Eye on Extremism - March 4, 2016

Eye on Extremism March 4, 2016 Wall Street Journal: Syrian Opposition Says Truce On Verge Of Collapse “The Syrian opposition’s top negotiator said Thursday that the country’s fragile truce was on the verge of collapse, the group’s most pessimistic assessment yet of the six-day-old cease-fire effort. Riad Hijab, head of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, also said there was evidence the Syrian government and allied forces, including non-Syrian Shiite militias, were building up military reinforcements for new, large-scale operations in coming days.” CBS News: Truce Aside, Fighting Rages On Front Line With ISIS “Next week will mark five years since the uprising that led to Syria's civil war, which has left at least a quarter of a million people dead and forced 11 million from their homes. The village of Masorat Al-Rashid was liberated from ISIS three days ago. CBS News saw the body of an ISIS fighter lying in the rubble of a house that was hit by an airstrike. Joza Khalaf and her cousin Khatar said the extremists held guns to their heads, forcing their way into their homes to hide. They said the ISIS fighters also dressed up as women to try to avoid capture.” Reuters: Drone Kills Four Suspected Al Qaeda Militants In Yemen “A drone strike killed four suspected al Qaeda militants in a car in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa on Friday, local officials and residents said. The car burst into flames and plumes of black smoke were billowing above the main road where the drone struck, they said. Al Qaeda propaganda brochures were scattered over the ground by the road, local officials said. During nine months of civil war and military intervention by a Saudi-led Gulf Arab coalition last March, the United States has kept up drone strikes against jihadist groups in Yemen.” Daily Mail: Inside ISIS's Secret Underground Tunnels: Jihadi Group Created Network Of Escape Routes To Evade Coalition Airstrikes In Iraq “A deep network of underground tunnels have been uncovered in Iraq, revealing how ISIS have been carefully maintaining escape routes for its fighters as they try to avoid coalition airstrikes. The tunnels were discovered by Kurdish forces when the Peshmerga managed to re-take the Yazidi majority town of Sinjar last December. Burrowing deep into the ground, some of the chambers are thought to be 30 feet deep, allowing ISIS fighters to hide out and move freely out of the way of airstrikes.” PBS: ISIS Is Recruiting More Children To Carry Out Massacres “A new report published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point chronicles the increasing use of children as fighters for the so-called Islamic State. The report’s authors, based at Georgia State University in Atlanta, documented the Islamic State’s own propaganda, which praises deceased young fighters as martyrs. It shows how the group uses children and youth in suicide operations. They found three times as many suicide attacks involving young people in January of this year than last year.” The New Yorker: Is the Islamic State Hurting? The President’s Point Man on ISIS Speaks Out “For the first time since its blitz across Syria and Iraq, in 2014, the Islamic State is on the defensive in both countries. Its caliphate, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is shrinking. Its numbers are down. It hasn’t launched a new offensive since May, 2015. The new U.S. Expeditionary Targeting Force in Iraq—led by some fifty Delta Force commandos—has scored the first capture of a key ISIS operative, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The Iraqi military, meanwhile, is tightening the noose around Mosul, an ISIS stronghold and the country’s second-largest city. In Syria, a fragile new ceasefire, which took hold last weekend between the government and the rebel opposition, has turned attention on the Islamic State.” New York Post: ‘Victory Or Martyr’: ISIS Wannabe’s Letter To Wife “The ex-Air Force mechanic on trial for allegedly trying to join ISIS proudly proclaimed his intention to wage jihad in a letter to his wife that investigators found on his laptop, prosecutors said Thursday. ‘I am a Mujahid,’ Tairod Pugh declared in the letter addressed to ‘My Misha.’ ‘I am a sword against the oppressor and a shield for the oppressed. I will use the talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic State.’” Associated Press: 2 Italians Freed From Islamic State In Western Libya “The head of Sabratha council says two Italian hostages have been freed from Islamic State group custody in a western Libyan city. Hussein al-Zawadi told The Associated Press that Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno were freed Friday from in a house in a northwestern district of Sabratha. The area has seen fierce fighting between IS fighters and Sabratha's local forces. He says the Italians had managed to break down the front door themselves, and local fighters came to their aid after being tipped-off by neighbors.” CNN: Spain Seizes 20,000 ISIS, Al-Nusra Uniforms “Authorities in Spain have seized 20,000 uniforms and supplies ‘able to equip an army’ of jihadi fighters, Spain's Interior Ministry announced on Thursday. The uniforms were confiscated in a police operation that led to the neutralization of a ‘very active and effective business network,’ whose primary purpose was to provide a steady flow of military supplies to the terrorist organizations ISIS and al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, said the ministry.” New York Times: Boko Haram Falls Victim To A Food Crisis It Created “At first, the attack had all the hallmarks of a typical Boko Haram assault. Armed fighters stormed a town on the border with Nigeria, shooting every man they saw. But this time, instead of burning homes and abducting hostages, the fighters gathered cows, goats and any kind of food they could round up, then fled with it all. Boko Haram, the Islamist group terrorizing this part of the world, is on the hunt — for food. After rampaging across the region for years, forcing more than two million people to flee their homes and farms, Boko Haram appears to be falling victim to a major food crisis of its own creation.” Syria           Huffington Post: Syria's Violence Has Plummeted During The Ceasefire. But Some Syrians Fear Worst Is Yet To Come. “Violence in Syria has drastically dropped in the six days since a U.S. and Russian-brokered ‘cessation of hostilities’ began on Feb. 27. Some Syrians, however, fear the worst is yet to come. These Syrians deeply distrust the world powers negotiating Syria’s fate from afar. The ceasefire, they say, is nothing but a shameful joke that will only benefit President Bashar Assad, the strongman they rose up against in 2011 who still clings to power.” Associated Press: Syrian Truce Holds On, But The Electricity Goes Off “A U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire in Syria, now in its sixth day, is largely holding despite sporadic clashes in some areas, a U.N. envoy said Thursday, raising expectations ahead of next week's planned resumption of Geneva peace talks. Staffan de Mistura spoke as he convened a group monitoring the truce amid hopes of a breakthrough that could pave the way for regular humanitarian aid deliveries to remote and besieged areas that have been cut off by the fighting. It was the third meeting of the task force of the International Syria Support Group, made up of world and regional powers under U.S. and Russian leadership, which is monitoring the ‘cessation of hostilities’ that began on Saturday.” Wall Street Journal: As Syria Cease-Fire Strains, Fearful Aleppo Prepares For War’s Return “As a cease-fire began in Syria and quickly threatened to unravel, Mosaab Khalaf, an agricultural engineer, went out to a public park in Aleppo and began tilling the soil to plant lettuce, potatoes and parsley. He and others on the rebel-held side of the divided city, lacking confidence in international peace efforts after five years of war, are preparing for the worst in case the Assad regime succeeds in laying another siege. Mr. Khalaf said virtually all parkland there that wasn’t already being used to bury the dead had been given over to growing food.” Iraq New York Post: Refugees Trapped As Iraq Fights To Reclaim Territory From ISIS “Here are the faces of collateral damage. These displaced Iraqi families flew a white flag on Thursday in hopes of dodging gunfire and bombs during fierce fighting in war-torn north and central Iraq. The refugees were taking shelter just west of the city of Samarra as Iraqi security forces sought to retake the town from savage Islamic State fighters. US-led coalition bombers have been supporting the Iraqi soldiers, police and paramilitary forces since this campaign began on Tuesday.” Bloomberg: Kurds Tighten Grip On North Iraq Oil Fields With Kirkuk Deal “Iraq’s self-governing Kurds are cementing control over oil produced in the north of the country by agreeing to sell crude pumped in the contested province of Kirkuk, a year after they started selling all their own oil independently on global markets. The accord covers oil produced in Kirkuk, which Kurdish forces occupied after federal troops fled the area ahead of advancing Islamic State militants in mid-2014, Kirkuk Governor Najmuddin Omar Karim said in an e-mailed statement. The Kurds, who are exporting Kirkuk crude with their own oil through a pipeline to Turkey, agreed to deposit $10 million a month into a dedicated bank account for Kirkuk, Karim said Wednesday.” Turkey Reuters: Turkey Car Bomb Attack Kills Two Police, Wounds 35: Security Sources “A car bomb and rocket attack by Kurdish militants in Turkey killed two police officers and wounded 35 people in the southeastern province of Mardin on Friday, security sources said. The bomb blast, blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, caused significant damage to a traffic police