Eye on Extremism
January 2, 2020
The
Wall Street Journal: Hanukkah Attack Suspect Charged With Hate
Crime
“Federal prosecutors filed hate-crime charges against the man
accused of a stabbing attack that left five people wounded during a
Hanukkah celebration this weekend in Monsey, N.Y. The criminal
complaint, filed Monday, said law enforcement agents recovered
handwritten journals from the suspect’s home that included several
pages expressing anti-Semitic sentiments and mentions of Hitler.
Grafton E. Thomas, 37 years old, appeared in federal court Monday
afternoon. He didn’t enter a plea and remains in custody. He
previously pleaded not guilty in state court to five counts of
attempted murder. Mr. Thomas’s family said in a statement that he is
mentally ill and has a long history of hospitalizations. His attorney,
Michael Sussman, released a statement from Mr. Thomas’s family late
Sunday that said he hadn’t committed similar violent acts in the past
and hadn’t been convicted of any crimes. “He has no known history of
anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected
all religions and races,” the statement said. “He is not a member of
any hate groups. We believe the actions of which he is accused, if
committed by him, tragically reflect profound mental illness.”
The
Wall Street Journal: Iran-Backed Kataib Hezbollah Has Long Targeted
U.S. Forces
“The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia targeted by U.S. airstrikes on
Sunday was among the Shiite groups that joined in the fight against
Islamic State. But for nearly two decades it has also attacked
American forces and helped stoke sectarian strife in the Middle East.
One of the most secretive and influential Shiite militias in Iraq,
Kataib Hezbollah has close ties with the Quds Force, Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard unit for international operations. The group was
formed following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and gained a
reputation from the outset for targeting U.S. and coalition forces in
Iraq with roadside bombs and mortars. Kataib Hezbollah has said its
main goal is to thwart the American project in the region and expel
U.S. soldiers from Iraq. Little is known about the Kataib Hezbollah
group’s structure, but it is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization
Forces, or PMF, an umbrella for dozens of militias, many of them
Shiite, of about 140,000 members that are part of the Iraqi security
apparatus. The PMF is the largest armed group in Iraq outside state
control, and was formed in 2014 as the regular security forces were
collapsing. With their growing importance in securing Iraq against
Sunni extremists, the militias have gained political importance.”
Reuters:
Al Qaeda Ally Claims Responsibility For Somalia Blast That Killed 90
People
“Islamist group al Shabaab on Monday claimed responsibility for a
bomb blast in Mogadishu that killed at least 90 people over the
weekend while Somalia said a foreign government that it did not
identify helped plan the attack. The bombing was the deadliest in more
than two years in a country wrecked by nearly three decades of
Islamist violence and clan warfare. In an audio message, al
Qaeda-allied al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombing at the
busy Ex-Control checkpoint northwest of Mogadishu. “The blast targeted
a convoy of Turkish and Somali forces and they suffered great loss,”
Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab’s spokesman said in the message. The
National Intelligence and Security Agency did not name the country
that it said was involved in the blast. “A foreign country planned the
massacre of the Somalis in Mogadishu on 28 Dec 2019,” it said in a
tweet. NISA also said it would use assistance from an unnamed foreign
intelligence organization in its investigation. Rage accused Turkey of
“taking all resources of Somalia” and vowed to continue targeting
their personnel in the country.”
The
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Fights An Islamic State Rise In
Afghanistan
“Islamic State in Afghanistan has become the strongest branch of
the militant group outside of Iraq and Syria, according to U.S.
officials, posing a persistent threat despite a U.S.-led offensive and
the killing in October of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The branch has
received a stream of funding from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a
sign of the group’s importance to its leadership. The group, known as
ISIS-Khorasan and infamous for its violent attacks on civilians, has
as many as 2,000 fighters and seeks to target the West, according to a
June Pentagon report. It also has developed the most effective network
of foreign fighters in terms of training, organization and
recruitment, U.S. officials said. Most concerning, U.S. officials
said, are its unflagging efforts to expand through South, Southeast
and Central Asia in part by training leaders to command offshoot
branches in countries including India, Pakistan and Indonesia, the
officials said. The group—whose name refers to a historical region
that includes parts of present-day Afghanistan—claimed responsibility
for an August attack on a wedding party in Kabul that killed at least
63, one of the deadliest attacks on the capital. In early November, at
least 17 people were killed during an attack on a border post in
Tajikistan. U.S. officials said they suspected that Islamic State
fighters were behind the attack.”
United States
CNN:
There Was An Attack On Jewish New Yorkers Almost Every Day Last Week.
Police Are Investigating These As Possible Hate
Crimes
“Stabbings inside a rabbi's home on the seventh day of Hanukkah
marked the latest in a string of incidents that have targeted the
Jewish community in New York. On Saturday night, more than 100 people
were gathered in the home when a man walked in and pulled out a knife
that one witness said looked “almost like a broomstick.” The attack
came a day after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city's
police department would be increasing their presence in multiple
Brooklyn neighborhoods. “I think ... authorities are trying to do the
best that they can,” Yossi Gestetner, the co-founder of the Orthodox
Jewish Public Affairs Council, told CNN. “But I think it's not
enough.” “Those things shouldn't be just another story,” he said.
“People need to understand that what they do has consequences.” After
the latest attack, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he had directed the
state's Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate and use all their tools
to hold the attacker accountable. “In New York we will always stand up
and say with one voice to anyone who wishes to divide and spread fear:
you do not represent New York and your actions will not go
unpunished.”
USA
Today: Attacks On Faith Communities Raise A Familiar Question: When
Does Hate Become Domestic Terrorism?
“One man goes on a stabbing spree at the home of a rabbi during a
Hanukkah celebration. Another opens fire with a shotgun inside a Texas
church with deadly results. When do these two apparently unrelated
acts of hate during the holiday season become clear cases of domestic
terrorism? Should perpetrators be prosecuted as terrorists under the
law? New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo didn't hold back in labeling the
machete attack in the town of Monsey on Saturday night as “an act of
domestic terrorism.” Officials have yet to characterize or offer a
motive for the killing of two worshipers at the West Freeway Church of
Christ in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement the next morning.
In the New York case, suspect Grafton Thomas faces five attempted
murder charges. The criminal complaint against him, obtained by The
New York Times, says he researched Adolf Hitler online before the
attacks. In Texas, the Tarrant County sheriff's office identified the
gunman as Keith Thomas Kinnunen, 43. He was shot to death by a member
of the church security team. Whether or not it was the primary intent
of the attackers, both incidents served to strike fear into groups,
those gathered as members of communities of faith.”
