“The U.S. said Thursday it has worked with Turkey to impose sanctions on four
people and two firms that it says provided financial support to the Islamic
State group. The announcement signaled counterterrorism cooperation between the
two countries at a time of tensions over efforts to fight Islamic State.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened an offensive into Syria against
Kurdish militants he has blamed for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul. That
has alarmed U.S. officials. Kurdish groups have been allied with the U.S. in
the fight against Islamic State group and have warned that a Turkish escalation
would threaten anti-IS efforts. In its announcement Thursday, Treasury’s Office
of Foreign Assets Control said it was imposing sanctions on an Iraqi national
living in Turkey, Abd Al Hamid Salim Ibrahim Ismail Brukan al-Khatuni, his sons
and the Turkish money service firm where they all worked. They are accused of
facilitating financial transfers to and from Iraq and Syria for the benefit of
the Islamic State. Another individual, Lu’ay Jasim Hammadi al-Juburi, an
Islamic State financial administration official also living in Turkey, was
accused of using the firm Sham Express, a company founded in 2020 by Brukan
al-Khatuni, to transfer funds to ISIS.”











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Eye on Extremism


January 6, 2023



Associated Press: US, Turkey Sanction Alleged Islamic State Group Supporters
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“The U.S. said Thursday it has worked with Turkey to impose sanctions on four
people and two firms that it says provided financial support to the Islamic
State group. The announcement signaled counterterrorism cooperation between the
two countries at a time of tensions over efforts to fight Islamic State.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened an offensive into Syria against
Kurdish militants he has blamed for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul. That
has alarmed U.S. officials. Kurdish groups have been allied with the U.S. in
the fight against Islamic State group and have warned that a Turkish escalation
would threaten anti-IS efforts. In its announcement Thursday, Treasury’s Office
of Foreign Assets Control said it was imposing sanctions on an Iraqi national
living in Turkey, Abd Al Hamid Salim Ibrahim Ismail Brukan al-Khatuni, his sons
and the Turkish money service firm where they all worked. They are accused of
facilitating financial transfers to and from Iraq and Syria for the benefit of
the Islamic State. Another individual, Lu’ay Jasim Hammadi al-Juburi, an
Islamic State financial administration official also living in Turkey, was
accused of using the firm Sham Express, a company founded in 2020 by Brukan
al-Khatuni, to transfer funds to ISIS.”



BBC: Brussels Bombings Trial Held Up By Suspects' Boycott
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“Repeated interruptions have cast doubt on the trial of suspects accused of
the Brussels bombings that killed 32 people and wounded hundreds more in 2016.
The court has had to postpone sessions because of questions over the rights of
the 10 accused. The defendants complained of being humiliated by facing strip
searches every day they go to court. When a solution was found to that
objection, some of the suspects said they wanted to drop their lawyers.
"Lawyers for several of the defenders say they no longer have a mandate to
represent their clients, and that means the trial cannot proceed," spokesman
for Belgium's federal prosecutor's office told the BBC. "At this point it is
impossible to say when the trial will resume". Of the 10 men accused of murder
and attempted murder with a terrorist motive, six have already been found
guilty of involvement in the Paris attacks in November 2015. One is presumed to
have died in Syria. Three suicide bombers blew themselves up at Zaventem
airport and then Maelbeek station in co-ordinated attacks by jihadist group
Islamic State on Brussels on 22 March 2016. The main suspects on trial in
Brussels are convicted Paris plotter Salah Abdeslam, airport bomb suspect
Mohamed Abrini, and metro bomb suspect Osama Krayem.”



United States



Raw Story: Founder Of Violent White Supremacist Group RAM Re-Indicted On
Rioting Charges <[link removed]>



“In a blog post published in December 2020, Rundo promoted his vision for
“active clubs” as local groups that would “combine fitness and nationalist
activism, building camaraderie, and developing team-building skills.” Over the
past year, white power formations using the “active club” moniker have cropped
up in at least a dozen states, along with Canada and France. "Rundo has been
able to spread the active club brand in the US while he's been in Europe, and
he outlined the idea of the active club as a successor to the Rise Above
Movement," Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher at the Counter Extremism Project,
told Raw Story. "In communications, he is the voice of authority regarding what
is considered proper and how others should conduct themselves and recruit. He's
appeared on podcasts, sold t-shirts with the movement's slogans, and has
managed to make ideological relationships with members of other groups in the
US, such as Patriot Front. Rundo is a model for his brand of white supremacism
that seeks to normalize fascism and focus on a clean lifestyle and appearance,
and fitness and combat sports." Neo-Nazis from across the country attended a
mixed-martial arts tournament at an undisclosed location in San Diego in
August.”