station and neighboring housing in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border, the sources told Reuters. A clash broke out between police and militants after the explosion, which occurred around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). Security force reinforcements, along with ambulances and fire engines, were sent to the area, the sources said.” Wall Street Journal: In Turkey, A Kurdish City Confronts Its Ruins “Thousands of residents from a small Turkish city caught in the country’s fight against Kurdish separatists returned to their homes this week to find their community in ruins. Neighborhoods at the heart of a monthslong battle have been reduced to rubble reminiscent of the besieged cities of neighboring Syria. Security officials are slowly clearing the city of makeshift bombs they say were left by Kurdish militants. Police snipers keep watch from rooftops at the city’s entrance for any new signs of trouble.” Washington Post: The Growing Risk Of Civil War In Turkey “A top Kurdish leader warned in an interview that Turkey faces a ‘serious risk’ of civil war as it battles Kurdish militants near its southern border. Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, spoke of the growing danger in a telephone interview Thursday from Diyarbakir, the area in southeastern Turkey that has seen sharp clashes between Turkish security forces and militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey regards as a terrorist group.” Egypt Fox News: Egypt Trying And Failing To Recruit Sinai Tribal Fighters To Battle ISIS “An Egyptian military initiative to arm and recruit local fighters to fight Islamic State militants on the volatile Sinai Peninsula is amounting to be a resounding flop, security sources and residents in the region told Reuters Wednesday. Egypt launched the program last year to much fanfare, as tribal leaders pledged to provide 300 men who know the ins and outs of the terrain. But so far the program has yielded no more than 35 new recruits, sources told Reuters.” Middle East Fox News: ISIS Makes Millions Playing Foreign Markets With Stolen Cash, Analysts Say “The Islamic State terror group is raking in up to $20 million a month by playing foreign currency markets under the noses of unsuspecting officials – all with cash that was looted from banks, financial analysts told British lawmakers Wednesday. The crafty terrorists are making huge returns on currency speculation, which involves buying and selling currencies to make profits from favorable exchange rates, The Telegraph reports.” Haaretz: Israeli Soldier Lightly Wounded In West Bank Car-Ramming Attack “An IDF soldier was lightly wounded in a car-ramming attack in the West Bank on Friday morning. The soldier was hit by a car at the Gush Etzion junction in the West Bank. Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene treated the soldier, and are evacuating him to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, an MDA official said. The female Palestinian driver was shot and killed at the scene, according to the IDF. A knife was found in the car.” Times Of Israel: IS ‘On The Rise’ Among Arab Israelis, With 34 Indicted To Date “A total of 34 Israeli Arabs have been indicted for offenses related to activities on behalf of Islamic State, a TV report said Thursday, adding that the terror group was steadily growing in popularity in Israel. The Channel 10 report said Islamic State has been working relentlessly to encourage a major terrorist attack in Israel. It said IS has some 100 activists in Israel at present. The report referenced the January 1, 2016 killings of three Israelis in Tel Aviv by Israeli Arab Nashat Milhem, and a stabbing attack the same month by a Sudanese migrant in Israel, as having been inspired by Islamic State.” Libya USA Today: Soldiers Fight To Stop ISIL's Expansion In Libya “A car dodges the sand and concrete blocks that slow vehicles approaching the Abu Grayin checkpoint, the front line in a war with Islamic State militants. Soldier Mohamed Shalgam grows fearful as he wonders if the driver is a suicide bomber. ‘It is much more difficult than in 2011,’ said Shalgam, 26, who fought with rebels who overthrew long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi. ‘At that time ...we fought (openly). Now, these cars, how can I know if there are families inside or terrorists?’” Washington Post: What’s The Best Path To Peace In Libya? “U.N. negotiators have been working to bring the warring factions in the Libyan civil war to the negotiating table. They hope to end the fighting, form a national unity government and provide a clear alternative to the Islamic State. One proposal would establish a temporary government – the Libyan Government of National Accord – in which competing factions would share power. But not all power-sharing agreements are created equal. In particular, not all types of power-sharing agreements are equally effective at keeping the peace after a civil war.”