New
York Daily News: Appeals Court Orders Resentencing After Staten Island
ISIS Wannabe Gets ‘Shockingly Low’ 17 Years
“An ISIS wannabe from Staten Island got a “shockingly low” 17 years
behind bars for trying to stab an FBI agent, an Appeals Court ruled
Friday, ordering the terrorist be resentenced. Armed with a kitchen
knife, Fareed Mumuni, 25, lunged at an FBI agent in June 2015 after
the feds showed up at his home with a search warrant. The agent, Kevin
Coughlin, was saved by what he called a “last-minute decision” to wear
an armored SWAT vest. Mumuni’s stabbing lunge was hard enough that the
tip of the blade broke off. In a new decision, the 2nd Circuit Court
of Appeals said the lower court hadn’t taken the incident seriously
enough. “Here, the District Court drastically discounted the
seriousness of Mumuni’s offense conduct based on a sterilized and
revisionist interpretation of the record. This clearly erroneous
assessment of the evidence leaves us with the definite and firm
conviction that a mistake has been committed — a mistake that resulted
in a shockingly low sentence that, if upheld, would damage the
administration of justice in our country,” Judge Jose Cabranes wrote
for the 2-1 majority. “Mumuni’s violent attack against Agent Coughlin
was indisputably a premeditated, willful, and deliberate attempt to
murder a federal officer in the name of ISIS.”
New
York Post: ISIS’ Latest Horror Is A Reminder Of The Need For
Vigilance
“The United States has been clobbering ISIS in the Middle East, but
pockets remain, both there and elsewhere — and there’s just no end to
the horrors. That was made painfully clear this week when a Nigerian
ISIS branch released a video showing its execution of 11 Christians on
Christmas Day, 10 of them beheaded. “This is a message to Christians
all over the world,” a militant declared, saying the massacre was
revenge for the October deaths in Syria of ISIS leaders Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi and Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir during US special forces
operations. On Christmas Eve, jihadis from Boko Haram killed seven
people in a Nigerian Christian village. Earlier this month, the
Nigerian ISIS branch murdered 71 soldiers at a camp in Niger. America
and its allies have made great progress against ISIS, eliminating its
leaders and foot soldiers and destroying its caliphate. But it has
been regrouping. In Iraq, one expert now calls the group “al Qaeda on
steroids.” Last year, a terror watchdog ranked an Afghanistan branch
the world’s fourth-deadliest terror group. The world, alas, is not
likely to ever see a permanent end to all evil, but as long as evil
remains, so, too, must vigilance.”
Syria
The
Wall Street Journal: Almost 10,000 Children Of Islamic State Live In
Perilous Limbo In Syrian Camps
“The crack of a gunshot scattered a group of women throwing stones
at a surveillance camera watching over the camp where they have been
held with their children since the fall of Islamic State’s would-be
caliphate. As the internment of these non-Syrian adherents of the
terror group drags on, desperation is swelling in the al-Hol camp,
raising tensions between them and those left to guard this bleak
assemblage of sagging tents surrounded by a chain-link fence. Nine
months since Islamic State’s experiment collapsed, thousands of
children remain trapped here and in several other camps in northeast
Syria—victims of geopolitics and hostage to the fortunes of their
parents. Only a fraction have made it out, including seven Swedish
orphans whose grandfather, Patricio Galvez, traveled here in April and
found them malnourished and traumatized. His journey helped pressure
the Swedish government into taking them home. One of the almost 8,000
children in al-Hol refugee camp stands this month in front of a
sagging tent. Since then, a number of other countries—notably
Kazakhstan and Kosovo—have moved to repatriate a total of around 350
children from Syria in 2019, according to Save the Children.”
The
Washington Post: After The Caliphate
“The phone had nearly stopped ringing by the time Mariam dared to
answer. The number was unusual, American, she thought. Did someone
know what had happened to him? She was starting to shake, unsure she
could bear the news. It had been 3½ years since Mariam’s son Othman
had turned into a person she said she barely recognized. A year since
his letter from Syria, where he had journeyed along with thousands of
other foreign fighters to join the Islamic State’s self-declared
caliphate. Eight months since a letter from the Red Cross with a
red-inked stamp declaring him “safe and well” in custody. But since
then — silence. Dramatic battles had raged as the Islamic State fought
fruitlessly to salvage its ruthless reign; she knew that. She also
knew hundreds had died. This is part of a series about the perilous
aftermath of the Islamic State, which fell in March, and the militant
group’s prospects for revival. “Pick up,” her sister urged Mariam.
“Before it goes to the mailbox, pick up.” Mariam took a deep breath,
she later recalled, and did so. “Hello?” The call came from Syria. “We
met a man called Othman,” said a reporter on the other end. “He’s my
son!” she said, as tears stung her eyes. “How is he? Is he okay?”
Los
Angeles Times: Syrian Army Captures Village; Missile Kills 8
Civilians
“A missile struck a school building in northwestern Syria on
Tuesday morning, killing eight civilians, opposition activists said,
as government forces captured a key village held by Al Qaeda
insurgents in the last rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.
Syrian government troops also besieged a Turkish observation post in
the area but have not attacked it so far, the activists said. Syrian
forces launched a wide ground offensive last week in the northwest,
after weeks of bombardment that displaced tens of thousands of people
in Idlib province, the country’s last rebel stronghold. Opposition
activists say more than 40 villages and hamlets are now under
government control in southern parts of Idlib. The U.N. estimates that
some 60,000 people have fled the area, heading south, after the
bombings intensified earlier this month. Thousands more have fled
farther north toward the Turkish border in recent days. The activists
blamed Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s main ally in the war,
for Tuesday’s missile attack that hit the Jobas village school. Among
the eight killed were five children and a woman, according to the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.”
Voice
Of America: Surge Of IS Violence Seen In
Syria
“Islamic State militants have increased their terror activity in
recent weeks in Syria, carrying out deadly attacks against Syrian
regime troops and U.S.-backed forces. Since early December, the terror
group has conducted at least three major attacks on Syrian government
forces and their allied militias in the eastern province of Deir
el-Zour, local sources said. According to the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, a war monitor that has reporters across the country,
recent attacks claimed by IS against Syrian military forces have
killed at least 30 soldiers and wounded more than 50 others. Last
week, at least three fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic
Forces were killed in what local military officials described as a
suicide attack carried out by IS militants in the province of Raqqa,
IS's former de facto capital before it was freed in 2017 by the SDF
and its U.S.-led allies. IS “terrorists still pose a threat to our
forces, especially in the eastern part of Syria,” an SDF commander
told VOA. “They have been able to regroup and reorganize in some
remote parts of Deir el-Zour, where there is a smaller presence of our
forces or any other forces,” said the commander, who requested
anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to journalists.”
