Eye on Extremism
February 3, 2023
The National: UK 'Blocks Plans' To Proscribe Iran's Revolutionary Guard As Terrorist Group
“Britain’s Foreign Office has blocked a plan that would have led to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) proscribed as a terrorist organisation, according to a report. The government department cited the need to keep communication channels with Tehran open as relations between the two countries continue on a downward spiral. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was told by MPs in the House of Commons this week there had been a ‘major groundswell’ in requests for the Sunak government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. Mr Cleverly said the Revolutionary Guard’s ‘malign impact’ was felt across the region and the world, but stopped short of saying a proscription was in the pipeline. Campaigners, analysts and politicians from across the political spectrum have urged the Conservative government to place the IRGC in the same category as Al Qaeda and ISIS.”
Washington Post: Killing Of Top ISIS Militant Casts Spotlight On Group’s Broad Reach In Africa
“The killing of a senior Islamic State operative by U.S. troops in a Somali cave complex last week has cast a spotlight on a shadowy financial network stretching from the Horn of Africa to the continent’s southern tip that Islamic State-affiliated groups have used to extend their reach, experts and intelligence officials said. The operation by U.S. Special Forces targeted Bilal al-Sudani, who Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan.” Ten others were also killed in the Jan. 25 raid.”
United States
NBC Bay Area: US Releases Ex-Al Qaeda Courier from Guantanamo Bay Prison
“U.S. military officials said Thursday they have freed and sent to Central America a onetime Al Qaeda money courier who had completed his sentence, ending an imprisonment that included torture at clandestine CIA sites and 16 years at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Majid Khan, a Pakistani citizen who grew up outside Baltimore, arrived in Belize on Thursday under a Biden administration agreement with that government. This was the first time since the Obama administration that U.S. officials have been able to reach agreement with a stable third-party country willing to take Guantanamo prisoners whom the U.S. no longer considers a threat. Khan's lawyers said he should have been freed last February under a pretrial agreement.”
Associated Press: Extremist Israeli Group Halts Fund-Raising Effort In US
“An Israeli group that assists Jewish prisoners convicted in some of the country’s most notorious hate crimes has halted its fund-raising efforts through a U.S.-based Jewish charity following an investigation by The Associated Press and the Israeli nonprofit news organization Shomrim. The fund-raising through the Lakewood, New Jersey-based World of Tzedaka had allowed American donors to make tax-exempt contributions to the hard-line Israeli group, and suggested that Israel’s far right was making new inroads into the U.S. World of Tzedaka confirmed that it was no longer working with Shlom Asiraich, while a fund-raising link on the Israeli group’s website that connected donors to the American nonprofit has stopped working. ‘We don’t do any business with them anymore, so we don’t have anything else to do with them,’ said Yaakov Cohen, who identified himself as a manager for World of Tzedaka. Shlom Asiraich, or ‘The Well-Being of Your Prisoners,’ has been raising money in Israel since at least 2018.”
New York Post: Ex-Eagle Scout James Bradley Sentenced To 11 Years For Trying To Join ISIS
“A former Boy Scout arrested in New Jersey while boarding a Yemen-bound ship so he could join ISIS in the war-torn country was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison on Thursday. James Bradley, 21, and his lawyers had pleaded in court filings for a sentence of time-served, arguing he had been deradicalized through work he completed with a non-profit group after his arrest in 2021. But Judge Paul Engelmayer, in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, said that request was a ‘complete non-starter.’ ‘I cannot foresee the future, none of us can,’ Engelmayer said as he imposed the 11-year sentence, adding that the non-profit workers who ‘deradicalized’ Bradley ‘don’t have crystal balls.’ ‘The gravity of the offense is hard to get around,’ he added.”
Al Arabiya News: American Sniper, Weapons Trainer For ISIS On Trial In US
“He had been brought from the battlefields of Syria to a New York lockup, a US citizen charged with serving as a sniper and weapons trainer for ISIS. And even in jail, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov kept a makeshift version of the militants’ black flag right above the desk in his cell, according to trial testimony this week. ‘What’s the big deal? It’s mine. It’s religious,’ then-jail lieutenant Judith Woods recalled him saying when she went to confiscate the hand-drawn image in 2020. Years after the fall of the extremist group’s self-proclaimed governance, the trial is a reminder of the enduring and far-reaching fallout of a war that drew tens of thousands of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq. Their home countries are still contending with what should become of them.”
Syria
United Press International: U.S. Central Command Detains 227 ISIS Members, Kills 11 In January
“U.S. Central Command executed 43 operations targeting Islamic State operatives in Iraq and Syria in January as it escalates efforts to stabilize the region. CENTCOM recapped the first month of 2023 in a report released Thursday detailing the progress made by U.S. and ally forces. Across 43 operations, the coalition -- which includes the Syrian Democratic Forces and Iraqi Security Forces -- killed 11 ISIS operatives and apprehended 227, CENTCOM reports. "While our efforts have degraded ISIS, the group's vile ideology remains uncontained and unconstrained," said Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM.”
