Eye on Extremism - April 18, 2016

Eye on Extremism April 18, 2016 ARA News: ISIS Renews Chemical Attacks On Peshmerga Forces Northern Iraq “Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Sunday launched an offensive on positions for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, using rockets filled with chlorine gas, according to local sources. At least one fighter from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces was killed and four more wounded in the attack.  Local activists confirmed that ISIS attacked the Peshmerga forces in the fighting front of Kweir in Makhmur district with chemical weapons, killing the Kurdish fighter Jaffar Omar Karim and wounding four others, who suffered suffocation.” Associated Press: ISIS Captures Several Villages From Syrian Troops In Aleppo “The Islamic State group has captured more than a dozen villages and hills during a fresh offensive in northern Syria, opposition activists said Saturday. The IS territorial gains bring the extremist group close to the main highway that links the capital, Damascus, with the country's largest city of Aleppo. IS also clashed with rival insurgent groups near the border with Turkey where they have been on the offensive for days, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee toward safer areas near Turkey. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting between IS and government forces is concentrated in areas east of the town of Khanaser, which has changed hands several times in recent months.” Reuters: Syrian Opposition Say Rebels Should Retaliate Against Army; Hint At Talks Exit “Senior Syrian opposition negotiators on Sunday urged rebels to strike back against the Syrian army, accusing it of using a cessation of hostilities to gain ground, and cast doubt over whether they would continue Geneva peace talks indefinitely. A senior opposition figure who asked not to be quoted by name said pressure was growing for a speedy decision to leave talks. In a internet message to fighters on the ground, chief negotiator Asaad al-Zoubi said there was a limit to how long he would negotiate if government advances continued and there was no progress on a key opposition demand for political transition without President Bashar al Assad. He gave no deadline. The mainstream opposition includes both political and armed opposition to Assad. It includes rebel groups such as Jaysh al-Islam and a number of Free Syrian Army rebel factions deemed moderate by the West, some of which have received military support from Assad's foreign enemies.” International Business Times: Fear Of ISIS Attacks In Libya Shuts Down Major Oil Fields “Mohammed Zeidani is out of a job — and the Islamic State group is to blame. The 26-year-old native of Benghazi, Libya, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, worked as a petroleum engineer with Schlumberger, the world’s leading oil and gas company, for four years before he became an independent contractor last year. But the Islamic State group, the terrorist group best known as ISIS, has ensured that Zeidani no longer has work in Libya’s eastern desert oil fields. Five of the country’s functioning oil fields were shut down in the past few days and their employees were evacuated. The Zeltan oil field, owned by the state-run National Oil Corp. and the largest in the eastern Sidra Basin, was the last to be evacuated.” Voice Of America: Thousands March Against Extremism And Terrorism In Brussels “About 7,000 demonstrators marched against extremism Sunday thorough central Brussels, a city still in shock over last month's terrorist attacks that killed 32. One of the organizers called the march ‘a moment of reflection, a message of compassion for the victims and a moment when citizens come together.’ The demonstrators included followers of many faiths, including a group of Muslims who carried a sign reading: ‘Love is my religion and my faith.’ The march came though Brussels' Molenbeek neighborhood, home to many Muslims and where investigators suspect extremist plots are hatched. Suicide bombers last month killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and in a subway station.” Reuters: U.S. Defense Chief Offers Iraq More Help, Possibly Troops: Officials “U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter flew into Iraq on Monday to discuss offering more help in the fight against Islamic State, possibly including sending in more U.S. troops, officials said. Carter would meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi and discuss ways to build on recent gains against the militant group, which also controls large parts of neighboring Syria, the U.S. officials added. They declined to say what kind of assistance would be offered, but said it would likely include more U.S. troops on the ground. ‘Whenever we’re talking about additional capabilities, it usually means some small numbers of additional troops,’ the U.S. official said before the unannounced visit. Iraq's army, trained by the U.S. military officers and backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition, last week retook the Hit region, pushing it further north along the Euphrates valley. The Iraqi government has designated Mosul, the largest Iraqi city still under Islamic State control, as its next major target. It retook the western city of Ramadi in December.” Daily Mail: UK Could Deploy Up To 1,000 Troops To Libya In Bid To Fight Growing ISIS Threat And Migrant Smuggling Crisis “Defence chiefs will pave the way for British military intervention in Libya during high-level