts
“NATO allies had no choice but to follow the U.S. out of Afghanistan, which gave the impression that member states had “no backbone” for another conflict, experts told Fox News Digital. “It was clear to all experts that [the withdrawal] meant the great danger of the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan,” Dr. August Hanning, former German state secretary of the Federal Interior Ministry and director of Federal Intelligence Services, explained. “But the prevailing mood in Germany was that government, Parliament and public were tired about the mission and the poor results of the mission in Afghanistan. Therefore, this announcement was also associated with a feeling of relief.” The Taliban assumed control of Kabul – and the country as a whole – after President Biden ordered a hasty withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan that ended on Aug. 30, 2021. Allies told Fox News Digital that the U.S. provided little advance warning, leaving them to scramble and figure out their own plans. Even in the event that some allies had wanted to remain in the country, it would not have been possible without the U.S. presence. “We had no choice: We couldn't possibly have remained without the Americans,” Col. Richard Kemp, a British Army officer who commanded U.K. forces in Afghanistan in 2003, told Fox News Digital. “We're a comparatively small army. We don't have the necessary support to be able to make it have any effect, really, in Afghanistan on our own.”
Newsweek: A Year After U.S. Exit, Afghan Rebel Groups Are Waging War On Taliban Rule
“One year since the departure of the final U.S. military plane from Kabul marked the end of a 20-year war effort in Afghanistan, the Taliban's reign over the country remains powerful, but not undisputed. While jihadi groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) present a threat to the Taliban's Islamic Emirate on one front, a number of rebel groups are also locked in combat with rulers of Afghanistan, who are still unrecognized by the international community. The actual strength of these organizations remains a matter of dispute, especially given their geographical and geopolitical isolation, but their common goal of overthrowing the Islamic Emirate makes them a lingering challenge for the Taliban's project to legitimize and secure their lasting control over Afghanistan. Newsweek spoke with five such groups, nearly all of whom claimed to be made up mostly of former Afghan National Security Forces personnel now fighting against the Taliban in support of a democratic Afghanistan without any international backing. Each warned that, rather than posing as a force for stability, the Taliban had opened the floodgates to other militant groups including ISIS, Al-Qaeda, the Islamic Union of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Jamaat Ansurallah (sometimes referred to as the Tajik Taliban), and the Pakistani Taliban.”
Yemen
Associated Press: Rights Groups Urge Yemen’s Houthis To End Taiz Blockade
Sixteen rights groups urge Yemen’s Houthi rebels to end their siege of the country’s third-largest city, as the internationally recognized government said an overnight rebel attack killed at least 10 troops. The groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, say in a joint statement that the Houthi blockade of Taiz has severely restricted freedom of movement and impeded the flow of essential goods, medicine and humanitarian aid to the city’s residents.
Middle East
Associated Press: Gaza Aid Worker Gets 12 Years On Israeli Terror Charges
“An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced the Gaza director of a major international charity to 12 years in prison after the court earlier convicted him of terrorism charges in a high-profile case in which independent investigations found no proof of wrongdoing. Mohammed el-Halabi, the Gaza director for the international Christian charity World Vision, was arrested in 2016 and accused of diverting tens of millions of dollars to the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules the territory. The trial, and his prolonged detention, have further strained relations between Israel and humanitarian organizations that provide aid to Palestinians. The sentence is likely to continue to affect those ties. The trial sheds light on the way Israel's legal system handles sensitive security cases, with the defense team given only limited access to evidence, which was also not made public. Critics say the courts too often side with the evidence brought forward by Israel's security establishment. “It's inconceivable,” el-Halabi's lawyer, Maher Hanna, said of the length of the sentence. “They insist that injustice will persist throughout the whole process.” Both el-Halabi and World Vision have denied the allegations and an independent audit in 2017 also found no evidence of support for Hamas. Australia, which was the biggest single donor to World Vision’s humanitarian work in Gaza, came to similar conclusions in its own review.”
Associated Press: Olympics Attack Victims’ Families Close To Deal With Germany
“The families of 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian attackers at the 1972 Munich Olympics are close to reaching a deal with the German government over a long-disputed compensation claim, German and Israeli media reported Wednesday. Earlier this month, the families had threatened to boycott Monday’s 50-year anniversary ceremony in Munich organized by German authorities because they said the amount they had been offered was too low. Several media reported Wednesday that Germany increased its offer to the families to around 28 million euros (dollars), but that a final deal, while close, had not yet been signed. German media have reported that during negotiations over the last few weeks, the German government initially offered 10 million euros to the families, which would include the payments already made. The government has not publicly revealed how much money it has offered.”
Nigeria
Punch Nigeria: Army Kills Terrorist, Arrests Three Suspects In Kaduna
“The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said the General Officer Commanding One Division, alongside a team of operational commanders, arrested three terrorists and killed one during a gun duel in Kaduna State. The patrol team led by Major-General Taoreed Lagbaja was on a fighting patrol in some communities in state when the terrorists reportedly engaged the team in a gun duel and were overpowered. A statement by the Army spokesperson, Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu said 18 motorcycles and arms and ammunition were recovered from the terrorists. The statement read, “A fighting patrol led by the General Officer Commanding One Division Nigerian Army, Major-General Taoreed Lagbaja, accompanied by a team of operational commanders and operatives have cleared bandits in Buruku, Udawa, Manini, Birnin Gwari, Doka, Maganda, Kuyello and Dogon Dawa communities in Kaduna State, while on a fighting patrol on Monday, August 29, 2022. “In the fire fight that ensued during the engagements, the patrol team overpowered the bandits with superior fire power, neutralising one of them, while three others were captured alive as some of the criminal elements escaped with gunshot wounds. The patrol team also recovered one AK 47 rifle, 27 rounds of 7.62 mm special ammunition and 18 motorcycles.”