Asharq Al-Awsat: ISIS Carried Out 15 Operations In Syrian Desert In January
"The ISIS group carried out 15 attacks in Syria’s desert (Badia) in January, killing 21 regime soldiers and members of proxy militias, including 12 Iranian-backed Syrian and non-Syrian militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed on Thursday. It said one ISIS member was killed in those attacks. “ISIS continues its attacks in different areas controlled by the Syrian regime and its allies in the Syrian desert in Homs, Deir Ezzor and Al-Raqqa,” the Britain-based group said on its website. On January 4, the Observatory said two Afghan members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed by a landmine planted in a house near a shopping center designated for Iran-backed militias in the Al-Jamaiah neighborhood, west of Palmyra."
Iran
Associated Press: Satellite Photos: Damage At Iran Military Site Hit By Drone
“Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Friday showed damage done to what Iran describes as a military workshop targeted by Israeli drones, the latest such assault amid a shadow war between the two countries. While Iran has offered no explanation yet of what the workshop manufactured, the drone attack threatened to again raise tensions in the region. Already, worries have grown over Tehran enriching uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, with a top United Nations nuclear official warning the Islamic Republic had enough fuel to build ‘several’ atomic bombs if it chooses. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose earlier tenure as premier saw escalating attacks targeting Iran, has returned to office and reiterated that he views Tehran as his country’s top security threat. With State Department spokesperson Ned Price now declaring Iran has ‘killed’ the opportunity to return to its nuclear deal with world powers, it remains unclear what diplomacy immediately could ease tensions between Tehran and the West.”
Afghanistan
Al Arabiya: Taliban ‘Beat And Detain’ Afghan Educator Who Spoke Out On Women’s School Ban
“Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have ‘beaten and detained’ an academic who voiced outrage on live television against their ban on women’s university education, his aide said Friday. Veteran journalism lecturer Ismail Mashal caused a storm by tearing his degree certificates to shreds on TV in December, protesting the edict ending women’s higher education. In recent days, domestic channels showed Mashal carting books around Kabul and offering them to passers-by. ‘Mashal was mercilessly beaten and taken away in a very disrespectful manner by members of the Islamic Emirate,’ Mashal’s aide Farid Ahmad Fazli told AFP, referring to the Taliban government. A Taliban official confirmed the detention.”
Pakistan
Associated Press: Pakistani Troops Kill 2 Militants In Raid Near Afghan Border Yemen
“Troops raided a militant hideout in a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold near the border with Afghanistan on Friday, triggering a shootout that killed two insurgents, the military said. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif summoned the country’s opposition leader to forge a response to the recent surge in violence, including a mosque bombing that killed 101 people. Troops on Friday recovered a cache of weapons in a militant hideout in North Waziristan, a district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement. The militants killed during the raid had been involved in past attacks on security forces, it added. The statement provided no further details, and the identities of the slain militants were not immediately known. Troops routinely carry out such raids to trace and arrest the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.”
Republic World: Four Militants Killed In Pakistan's Restive Northwest; Weapons, Ammunitions Recovered
“Pakistani security forces have killed four terrorists in two separate encounters in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said on Friday. Heavily-armed militants attacked a police mobile van on Thursday in the Nisatta village of Charsadda district. A police team, acting on information received on the suspects' hideout, rushed to the Gujarabad area of the district. In a gun battle between the police and the terrorists, three militants were killed. Weapons and ammunition were recovered from the possession of the militants, Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanobar Khan said, adding that those killed were actively involved in terrorist activities against the security forces.”
Middle East
Reuters: Israel To Chad: Need To Curb Iran, Hezbollah Clout In Sahel
“Chadian President Mahamat Deby, in Israel to open an embassy on Thursday, heard his hosts' concern about what they described as the clout of their arch-foes Iran and Hezbollah in Africa's Sahel region. Israel only confirmed Deby's visit on Wednesday, a day after he arrived. The trip included a rare stop at the Mossad intelligence headquarters - a sign that bilateral ties re-established five years ago have national security importance. Chad's embassy is in Ramat Gan, a town abutting Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. "This is a great day, an historic day for Chad and for Israel, too," Deby said in a videotape of the inauguration.”
The Jerusalem Post: Lebanese Man Recruits Palestinians On Tiktok To Help With Terrorism
“A Lebanese citizen who was once a Hezbollah activist has been using TikTok to recruit Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem to help him carry out terror attacks, the Shin Bet revealed on Thursday. The man, whose real name is Salah Sawati, is known as Abu Asan. The Israel Security Agency revealed three different TikTok accounts he was using to contact the people he targeted. As part of the investigation, the Shin Bet arrested two east Jerusalem residents who were in contact with Abu Asan. The two allegedly gathered intelligence and sent him photos of places in Israel for him to target for his terror attacks.”