talks in Europe in the coming days. Air Vice Marshal Edward Stringer will fly to Rome to tell commanders the UK could deploy up to 1,000 troops to the war-ravaged country to help defeat Islamic State (IS). They would be part of a 6,000 strong, Italian-led force trying to bring order to the chaos that has reigned in Libya since European nations, including Britain, helped overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in 2011. They could be deployed on the ground to protect key buildings, such as hospitals, banks and even the port, although officials insisted they would not be in a combat role. A defence source said: 'It is not clear yet whether this would be behind the wire or not'. This means they could be deployed to hostile areas. He said they had 'not ruled out' the option of putting troops in the cities in a security-protection role. Around 100 British special forces troops are already in Libya helping to protect its current leadership and advising local forces on fighting the increasing IS presence in the country.” Vanguard: Impact On Boko Haram Unclear After Splinter Group Leader Held “The Nigerian security services have hailed the arrest of the leader of the Boko Haram splinter group Ansaru, Khalid al-Barnawi, saying it will lead to them to other senior Islamist commanders. ‘The arrest of Barnawi is a huge success and will have a profound effect on counter-terrorism operations in Nigeria and beyond,’ one security source told AFP. ‘He is a known transnational terrorist and the backbone of all Al-Qaeda affiliate groups in West Africa.’ Barnawi, designated a global terrorist by the United States since 2012, was detained on April 1 with three others in the Kogi state capital, Lokoja, and found with four Thuraya satellite phones. The phones ‘provided several leads’ to ‘high-profile Boko Haram and Ansaru elements’ in the capital, Abuja, Lokoja and the central city of Jos, said another source.” Reuters: Afghan Schools, Hospitals Under Threat, U.N. Says In Grim Report “Schools and health facilities have come under increasing threat as violence spreads in Afghanistan, making it harder for children especially to get access to education and medical care, the United Nations reported on Monday. Western-backed Afghan government forces are locked in a protracted battle with Taliban insurgents who are at their strongest since they were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001. International donors have poured billions of dollars into reconstruction in Afghanistan, including education and health programs, but the conflict threatens to undermine services provided to millions of Afghans, the new U.N. report said. Although direct attacks on schools and health facilities dropped slightly from previous years, U.N. monitors recorded 257 conflict-related incidents in 2015, up from 130 in 2014.” NPR: Apple-FBI: The Theories And Mysteries Of The San Bernardino iPhone “For days, the tech media was mesmerized: Rumors were running amok about the mysterious third party that helped the FBI unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone and one particular Israeli security company landed in the spotlight. As weeks go by, the expectations that the third-party helper or its mysterious technique would be revealed are quickly declining. The theories, however, continue to ripple out. The Post said that ‘at least one of the people who helped the FBI’ was a so-called ‘gray hat’ hacker — as opposed to ‘black hat’ or ‘white hat,’ which mark the edges of the ethics spectrum — someone who digs up software security flaws and sells them to governments or to companies that make surveillance tools.” United States New York Times: U.S. Plans to Step Up Military Campaign Against ISIS “The Obama administration is preparing to broaden its military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria by increasing the number of Special Operations forces who advise Syrian rebels, and it is also considering the addition of Army attack helicopters to the fight against militants in Iraq. The goal would be to accelerate what United States officials said on Saturday was momentum behind Iraqi security forces and American-backed rebels in Syria fighting the terrorist organization. Inside Syria, the administration is prepared to add dozens of Special Operations forces to the 50 who now advise and assist Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State, say three Defense Department and military officials.” CNN: U.S. Defense Secretary Makes Unannounced Trip To Iraq “U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has arrived for an unannounced visit to Iraq, where he will hold a series of meetings, including with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and top U.S. military commanders. Carter will also host a question-and-answer session with troops stationed in the country. This is Carter's third visit to Iraq. An official traveling with Carter said the U.S. is going to bring in more resources into the country and is going to accept more risk in the coming days in Iraq. The official said that the resources would likely include ‘more aggressive’ equipment and technology and may include an increase in Apache attack helicopters. The official framed the fight for Iraq as centered around efforts to recapture the northern city of Mosul from ISIS forces, Iraq's second-largest. Mosul fell to ISIS after the Iraqi Army abandoned their positions and fled in the summer of 2014.” Syria Huffington Post: Syria: Why The Ceasefire Is Unravelling “Why the Ceasefire is Unraveling The ceasefire