Foreign
Policy: The Year The Islamic State Lost Its Last
Strongholds
“At the start of 2019, the Islamic State lost its last territory in
Syria, and tens of thousands of its remaining members were imprisoned.
Behind bars, they added to the ranks of terrorists already jailed in
Iraq, Syria, and even in Western countries. The year was bookended by
another extremist event: Usman Khan’s stabbing attack in which two
people were murdered in London while he was on parole after being
sentenced on terrorism charges related to a 2012 attack plot. In the
coming years, thousands more Islamic State and other terrorist
prisoners will be released. And if what happened in the jails before
that group’s rise is any guide, the consequences will be deadly.
Before 2013, when the Islamic State first started its expansion and
took control of some land in Syria, the majority of Islamic State
leaders had already spent time in the United States-run Bucca prison
camp in Iraq. Many among the group’s rank-and-file had, too. Some
Russian-language Islamic State recruitment videos used such heavy
prison slang that they were hard for the average person to even
understand. Now, back in prison, Islamic State members can coordinate
to spread propaganda, make future plans, orchestrate operations in
other countries, and even develop technical equipment.”
Iran
Voice
Of America: Iran's Iraqi Militia Proxy Kataeb Hezbollah
Explained
“The hundreds of Iraqi Shiite protesters and militiamen who tried
to storm into the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday were led by a
powerful pro-Iran militant group Kataeb Hezbollah. Kataeb Hezbollah
commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis joined the attackers as they torched a
security post and hurled stones at the U.S. compound, enraged by U.S.
airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that killed at least 25 members of the
group on Sunday. Kataeb Hezbollah, or Brigades of the Party of God, is
an Iran-sponsored Shiite paramilitary group in Iraq. Although the
group was officially founded in April 2007, its leaders have been
actively engaged in anti-Western pro-Iran activities since the 1980s
and expanded their influence beginning in 2003 following the U.S.
invasion of Iraq. The U.S. State Department describes Kataeb Hezbollah
as “a radical Shia Islamist group with an anti-Western establishment
and jihadist ideology.” The U.S. State Department designated the group
as a terrorist organization in July 2009. On its official website, the
group says it is an Islamic jihadist organization striving to, among
other objectives, “foil the American project in the region, by
defeating the occupation and expelling it from Iraq, failed and
humiliated.”
Iraq
The
Washington Post: ISIS At A
Crossroads
“In caves tucked into craggy cliffs and tunnels dug deep beneath
the desert, the remnants of a vanquished army are converging for what
they hope will be the next chapter in their battle for an Islamic
State. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of Islamic State fighters have
made their way over recent months into a stretch of sparsely populated
territory spanning the disputed border between the Kurdistan region
and the rest of Iraq, according to U.S. and Kurdish officials. Off
limits to Kurdish and Iraqi security forces because of historic
disputes over who should control it, this area of twisting river
valleys dense with vegetation has attracted the biggest known
concentration of Islamic State fighters since they lost control of the
last village of their once vast caliphate in eastern Syria in March.
In recent weeks, they have been stepping up their attacks, focused on
an area of northeastern Iraq in the province of Diyala near the border
with Iran, carrying out ambushes by night and firing mortars. Grasses
taller than men provide cover for snipers who sneak up on checkpoints
and outposts. Government neglect and long-standing grievances foster a
measure of sympathy among local residents. “They have good military
plans, they attack when you don’t expect them, and they are posing a
real threat to people’s lives,” said Maj. Aram Darwani, the commander
of Kurdish peshmerga military forces in the area.”
The
Wall Street Journal: Yazidi Survivors Are Key To Bringing Islamic
State Members To Justice
“Ivana says she was eight years old when she was sold as a sex
slave to an American member of Islamic State after the group murdered
her parents. Five years after the terror militia sought to exterminate
her fellow Yazidi, a religious minority in Iraq and Syria, Ivana’s
testimony and those of hundreds of other victims offer evidence that
might help bring Islamic State members to justice in the West.
European and U.S. authorities have struggled to successfully prosecute
returning Islamic State members, largely because of the difficulties
in collecting evidence of crimes that happened in Iraq and Syria. But
the Yazidi who survived carry detailed accounts of one of the
militia’s worst crimes: The attempt to wipe out the religious minority
and the mass enslavement of its women and female children. Islamic
State interprets Islamic scriptures literally, using them to justify
the murder and enslavement of Yazidis, who are adherents of an ancient
religion that is neither Muslim, Christian nor Jewish and therefore
perceived as subhuman by ideologues of the terror group. Now lawyers,
activists and the United Nations are compiling these accounts to build
cases against captured militants from the self-styled caliphate.”
The
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Strikes Shiite Militia Targets In Iraq And
Syria
“The U.S. carried out airstrikes against an Iranian-backed Shiite
militia group in Iraq and Syria, in the Trump administration’s most
forceful response to Tehran’s assertive posture in the region. The
Pentagon said Sunday’s attack targeted three of the Kataib Hezbollah
militia’s locations in Iraq and two in Syria, including
weapons-storage and command facilities. Officials said the strikes
came in response to an attack on Friday in which more than 30 rockets
were fired at an Iraqi military base near Kirkuk, killing a U.S.
contractor and wounding four U.S. troops. A media official for Kataib
Hezbollah said 25 of the group’s members had been killed and at least
20 wounded in the strikes along the Iraq-Syria border. An Iraqi
Interior Ministry official put the death toll at 15 and added that a
weapons-storage facility was set on fire. Among the dead was a
commander known as Abu Ali al-Khazaali, the officials said. U.S.
officials said Kataib Hezbollah is armed by Iran and has strong links
to Tehran’s paramilitary Quds Force. The Pentagon described the action
by F-15E fighters as defensive and intended to deter future attacks by
Shiite groups against U.S. troops, who have been sent to the region to
train Iraqi forces and assist in the military campaign against Islamic
State militants.”