Egypt
Times Of Israel: Report: Egypt Invites Hamas, Islamic Jihad Officials To Cairo To Broker Calm
“The Egyptian government has reportedly invited senior officials from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip to visit Cairo in a bid to calm tensions with Israel. Overnight, several rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, with the IDF striking the Strip in response, days after the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israelis in 15 years took place in Jerusalem. The head of the PIJ media office, Dawoud Shehab, told Palestinian media yesterday that Ziad al-Nakhala had received an invitation from Egyptian officials to meet. The Palestinian Safa news agency reports that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has also been invited to visit Cairo next week.”
Nigeria
NPR: Gunmen Destroy 800 Ballot Boxes In Nigeria, The Latest In A Series Of Attacks
“More than 800 ballot boxes were destroyed by armed gunmen, who attacked an office of the electoral commission in southeast Nigeria on Wednesday. It's the latest in the series of attacks on the electoral commission's offices across the region, blamed on armed pro-Biafra separatists groups. Biafra was the country separatists hoped to create but was quashed during Nigeria's bloody civil war. In recent years, pro-Biafra militants have caused widespread terror, attacking government and security posts, and more recently, electoral offices. It's raising fears for whether the election can hold as planned. Insecurity is a huge issue in Nigeria, with a militant Islamist insurgency in the north east, banditry in the north west and a rise in kidnapping for cash countrywide. Voters in Africa's most populous country are due to head to the polls at the end of this month.”
Africa
Associated Press: Pope Heads To South Sudan To Urge Peace As Fighting Kills 27
“Pope Francis opened the second and final leg of his African pilgrimage by heading to South Sudan on Friday, hoping to encourage the young country’s stalled peace process and draw international attention to continued fighting and a worsening humanitarian crisis. Francis had one final appointment Friday in Kinshasa with Congo’s bishops before flying to the South Sudanese capital, Juba. There, he joins the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields, in a novel ecumenical push for peace. Together, the three represent the religious leadership of the overwhelmingly Christian country, the world’s youngest, which gained independence from the majority Muslim Sudan in 2011 but has been beset by civil war and conflict. The Christian leaders are aiming to give a joint call for South Sudan’s political leaders to put aside their differences and work for the good of their people.”
Greece
Associated Press: Jailed Leader Of Greek Far-Right Party Faces Election Ban
“Greece’s government is seeking to ban a far-right political party led by a jailed former lawmaker from participating in a general election later this year, with a legislative initiative that has gained cross-party support. Ilias Kasidiaris, 42, founded the Greek National Party two years ago. He is currently serving a sentence of 13 years and six months in prison for membership in a criminal organization as a former leading member of Golden Dawn, a political party of neo-Nazi origins linked to multiple violent street attacks. Parliament on Friday published a proposed legal amendment that would disqualify Kasidiaris’ party from election participation on the grounds that its leader has been convicted of serious offences and that the party wouldn’t “serve the free functioning of (Greece’s) democratic constitution.” Lawmakers are due to vote on the amendment on Tuesday.”
Russia
Associated Press: US Seeks To Expel Russian Mercenaries From Sudan, Libya
“The United States has stepped up pressure on Middle East allies to expel the Wagner Group, a military contractor with close ties to Russia’s president, from chaos-stricken Libya and Sudan where it expanded in recent years, regional officials told The Associated Press. The U.S. effort described by officials comes as the Biden administration is making a broad push against the mercenaries. The U.S. has slapped new sanctions on the Wagner Group in recent months over its expanding role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. The group is owned by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Pentagon has described it as a surrogate for the Russian Defense Ministry. The Kremlin denies any connection. The Biden administration has been working for months with regional powers Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to pressure military leaders in Sudan and Libya to end their ties with the group, according to more than a dozen Libyan, Sudanese and Egyptian officials. They asked for anonymity to speak freely and because they were not authorized to discuss the issue with the media.”
Southeast Asia
India Today: NIA Gets Mail Threatening Terror Attack In Mumbai By Person With Taliban Links
“The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) Mumbai office on Thursday received an email threatening that a person would carry out a terror attack in the financial capital. The email claimed that a person linked to the Taliban would carry out the attack in Mumbai, as reported by PTI. Following the threat, the city police and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) were alerted. According to the police, the email address used to send the threat message had "CIA" in it and the sender claimed that a person having links with the Taliban would carry out an attack in the city. The IP (internet protocol) address of the sender has been traced to Pakistan, said a police official. An investigation into the matter has been launched.”
Australia
Australian Federal Police: Tamworth Man Jailed For Advocating Terrorism Online
“A NSW man who advocated for violent terrorist acts in a series of racist and extremist messages on social media has been sentenced to two years and seven months’ in prison. The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) arrested the man, 37, at his home in Tamworth in November, 2021 following an investigation into online posts including videos featuring nationalist, racist and violent-extremist messaging. The man, who was a prolific social media user, pleaded guilty to advocating online for acts of serious violence, including murder, to be committed against groups of people, which he identified by race, political viewpoints and occupation, including police officers and politicians. He pleaded guilty to: one count of advocating terrorism contrary to section 80.2C(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth); and one count of improperly storing more than 8000 rounds of ammunition, contrary to section 40(1) of the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW). AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Colin Hunt said the JCTT continued to disrupt attempts by Australians calling for religious and ideologically motivated violence.”
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