Eye on Extremism
January 22, 2020
Associated
Press: Documents: Extremist Group Wanted Rally To Start Civil
War
“A hidden camera captured members of a white supremacist group
expressing hope that violence at a gun rights rally in Virginia this
week could start a civil war, federal prosecutors said in a court
filing Tuesday. Former Canadian Armed Forces reservist Patrik Jordan
Mathews also videotaped himself advocating for killing people,
poisoning water supplies and derailing trains, a prosecutor wrote in
urging a judge in Maryland to keep Mathews and two other members of
The Base detained in federal custody. But the 27-year-old Canadian
national didn’t know investigators were watching and listening when he
and two other group members talked about attending the Richmond rally
in the days leading up to Monday’s event, which attracted tens of
thousands of people and ended peacefully. Last month, a closed-circuit
television camera and microphone installed by investigators in a
Delaware home captured Mathews talking about the Virginia rally as a
“boundless” opportunity. “And the thing is you’ve got tons of guys who
... should be radicalized enough to know that all you gotta do is
start making things go wrong and if Virginia can spiral out to
(expletive) full blown civil war,” he said.”
The
New York Times: Colombia Asks U.S., E.U. To Include FARC Dissidents On
Terrorist Lists
“Colombia is asking the United States, the European Union and other
countries to include dissidents from the former FARC rebels on their
lists of terrorist organizations, the foreign ministry said on
Tuesday. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) demobilized
under a 2016 peace deal after more than five decades of conflict with
the government, becoming a legal political party. But several top
commanders have rejected the accord and chosen either not to
demobilize or to return to arms. The government considers the
dissidents to be criminals without an ideological motivation unlike
the traditional FARC. “The foreign ministry announces the beginning of
diplomatic efforts through embassies for the inclusion of organized
residual armed groups as terrorist organizations on the lists of the
E.U., the U.S. and other countries,” the ministry said on Twitter. The
effort is in line with a resolution adopted by a regional
anti-terrorism conference held in Bogota on Tuesday, the ministry said
in a statement. Conference attendees, including U.S. Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, among
others, rejected acts of terrorism and crimes committed by the
National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and residual
groups.”
The
New York Times: Trump Administration Plans To Add Nigeria And Six
Other Nations To Travel Ban List: Reports
“The Trump administration is planning to add seven countries -
Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania -
to its travel ban list, U.S. media reports said on Tuesday. Some
countries will face bans only on some visa categories, the Wall Street
Journal reported. The list of countries was not final and could yet
change, website Politico said. U.S. President Donald Trump said in an
interview with the Journal that he was considering adding countries to
the travel ban, but declined to state which ones. Politico said an
announcement was expected as early as Monday. The move is likely to
sour ties between the United States and the countries affected under
the expanded ban. Nigeria, for example, Africa's largest economy and
most populous country, is a U.S. anti-terrorism partner and has a
large diaspora residing in the United States. A senior Trump
administration official said that countries that failed to comply with
security requirements, including biometrics, information-sharing and
counter-terrorism measures, faced the risk of limitations on U.S.
immigration. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately
respond to requests for comment. The State Department declined to
comment.”
United States
ABC
News: Coast Guard Officer Accused Of Terror Plot Asks For
Leniency
“Federal prosecutors are recommending a 25-year prison sentence for
a Coast Guard lieutenant accused of stockpiling guns and targeting
Supreme Court justices, prominent Democrats and TV journalists for
attacks inspired by racist killers. But defense attorneys are seeking
leniency for Christopher Hasson, disputing the government's claim that
he is a domestic terrorist. Hasson’s lawyers are urging a federal
judge in Maryland to spare him a prison term and sentence him to jail
time served since his arrest and three years of supervised release.
“Chris is eager to put this chapter behind him and try to rebuild his
life,” his lawyers wrote last week in court filing ahead of his
sentencing hearing. Hasson, 50, has pleaded guilty to gun and drug
charges and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31. Ahead of the
hearing, the prosecutors and defense lawyers explained their
sentencing recommendations in separate memos filed last week.