Turkey
Fox
News: Turkey Rounds Up At Least 124 Suspected Of Links To ISIS Ahead
Of New Year's Eve Celebrations
“Over 100 people suspected of having links to the Islamic State
terror group were rounded up in raids across Turkey on Monday, in an
apparent attempt to prevent any attacks on New Year's Eve. Of the 124
people who were detained, 33 were foreign nationals arrested in the
capital Ankara in a joint operation conducted by anti-terrorism police
and the national intelligence agency, the state-run news agency
Anadolu reported. In the country's biggest city of Istanbul, 24
suspects were detained by officials, including four foreign nationals.
Dawn raids were also conducted in the cities of Adana, Kayseri, Samsun
and Bursa, while an operation in Batman led to the seizures of weapons
and ammunition, along with 22 people taken into custody, according to
Anadolu. Authorities have conducted raids of suspected terrorists in
the month of December over the past couple of years, following the
2017 attack at an upscale nightclub in the early hours of New Year's
Day, according to Sky News. The attack, which involved an assailant
dressed in a Santa Claus costume, left 39 dead and 70 wounded, most of
them foreigners. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying at
the time it targeted the place where “Christians were celebrating
their pagan feast.”
Afghanistan
The
New York Times: Afghan Official Says Taliban Abducted 26 Peace
Activists
“The Taliban ambushed a peace convoy in western Afghanistan and
abducted 26 activists who are members of a peace movement, a police
spokesman said on Wednesday. The insurgents staged the ambush in the
district of Bala Buluk in Farah province on Tuesday. The Taliban
forced the six-vehicle convoy to a halt, then got into the cars and
drove them and the activists to an unknown location, said Mohibullah
Mohib, the provincial police spokesman. According to Mr. Mohib, a
police operation is underway to locate and free the activists whose
convoy was going from village to village to rally for peace. Bismillah
Watandost of the People’s Peace Movement of Afghanistan, to which the
activists belong, said that 27 of its members were abducted by the
Taliban in the Farah assault. The different figures could not
immediately be reconciled. The Taliban, who have been active in Farah,
have not claimed responsibility for the abductions. However, Mr.
Watandost also said that tribal elders in the province immediately
launched an effort to negotiate with the Taliban to release the
abducted activists. He added that phone lines were down in the region,
making communicating and getting information from the area
difficult.”
The
Wall Street Journal: Taliban Backs Weeklong Cease-Fire In
Afghanistan
“The Taliban’s leadership council has agreed to a weeklong
cease-fire, a step that could pave the way for an agreement with the
U.S. as early as next month to draw down U.S. troops and start
Afghan-to-Afghan talks on a comprehensive settlement of the 18-year
Afghan war. The council gave the go-ahead for the temporary truce
during a meeting on Wednesday in the Pakistani city of Quetta, where
it is based, according to a person briefed by a senior Taliban
official who was present at the gathering. The Taliban’s supreme
leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, attended the assembly and approved the
cease-fire, the person said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the
move would spur progress toward an accord with the U.S. that would
include a drawdown of the 13,000 American forces currently deployed in
Afghanistan. Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief U.S. envoy to the Afghan
peace process, had demanded a ten-day Taliban cease-fire before the
signing of any deal, U.S. and Afghan officials said. The State
Department declined to comment on the development. The agreement by
top Taliban officials to a temporary truce represents a compromise by
the insurgents and a partial victory for Mr. Khalilzad.”
The
Washington Post: Taliban Target Afghan Army In Country’s South, Kill
10
“The Taliban staged a complex attack that killed at least 10 Afghan
soldiers in the southern Helmand province, an Afghan official said
Saturday. A powerful explosion first hit an army checkpoint late
Friday, followed by an hourslong gunbattle, said Omar Zwak, a
spokesman for the provincial governor. The attack also wounded four
soldiers, he said. Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi claimed
responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgents also seized
weapons and ammunition. The insurgents have a strong presence in
Helmand province, especially in Sangin district where the attack took
place. The Taliban have increased their attacks in recent days against
Afghan army bases and checkpoints across different provinces. A
similar attack killed six Afghan soldiers on Thursday, when a suicide
bomber detonated his car laden with explosives outside an army
compound in the northern Balkh province. Militants then stormed the
compound. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Tuesday, another attack on a checkpoint in Balk province killed at
least seven Afghan soldiers. At the time, the Taliban said they also
captured four Afghan troops and seized weapons and ammunition. On
Monday, an American soldier was killed in combat in northern Kunduz
province.”
Voice
Of America: Dozens Of Afghan Forces Killed In New Taliban
Attacks
“Officials in Afghanistan said Wednesday Taliban insurgents have
killed at least 28 pro-government forces in overnight attacks in the
country’s north. Despite harsh weather conditions, the Taliban has
staged almost daily battlefield attacks in Afghanistan's northern and
northeastern provinces over the past week, killing some 100 Afghan
forces and injuring many more. An Afghan official requesting anonymity
told VOA that a security outpost in Dasht-e-Archi district of northern
Kunduz province came under a major insurgent attack that left 13
pro-government forces dead. A provincial member council, Fawzai
Eftali, while speaking to VOA, confirmed the casualties inflicted on
Afghan forces, saying the attack also left several personnel injured.
Another 15 security personnel were killed in the neighboring Balkh and
Takhar provinces, said police commanders and government spokesmen
there. Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in statements sent
to reporters, claimed a total of 50 government forces were killed in
the overnight attacks across the three provinces, though the
insurgents often exaggerate their claims.”
Pakistan
Reuters:
Pakistan Seizes Five Suspected Al Qaeda Militants
“Pakistan has arrested five suspected al Qaeda militants planning
an attack on security personnel, authorities in the eastern state of
Punjab said on Friday. The raid in Gujranwala city hit an important
media cell and financing network for the jihadists, Punjab’s
counter-terrorism department said. Laptops with encrypted data, cell
phones, a printing press, explosives, five Kalashnikov rifles,
ammunition and cash were found. For years militants have held sway in
remote northwestern regions on the Afghan border but some have also
established networks in Punjab, Pakistan’s richest and most populous
province. “They were planning attack on law enforcement officials in
Gujranwala,” the police statement added, without giving more details
on the plot. The Gujranwala group recently relocated from Karachi and
was running al Qaeda’s media operations for the Indian subcontinent
and sending funds to central leadership in Afghanistan, it added. The
Pakistan government says the number of militants in the country has
decreased due to an army crackdown. Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden
was killed in a U.S. operation in 2011 in Pakistan.”