in Syria seems on the verge of unraveling. It was never much of a ceasefire, so the issue might be purely a semantic one. Nonetheless, it underscores the continuing difficulties in crafting a political solution to end the five year long Syrian Civil War and its consequences. The current ceasefire went into effect on February 27, as part of a United Nations brokered effort that would have led to elections in early 2017, and a transition to a freely elected representative government. The ceasefire was the culmination of an ongoing effort spearheaded primarily by Russia and the United States, as well as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which had started in 2011 as an Arab-League and, from 2012 on, a joint Arab League-United Nations effort to end the fighting. That effort took on even more urgency following the escalation of fighting that followed the intervention of Russian military forces in support of the Assad government and the rising tide of Syrian refugees attempting to enter Europe.” Times of Israel: Syria Vows To Use ‘Any Means Necessary’ To Take Back Golan “Syria hit back at Israel Sunday hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the Golan Heights will remain in Israeli hands. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad warned that his war-torn state would retake the plateau by any means necessary. Netanyahu had convened the first-ever cabinet meeting in the Golan Heights, and used the occasion to declare that the territory seized by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War would forever remain a part of Israel. Mekdad declared that the ‘Arab Syrian Golan Heights’ is still occupied territory according to international law and would eventually be taken back from the Israelis. ‘All options are on the table for getting back the occupied territory from Israel,’ Mekdad told the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen news channel. ‘We are prepared to do anything in order to return the Golan to the Syrian motherland, including using military force.’” Turkey Associated Press: Turkey Detains 101 People Linked To US-Based Muslim Cleric “Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained 101 people suspected of having financial links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of attempting to overthrow the government. The Anadolu Agency said police had arrest warrants for of 140 people, including businessmen and former employees of the Gulen-linked Bank Asya, which was seized by the government last year. On Monday, 101 people were taken into custody in Istanbul and eight other cities. The government has declared Gulen's moderate Islamic movement a ‘terrorist’ organization and has clamped down his supporters, seizing newspapers, television stations and other businesses associated with the cleric. Anadolu says those detained Monday are suspected of being members of a ‘terror group’ and of providing funds and making propaganda for the Gulen movement.” Afghanistan Reuters: Heavy Fighting Continues In Afghan City Kunduz “Afghan forces fought back a renewed series of attacks on Kunduz, killing dozens of Taliban fighters, officials said on Sunday as insurgent forces stepped up their bid to retake the northern city that they captured briefly last year. The attack on Kunduz, involving hundreds of insurgent fighters, has intensified just days after the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, aimed at driving out the Western-backed government in Kabul. The Taliban's brief capture of Kunduz last year underlined both their growing strength and the lack of readiness of Afghan security forces fighting largely on their own since the NATO-led international coalition ended its combat operation in 2014. Attacks overnight appeared aimed at cutting off Chardara district on the southwest outskirts of the city, which insurgents used as a base in last year's attack, with several checkpoints targeted, Kunduz police chief Qasim Jangalbagh said.” Saudi Arabia The New York Times: 9 Guantánamo Prisoners From Yemen Are Sent To Saudi Arabia “The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni detainees from its wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, completing a long-sought diplomatic deal ahead of a planned visit to Riyadh by President Obama in the coming week. The effort to persuade the Saudi government to take the prisoners began in the Bush administration and finally resulted in an agreement in February. Current and former officials familiar with the negotiations called the timing of the transfer, which reduced the population at Guantánamo to 80 prisoners, a coincidence. ‘There have been a lot of discussions with the Saudis over the last few years, and they have been emphatic that it was very important to close Guantánamo,’ said Cliff Sloan, who served as the State Department envoy for negotiating detainee transfers in 2013 and 2014. ‘They wanted to help with that. But the one thing they weren’t willing to do for a long time was actually accept Yemenis. That’s why this is a major breakthrough.’” Middle East Fox News: ISIS Revenue Down 30 Percent As Its Territory Shrinks, Report Claims “The ISIS terror group has seen its revenue shrink by 30 percent from last year while the number of people living in territory under its control has dropped by a third, according to a new report.  