Prosecutors say Hasson is a white nationalist intent on carrying out
mass killings, but they filed no terrorism-related charges against him
after his February 2019 arrest. “The defendant — inspired by racist
murderers — stockpiled assault weapons, studied violence, and intended
to exact retribution on minorities and those he considered
traitors.”
The
Washington Times: Man Accused Of Terror Plot May Be Mentally Unfit For
Trial
“A psychologist who examined a man accused of planning an attack
inspired by the Islamic State-group at a shopping and entertainment
complex near Washington, D.C., found “ample evidence” that he is
mentally unfit to assist in his defense, a court filing says. Neither
prosecutors nor a defense attorney for Rondell Henry plan to dispute
the opinion that a court-appointed forensic psychologist from the
Federal Bureau of Prisons detailed in a Dec. 20 report, according to
Saturday’s court filing. The lawyers agree that Henry should be
hospitalized at a Bureau of Prisons facility for up to four months to
determine if it’s likely he will “attain the capacity to permit the
proceedings to go forward,” the filing says. Henry, 28, of Germantown,
Maryland, was arrested on March 28, 2019, and is charged with
attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist
organization, the Islamic State group. Henry is accused of stealing a
U-Haul van in Virginia and parking it at the National Harbor, a
popular waterfront destination just outside the nation’s capital.
Police arrested him the next morning after they found the van and saw
Henry jump over a security fence.”
Yahoo
News: Apple And The FBI At Odds Over Terrorist's
Cellphones
“The U.S. government is pressuring Apple to unlock two phones
belonging to a Saudi air force officer who went on a deadly shooting
rampage at a Pensacola, Fla., naval base in December. Mohammed
Alshamrani killed three people and injured eight others before dying
in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies. Last week Attorney General
William Barr — who called the shooting an act of terrorism —
admonished Apple for refusing to unlock Alshamrani’s phones, which are
protected by passwords. President Trump blasted the company on Twitter
and called for Apple “to step up to the plate and help our great
Country, NOW!” Apple has declined to open the phones but said it had
helped the investigation by handing over “many gigabytes of
information” from Alshamrani’s account stored on its servers. This
isn’t the first time Apple has butted heads with the Justice
Department over access to its devices after a mass shooting. A similar
issue arose over a phone belonging to one of the people behind a 2015
terrorist attack that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. A
court ordered Apple to build software to unlock the phone, but the
company refused.”
Syria
Fox
News: New ISIS Leader? What To Know About The Terror Network’s
Hardline Founding Member
“The Islamic State has named a new leader to replace Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, who died in a U.S. Special Operations forces raid on a
compound in northern Syria’s Idlib Province in October, reports say.
Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, is a founding member of
ISIS, having led the enslavement of Iraq’s Yazidi minority and
overseen major operations around the world, The Guardian reported.
Salbi is of Turkish descent but was born in the Iraqi town of Tal
Afar, making him one of the few non-Arab leaders in the terrorist
group. He is also believed to have at least one son. He holds a degree
in sharia law from the University of Mosul. His status as an Islamic
scholar allowed him to rise through the ranks and sanction genocide
against the Yazidis. In 2004, he met Baghdadi while detained by U.S.
forces at Camp Bucca in Southern Iraqi. He confirmed as the new leader
within hours of Baghdadi’s death in October. Before the U.S.-led raid,
the State Department had placed a $5 million bounty on Salbi, as well
as two other leading members of the terrorist group. Since Baghdadi’s
death, Salbi is understood by western and regional intelligence
services to be reconsolidating ISIS while drawing upon a younger
generation of militants.”
