Eye on Extremism - March 25, 2016

Eye on Extremism March 25, 2016 Counter Extremism Project EU Reporter: #BrusselsAttacks: Attacks ‘Show The Need’ For Improved Co-Operation Between Europe’s Intelligence Agencies “The policy dialogue was told of the need for improved co-operation between the intelligence services and the police in all member states, “working together to detain and deter terrorists.” The debate was organized before Tuesday’s atrocity but, it was said, the attacks on the city’s airport and a city centre subway gave the discussion added poignancy. It was organized by the European Foundation for Democracy and the European Policy Centre, two respected Brussels-based policy institutes, in conjunction with the Counter Extremism Project, a US-based initiative which was launched in Brussels six months ago, and ISPI, the Milan-based Institute for International Political Studies.” CNN: Brussels Attacks: New Arrests As Police Scramble To Prevent More Terror “Three days after the gruesome Brussels bombings that left 31 people dead, the concerns are palpable. Can Europe keep up with terror cells and foil their plots before the next deadly attack? Investigators already know about ISIS plots in Europe in various stages of preparation. French authorities arrested a man suspected of plotting an attack that was in an ‘advance stage’ of planning. And with at least one -- possibly two -- of the Brussels bombers still on the loose, the race is on to prevent another wave of terror.” NBC News: U.S. Knew Brussels Bombers Before They Struck “The two brothers named as the suicide bombers at the center of the Brussels airport and metro attacks this week were listed as a potential terror threat in U.S. databases, NBC News has learned. According to two U.S. officials, Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui were known to U.S. counter terrorism authorities prior to Tuesday morning. The officials would not say on which of the many U.S. terrorism databases the brothers were listed. But the disclosure does raise questions about how Belgian authorities could describe them as petty criminals who were not on their counter-terrorism radar.” Reuters: France Says It Foils Advanced Attack Plot - Minister “A French national suspected of belonging to a militant network planning an attack in France was arrested on Thursday morning, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. The arrest helped ‘foil a plot in France that was at an advanced stage,’ Cazeneuve said on Thursday night in a televised address from his ministry. Following the arrest by the French counter terrorism service, DGSI, the agency carried out a raid on Thursday night at an apartment building in Argenteuil, a Paris suburb, he said. ‘At this stage, there is no tangible evidence that links this plot to the attacks in Paris and Brussels,’ added Cazeneuve, who was in the Belgian capital earlier on Thursday.” Politico: Encryption A Problem In Terrorism Investigations: Europol “Encryption hampers terrorism investigations and the EU needs laws to deal with it, Europol Director Rob Wainwright told POLITICO. ‘Encrypted communication via the Internet and smartphones are a part of the problems investigators face in these instances,’ Wainwright said. ‘We have to find a more constructive legislative solution for this problem of encryption.’ Police powers to intercept private phone calls are well established and regulated in the EU, but that right does not exist when it comes to encrypted communication. The EU is struggling to create laws that can deal with the challenges of Internet-based communications systems, Wainwright said, and countries are filling that void. Examples are the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Bill and a slew of rules introduced in France in the wake of terror attacks in that country.” NPR: A Remote Syrian Airstrip Hints At A Growing American Military Role “Blink, and you'd miss the little airstrip surrounded by farmland and tiny, mud-built villages in northeastern Syria. There are no checkpoints outside it. Nothing to stop people driving past — just two Syrian Kurdish guards out front, smoking cigarettes. The strip itself is just visible behind berms that earth movers are bolstering. The Pentagon denies it has ‘taken over’ this airstrip. But local people and officials say aircraft regularly fly in and out of it, and a U.S. spokesman concedes that a small number of U.S. military advisers inside Syria do need resupply from time to time. ‘Oh yes, definitely helicopters,’ says Ali Berho Hadid, who manages a small farm a few hundred yards away. ‘And warplanes more than helicopters.’ After five years of profound American reluctance to become involved in Syria's civil war, the U.S. military has gradually increased on-the-ground support to local, Kurdish-dominated forces in their fight against ISIS, and appears to be incrementally building a presence in eastern Syria.” The New York Times: Syrian Forces And ISIS Clash At Edge Of Palmyra “Syrian government troops and allied militias, backed by intensive Russian airstrikes, pushed on Thursday into parts of Palmyra, the desert city they are seeking to retake from the Islamic State militant group along with its majestic ancient ruins, Syrian state news media and residents said. The battle, raging for weeks, carries deep symbolic significance, after Islamic State militants blew up some of Palmyra’s most important ancient structures, causing irrevocable damage to the Unesco World Heritage site. Palmyra also occupies a strategic crossroads between the Islamic State’s territory in the east and the more populated coastal areas. Since the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, took over in May, residents have endured harsh rule and summary killings. They have also faced heavy bombing and the shelling of civilian areas by government and allied forces.” Deutsche Welle: UN: Yemen Warring Parties Agree To April 10 Ceasefire Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces have agreed to a ‘cessation of hostilities,’ according to a UN official. Thousands of civilians have been killed since Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Houthis. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN's special envoy to Yemen, announced on Wednesday that a cease fire between warring parties in Yemen will begin on April 10, ahead of a new round of peace talks eight days later in Kuwait. ‘The talks aim to reach a comprehensive agreement, which will end the conflict and allow the resumption of inclusive political dialogue,’ Ahmed noted. ‘The war in Yemen must be brought to an end before it does irreparable damage to the future of Yemen and the region,’ Ahmed said.” Haaretz: Israeli Soldier Wounded In West Bank Stabbing “An Israeli soldier was wounded in a stabbing attack at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday morning. The soldier was moderately wounded. Magen David Adom said that paramedics arrived at the scene of the stabbing at the entrance to the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in the city, where they treated the soldier for stab wounds to the arm and shoulder before evacuating him to hospital. The solder is in stable condition, MDA added. The two assailants were shot and killed. The were identified as Al-Fatah Ashraf, 21, and Ramzi Alkasrawi, 20.” CNN: Libya Is On Verge Of Implosion “There are two, or depending how you count, four competing governments in the country now -- the internationally recognized government in the east, an Islamist leaning government in Tripoli, the U.N.-backed unification government, and ISIS, which governs a growing amount of territory. In parts of Libya that are still safe, security is maintained by competing militias connected in a tenuous set of alliances. Given this patchwork of governments and militias, Libya is tense, on the verge of implosion.” Newsweek: Will There Be a Coup Against Erdogan In Turkey? “The situation in Turkey is bad and getting worse. It’s not just the deterioration in security amidst a wave of terrorism. Public debt might be stable, but private debt is out of control, the tourism sector is in free-fall and the decline in the currency has impacted every citizen’s buying power. There is a broad sense, election results notwithstanding, that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is out of control. He is imprisoning opponents, seizing newspapers left and right and building palaces at the rate of a mad sultan or aspiring caliph. In recent weeks, he has once again threatened to dissolve the constitutional court. Turks—and the Turkish military—increasingly recognize that Erdogan is taking Turkey to the precipice. By first bestowing legitimacy upon imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan with renewed negotiations and then precipitating renewed conflict, he has taken Turkey down a path in which there is no chance of victory and a high chance of de facto partition.” United States Reuters: U.S., Germany Eye Ways To Deepen Cyber Collaboration “Senior U.S. and German officials agreed this week to deepen their collaboration on a range of cyber issues, including working to promote norms for responsible state behavior in cyberspace and expanding training in developing countries. The two governments underscored their shared strategic goals in a joint statement issued Thursday after a two-day annual bilateral meeting on cyber issues. Christopher Painter, cyber coordinator for the U.S. State Department, said the two countries already worked together closely in many areas, including law enforcement, human rights and other areas, but the fourth annual talks were focused on a broader, ‘whole-of-government’ approach.” Reuters: Russia, U.S. Agree To Speed Up Syria Peace Effort “Russia and the United States agreed at talks in Moscow on Thursday to use their influence over the sides in the Syria conflict to speed up progress toward a political solution. Speaking after a four-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Moscow and Washington would try in the next few days to nudge Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to ‘make the right decision’ about committing fully to peace talks. Negotiations in Geneva between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition are bogged down, and Washington believes that Moscow, closely allied to Assad, can convince Damascus to make concessions. The main stumbling block is whether Syria's political transition will lead to Assad leaving