Eye on Extremism - March 8, 2016

Eye on Extremism March 8, 2016 Wall Street Journal: U.S. Attack Hits Militant Training Camp In Somalia “U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes on what Pentagon officials said was an al-Shabaab training camp in central Somalia, killing more than 150 suspected fighters as the Islamist militant group grows increasingly aggressive across the East African nation. The strikes were among the largest in a string of U.S. attacks that have claimed some of the militant group’s top leaders in recent years, defense officials said.” Reuters: Air Strike Hits Syrian Market, Opposition Says Truce Must Be Respected “A Syrian or Russian air strike was reported to have killed at least 19 people and possibly many more at a market in northwestern Syria on Monday, straining a cessation of hostilities agreement meant to pave the way for peace talks. In a further upsurge in violence, al Qaeda's Nusra Front and other Islamist insurgents not included in the U.S.-Russian agreement attacked government forces in a neighboring province, taking over a village and at least two hilltops in their first advance for some time in the area, a monitoring group said.” New York Times: Tunisian Clash Spreads Fear That Libyan War Is Spilling Over “Fear engulfed Tunisia on Monday that Islamic State mayhem was spilling over from neighboring Libya, as dozens of militants stormed a Tunisian town near the border, assaulting police and military posts in what the president called an unprecedented attack. At least 54 people were killed in the fighting in the town, Ben Gardane, which erupted at dawn and lasted for hours until the security forces chased out what remained of the assailants. An enormous stash of weapons was later found.” New York Times: Pentagon Considers Military Options Against ISIS In Libya “The Pentagon has presented the White House with the most detailed set of military options yet for attacking the growing Islamic State threat in Libya, including a range of potential airstrikes against training camps, command centers, munitions depots and other militant targets. Airstrikes against as many as 30 to 40 targets in four areas of the country would aim to deal a crippling blow to the Islamic State’s most dangerous affiliate outside of Iraq and Syria, and open the way for Western-backed Libyan militias to battle Islamic State fighters on the ground.” Newsweek: More Than 31,000 Pregnant Women Under Islamic State Rule In Iraq And Syria “More than 31,000 women living in the Islamic State militant group’s (ISIS) self-styled ‘caliphate’ are currently pregnant, according to a new report on children living under ISIS rule in Iraq and Syria. U.K-based counter-extremism thinktank the Quilliam Foundation revealed the figure in a report, entitled Children of Islamic State, released on Monday. The estimate of pregnant women under ISIS rule was given by an intelligence official to the President of Quilliam, Noman Benotman.” ABC News: Syrian Opposition Undecided Over Peace Talks “The main Syrian opposition coalition will decide later this week on whether to take part in peace talks scheduled to resume Wednesday in Geneva, the head of the group said Monday, while violence across the north of the Syria claimed the lives of over a dozen people, despite a partial cease-fire. Riad Hijab, head of the Higher Negotiations Committee, acknowledged in a teleconference with journalists that Russian bombardment has decreased following the ‘cessation of hostilities,’ which came into effect Feb. 27.” CNN: EU And Turkey Agree On Refugee Crisis Proposal “Turkey and the European Union have reached agreement on key points of a proposal to handle the overflow of refugees, according to a tweet for the spokesman of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. ‘Deal. Breakthrough with Turkey,’ read the tweet from Martin Selmayr. The proposal still needs formal approval. The next step is for the proposal to be taken to EU leaders at the European Council migration crisis meeting scheduled for March 17-18.” International Business Times: Saudi Arabia Withdraws French Military Aid For Lebanon As Feud With Hezbollah Continues “As Saudi Arabia toughens its stance against Hezbollah, which it officially declared a terrorist group last week, Riyadh has reneged on $3 billion of French-supplied military aid promised for Lebanon. The aid program was halted last month in protest of Hezbollah's support of the authoritarian President Bashar Assad regime in Syria's five-year-long civil war and its interference inside Lebanon.  ‘We didn’t stop the contract. It’s just going to Saudi Arabia, not to Hezbollah,’ Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference in Paris, according to a Defense News report Sunday.” CNN: ISIS Faces Crude Reality As Oil Output Slumps “ISIS, once dubbed the richest terrorist group in history, has been struggling with declining oil production and has been forced to ration the use of gasoline and other fuels, experts say. The group also makes money selling oil, but its production, distribution and refining capabilities have been badly damaged by U.S.