Reuters:
Russian-Led Strikes On Rebel-Held Northwest Syria Kill 40:
Rescuers
“Russian-led air strikes killed at least 40 people on Tuesday in
northwest Syria in a major army assault backed by Iranian militias to
clear out rebels that has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing
toward the border with Turkey, residents and rescuers said. They said
a family of eight including six children was killed in the rural
village of Kfar Taal west of government-controlled Aleppo, while
another nine civilians were killed in Maardabseh in the southeast of
Idlib province. “God take revenge on all tyrants. There is no one else
left in my family, they are all gone,” Abu Yasser, 71, a relative of
the family wiped out in Kfar Taal, said in a voice recording sent to
Reuters. At least 22 other civilians were killed in other strikes by
Russian and Syrian government warplanes on rural opposition areas that
have been hit hard since the Russian-led military campaign,
supplemented by Iranian militias, began in December. The aerial
bombings in which Moscow has also deployed special forces on the
ground to push deeper into rebel-held territory has left dozens of
towns in ruins and knocked down hospitals and schools, rescuers and
aid agencies say."
Iran
Radio
Farda: General Admits Soleimani's Role In Syria's Civil War Long
Before Extremists Emerged
“The Syrian Defense Minister has implicitly admitted that the
Islamic Republic of Iran's military was closely involved in stopping
the uprising against the Assad regime, long before the emergence of
extremist fronts such as ISIS and al-Nusra. A video circulated on
social media shows Syrian Minister of Defense, General Ali Abdullah
Ayyoub, paying homage to the Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps' Qods Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani, who was
killed by a U.S. drone strike on January 3, outside Baghdad
international airport. In the video, the former Chief of the General
Staff of the Army and Armed Forces (July 2012- January 2018), and
current Minister of Defense of Syria, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub, praising
Soleimani for helping to design a plan for the forces loyal to the
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to retake Baba Amr, a suburb of the
country's third-largest city, Homs, in March 2012. “I initially met
Qassem Soleimani in 2011, and the 1st battle we planned and carried
out was in Homs, Baba Amr,” Ayyoub disclosed on January 13, while
visiting Tehran.”
Iraq
Military
Times: Joint Syria Raid Killed ISIS Oil Official Who Financed Sleeper
Cells
“An Islamic State group official who oversaw oil and gas operations
and helped finance sleeper cells was killed last week in a joint
coalition special operations raid with Syrian partner forces, the
military said. The ISIS official known by the pseudonym Abu al-Ward
al-Iraqi was killed along with another militant who officials have not
yet identified during the raid in Deir al-Zour province on Jan. 14,
the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement on
Sunday. Al-Iraqi's death “disrupts and degrades” ISIS's ability to
finance terrorist activities in the Middle Euphrates River Valley
along the Iraq-Syria border, said U.S. Army Col. Myles B. Caggins III,
a military spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, via email. It's among
the latest takedowns of top ISIS leaders since the killing in late
October of the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but it comes as
the future of the coalition's continued presence in Iraq remains
uncertain, which some fear could allow the group to resurge. In the
fallout of a U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force
commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani earlier this month, Iraq's
Shiite-dominated parliament demanded the government expel coalition
forces, but acting Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has since said that
would be up to his successor.”
Asharq
Al-Awsat: Al-Azhar Warns Of ISIS Efforts To Regain
Status
“The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism warned against
ISIS efforts to regain the group’s status and compensate for losses
incurred following its defeat in Iraq and Syria over the past months.
In Iraq, according to the Observatory, a reformation attempt has been
detected and feared to give initiative for renewed deployment of the
terrorist group. Security expert Major Farouq Al-Megrahi told Asharq
Al-Awsat that ISIS will continue to rely on the recruitment of young
enthusiasts that have been radicalized. Megrahi added that ISIS
heavily depends on the recruitment of lone wolves, individuals, and
sleeping cells. Speaking on ISIS reinstating itself to its former
strength in Iraq, Megrahi said: “I don’t think ISIS will return with
the strength it enjoyed during 2014 and 2015.” Megrahi attributed his
belief to regular state forces and the international coalition
regaining control over large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
He, however, warned of the terror group resorting to guerilla warfare.
ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq are difficult to capture given that they
stay in rural hideouts nestled in mountains and tough terrain.”