office. His opponents and Western governments say he must go, but Damascus says that is not even on the agenda for negotiations.” Reuters: U.S. Frustration Simmers Over Belgium's Struggle With Militant Threat “Shortly after last November’s attacks on Paris by a Brussels-based Islamic State cell, a top U.S. counter-terrorism official traveling in Europe wanted to visit Brussels to learn more about the investigation. When the official tried to arrange meetings, however, his Belgian counterparts were not welcoming, according to U.S. officials familiar with the events. The Belgians indicated it was a bad time to speak to foreign officials as they were too busy with the investigation, said the officials, who asked not to be identified. Belgian officials declined to comment on the incident. The brush-off was one small sign of mounting U.S. frustration over Brussels’ handling of its worsening Islamic militant threat. Concern that the small European nation's security and intelligence officials are overwhelmed -- and that its coordination with allies falls short -- have again come to the fore following the Islamic State-claimed attacks on Tuesday that killed at least 31 people. Several U.S. officials say that security cooperation has been hampered by patchy intelligence–sharing by Brussels and wide differences in the willingness of different agencies to work with foreign countries, even close allies.” Syria The Washington Post: In Syria And Iraq, The Islamic State Is In Retreat On Multiple Fronts “As European governments scramble to contain the expanding terrorist threat posed by the Islamic State, on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria the group is a rapidly diminishing force. In the latest setbacks for the militants on Thursday, Syrian government troops entered the outskirts of the historic town of Palmyra after a weeks-old offensive aided by Russian airstrikes, and U.S. airstrikes helped Iraqi forces overrun a string of Islamic State villages in northern Iraq that had been threatening a U.S. base nearby. These are just two of the many fronts in both countries where the militants are being squeezed, stretched and pushed back. Nowhere are they on the attack. They have not embarked on a successful offensive in nearly nine months. Their leaders are dying in U.S. strikes at the rate of one every three days, inhibiting their ability to launch attacks, according to U.S. military officials.” Iraq USA Today: Iraq Announces Start Of Operation To Retake Mosul From ISIL Iraq's U.S.-backed military launched operations south of Mosul Thursday in preparation for an eventual assault to drive Islamic State militants from the country's second largest city. Iraqi officials said the operations to isolate Mosul mark the start of a broad offensive to recapture the city, a key Islamic State stronghold in the heart of northern Iraq. Any offensive to seize the city is still months away. Recapturing the city would represent a huge victory for the Iraqi forces, which have been making slow gains against the extremist group's fighters. It took months last year to retake the much smaller city of Ramadi from the militants. Fox News: Marines Expanding Combat Role In Iraq, US Official Says “The American combat role in Iraq appeared to expand on Thursday as U.S. Marines operating from a small outpost provided targeting assistance and artillery fire to support Iraqi troops inching forward to retake Mosul from Islamic State militants. A senior U.S. official said the Marines fired illumination rounds to help the Iraqi forces locate IS fighters, and also fired artillery rounds in support of the operation, as Iraqi troops took control of several villages on the outskirts of Makhmour, southeast of Mosul. The official was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and requested anonymity.” Afghanistan Reuters: Islamic State Fighters In Afghanistan Flee To Kunar Province “Dozens of fighters loyal to Islamic State in Afghanistan have relocated into the eastern province of Kunar following an intense campaign by U.S. warplanes and Afghan forces, officials said Thursday. Local Islamic State leader Hafiz Saeed is believed to be among those who fled to Kunar from neighbouring Nangarhar province, Kunar's police chief and an army spokesman said. Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh, is a relatively new force in Afghanistan and has violently challenged the much larger Afghan Taliban movement in pockets of the country's east. In the past few months, however, stepped-up U.S. air strikes and a campaign by allied Afghan government forces have driven some from their main territory in Nangarhar, officials said.” Voice Of America: 7 Afghan Police Killed In Insider Attack “At least seven police officers were killed in a suspected insider attack in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, authorities said. The early morning incident Thursday happened at a security outpost in the district of Arghandab. Officials said the slain members of the Afghan Local police, or ALP, were asleep when three of their colleagues sprayed them with bullets and fled the scene along with the victims' weapons and ammunition. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility and said the attackers safely rejoined the insurgent ranks.” Saudi Arabia NPR: Saudi Arabia Looks To End Yemen Bombing Campaign “It's been a year since Saudi Arabia began what it said would be a quick bombing campaign in Yemen. Thousands of deaths later, the bombing goes on, but there are signs the Saudis are trying negotiate a way out. The war in Yemen is a highly complex one. While the Saudis have controlled the skies, no one is anywhere close to a real military victory on the ground, says April Longley Alley of the International Crisis Group. The Saudis and the Shiite rebels known as the Houthis are talking to each other and even exchanging prisoners. That is welcome news to the man who's trying to resolve this war, U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. He's hoping for a nationwide cease-fire by April 10.” Egypt Al-Monitor: Has There Been A Breakthrough In Hamas-Egypt Ties? Six months after the last visit to Egypt by Hamas representatives in September 2015, a high-ranking Hamas delegation paid a five-day visit to Cairo on March 12. No details were publicly disclosed about the security-related talks held at the General Intelligence Directorate, which manages the Palestinian file, but a senior Hamas official following up on the talks with the Egyptian side spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The official commented, ‘The meetings addressed a number of important security topics, such as the abduction of four Hamas figures in the Sinai Peninsula on Aug. 20, 2015, Hamas’ demand to permanently open the Rafah crossing and Egypt’s accusation of Hamas being involved in the assassination of former Egyptian Attorney General Hisham Barakat in June 2015. In addition [talks covered] the continuation of work in some tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Sinai. Although we have emphasized our noninterference in internal Egyptian affairs, we continue to control our security borders with Sinai.’” Middle East Newsweek: Israel Slams U.N.’s Call For Settlements "Blacklist” “Israel on Thursday assailed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for adopting a measure that calls for the establishment of a database of businesses ‘involved in activities’ in the occupied West Bank. Israel's U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, called the database a "blacklist" and said the UNHRC was behaving ‘obsessively’ against Israel. The Geneva-based council, a 47-member state forum established 10 years ago which Israel and its major U.S. ally accuse of bias against the Jewish state, adopted the motion with 32 votes in favor, none against and 15, mostly European nations, abstaining. Netanyahu said it was absurd to condemn Israel rather than deal with attacks by Palestinians against Israel and by Islamic State in Europe. ‘Israel calls on responsible governments not to honor the decisions of the Council that discriminate against Israel,’ Netanyahu said.” The New York Times: Israel Soldier Detained In Shooting Of Palestinian “The Israeli military said on Thursday that it had detained a soldier who shot a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay motionless on the ground, an incident that drew outrage on social media networks and was condemned even by a military spokesman as ‘a grave breach’ of the army’s values and standards. The episode began, the military said, on Thursday morning when two Palestinian men stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near a Jewish settlement enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron, in what has become a near-daily occurrence in the last six months. The first announcement from the military was routine: ‘Forces responded to the attack and shot the assailants, resulting in their deaths.’ Later, graphic video footage emerged showing a soldier cocking his rifle and shooting one of the Palestinians for a second time as he lay on the road, after more than a minute in which other soldiers and an Israeli ambulance crew milled about in what appears as a calm, secure scene.” Libya Reuters: Morocco Says Arrests Nine Suspected Islamist Militants With Libya Ties “Morocco said on Thursday it had dismantled a suspected militant cell linked to Islamic State's affiliate in Libya and that some of the nine men arrested were planning attacks in the North African kingdom. It was the latest in a series of radical Islamist groups Morocco says it has broken up. An interior ministry statement said the cell was operating in the city of Marrakesh, the coastal town of Sidi Bennour and in Smara, which is in the neighbouring territory of Western Sahara. It said the nine group members were inspired by another militant from Sidi Bennour who was killed in the Libyan capital Tripoli when militants attacked a prison in September 2015 in a attempt to free inmates there.” Nigeria NAIJ: Troops Clear Remnants Of Boko Haram Terrorists In Kala Balge “Nigerian troops clear Boko Haram terrorists hiding in Kala Balge general area, Borno state . Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, the acting director, Army Public Relations, says the move is in furtherance of efforts to make the Northeast safe and secure. Nigerian troops of newly inducted 3 Battalion, 22 Brigade, in conjunction with Army Headquarters Strike Group (AHQ SG) and the Armed Forces Special Forces (AFSF), on Tuesday, March 22 carried out a spectacular clearance operation in the Northeast.” United Kingdom BBC: Reality Check: Is Britain Safer In Or Out Of The EU? “ Following the terror attacks in Brussels, campaigners on both sides of the EU referendum debate have been making claims about whether the UK is safer in or out of the European Union. In particular, they've stressed the importance of border controls, intelligence sharing, and the role of European courts in Britain's security. The BBC's Reality Check team has taken a closer look at the facts behind the claims.” Germany The Wall Street Journal: German Authorities Detain Alleged ISIS Member “German authorities have detained a Syrian national prosecutors allege is a member of the banned Islamic State terror group—the latest sign fighters from the radical militia may be relocating to Europe as they come under pressure in Syria and Iraq. Prosecutors said Thursday authorities have no indication that the suspect has been involved in any concrete preparation or plan for attacks and said there is no connection between the arrest and recent terror attacks in Brussels and Paris. The 19-year-old man, identified as Shaas E. M., was arrested on Tuesday in Potsdam, near Berlin, on alleged criminal conspiracy. Federal prosecutors have taken over the terror-related case. Efforts to contact Shaas E.M. or his representatives weren't successful. The man is suspected of having joined Islamic State in Syria in 2013 and was allegedly involved in the group’s activities until at least August 2015, according to the prosecutors.” Europe NBC News: Belgium, Europe Struggle To Balance Rights, Need To Fight Terror “ The failure of European countries to agree on a comprehensive counter-terror strategy that balances civil rights with an urgent, growing need for intelligence gathering is a huge weakness in the continent's fight against ISIS, say U.S. experts. And they say there is no more glaring example than Belgium. ‘It's a patchwork of laws on gathering and sharing information on individuals,’ said a U.S. counter-terrorism official, who wished to remain anonymous. While the official noted that there's no proof that better cooperation would have thwarted Tuesday's attack in Brussels, which killed at least 31 people, it has made cooperation if not difficult then frustrating. Belgium has among the most stringent laws on privacy rights, said the official. These limits on law enforcement, he added, had made Belgium ‘essentially a safe haven’ for ISIS the past few years.” NBC News: Dozens Of Terror Plots Thwarted Across Europe, Say Officials “In the U.K., at least seven terror plots were stopped. In Germany, at least one was thwarted. Belgian authorities foiled numerous plots, and French authorities tell NBC that they have foiled dozens more, including one Thursday. But these efforts by European officials since the rise of ISIS two years ago have far from curbed the terror group's threat on the continent. One senior European counter-terrorism official confirmed to NBC News Thursday that authorities are bracing for more attacks by ISIS sleeper cells hidden throughout Europe — including possibly Germany, France, Italy and Spain. A senior official also told NBC News that some of the thwarted plots were deemed significant and imminent — an assertion confirmed by a second intelligence official.” Technology Reuters: Tech Could Help Secure Public Spaces, If Europe Wants More Surveillance “Facial recognition software, scanners that detect weapons and cameras that spot nervous people are some of the technologies that could be used more widely to secure public places, but some would require greater acceptance of surveillance in Europe. The deadly attacks in Brussels on Tuesday highlighted the vulnerability of Europe's airports and transport systems. European Union officials, grappling with the conundrum of how to increase security while retaining the openness of society, have convened meetings to discuss aviation and land transport security. Their goal is to be able to monitor passengers unobtrusively while minimizing additional hold ups that create crowds, which can themselves become new targets. Experts say technology cannot solve the problem on its own, but techniques such as facial recognition able to pick out known suspects can help if Europeans decide they want more surveillance.” The Jerusalem Post: Hacking Against Terrorism “Rather than seeking court orders, the government should transcend its culture to attract and retain the talent capable of leading the cybersecurity arms race. The issues are profound. In addition to the national security concerns on both sides, the court order amounts to a seizure: It commandeers Apple’s time, money, and engineering talent to achieve an important government objective. The dangers inherent in ruling against either side mandate a way back from the precipice. Is there a way to fight terrorism and preserve cybersecurity without seizing private property? The answer goes to the heart of a culture clash. Cybersecurity is an arms race. The minute a new security protocol arises, the race to circumvent it begins. Each circumvention motivates the race for an improved protocol.”