Turkey



Al Arabiya: Turkish Court Suspends Funding For Pro-Kurdish Party Over Alleged
Ties To Terrorism
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“A top Turkish court on Thursday suspended funding for the main pro-Kurdish
party over its alleged ties to terrorism. The court decision deprives the
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) – parliament’s second-largest opposition group
- of a key source of revenue heading into a general election due by June.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the party of being the political wing of
banned militants who have been waging a decades-long insurgency against the
Turkish state. The HDP denies formal links to the fighters and accuses the
government of targeting the party because of its strong opposition to Erdogan.
The HDP’s future could play a major role in deciding Erdogan’s success in
parliamentary and presidential elections now posing one of the stiffest
challenges of his two-decade rule. Turkey’s constitutional court is hearing a
prosecutor’s request to ban the party before the vote. Chief prosecutor Bekir
Sahin is due to argue his case in court on Tuesday. The court will then have
the option of either dissolving the party or banning some of its members if it
rules against the HDP. Turkish media reports say the party was due to receive
539 million liras ($29 million) in treasury funding this year.”



Afghanistan



Politico: Biden Aides Struggle To Respond To Taliban’s Latest Curbs On Women
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“The Biden administration is grappling with how to respond to new Taliban
restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan, knowing that punishing the
ruling Islamists risks rupturing the limited relationship the United States has
with them. The discussion among administration officials is fluid and positions
have varied depending on the proposed penalties, a current administration
official and a former U.S. official familiar with the talks said. Those
proposals include new economic sanctions and tighter bans on Taliban leaders’
travels abroad, as well as limiting certain types of humanitarian aid to
Afghanistan. But in broad terms, according to the current and former officials,
the debate has pitted Tom West, the U.S. special representative for
Afghanistan, against Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls
and human rights. West is wary of going too far in isolating the Taliban, with
whom the U.S. tries to cooperate on counter-terrorism, while Amiri wants to get
tougher on them as they try to erase women from public life.”



Pakistan



Voice Of America: Pakistan Kills 11 Militants Near Afghan Border Amid Spike In
Terrorism
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“Pakistan said Thursday that a military counterterrorism raid in a remote
region near Afghanistan’s border had killed at least 11 militants linked to a
banned militant organization. The “intelligence-based operation” in the South
Waziristan district “successfully foiled a high-profile terrorist activity,” a
military statement said. Security sources said the slain men, including suicide
bombers and a key commander, were members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), or the Pakistani Taliban, waging terrorism in Pakistan, mostly targeting
security forces and civilians. The TTP has killed hundreds of people, including
security forces, in the last year. More than 40 Pakistani security forces were
killed in December alone, which turned out to be the deadliest month in a
decade of terrorist violence in the country. The TTP, designated as a global
terrorist organization by the United States, is a Pakistani offshoot and close
ally of Afghanistan’s ruling Islamist Taliban. Pakistan has maintained that
fugitive TTP leaders and commanders are directing terrorist attacks from the
Afghan side of the border, saying the Taliban rulers are not stopping them in
line with their counterterrorism pledges.”



Yemen



The National: US Offers $5m For Help In Tracking Down Senior Al Qaeda Leader
In Yemen
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“The US is offering up to $5 million for information on the whereabouts of
Ibrahim Al Banna, a senior leader of Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen. Al Banna,
also known as Abu Ayman Al Masri, is the last surviving founding member of Al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the US State Department said. He served
as the terrorist group’s chief of security and also provided military and
security guidance to the terror group. “In a 2010 article for AQAP’s
English-language online magazine, Al Banna described the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks on the United States as virtuous and threatened to target
Americans worldwide in response to US actions overseas,” the State Department
said. It appealed for information on Al Banna through its Rewards for Justice
programme on Thursday. The US officially designated Al Banna as a terrorist in
June 2017. The State Department said AQAP, which was designated as a terrorist
group in 2010, has aimed at local, US, and western interests in the Arabian
Peninsula, as well as abroad. The group has claimed responsibility for a number
terrorist attacks, including the January 2015 assault on the offices of
satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed 12 people. Prior to
joining AQAP, Al Banna was a leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group in
Yemen from 1996 to 1998 and was in charge of the its training and intelligence
operations.”