The consulting firm IHS reports that as of March 2016, ISIS' monthly revenue was $56 million, down from a high of $80 million in March 2015. The decrease is due in part to diminished oil production in ISIS-controlled territories. IHS estimates that around21,000 barrels of oil are produced each day in the self-proclaimed caliphate, down from around 33,000 barrels per day. The report gives airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Russia partial credit for affecting ISIS oil production, but also notes that the militants were able to repair damaged infrastructure quickly.” Daily Mail: Coalition Air Strikes Kill 25,000 Jihadis: Islamic State Army Is Cut By Half As Allies Plan Assault On Its Stronghold “More than 25,000 members of the Islamic State terror group have been killed in the relentless war fought by Britain and its allies, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The campaign has halved the number of jihadi fighters in IS-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq in just 20 months and eliminated scores of the group's leaders, with bombing raids and missile strikes by the RAF playing a crucial role. The revelations of how IS has been dealt a series of devastating blows emerged in an exclusive interview with Colonel Steve Warren, the US military spokesman for the US-led global coalition against Islamic State.” The New York Times: Israel Will Never Give Golan Heights to Syria, Netanyahu Vows “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel led a cabinet meeting in the Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan Heights on Sunday, calling on the world to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the conquered territory and vowing that Israel would never give it back to Syria. Mr. Netanyahu made his remarks at what his office described as a ‘festive’ meeting of the cabinet in one of the Jewish settlements on the strategic plateau that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel later effectively annexed the Golan Heights in a move that was never internationally recognized. Officially, the occasion for holding the first formal cabinet meeting in the territory was to mark a year since the formation of Mr. Netanyahu’s current right-leaning government. Yet the timing, according to experts, was more likely dictated by Israeli concerns arising from the recently resumed talks in Geneva over Syria’s future — or hopes that the talks might present an opportunity for Israel.” The Jerusalem Post: Hamas Signals It Is Not Interested In A Renewed Confrontation With Israel “Hamas is not interested in another war with Israel, but is prepared to fight if a military confrontation is imposed on it, a Hamas official in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday. Mushir al-Masri, a top Hamas official, dismissed recent Israeli threats against his movement, saying they were intended for ‘local consumption.’ The threats reflect the state of security hysteria that has plagued Israeli mentality, he added. ‘Israel’s threats don’t scare or intimidate us because we are prepared to defend ourselves,’ al-Masri said. ‘Hamas is not interested in initiating a war at this phase, but if it’s imposed on us the resistance is prepared for it.’” Haaretz: Assailant In Central Israel Stabbing Attack Indicted, Planned Larger Attack Using Explosives “An indictment was served to the Lod District Court Sunday against 22-year-old Shatila Abu Iyada, a resident of the central Israeli Arab town of Kafr Qasem, who allegedly stabbed an Israeli woman in Rosh Ha'ayin on April 3. Abu Iyada has been charged on several counts of attempted murder and plotting a terror attack in restaurants in Rosh Ha'ayin. The attack took place in the Afek industrial park where a security guard witnessed the events and managed to subdue Abu Iyada without firing his weapon. An additional knife when then found in the assailant's bag. The indictment also alleged that Abu Iyada had planned to carry out a larger attack than the stabbing which lightly wounded a woman in her hand. Abu Iyada, claimed the indictment, learned to make explosives at home via instructions on the internet in December 2015, and even bought the necessary supplies for such devices to be used in an attack. The materials included screws and bolts intended to increase damage.” NBC News: The ISIS Files: What Leaked Documents Reveal About Terror Recruits “A trove of ISIS personnel records obtained by NBC News has now been analyzed by experts at West Point, who say it's the largest and "most significant" document cache of its kind, providing new insight into the terror group's grand ambitions and diverse recruits. The files reveal that the jihadists who joined the Islamic State in 2013 and 2014 were largely uninterested in suicide missions, better educated than expected and, to the alarm of those trying to stop the export of terror, very well-traveled. NBC News received the dossiers from a Syrian man who said he stole the information, stored on a flash drive, from a senior ISIS commander. Over the last month, NBC News has worked with the Combating Terrorism Center at the elite military academy to transform them into a database of more than 4,000 foreign fighters from 71 countries.” Libya Voice Of America: Libya Army Advances On Militant Stronghold “Heavy fighting between the Libyan army and militant forces continues in militant-controlled areas of Benghazi, the second biggest city in the oil-rich North African nation. Thick black smoke rose from oil and chemical tanks at the city's cement factory in Hawary district on Saturday following intense fighting between Libyan soldiers and Islamic militants. Libyan soldiers on the frontlines in Benghazi launched an artillery attack on militants in the area on Thursday. Benghazi