-led military airstrikes. The best estimates say ISIS was producing nearly 50,000 barrels per day in 2014. And it was raking in up to $1.6 million daily, according to the United Nations.” United States AFP: Biden Rules Out Military Solution In Syria “US Vice President Joe Biden ruled out a military solution to end Syria's conflict in remarks published Monday, calling for a political transition despite the difficulty. ‘That should be clear to everyone,’ Biden told Abu Dhabi newspaper The National at the start of a visit to the United Arab Emirates ahead of travelling to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. ‘So as hard as it is, we have to keep trying to reach a political settlement,’ he said. Saudi Arabia, which backs the Syrian opposition, and ally the UAE have said they are willing to send ground troops to Syria under US command to battle the jihadist Islamic State group.” Breitbart: U.S. Envoy: Operation To Take Mosul, Iraq From Islamic State ‘Already Underway’ “Warning that such a military operation will be by nature “very complicated,” U.S. Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State Brett McGurk assured reporters on Saturday that the plan to retake Mosul from ISIS is ‘already underway.’ ‘The operation to liberate Mosul, isolating Mosul, is already underway,’ McGurk said in a press conference on Saturday, during a two-day visit to Iraq in which he met with ‘senior Iraqi government and security officials’ to discuss the next steps in isolating and destroying the terrorist organization.” Associated Press: US Strikes Hit Somalia Training Camp; Drone Report Previewed “U.S. airstrikes bombarded an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia Saturday, killing more than 150 militant fighters who were preparing to launch a large-scale attack, likely against African or U.S. personnel, the Pentagon said Monday. Multiple drones and manned aircraft launched missiles and bombs on the site, called Raso Camp, which the U.S. had been watching for several weeks, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.” Newsweek: Now Is The Time For U.S. Boots On The Ground In Syria “One week into the designated start of a cessation of hostilities in Syria, the results on the ground are mixed. Of supreme importance, however, is that the tempo of Assad regime mass homicide (supported and supplemented by Russia) has slowed, particularly in densely populated urban areas. The number of desperately needy Syrians getting humanitarian aid is slowly increasing, as a Syrian bureaucracy bound to the Assad family moves with glacial speed to permit U.N. deliveries.” AFP: US Denies Building Air Bases In Northern Syria “The Pentagon on Monday denied reports it is building two airfields in northern Syria as part of the battle against the ISIS group. Syrian military and security officials have said the United States is expanding an airfield in Rmeilan, in Hasakeh province, and new reports have surfaced of a base near the Kurdish city of Kobani. ‘We are not building or operating any air bases in Syria,’ Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. Still, the United States has acknowledged it has sent about 50 special operations forces on the ground in northern Syria, helping train and equip local anti-ISIS fighters.” Syria The Guardian: Syria Rebels Clash With Kurds In Aleppo As Peace Talks Approach “Rebels fighting to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad have clashed with Kurdish paramilitaries in Aleppo, in some of Syria’s most intense fighting since a truce brokered by international powers came into effect late last month. Despite the weekend fighting, talks aimed at reaching a political deal to end the five-year conflict appear set to resume, with a top official for the umbrella opposition group saying it would likely send a delegation to Geneva.” Iraq USA Today: Iraq Girds For Biggest ISIL Battle Yet “Iraq’s U.S.-backed military is building a ground force and conducting operations in preparation for the largest confrontation yet with the Islamic State — the battle to retake Mosul. The fight is still months away, but Iraqi ground forces and coalition airstrikes have already begun to isolate militants inside the city, cutting supply lines and trying to weaken militants in advance of a ground assault to take back Iraq's second-largest city. Iraq’s military has also deployed some of its forces to Makhmur, a base about 60 miles south of Mosul, to ‘posture for future operations,’ said Col. Chris Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.” Salon: ISIS Has Massacred Almost 200 Iraqis In The Past Week, While Western Countries Turn Away Refugees “Almost 200 Iraqis have been massacred by ISIS in the past week, the majority of whom were civilians from the Shia Muslim religious community. A suicide bombing in Hillah, south of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, on Sunday killed at least 61 people and injured another 95, the AP reports. Of those killed, 52, or 85 percent, were civilians. The remaining nine victims were Iraqi security forces. Another eight people are missing.” Turkey Associated Press: Turkey Detains IS Suspects; Seizes Explosives, Suicide Vest “Turkey's state-run news agency says security forces have arrested two suspected Islamic State militants and seized plastic explosives and a suicide vest. Anadolu Agency says Monday that the two were apprehended at a border crossing, when authorities noticed that they were trying to place a bag inside the back of a truck that had entered Turkey from Syria. The bag contained 10 slabs of plastic explosives, a suicide vest and a detonator, the agency said. There was no further information on the suspects.” Afghanistan Associated Press: Afghan Leader: Forces Triumph Against ISIS “Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that the Islamic State group has been defeated in the eastern parts of the country, where it had taken over some remote districts. Speaking at the opening of parliament, Ghani said Afghan forces had dislodged Islamic State loyalists from regions of Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan. ‘Afghanistan will be their graveyard,’ he said in an address broadcast live on national television.” Washington Times: Afghanistan Braces For Bloody Summer As Taliban Reject Peace Talks With Government “U.S. and Afghan officials appealed to the Taliban on Monday not to abandon peace talks with the Afghan government, amid fears that the group’s rejection of the talks will trigger a new wave of bloodletting as the summer fighting season nears. Taliban officials over the weekend dealt a major blow to a multilateral effort involving the U.S., China, Pakistan and the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani to lure the Taliban to the negotiating table.” GCC Al-Monitor: Hezbollah Responds To GCC Decision “Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah defiantly challenged the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) official declaration of his group as a terrorist organization, saying Saudi Arabia is the real loser because it lacks the backing of many Arab countries. On March 6, in his first response to the GCC's pronouncement March 2, Hezbollah Secretary-General Nasrallah doubled down on his criticism of Saudi Arabia, indicating he is undeterred. His reaction, however, may not necessarily trigger tension in Lebanon.” Middle East ABC News: Raised On Terror: ISIS's Focus On 'Indoctrinating' Children “Last month ISIS released the latest of its many propaganda videos featuring child fighters, this time showing a purported 15-year-old suicide car bomber -- a horrifying, but typical example of the youngsters who Western researchers say are increasingly used by the Syria-based terrorist group. ‘It is the road to victory and Paradise, Allah willing. Let me just do the operation, because if I stay longer I might sin and the sins will increase,’ the teenage bomber said in the 22-minute ISIS video, in which he spoke atop a hill overlooking Dabiq, Syria.” Libya AFP: Tunisia Says Libya Border Attack Aimed To Set Up IS 'Emirate' “Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said jihadists who carried out a deadly attack today on a town near the Libyan border had planned to establish an "emirate" of the Islamic State group.  ‘The purpose of the attack was to disrupt the security situation in our country and establish a Daesh emirate in Ben Guerdane,’ he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. ‘But thanks to all the efforts, to the cooperation between our national army and our internal security forces, the reaction was strong and fast,’ said Essid.” Nigeria International Business Times: Boko Haram News: Dozens Killed In Nigeria Amid Military Raids On Insurgent Camps “Dozens were reportedly killed as the Nigerian military ‘cleared’ a series of Boko Haram militant camps over the weekend, according to a report in AllAfrica.com Monday. The operations come as Boko Haram — listed among the world's most deadly terrorist organizations — has seemingly lost its grip on much of the northeast region amid an intensified government crackdown.” United Kingdom CNN: UK Police Preparing For 'Enormous' Potential ISIS Attacks, British Terror Chief Says “British police are preparing for ‘enormous and spectacular’ potential attacks on the UK as ISIS moves into its "next natural phase," Britain's senior counterterrorism officer said Monday. Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, said that in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, ISIS had moved on from a ‘narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the state, to something much broader.’ ‘You see a terrorist group that has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date,’ he said, citing as another example the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268.” Technology Reuters: Twitter Lauded For Crackdown On ISIS Accounts “Officials with the non-profit Simon Wiesenthal Center praised Twitter on Monday for increasing efforts to thwart Islamic State's use of its platform for recruitment and propaganda. The center's Digital Terrorism and Hate Project gave Twitter a grade of ‘B’ in a report card of social networking companies' efforts to fight online activity by militant groups such as ISIS. ‘We think they are definitely heading in the right direction,’ the project's director, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of Monday's release of the report card at a press conference in New York.” Arabic Language Clips Terrorism Financing Almjrh News: Russia Attempts To Lure Syrians To Join The Newly Formed Militia Field sources in Qalamoun, situated in the rural areas north of Damascus, disclosed that the Russian military leadership in Syria has offered militant factions and civilians living in the region's towns and villages to join armed groups belonging to the Russian forces. The enticing offers were presented by businessmen loyal to the Syrian regime. The offer includes a package of financial incentives such as salaries and other benefits. Syrian media activist, Ahmed Yabroudi, claims that the Russian plan is aimed at "gathering mercenaries to fight within the ranks of the Tehran regime's troops on Syrian soil, for monthly wages estimated at roughly 60,000 Syrian pounds (approximately $150), which could go up to $1,500, depending on the recruit's combat capability and military experience." Al Wafd: The President Of The Association Of Iraqi Banks: Iraqi Banks Are Not The Gateway To Terror Financing And Money Laundering Wadee Noori Al Handal, President of the Iraqi Private Banks Association, underscored the growth of the Iraqi banks in spite of the complex and challenging circumstances experienced by them. He added that authorities have been making efforts to sign new agreements in order to raise the level of bankers in Iraq and support the Iraqi banking sector in all its diverse areas of activity. Al Handal, who is Chairman of Ashur International Bank for Investment, stated, "We've grown accustomed to the troubling situation prevailing in Iraq; nevertheless, the confidence in Iraqi banks is on the rise." He added that the Central Bank of Iraq has adopted measures to strengthen the Iraqi banks. It has also taken serious steps to carry out an overall assessment of the Iraqi banks in conjunction with a private company. These measures will eventually lead to greater confidence in the Iraqi banks worldwide. ISIS Akhbar-Libya: ISIS Imposes Royalties In Sirte And Storms Houses In Bin Jawad Residents of the city of Sirte who fled to Ras Lanuf claim that ISIS is now forcing them to pay a new fee of 160 Libyan dinars ($115) to Diwan al-Hisbah (Islamic Police) for electricity, water and sanitation services. In another development, ISIS gunmen today raided three houses in Harawah village in the Sirte district, and captured a young man to investigate him for not "repenting for his sins." Meanwhile, last night ISIS gunmen stormed four homes in Wadi-al-Ahmar and Umm Al Qandil, arresting two young men who were caught smoking. Muslim Brotherhood Alrai: Brotherhood On State Of Alert In Order To Guarantee Its Control Of The (Jordanian) Teachers (Union) A reliable source within the leadership of the [unlicensed] Muslim Brotherhood Group, disclosed that it inaugurated a headquarters for the Jordanian Teachers Union's upcoming elections, scheduled to take place on the 30th of this month. The source claimed that the Group allocated large sums of money to finance advertising campaigns and manage the electoral process, in order to replicate its victory from the last elections. According to the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who preferred to remain anonymous, the Group is facing an unprecedented state of alert due to polls indicating it has lost a large part of its popularity among members of the General Assembly of the Teachers Union, which has been dominated by the Brotherhood ever since the previous elections. Almesryoon: Former Leader Of Jihad (Movement): Brotherhood Is A Masonic Organization Nabil Naim, former leader of the Islamic Jihadist movement in Egypt, accused the Muslim Brotherhood of being a Masonic organization whose members are receiving money from the CIA. Naim said that "the Masonic Brotherhood organization is working under the banner of the US intelligence apparatus, similar to a large number of armed groups in the world." He added, "Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood are serving as advisers to US President, Barack Obama, and are being remunerated by the CIA." Naim went on to say, "Remember the role of the Brotherhood in Syria and Iraq." He stressed that the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are tools of modern colonialism, because they do not believe in the concepts of homeland or borders. Hamas Al Wafd: Palestinian Analyst: Hamas Imposes A $1,200 Fee To Cross The Rafah Border Palestinian political analyst, Taha Alkhatib, maintains that Hamas wants the Rafah Crossing terminal between Gaza and Egypt to remain closed. He emphasized that Hamas is exploiting the current situation by smuggling people through its underground tunnels and by charging hefty fees to cross into Egypt. He was quoted as saying, "Hamas has imposed a fee of $1,200 per capita on students and citizens wishing to pass through the Rafah border crossing (into Egypt)."