Afghanistan
Bloomberg:
U.S., Taliban Negotiators Inch Closer To A Deal, Officials
Say
“The U.S. and Taliban leaders are moving toward a peace deal that
would see the eventual withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan
and an end to the 18-year long conflict, according to the militant
group’s spokesman and a person in Washington familiar with the talks.
It’s the second time in recent months the two sides have appeared
close to announcing an agreement. In September President Donald Trump
abruptly called off talks in response to a suicide bombing in Kabul
that killed an American soldier. Led by special envoy on Afghan
reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. delegation is discussing
the Taliban’s offer of a 7-to-10 day halt in its military operations
in talks underway in Doha, where the group has a political office, the
militant group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said via a series of
messages on Tuesday. The talks will also decide when and where the
agreement will be signed. Khalilzad has imposed a communications
blackout on his team, wary that any leak could result in the deal
again being scuttled at the last minute, the person said. State
Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus declined to comment. General
Scott Miller, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, is also
attending the meeting that began Monday night, Mujahed said.”
Long
War Journal: Taliban Admits ‘Peace’ Negotiations With U.S. Are Merely
Means To Withdraw ‘Foreign Forces’
“The Taliban admitted this week that current negotiations with the
“arrogant” U.S. – often billed as “peace talks” that will purportedly
end the fighting in Afghanistan – are merely being conducted to
facilitate “the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.” The
Taliban made the statements in its latest commentary, titled
“Powerless shall always remain shareless…!,” which was published in
English on Jan. 20 on its official website, Voice of Jihad. In
addition, the terrorist group called the Afghan government “impotent,”
“powerless,” “incapable,” “a tool of the invaders,” and a host of
other insults in the statement. The Taliban was clear, as it has
consistently been clear, that it would not deal with the Afghan
government, which has been “sidelined [by the U.S.] in every major
decision regarding Afghanistan.” The statement opened with the Taliban
referring to itself as “the Islamic Emirate,” the name of its
government. The Taliban has repeatedly stated that the only acceptable
outcome to the war is the reimposition of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan and a return to its brutal form of “islamic
governance.”
Lebanon
The
Washington Post: Lebanon Gets A New Hezbollah-Backed Government Amid
Mounting Unrest
“Lebanon formed a government Tuesday that is controlled exclusively
for the first time by Hezbollah and its allies, affirming the
Iranian-backed movement's increasingly powerful role in the country
and raising concerns about Lebanon's ability to halt a spiral of
economic and political collapse. Protesters, who have been demanding a
government aligned with none of the existing political factions,
called for fresh demonstrations against the new cabinet, which they
said failed to meet their demands for substantial change. The dominant
role in the government’s formation played by Iranian-allied Hezbollah,
which proposed the candidacy of Prime Minister Hassan Diab in December
and has pushed forcefully in recent days for his lineup of ministers,
risks alienating some of Lebanon’s traditional Western allies,
including the United States, at a time when Lebanon’s collapsing
economy urgently needs international assistance. The announcement of a
cabinet by Diab, a professor at the American University of Beirut,
broke three months of political deadlock during which Lebanon had no
functioning government and the country continued a slide toward
economic and financial collapse.”
Nigeria
Daily
Mail: Young Boy Executes Nigerian Christian Prisoner In Horrifying
ISIS Video
“A video has emerged purportedly showing the execution of a
Nigerian Christian by a young boy from an ISIS-affiliated terror
group. The horrific footage, released by ISIS's Amaq 'news agency',
shows a child of around eight years old carrying out the execution in
an unidentified outdoor area of Borno, Nigeria. The child in the video
warns other Christians: 'We won't stop until we take revenge for all
the blood that was spilled.' An image taken from the distressing
footage has been shared online by SITE Intelligence Group, an
organisation which tracks the activity of jihadist groups. Director of
SITE Intelligence Group, Rita Katz, said of the video: 'There is no
end to ISIS's immorality.' According to Katz, the video was taken in
Borno in north-eastern Nigeria and the boy is from the Islamic State
West Africa Province (ISWAP) terror organisation. While ISIS has
ramped up its attacks on Christians in recent years, Katz added that
the video was also a 'throwback' to the terror group's days of
children conducting gruesome executions. ISIS has routinely used young
children, dubbed 'cubs of the Caliphate', to carry out the killings of
prisoners in propaganda videos.”