Xinhua:
Pakistan Sees 31-Pct Reduction In Terror-Related Fatalities In 2019:
Report
“Pakistan has witnessed a nearly 31 percent reduction in terror and
counter-terror related fatalities in 2019, a research center said in
its annual report on Monday. The data released by the Islamabad-based
think tank Center for Research and Security Studies said only two
militant outfits Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan splinter groups and the
Islamic State, claimed responsibility for 12 and one attacks
respectively. A 30.71-percent drop in fatalities was observed in 2019
(from 980 in 2018 to 679 in 2019), according to the report. Although
southwestern Balochistan province remains the most affected of
militancy and insurgency, the largest drop of 44.2 percent in
fatalities was observed in the province, the report said. This is
followed by the tribal districts with 39 percent, southern Sindh
province 19 percent and eastern Punjab province 11.8 percent and
northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province 5.13 percent. According
to the report, suicide-attacks also declined significantly this year,
dropping from 26 in 2018 to nine this year. These attacks also
resulted in the loss of life of 295 individuals in 2018, but dropped
to 56 persons in 2019.”
Yemen
BBC
News: Yemen: Houthis Blamed For Attack On Military
Parade
“A missile strike that targeted a military parade in southern Yemen
has killed at least five people. The attack came at the end of a
graduation ceremony for recruits to the Security Belt forces - a
powerful organisation backed by the United Arab Emirates - in the town
of al-Dhalea. Security Belt are part of the coalition that has fought
with Yemen's government against the Houthi rebels. Officials have
blamed the Houthis for the attack on the parade. The rebels have not
yet commented on the reports but they were behind a very similar
attack on a Security Belt forces graduation parade last August, which
killed more than thirty people. Nine others were injured in the latest
blast when the missile hit a viewing stand during the march. Yemen has
been devastated by a conflict that escalated in March 2015, when
Houthi rebels seized control of much of the west of the country and
forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad. Alarmed by the
rise of a group they believed to be backed militarily by regional Shia
Muslim power Iran, Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Muslim
Arab states began an air campaign aimed at restoring Mr Hadi's
government.”
Voice
Of America: Rocket Attack On Southern Yemen Separatists Kills 10,
Hurts Dozens
“A rocket attack on a southern Yemeni separatist militia graduation
ceremony has left around 10 people dead and more than several dozen
wounded. A spokesman for the militia, which is aligned with the
Saudi-led coalition, is claiming that Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis
were behind the attack. Survivors helped victims of the rocket attack
as rescue workers evacuated the wounded to ambulances, taking them to
hospitals in the southern Yemeni capital of Aden. Amateur video showed
a crater where rockets struck near a viewing stand at the ceremony for
cadets of the southern separatist “Security Belt” forces. A similar
attack in August by Yemen's Houthi militia forces killed the group's
top commander Gen. Munir Mahmoud al-Mashali. Majed al-Shouaiby, a
spokesman for the “Security Belt” forces, told Arab media that the
Houthis fired rockets at the military parade from a position north of
the town of Dhalea, where the attack took place. The Houthis have not
claimed responsibility for the attack, as yet. The southern separatist
“Security Belt” forces, which are trained by the United Arab Emirates,
control the strategically important town of Dhalea, 140 kilometers
north of Aden, along the main highway from Aden to the
Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa.”
Saudi Arabia
Gulf
News: UAE Condemns Terrorist Car Bomb Attack In Saudi
Arabia
“The UAE yesterday (Sunday) condemned a terrorist car bomb attack
that was foiled by Saudi security forces in Dammam in Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation praised
Saudi security services for their vigilance and efficiency in
encountering such terrorist acts. In a statement on Sunday, the
ministry reiterated its principled and unequivocal position as well as
its solidarity with the Kingdom and its right to encounter these
terrorist operations. It also affirms its support for all measures
taken by the kingdom to protect its security and stability.”
Libya
Egypt
Today: 300 Militants Move From Syria To Libya:
SOHR
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that
300 militants affiliated to Turkey have been relocated to the Libyan
capital from Syria and that 900-1,000 militants moved to Turkish camps
to receive training. Sources told the observatory that each militant
is offered $2,000 - 2,500 for a 3-6-month contract to fight alongside
Tripoli militias, and that the longer the duration gets, the higher
the salary becomes. The human rights organization added on its Arabic
website that a large number of militants who moved to Libya belong to
Hazm terrorist group, which was disbanded a few years ago. The
observatory acquired voice recordings of a militant working for Turkey
speaking to a number of other militants, whereas he was asking them if
they wanted to leave Efrein to Tripoli the following day. “We will
move at 10 a.m. from Efrein...We aren’t dollar slaves but our
conditions and debts mandate that we do that,” the militant said. “If
we compare the images that appear on Google Maps, we will find those
militants gathering in Salah El-Din district, which is considered the
southern entrance to the Libyan capital. The district is mostly a
top-notch area as some castles appear.”
Nigeria
The
New York Times: ISIS Affiliate In Nigeria Releases A Video Showing 11
Executions
“An affiliate of the Islamic State in Nigeria has claimed
responsibility for the execution of 11 people, saying the killings
were in retaliation for the death of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi in Syria in October. A video released on Thursday showed
members of the Nigerian affiliate slashing the throats of 10 people
and shooting an additional person. A voice-over says the killings are
a “message for Christians” and that all of those killed were
Christian, although Nigerian experts said some of them were probably
Muslims, based on previous episodes involving the group. The Islamic
State, or ISIS, has lost all of the territory it once held in Iraq and
Syria, but it remains a threat even after Mr. al-Baghdadi was killed
in an American raid on his hide-out in northwestern Syria. In addition
to the affiliate in Nigeria, which is known as the Islamic State West
Africa Province, groups in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Sinai and the
Sahel, a 3,000-mile stretch of land south of the Sahara, also claim
allegiance to ISIS. The members of the Islamic State West Africa
Province, which is known by the acronym ISWAP, left the Islamic
militant group Boko Haram in 2016. According to the International
Crisis Group, it has between 3,500 and 5,000 fighters.”