Africa
Reuters: Militants Kill At Least 40 Villagers In East Congo Attacks
“Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 40 civilians in a string of attacks on several villages in east Democratic Republic of Congo between Thursday and Monday, a local human rights group and a hospital worker said Tuesday. Assailants believed to be members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) first targeted a group of villagers from North-Kivu province that had crossed into neighboring Ituri province to look for arable land near the Ituri River on Aug. 25. Christophe Munyanderu, coordinator of the local group Convention for the Respect of Human Rights (CRDH), said ADF fighters had executed more than 40 men, women and children in five villages since Thursday. “All this under the eyes of the authorities,” said Munyanderu. “We are dying here but nothing is being done.” War-displaced women feed and play with their children. Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 40 civilians in a string of attacks. Congolese policemen are seen at the border between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. The ADF is one of several armed groups wrangling over resources and attacking civilians in Congo’s east. A wounded FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) soldier.”
AFP: Burkina Says 28 Rebels And One Soldier Died In Army Ops
“A soldier has been killed and at least 28 “terrorists neutralized” in two military operations in the north and east of Burkina Faso, the army said Monday. The landlocked Sahel state is in the grip of a seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced some 1.9 million people to leave their homes. The fighting has been concentrated in the north and east, led by jihadists suspected to have links with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group. The army announced that on Sunday troops launched a counter-offensive after rebel harassment around the northern town of Sebba. Two rebel bases were dismantled and several clashes took place, leaving “at least 18” dead, as well as one soldier, a statement said. Also on Sunday, special forces backed by the air force laid assault to a “major terrorist base” near Soam in the east. “The base was totally destroyed and at least 10 terrorists were neutralized,” the statement said, meaning they were killed. “Others fled and are now being pursued by deployed units,” it added. Weapons, vehicles, and communication equipment were recovered, according to the army, which urged people to “strengthen cooperation with the defense and security forces by informing on terrorists who try to melt into their midst.”
All Africa: West Africa: Ghana Appeals To U.S. To Help Fight Terrorism In West Africa
“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appealed to the United States Government to help West African deal with the threat of terrorism and violent extremism. Speaking with a US Bi-partisan Congressional delegation that paid him a visit at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said the threats posed by the expanding Islamic network were detrimental to the socio-economic development of the region. He told the delegation that the growing threat of terrorism in the region was a result of the US decade-long fight against terrorism in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The delegation is in the country to evaluate US Government's projects and USAID programmes and investments. The President said the terrorism phenomenon further heightened in the region when the US fought and drove hardened Jihadist groups from the Middle East a decade ago, and the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Terrorism groups, which were originally confided in countries bordering the Sahel regions, took advantage of the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's regime and penetrated the West African region such as Mail to find refuge from the US fight against them in the Middle East.”
Europe
Atalayar: Boogaloo Bois Arrive In Ukraine
“…For this group, however, the main reason for participating in the war would not be to help the Ukrainian army against the Russian offensive, but to gain military experience. “Some right-wing extremists have seen the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to gain combat experience that would otherwise not be available to them,” Joshua Fisher-Birch, a far-right expert and analyst at the Counter Extremism Project, tells VICE. This military experience not only serves to enhance the capabilities of the fighters travelling to Ukraine themselves, but also “to pass those skill sets on to other members,” Fisher-Birch notes. The group - characterised by being heavily armed and wearing Hawaiian shirts - began to gain notoriety in 2020 for its strong and violent opposition to the US government and its measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to being in the media spotlight, their plans and protests against the authorities also put the Boogaloo Bois in the crosshairs of US national security services. After the demonstrations against the COVID-19 confinements came the Black Lives Matter protests. Despite the fact that many of their members identify as white supremacists and neo-Nazis, the Boogaloo Bois tried to present themselves as allies of BLM activists, denouncing police brutality against African-American citizens.”
Technology
The Washington Post: Ready Or Not, Mass Video Deepfakes Are Coming
“…Yet some critics are horrified by this celebratory moment on a top-rated television show. Video deepfakes, they say, blur a line between fiction and reality that’s barely clear now. If disinformation-peddlers can have so much success with words and doctored images, imagine what they can do with a full video. “We’re quickly entering a world where everything, even videos, can be manipulated by pretty much anyone who wants to,” said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and an expert on deepfakes. “What can go wrong?” The unveiling on what for most weeks this summer is the most-watched show on network television comes at the end of a frenetic summer in the world of deepfakes, which use the deep-learning of artificial intelligence to create fake media (supporters prefer “synthetic” or “AI-generated”). While many Americans were blissfully engaging in quaint analogue activities like going to the beach, a start-up named Midjourney offered “AI art-generation,” in which anyone with a basic graphics card could with a few keystrokes create stunningly real images. To spend even a few minutes with it — there’s Gordon Ramsay burning up in his Hell’s Kitchen; here’s Gandalf shredding on a guitar — is to experience a technology that makes Photoshop look like Wite-Out. Midjourney has gathered more than a million users on its Discord channel. Three weeks ago, a start-up named Stable AI released a program called Stable Diffusion.”
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