All
Africa: Nigeria: UN Condemns Boko Haram Attack On North-East
Facilities, Aid Workers
“The United Nations has condemned an attack by Boko Haram on its
facilities and aid workers in the troubled North-east of Nigeria. A
statement yesterday by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr.
Edward Kallon, condemned Saturday's attack on its humanitarian hub in
Ngala, a Nigerian border town with Cameroon. It had last Thursday
expressed apprehension over the growing insecurity in the area, even
as some of its workers in some Borno towns had been recalled to the
state capital, Maiduguri. Kallon said: “On the evening of Saturday,
January 18, the humanitarian hub in Ngala was the direct target of a
complex assault by heavily armed non-state armed groups operatives. An
entire section of the facility was burnt down as well as one of the
few vehicles UN agencies rely on for movement and aid delivery.
Protective security measures deployed at the humanitarian hub
prevented any harm to the staff, who were in the facility. “I am
shocked by the violence and intensity of this attack, which is the
latest of too many incidents directly targeting humanitarian actors
and the assistance we provide. “I am relieved all staff are now safe
and secure. Aid workers, humanitarian facilities and assets cannot be
a target and must be protected and respected at all times.”
Gulf
Today: Seven Nigerian Troops Killed In Militants
Attack
“Seven soldiers were killed on Tuesday when Daesh-affiliated
militants attacked a military position in northeastern Nigeria, two
military sources told the media. Fighters in several trucks fitted
with machine guns attacked a military position in Mainok village, 56
kilometres (35 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, they
said on Wednesday. “We lost seven men in the attack by the terrorists.
Two soldiers went missing and five soldiers were injured,” the first
source said. The second source confirmed the toll, adding that the
militants destroyed two military guntrucks and three anti-aircraft
machine guns. Borno state police spokesman Edet Okon said in a
statement that four guntrucks, including two seized from the army in
the attack, had been recovered. The assailants are suspected members
of the Daesh West Africa Province (ISWAP), a group that split from
Boko Haram in 2016 and has stepped attacks against the military since
mid-2018. The group has increasingly been abducting motorists at bogus
checkpoints in Borno state, targeting security personnel,
anti-militant militia and Christians.”
Somalia
All
Africa: East Africa: Somalia, Terrorism And Kenya's Security
Dilemma
“Barely two weeks into 2020, al-Shabaab has attacked Kenya five
times, leaving scores of Kenyans and foreigners dead. For the first
time, one of the attacks involved infiltrating an air strip and
destroying several aircraft in Lamu county - an area where the Kenyan
and US armies operate. Kenya has borne the brunt of al-Shabaab attacks
outside Somalia. Over the past decade, the group has attacked Kenya at
least 30 times, leaving over 600 citizens and scores of foreigners
dead, thousands injured and millions of US dollars lost in damages to
infrastructure - both public and private. Al-Shabaab has warned of
more attacks in Kenya. In these statements one key message has
remained consistent over the years: Kenya should remove its troops
from Somalia if it ever wants peace with al-Shabaab. If it fails to do
so, 'its streets will continue to be filled with rivers of blood of
its own people', said an al-Shabaab statement following the
high-profile Westgate Mall attack in 2013. Kenya's military deployment
in Somalia in October 2011 was to push back al-Shabaab from its
territory, create a 'buffer zone' with Somalia and safeguard its
sovereignty.”
Africa
The
Washington Post: West African Presidents Urge U.S. To Stay In The
Fight Against Terrorism
“West African leaders are urging the United States to stay in the
fight against extremist groups that are rooting deeper into the region
as the Pentagon weighs a significant troop pullout from the continent.