Fox
News: More Than 1,000 Christians Killed By Islamic Militants In
Nigeria In 2019: Report
“More than 1,000 Christians have been murdered by Islamic militants
this year in Nigeria, according to a report circulated by Christian
news outlets earlier this month. A militia of Islamic Fulani herdsmen
murdered Christians as part of an aggressive and strategic
land-grabbing strategy across the Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Southern
Kaduna and parts of Bauchi state, the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust
(HART), a British non-profit run by a member of the British House of
Lords, Baroness Cox, reported. “They attack rural villages, force
villagers off their lands and settle in their place — a strategy that
is epitomized by the phrase: 'Your land or your blood,'“ the report
said. “In every village, the message from local people is the same:
'Please, please help us! The Fulani are coming. We are not safe in our
own homes.'“ The report, published Nov. 18 but circulated this month,
is titled “Your Land or Your Body.” It also estimates about 6,000
Christians have been killed by members of the Fulani ethnic group
since 2015 and another 12,000 displaced, according to a copy obtained
by The Christian Post. Nomadic Fulani herdsmen “seek to replace
diversity and difference with an Islamist ideology which is imposed
with violence on those who refuse to comply.”
Premium
Times Nigeria: Boko Haram Attacks Another Borno Village; Burns School,
Church
“Mandaragirau, a village in Biu Local Government Area of Borno
State, was attacked Sunday night by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
The attackers also burnt down the community’s church and a school.
They also abducted a man on their way out. The attack which occurred
during the night was not repelled, residents told PREMIUM TIMES.
Residents who had retired into their homes due to the chilly harmattan
weather were forced to flee into the bushes as the gunmen stormed the
agrarian village, shooting sporadically. According to a resident who
spoke to PREMIUM TIMES from Biu, the gunmen set fire on the town’s
church and a primary school and waited until it burnt down before they
left. “They have burnt down a church, a school and some shops in the
town,” said the source who asked not to be named. “They have also
taken away one man whom they caught while trying to escape.” The
source said the fleeing villagers spent the night out in the cold till
this morning. “They have all returned to the town this morning,” he
said, suggesting no one was killed in the attack.”
Somalia
The
New York Times: Somali Terror Group Al Shabab Remains Resilient
Despite Setbacks
“The terror group Al Shabab, suspected in the weekend attack that
killed 79 people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has proved
resilient in recent years even as it lost territory, suffered
high-level defections and faced increasing airstrikes by the United
States. Almost a decade since African peacekeeping forces kicked the
Al Qaeda-linked group out of Mogadishu, it has become deft in handling
its operations, versatile in using guerrilla tactics and prolific in
manufacturing bombs. Over the past few years, the Shabab killed
hundreds of people in attacks at home and on neighboring Kenya,
assaulted an American military base outside Mogadishu and overran
military bases of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
To finance itself, the militants have set up an extensive racketeering
system that levies fees on sales of agricultural produce in southern
and central Somalia — areas that are the stronghold of the group. They
also tax imports into the Mogadishu port, according to the United
Nations. The Shabab have also been able to infiltrate federal
institutions — they claimed to have recruited a government employee to
kill Mogadishu’s mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman, in July.”
Associated
Press: Somalia Bombing Kills Dozens; Airstrikes Target
Militants
“A truck bomb exploded at a busy security checkpoint in Somalia’s
capital Saturday morning, killing at least 78 people including many
students, authorities said. It was the worst attack in Mogadishu since
the devastating 2017 bombing that killed hundreds. The explosion
ripped through rush hour as Somalia returned to work after its
weekend. At least 125 people were wounded, Aamin Ambulance service
director Abdiqadir Abdulrahman said, and hundreds of Mogadishu
residents donated blood in response to desperate appeals. President
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed condemned the attack as a “heinous act of
terror” and blamed the local al-Shabab extremist group, which is
linked to al-Qaida and whose reach has extended to deadly attacks on
luxury malls and schools in neighboring Kenya. On Sunday, U.S.
military officials said three airstrikes conducted against al-Shabaab
militants in Somalia had killed four militants. The airstrikes came in
coordination with the Somali government and, according to a U.S.
military statement, targeted al-Shabaab militants responsible for
“terrorist acts against innocent Somali citizens.” U.S. Africa Command
said an initial assessment concluded that two airstrikes killed two
militants and destroyed two vehicles in Qunyo Barrow, and that one
airstrike killed two militants in Caliyoow Barrow.”
Voice
Of America: Al-Shabab Extremist Attack On Somali Base Kills 3
Soldiers
“Officials in Somalia say al-Shabab extremists killed three
soldiers during an attack on a military base in the southwest on
Monday. The assault on the Gofgadud base in the Bay region by the
al-Qaida-affiliated extremist group marks the latest setback for
Somalia's army, which is expected to take over responsibility for the
country's security from an African Union force next year. Col. Ahmed
Yusuf, a Somali military officer, told The Associated Press that
Somali troops made a brief tactical withdrawal amid heavy artillery
shelling before regaining control of the base. He said six al-Shabab
fighters were killed in the army's counter-attack that forced the
extremists to withdraw. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the
attack, asserting that it killed or wounded more than 30 soldiers.
Years of conflict and al-Shabab attacks, along with famine, shattered
Somalia, which is home to more than 12 million people. The Horn of
Africa nation has been trying to rebuild since establishing its first
functioning transitional government in 2012. Al-Shabab was pushed out
of the capital, Mogadishu, and other major cities several years ago
but still carries out suicide attacks across Somalia.”
Foreign
Policy: Somalia Reels From Deadly Bombing
“A truck bomb killed at least 79 people on Saturday in Mogadishu,
the capital of Somalia—the country’s deadliest terror attack in more
than two years. The bombing struck a busy security checkpoint during
rush hour and targeted a tax collection center. While no one has
claimed responsibility, the attack has been blamed on al-Shabab, the
local Islamist group that targets the U.N.-backed government. The
group is assumed to have carried out a double truck bombing that
killed nearly 600 people in Mogadishu in 2017. On Sunday, 10 people
badly wounded by the blast were evacuated to Turkey, which has been a
leader in aid to Somalia since 2011. At least two Turkish nationals
were killed in the attack. The U.S. military conducted three
airstrikes on Sunday against al-Shabab militants in Somalia in
coordination with the government, killing four people. The group has
been increasingly targeted by U.S. airstrikes in recent years. Still a
threat. Despite the U.S. airstrikes and losses in territory, al-Shabab
has remained a threat in Somalia through racketeering and infiltrating
state institutions, the New York Times reports. The weekend attack
shows that the weak government is still struggling to build a strong
security apparatus, even with support and training from the African
Union, the United Nations, the United States, and Turkey.”
