Eye on Extremism
November 30, 2022
Reuters: Brussels Bombings Trial Starts With Mammoth Jury Selection
“Around 700 Belgians arrived in court on Wednesday for a mammoth process to select a jury for the trial of 10 men accused of involvement in the 2016 bombings in Brussels that killed 32 people. Belgium's largest ever trial began with hundreds of potential jurors filing through airport-style security checks and into eight waiting rooms with morning rush hour traffic snarled up outside by police searches of vehicles. After a half-hour delay, presiding judge Laurence Massart addressed the court to assign translators and asked the defendants to identify themselves and confirm their lawyers. They are variously charged with murder and attempted murder in a terrorist context and leading or participating in the activities of a terrorist group over the twin bombings at Brussels Airport and third bomb on the metro on March 22, 2016. Osama Krayem, a Swedish national accused of planning to be a second metro bomber, refused to answer any questions. The eight others present gave the requested information. One defendant, presumed killed in Syria, is being tried in absentia.”
Associated Press: UN Envoy: Military Escalation In Syria Is `Dangerous’
“The U.N. special envoy for Syria warned Tuesday that the current military escalation in Syria is dangerous for civilians and regional stability, and he urged Turkey and Kurdish-led forces in the north to de-escalate immediately and restore the relative calm that has prevailed for the last three years. Geir Pedersen told the Security Council that the U.N.’s call for maximum restraint and de-escalation also applies to other areas in Syria. He pointed to the upsurge in truce violations in the last rebel-held stronghold in northwest Idlib, airstrikes attributed to Israel in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Latakia, as well as reported airstrikes on the Syria-Iraq border and security incidents and fresh military clashes in the south. In northwest Idlib, he said, government airstrikes have killed and injured civilians who fled fighting during the nearly 12-year war and now live in camps. He said the attacks destroyed their tents and displaced hundreds of families.”
United States
The Seattle Times: Seattle Man Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison After Trying To Join ISIS
“A Seattle man who attempted to travel to the Middle East and join the Islamic State group of Iraq and al-Sham was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday. Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams, 22, was arrested by federal agents last year at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Egypt, where he planned to attend an ISIS training camp in the Sinai Desert, according to court records. He was charged with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Williams’ sentence, four years imprisonment with 15 years of supervised release, is far less than the 15 years originally requested by federal prosecutors. “Mr. Williams continues to pose a risk to the community,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown in a news release. “It will be critically important that he be closely supervised after he is released from prison.”
Bellingcat: Finding Rundo (Again): US White Supremacist Facing Criminal Charges Located In Bulgaria
“…Despite constant efforts to push his name, his brands and his various projects, Rundo remains on the fringes of the far right. His main Telegram channel was banned from Google Play stores and Apple’s App Store in May 2022, meaning users had to download apps directly from Telegram to access it. Rundo’s follower count subsequently dropped from more than 13,000 subscribers in May 2022 to approximately 10,400 subscribers by November 2022, a drop of 20 percent. “Rundo is less popular than he would like,” Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the US-based NGO Counter Extremism Project, told Bellingcat. “Rundo doesn’t have the influencer profile he likely wants, which is also made more difficult by his inability to use mainstream social media easily.” Rundo’s other Telegram channels aren’t faring well either. A backup “uncensored” channel Rundo created in May still has fewer than 5,000 subscribers as of November 2022; others, including his fashion brands and a new personal channel he began in April 2022, have only a few thousand followers.”
Syria
Reuters: U.S. Has Reduced Partnered Patrols With SDF In Northern Syria- Pentagon
“The United States has reduced the number of partnered patrols in northern Syria with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Pentagon said on Tuesday, after Turkish strikes in the region and ahead of a feared ground invasion by Ankara. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters that while operations against Islamic State had not stopped, the patrols had to be reduced because the SDF had reduced the number of their own patrols. Ryder added that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would speak with his Turkish counterpart soon.”
Iraq
The Wall Street Journal: Iraq And Iran Agree To Tighten Border Security Amid Unrest
“Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani said his country would tighten security cooperation with Iran, after Tehran strengthened its military presence along its western border to prevent the infiltration of Kurdish groups based in northern Iraq. “We will not allow the use of Iraqi lands to threaten Iran’s security,” Mr. Sudani said in a joint news conference Tuesday with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran. The two leaders agreed to form liaison committees on border security, Iranian and Iraqi state media reported. “Iraq’s role is key to achieve stability in the area,” Mr. Raisi said, calling Mr. Sudani’s first visit to Iran as premier a turning point in the two countries’ relations. Mr. Sudani, who took office last month, was nominated by the Coordination Framework, a bloc of mostly Shiite factions backed by Iran that holds the most seats in Parliament. Last week, his new government condemned Iran’s attack on Kurdish areas as a unilateral, hostile act. Iran has repeatedly struck northern Iraq with missiles and drones, most recently early last week.”