Parts of the Sahel, a dry stretch of land south of the Sahara Desert,
have fallen to militants linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda who
are offering shelter to fighters fleeing the Middle East, the
presidents of Senegal and Togo told The Washington Post in separate
interviews. “If one actor leaves the chain, it weakens the whole
group,” Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé said. The heads of state,
whose nations border a worsening conflict, said the international
community must unite against the attackers. Both expressed concern
that terrorism is on the brink of spilling into their countries, which
have not previously grappled with such a threat. Withdrawing U.S.
troops as Islamist violence surges would be a “mistake,” Senegalese
President Macky Sall said in his first public comments on the matter.
“It would be a mistake, and it would be very misunderstood by
Africans,” he said, “because instead of coming to help, you wish to
remove the little help there is.” Gnassingbé, Togo’s leader of 15
years, said militants from Iraq and Syria are slipping into the region
through restive Libya, where they aim to radicalize locals and build
an army.”
Reuters:
Militants Kill 36 Civilians In Burkina Faso Market
Attack
“Thirty-six civilians were killed in Burkina Faso on Monday in what
the government called a terrorist attack on a market in Sanmatenga
province. Armed militants forced their way into the market of the
village of Alamou and attacked people there before burning the
structure to the ground, the government said in a statement on
Tuesday. The bloodshed is part of a surge in violence in the West
African country that has killed hundreds, forced nearly a million from
their homes and made much of the north ungovernable over the past two
years. “These repeated attacks on innocent civilians call for real
cooperation between defense and security forces,” the government said.
President Roch Marc Kabore called for two days of national mourning in
response to the attack. It was not immediately clear who was
responsible. Islamist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State
have carried out increasingly brazen attacks against civilian and
military targets in Burkina Faso in recent months, including an attack
on a mining convoy in November that killed nearly 40 people.”
Voice
Of America: Five Terror Suspects Including American Await Trial In
Kenya
“A Kenyan court has allowed security agencies to hold five terror
suspects arrested Saturday for allegedly casing a bar in Nairobi. The
five include three Somali nationals, a U.S. citizen, and their Kenyan
driver. Five suspects, one American, three Somali nationals, and their
Kenyan driver, are awaiting their second appearance in a Kenyan court
after they were arrested for of what authorities say is surveying an
entertainment establishment in Nairobi. The five, Mohamed Abas
Mohamud, Ifrah Mohamed Abshir, Mohamed Hassan Bario, Hodhan Abdi
Ismail, and Mohamed Adan, made an initial court appearance Monday.
Prosecutors asked for more time to conduct an investigation on the
individuals. They were arrested Saturday at the Whiskey River Club in
Nairobi. David Mbugua, the head of the security of the club, told VOA
the suspects were present in the club. “They came around seven guys.
They got their seats in different positions. So we started worrying
why they couldn't sit in one table and share their drinks,” said
Mbugua.”
United Kingdom
The
New York Times: U.K. Promises Stronger Terrorism Laws After Knife
Attack By Convict
“The British government said on Tuesday that it would toughen
terrorism sentences and end early release for serious offenders,
following through on promises made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in
November after a convicted terrorist who had been automatically
released carried out an attack that killed two people near London
Bridge. The attacker, Usman Khan, 28, who was released in December
2018 after serving eight years of a 16-year sentence for his
involvement in a bomb plot, began a knife attack while attending an
event on prison rehabilitation at Fishmongers’ Hall, a central London
conference venue. Wearing a fake explosive vest, he fled over the
nearby bridge, and he was shot and killed by the police shortly
afterward. The attack, during the final weeks of a British general
election campaign, set off a heated debate over jail sentences for
convicted terrorists and their overall reintegration into society.
Under the new legislation, which could be introduced in Parliament
this spring, terrorism offenders would serve a minimum of 14 years in
prison. The number of probation officers specializing in
counterterrorism would be doubled, and the counterterrorist police
would receive a 10 percent funding increase, the British Home Office,
the government department responsible for policing and national
security, said in a statement.”