Xinhua:
Somali Army Kills 20 Al-Shabab Militants In Southern
Region
“The Somali Special Forces (Danab Brigade) killed 20 al-Shabab
extremists in the country's southern region of Lower Shabelle on
Tuesday, a military officer said Wednesday. Ismail Abdi Malik,
commander of the 16th Unit of Somali Special Forces, told journalists
that “our forces have taken control of many villages during the
operation, such as Mordinle, Bula Maskin, Faqayle, Bula Bashir and we
inflicted heavy casualties on the militants, killing 20 of them during
the offensive.” He added that the army will maintain operations until
it drives the militants out of the whole region. Residents said there
was an intense confrontation between the government army and al-Shabab
militants. Al-Shabab is an Islamist militant group allied to al-Qaida.
Based in Somalia, it seeks to establish an Islamic state in the
country and reached its peak in 2011 when it controlled parts of the
capital city of Mogadishu. The Somali army, with support of the
African Union forces, drove all al-Shabab militants out of Mogadishu
in August 2011. Since then, the army has been fighting with the
militant group in the country's southern and central regions. In
retaliation, al-Shabab has launched a series of deadly terrorist
attacks across the Eastern African country.”
Africa
Reuters:
Thirty-Five Civilians Killed In Burkina Faso After Army Repels
Militant Attack
“Burkina Faso insurgents killed 35 mostly female civilians on
Tuesday after attacking a military outpost in northern Soum Province,
and about 87 militants and local security forces were killed in the
clash, authorities said. President Roch Marc Kabore declared two days
of national mourning in the west African country in response to the
attack. The incident followed an attack on a mining convoy in November
killed nearly 40 people - victims of an Islamist insurgency that has
ignited ethnic tensions and rendered large parts of the country
ungovernable this year. Militants attacked a military detachment in
Soum province on Tuesday morning. After several hours, troops repelled
them and seized a large number of weapons and motorbikes, the army
said in a statement. “As they fled, in a cowardly way the terrorists
killed 35 civilians of whom 31 were women,” the government said in
separate statement. It said 80 militants and seven members of the
security forces were killed in the earlier fighting. Burkina was once
a pocket of relative calm in the Sahel region, but its homegrown
insurgency has been amplified by a spillover of jihadist violence and
criminality from its chaotic northern neighbor Mali.”
Reuters:
Islamist Militants Kill 18 In Attack In Eastern
Congo
“Islamist militants have killed 18 people in an attack on a village
in eastern Congo, a regional official and a local human rights group
said on Monday, the latest in a 60-day counter-offensive that has
killed nearly 200 civilians. The attack occurred in Apetina, in a
remote forested area a few miles from the Ugandan border where attacks
by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group, have
increased since Oct. 30, when the army launched a campaign to root
them out. Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has
said the campaign has dismantled nearly all of the ADF’s sanctuaries,
but attacks continue unabated. Earlier this month, 22 were killed in
ambushes on two villages in the same region. “There was a raid by ADF
rebels in...Apetina on Sunday night. These rebels killed 18 people
and burned down eight houses,” said Donat Kibwana, the administrator
of Beni territory. He said that the army was alerted to the attack but
arrived after the killings had occurred. CEPADHO, a human rights
group, also said that 18 had been killed. The Congolese government has
blamed the ADF for attacks going back years, including dozens of
night-time massacres since 2014 that have killed hundreds of
civilians.”
Associated
Press: Africa Starts 2020 Battling Extremism, Ebola And
Hunger
“A tragic airline crash with far-reaching consequences, cataclysmic
cyclones that may be a harbinger of the future, the death of an
African icon and a new leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize. These
African stories captured the world’s attention in 2019 — and look to
influence events on the continent in 2020. The battles against
extremist violence and Ebola will also continue to be major campaigns
in Africa in the coming year. The crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet
shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa in March killed all 157
passengers and crew. The disaster, which claimed the lives of a large
number of U.N. officials, involved a Boeing 737 Max jet and came just
five months after a similar crash in Indonesia of the same aircraft.
Boeing was inundated with questions about the safety of its plane.
After initially claiming that it was safe, the company was forced to
ground the plane after many countries refused to let it fly in their
airspace. In December Boeing announced that it would suspend
production of the jet. The air crash was a trial for Ethiopia’s
reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who later in the year won the
2019 Nobel Peace Prize for achieving peace with neighboring
Eritrea.”
United Kingdom
The
Guardian: Counter-Terror Police Arrest Five Men At Sites Across
England
“Counter-terrorism police have arrested five men over concerns
about a potential Islamist attack plot. The arrests followed a joint
investigation by MI5 and police, who conducted raids on Monday morning
at residential addresses in London, Manchester and Peterborough. The
police side of the investigation is being led by Scotland Yard’s
counter-terrorism command, with officers conducting searches of
addresses in all three cities. Investigators are understood to have
been monitoring the men, aged 19 to 23, before their arrest. Police
said one man, 19, was arrested in Peterborough on suspicion of the
commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism. A
21-year-old man in Manchester and two men in north London, aged 22 and
23, were also arrested on suspicion of the same offence. Another man,
19, was arrested in Peterborough on suspicion of encouraging
terrorism. A number of separate operations targeting suspected
jihadist plots in Britain have failed to lead to charges being laid,
and there have been claims of flawed intelligence. The green light for
the authorities to make the arrests on Monday came after a meeting of
a committee of senior police and MI5 officials called an executive
liaison group.”
France
NBC
News: Victims Of Paris Terror Attack Tell Of Invisible Wounds That
Never Heal
“It has been four years since Helen Wilson’s friend died in her
arms after gunmen stormed Paris’ Bataclan theater as part of
coordinated terror attacks that killed 131 people across the city.
While her own bullet wounds have healed, her mental scars are still
raw — part of a long healing process many terror victims say society
often does not understand or sufficiently help with. “I literally do
not trust most of the people that I meet. I think that they’re all out
to get me now. It’s a paranoia and it’s constant and it’s very
difficult to just breathe,” Wilson told NBC News at a summit on
victims of terrorism in Nice, France, in November. “I’ve had panic
attacks in the grocery store because somebody brushed past me or
bumped me and I had to leave everything and literally run out of the
store.” Most of the 400 victims of terror attacks who attended the
summit, organized by the French Association for Victims of Terrorism,
were from developed countries and lucky enough to have good medical
care and at least some counseling — in contrast to countless victims
of atrocities in Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere.”