Turkey
Associated Press: Turkish Strikes Harming Counter-IS Operations, US, Kurds Say
“U.S. and Kurdish military officials said Tuesday that Turkish airstrikes and a threatened ground invasion in northern Syria are impacting their joint operations against the Islamic State extremist group. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria, told reporters that the group’s joint counter-IS operations alongside the U.S.-led international coalition have been “temporarily paused” because of the recent Turkish airstrikes, and that gains made in the fight against the extremist group to date may be “threatened.” Also on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters that the U.S. has cut back on the number of “partnered patrols” it is carrying out alongside the SDF. “They have reduced the number of patrols that they’re doing, and so that therefore necessitates us to reduce the patrols,” he said.”
Afghanistan
BBC: Afghanistan: Parks Become Latest No-Go Areas For Women In Kabul
“Squeals of delight from young children fill the air as they enjoy the thrills of the Ferris wheel, bumper cars and a small rollercoaster at an amusement park in central Kabul. Their fathers sit on the rides with them, or look on, taking photos - rare moments of joy in Afghanistan where the news is often so bleak. But mothers are now denied the right to share in the memories the children here are making. Women are banned from visiting parks in Kabul by the hardline ruling Taliban. When we visit, dozens of members of the group are enjoying the rides. But the closest women, including us, can get to the park is a restaurant overlooking it. Women were also recently barred from swimming pools and gyms in the capital. It's expected the rules will be extended across the country. As the Taliban further limit what they can do, Afghan women and girls fear what could come next.”
Reuters: Blast Hits Seminary In North Afghanistan, Killing 15
“A blast tore though a religious seminary in the northern Afghan province of Samangan on Wednesday, killing 15 people, a provincial spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Samangan's provincial government Emdadullah Muhajir, added that at least 20 people were also wounded in the explosion. It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast. The Taliban say they are focused on securing the war-torn nation since taking over the country last year, however several attacks have taken place in recent months, some of which have been claimed by the Islamic State.”
Pakistan
Reuters: Suicide Bomber Attacks Pakistan Police Guarding Polio Vaccination Team, Kills 3
“A Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber rammed a police escort for a polio vaccination team in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding more than 30, police said, just two days after the militants ended a ceasefire. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack near the city of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in a statement received by Reuters. Separately, the army said it killed 10 militants in Balochistan on Tuesday, but didn't clarify whether they were TTP or Baloch separatist fighters. Police official Azfar Mehsar told reporters that the bomber rammed his vehicle into the police truck, detonating the explosives and forcing the police truck to plunge into a ravine. The suicide bomber's victims included a policeman, a woman and a child, and some of the wounded were in a critical condition, another police official, Abdul Haq, told Reuters. Fifteen police officers were among the wounded, he said. The patrol had been guarding a polio vaccination team, Haq said. Islamist militants in Pakistan often target polio vaccination teams, having spread rumours that the immunisation effort is a Western tool to spy on them, and make Muslims infertile.”
Middle East
BBC: Five Palestinian Men Killed In West Bank Violence
“Five Palestinian men have been killed by Israeli forces in four separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli officials say. Three men, including two brothers in their 20s, were shot dead during overnight clashes with Israeli troops near the cities of Ramallah and Hebron. Israel's military said the fourth was shot after he rammed his car into a soldier, seriously injuring her. The fifth reportedly died after fresh clashes near Ramallah in the evening. The UN has warned that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "again reaching a boiling point" after an escalation violence in the West Bank and Israel. Israeli forces are carrying out search-and-arrest raids almost every night in the West Bank, where at least 140 Palestinians have been killed this year, most by Israeli fire. More than 30 Israelis have also been killed amid a spate of gun and knife attacks by Palestinians.”
Nigeria
All Africa: Nigeria: 90% Of Die-Hard Boko Haram Fighters Dead, Govt Declares
“The Borno State Government, yesterday, said 90 per cent of die-hard Boko Haram insurgents were dead just as it attributed the mass surrender of members of the sect to the death of their leader, Ibrahim Shakau, as well as the operations of the military. This is as the military authorities, yesterday, also said some 1,952 terror suspects were undergoing investigation in the North-east, while some 900 suspects were to go on trial next January. It further clarified that, contrary to insinuations of abortion of pregnancies of female terror suspects impregnated by insurgents, the military was not aware of such development, having received escaping female suspects, subjected them to screening, medical treatment and aided deliveries of babies, who were alive and healthy and under the care of the military.”
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