Middle East



The Jerusalem Post: Hamas Terrorist Boasts Suicide Bombings In Book He Wrote
In Jail <[link removed]>



“The armed wing of Hamas on Thursday published a book written by one of its
commanders who was responsible for a series of suicide bombing attacks against
Israel. The book, The Buses are Burning, was written by Hassan Salameh, who is
serving 46 consecutive life sentences and another 30 years in Israeli prison
for directing three mass-casualty attacks in Israel. Salameh, who was born in
Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, was arrested by Israeli security forces in 1996
in Hebron. The title of the book refers to the buses that were targeted by
suicide bombers. In the book, Salameh relates how he and his friends planned
and carried out several terror attacks. Why was the book launched now? The book
launch was held in Khan Yunis to mark the 27th anniversary of the assassination
of Hamas arch terrorist and chief bomb maker Yahya Ayyash, who was killed in a
mobile phone explosion in the Gaza Strip in 1996. After the assassination,
Hamas entrusted Salameh with the task of carrying out terrorist attacks in
Israel to avenge the killing of Ayyash, nicknamed “The Engineer” because of his
expertise in manufacturing bombs.”



Somalia



Reuters: Somalia Militants Kill Six In Raid On Village They Recently Lost
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“Islamist militants from al Shabaab killed at least six people on Friday
while raiding a village in central Somalia that they were pushed out of last
week, a government-allied militia said. Somalia's government and allied clan
militias have forced the militants from large swathes of territory since
launching a major offensive last August, but al Shabaab has retaliated with a
string of attacks, including bombings in the capital Mogadishu. It killed at
least 35 people and wounded 40 more on Wednesday, when it detonated two car
bombs in the central Somalia town of Mahas. Friday's attack targeted the
village of Hilowle Gaab in Hirshabelle State, which Somalia's army and allied
militiamen captured from al Shabaab last week. The fighters attacked the
village during morning prayers at around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) with car bombs, said
Hussein Aden, a spokesman for the local clan militia. A gunfight ensued, during
which the militants were repelled, he said, adding that soldiers and militiamen
were among the six fatalities. "We were woken by three deafening blasts on the
edge of the village, and then a heavy exchange of gunfire followed," said
Mohamed Hussein, a resident of Hilowle Gaab. "Fighting has died down. I do not
know how many died." Al Shabaab said in a statement that it had recaptured the
village and seized military vehicles and weapons, but residents and a local
politician disputed that claim.”



Africa



The Defense Post: US Offers Reward For Shabaab Militant Over Kenya Attack
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“The United States on Thursday offered a $10 million reward to find a leader
of Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants over a 2020 attack on an air base in Kenya
that killed three Americans. The State Department said it would offer the
reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction in any country of
Maalim Ayman, leader of the Al-Shabaab unit Jaysh Ayman. “Ayman was responsible
for preparing the January 2020 attack,” a State Department statement said.
Al-Shabaab, the Somali movement designated a terrorist group by Washington
since 2008, claimed responsibility for the attack at the Manda Bay Airfield on
Kenya’s northern coast. Authorities say the Jaysh Ayman unit carried out the
pre-dawn raid, which killed two US military service members and a US defense
contractor and destroyed several aircraft. The United States has worked closely
both with Kenya and the fragile government in Mogadishu to counter Al-Shabaab,
which has lost ground inside Somalia in recent months under pressure from an
African Union force and US air strikes.”



United Kingdom



BBC: Barber Shop Owner Jailed For Using Covid Grants To Fund Terrorists
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“A man has been jailed for 12 years for sending Covid relief grants he
received from a London council to fund so-called Islamic State terrorists in
Syria. Barber shop owner Tarek Namouz, 43, was given thousands of pounds of
bounce back loans which he transferred abroad. Kingston Crown Court heard at
the time of the offences Namouz was on licence for raping a woman, 18, in a
north London pub where he was the landlord. After he was sentenced, Namouz
shouted "may Allah destroy you" at police. The court was told Namouz ran Boss
Crew Barbers, in Hammersmith, west London, and received coronavirus relief
grants from Hammersmith and Fulham Council during the pandemic. However, he
sent the funds via a money transfer bureau to help organise terror attacks in
Syria. The court heard that during the investigation police found transfers
totalling about £11,280 - but Namouz then told a friend he sent £25,000 to
Yahya Ahmed Alia, who he described as an "ex-fighter with Islamic State" who
could buy sniper rifles. Another £3,000 was found in his bedroom drawer in the
flat above his barber shop in Blyth Road.”



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