Europe
Hungary
Today: Suspected IS Terrorist’s Case Continues In
Budapest
“The Budapest Municipal Court on Tuesday held another hearing in
the case of Hassan F., a Syrian national charged with terrorism and
mass murder, arrested at Budapest’s international airport in December
2018. Hassan F. was arrested when he presented false documents at the
airport for himself and a woman in his company, and was to be expelled
from Hungary. The suspicion of his having been a member of the Islamic
State terrorist organisation and participating in several executions
in 2015 was raised in March last year. At a hearing in November last
year, the suspect denied all charges and said he had not been in Syria
in 2015, having fled to Turkey with his family the previous year. The
municipal court said it had sought information from the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees office in Budapest as to when Hassan F. had
arrived in Turkey but received no answer to their enquiry. The court
has requested the justice ministry to apply for international legal
assistance to obtain the necessary information. Concerning video
footage about an execution in Syria, the court’s expert said that it
was of bad quality and it could not be ascertained if the suspect was
in it.”
Latin America
Asharq
Al-Awsat: US Seeks To Corner Hezbollah In Latin
America
“The United States provided information to Argentina, Colombia,
Brazil, Uruguay and Peru about “support and financing networks”
affiliated with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as part of its efforts to
restrict the party’s activity in Latin America and to exert maximum
pressure on Iran and its proxies. Diplomatic sources in Washington
told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
arrested a number of persons, who are involved with dealing with
Hezbollah or suspected of planning to expand their activities inside
the United States. These moves came in parallel with the holding of
the Third Regional Conference Against Terrorism in Bogota, Colombia,
during which the US is seeking to unify the stance of 20 Latin
American countries against the party. US State Secretary Mike Pompeo,
who is attending the conference, called on “all nations” on Saturday
to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist group. “We call on all nations to
designate Hezbollah as the terrorist organization it is,” Pompeo wrote
on his Twitter account. The diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat
that Honduras and Guatemala have indicated their intention to
designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, following a similar move
by Argentina and Paraguay.”
Southeast Asia
Jakarta
Globe: What To Do With Indonesia's Foreign Terrorist
Fighters?
“The government says it is trying to find a way to bring home 660
Indonesian foreign terrorist fighters now stranded in several overseas
countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. The Coordinating
Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud M.D. said
his ministry has discussed the issue with other related ministries to
find the safest and most efficient way to repatriate the fighters.
“The Social Affairs Ministry will have to calculate the social impacts
when these fighters return home. The Justice and Human Rights Ministry
has to decide their citizenship status. [Their return] could also
affect tourism and investment since many people still consider them as
terrorists,” Mahfud said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday. “Some of
these fighters have already asked to be repatriated. But their host
countries want them to follow their regulations. Some of them will
only let go of the orphans and others say they will let go of the
women and children,” Mahfud said. The former Constitutional Court
chief justice also said that according to Indonesia's 1945
Constitution, no one should ever be left “stateless,” which means
these fighters still retain their rights to return to
Indonesia.”
Technology
The
Wall Street Journal: How A Military Cyber Operation To Disrupt Islamic
State Spurred A Debate
“A once-secret U.S. military cyber operation launched during the
last year of the Obama administration to disrupt Islamic State’s
online presence underwent a delayed rollout due to interagency
disagreements about the clandestine mission, according to newly
released government documents and former U.S. officials. Operation
Glowing Symphony, initiated in late 2016, prompted at least one
unidentified government agency to issue a formal “non-concur” opinion,
disputing either the scope or necessity of the planned attack,
according to internal documents written by U.S. Cyber Command. The
disagreements, the substance of which weren’t disclosed, were elevated
to senior leadership within the Obama administration and eventually
resolved, but the process impeded the operation from going forward as
originally conceived, the documents show. The declassified files, from
late 2016 and early 2017, were obtained through Freedom of Information
Act requests by the National Security Archive, a nonprofit group
associated with George Washington University that advocates for
greater government transparency, and were reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal ahead of their public release.”
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