Russia
The
New York Times: Putin Thanks Trump For Helping Russia Thwart Terrorist
Attack
“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Trump on
Sunday to thank him for a tip from American intelligence agencies that
helped prevent a terrorist attack in Russia, the Kremlin said in a
statement. The announcement offered no details about what information
the United States had passed along. But the Federal Security Service,
the main successor agency to the K.G.B., told Russian media it had
detained two suspects preparing an attack on a crowded location in the
northern city of St. Petersburg on New Year’s Eve. The two countries’
spy agencies typically view one another as adversaries, for example
backing opposing sides in wars in Ukraine and, until earlier this
year, in Syria. But when it comes to counterterrorism, they cooperate.
Two years ago, Mr. Putin thanked Mr. Trump for information about
another planned attack, also in St. Petersburg. And on Sunday, the
Kremlin statement said Mr. Putin had again thanked Mr. Trump for
“information transmitted through the channels of U.S. special
services.” It said the two leaders had also discussed other “issues of
mutual interest,” but did not spell them out. The White House did not
respond to a request for comment.”
Europe
The
Daily Beast: War And Corruption Made Ukraine A Terrorist Twilight
Zone
“Ukraine arrested one of the world’s most dangerous international
terrorists last month in a special operation conducted by local,
Georgian and American special services. Al-Bara Shishani, the former
commander of the so-called Islamic State and deputy head of its
intelligence operations, was detained on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Shishani had been presumed dead for more than a year, but was hiding
here and plotting international terrorist attacks, according to
Ukrainian authorities. In fact, this country torn by a Russian-backed
separatist war has become a kind of Twilight Zone for terrorists of
many stripes who have found ways to cross its borders and take
advantage of a deeply divided society where law and order have been
undermined by official corruption and public confusion. The
terrorist’s real name is Cezar Tokhosashvili, from the Pankisi Gorge
region of the Republic of Georgia. The largely impoverished population
of those rough mountains includes many Muslims of Chechen extraction
who have embraced radical Salafi teachings and, in several cases,
became enthusiastic recruits for violent jihadist organizations.
Al-Bar Shishani reportedly was a deputy for the former “minister of
war” of the so-called Islamic State, Abu Omar al-Shishani, real name
Tarkhan Batirashvili, reported killed by an American airstrike in
Syria in 2016.”
The
National: Denmark Blocks Return Of ISIS Fighters' Children Stranded In
Syria
“Denmark will not allow the return of about 30 children whose
parents travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS, the country’s
prime minister said. Mette Frederiksen, the leader of the left-wing
coalition government, said allowing children into Denmark would open
the door to their parents. The UN estimates there are about 30,000
children of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. Two thirds of them are
Iraqi children in Syria. “The challenge is that we cannot separate the
children from their mothers,” Ms Frederiksen told the Danish news
agency Ritzau. There were no known cases where children of Danish
foreign fighters had been allowed to return to the country. Ms
Frederiksen said she had been repeatedly urged to take only the
children back. “No, I can’t, because then their mothers come along and
they don’t have a place in our society,” she said. The Danish
government said 36 extremists were known to have travelled from
Denmark to combat zones while about 30 of their children were believed
to be in the region. Ms Frederiksen became prime minister of a
minority government in June with a promise to impose strict controls
on refugees and asylum seekers. Her promise undercut the vote for the
anti-migrant Danish People’s Party, support for which was
slashed.”
The
National: Belgian ISIS Prisoner ‘Confesses’ To Taking Part In Burning
Of Jordanian Fighter Pilot
“A suspected ISIS terrorist confessed to his role in the murder of
a Jordanian fighter pilot who was locked in a cage and burnt to death.
Osama Krayem, a Swedish citizen of Syrian origin, is being held in
jail in Belgium on suspicion of being an important player in the 2015
Paris attacks and 2016 Brussels bombings which killed dozens of
people. The murder of Lt Moaz Al Kassasbeh, 26, attracted worldwide
attention after ISIS released a video of his horrific torture and
death. Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported that Krayem had
admitted he was one of the masked terrorists seen in the footage but
that he was not the one who set him on fire. “I was there,”he was
reported as saying. Al Kassasbeh was captured on December 24 in 2014
after his F-16 jet crashed near Raqqa while on a mission over northern
Syria, as part of the US-led coalition campaign against ISIS. The
extremists claimed to have shot down his plane, but Jordan and the
United States said it crashed in an accident. The group released a
video of his death in February 2015 and the footage was one of the
terror group’s most brutal executions of a foreign hostage. At the
time Jordanian authorities said Al Kassasbeh had been killed on
January 3, before ISIS offered to free a Japanese journalist in return
for the release of an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber held in
Jordan.”
Southeast Asia
Asia
Times: ISIS Terror Risk To Rise In South
Philippines
“Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to lift martial
law in 2020 on the southern island of Mindanao was met with a bang on
December 22, when Islamic State (ISIS)-aligned militants launched a
brazen grenade attack near a Catholic church. Two motorcycle-riding
assailants, later identified as members of the ISIS-linked Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), lobbed the bomb at security forces
near the church, injuring nine in the low-grade blast. Moments later,
two explosions rocked the nearby townships of Libungan and Upi,
hurting 12 civilians. The explosions came on the eve of Duterte’s
scheduled visit to the city, the de facto capital of the new
autonomous Bangsamoro region created as part of peace deal reached
between the government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF). They also came just days before martial law is set to be
lifted across Mindanao, a move some analysts and observers fear could
revive dormant ISIS-allied terror groups known to be active on the
island. The security establishment recently advised Duterte against
extending martial law beyond 2019, on the grounds that the peace and
security situation in Mindanao had substantially
improved.”
Technology
The
New York Times: White Extremism Faces A Subversive Foe Online: Google
Ads
“The top 20 search terms used by those in the United States seeking
white supremacist material online last year started with “RaHoWa,”
short for Racial Holy War and the name of a white power band. Then
came “Ku Klux Klan phone number.” Phrases like “how to kill blacks” or
“swastika tattoo” fill most of the list. Amid an upsurge in violent
hate attacks, federal law enforcement agencies and other groups have
been scrutinizing online activity like internet searches to counteract
radicalization. Now a private start-up company has developed an
unusual solution based on ordinary online marketing tools. It sends
those who plug extremist search terms into Google to videos that
promote anti-extremist views. Known as the Redirect Method, it was
first used against potential recruits for the Islamic State, but
recently it has been repurposed against white supremacy in the United
States. The London-based start-up, Moonshot CVE, has worked with the
Anti-Defamation League and Gen Next Foundation, a philanthropic
organization, to develop a pilot program tailored for the United
States. It ran for several months last summer, and senior
counterterrorism officials have endorsed the method.”
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