was the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed former leader Moammar Gadhafi.” United Kingdom Reuters: UK Police Bail One Of Five Linked To Paris, Brussels Attacks “British police have bailed one of five people arrested last week on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism, West Midlands Police in central England said on Sunday. British police arrested five people last week as part of an investigation which a security source said was linked to the attacks in Paris and Brussels. Four were arrested in Birmingham, central England, and one at London's Gatwick Airport. West Midlands Police said in a statement that four people, three men and one woman, were still being questioned after securing warrants of further detention, while a 59-year-old man had been bailed ‘with strict conditions’. ‘The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led. There was no risk to the public at any time and there is no information to suggest an attack in the UK was being planned,’ said Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale, who leads on counter terrorism for the West Midlands. British media have reported that Belgian Mohamed Abrini, suspected of involvement in the Islamic State attacks in Brussels, had traveled to Birmingham last year and taken photos of a soccer stadium.” Economic Times: Mother Says 'Shocked' About Her ISIS Recruit British Son “Speaking for the first time, the mother of a 19-year-old British boy, who reportedly joined the Islamic State, has said she is ‘completely shocked’ at the loss of her ‘intelligent’ son to the dreaded terrorist group. Muhammad Raja's mother told 'The Sunday Times' about her son on condition of anonymity after the newspaper showed her a leaked ISIS recruitment file in which Raja was named.  ‘I'm completely shocked. He's such an intelligent boy. He got grade As at GCSE (Board exams) and was loved by his teachers. We need to find out how this happened,’ she said.  She last saw her son at Heathrow airport as he left on holiday to Turkey. But days after arriving in Istanbul, the boy, mysteriously vanished. For almost the past two years his mother has been searching for news of his whereabouts and hoping he might still call her.  His ISIS recruitment file states that after flying to Istanbul, Raja took a 21-hour bus journey to Sanliurfa, near Turkey's border with Syria.” Arabic Language Clips Terror Financing Alchourouk: Based On (Tunisian) Security And Administrative Reports: 300 Associations Are Implicated In Terrorist Financing Reliable security and administrative reports have recently indicated that the number of Tunisian associations involved in financing and supporting terrorism exceeds 300, and are scattered throughout the country. Studies regarding terrorist crimes reveal that this is a significant number of associations and that they are acting, under the guise of charity and religious ministry, to support and finance terrorist activities. As a result of the dangerous nature of these disclosures, the government of Mehdi Juma has decided to issue decisions to dissolve many of these associations. It must be recalled that a dangerous Tunisian terrorist arrested in Libya had acknowledged that he was an activist for an Islamic religious association in the Tunisian town of Ben Gardane, before it was dissolved by the Tunisian security authorities. ISIS Albawabh News: ISIS Imposes Penalties On Women To Compensate For Its Losses While ISIS's military presence in its strongholds in Syria and Iraq has declined, the leaders of the terror group have begun to use what is known as "Diwan al-Hisbah" to impose fines on women, for their failure to observe the Islamic dress code. This move comes in an effort to refill the organization's coffers following its recent defeats. ISIS's Diwan al-Hisbah in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor launched a campaign of mass arrests of women opposing its decisions and refusing to observe the dress code. The terror group accused them of violating the dress code and fined them heavily. The women's names have been recorded, because in case of a repeat violation they will be forced to pay a fine of 15,000 Syrian pounds ($68.50). New Sabah: ISIS Leaders Flee Nineveh With Huge Sums Of Money At a time when ISIS leaders fled or vanished from the scene while dispatching their families to a neighboring country, dozens of ISIS gunmen have started to deploy in some parts of Mosul in a show of force. These developments come in parallel to new restrictions on Internet service provision in Mosul, with a view to shut it down completely thereby isolating the city from the outside world. An Iraqi security source in Nineveh province was quoted as saying, "Senior ISIS leaders issued their instructions to residents living in areas under their influence in Nineveh province, stressing the need to begin storing food especially products that can be stored for as long as possible without the use of refrigerators or freezers, including dates, grain, flour etc." Ara News: ISIS Stops The Use Of Turkish Mobile Networks And Closes Internet Cafes In Manbij In Aleppo On Sunday, the Islamic State organization issued an order banning the use of Turkish mobile phone networks, threatening to fine violators. In addition, the terror group closed all the satellite internet cafes in the city of Manbij, in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Local media activist Nasser Teljbini reported: "ISIS has begun a search and raid campaign on houses in the city of Manbij and its surroundings, in search of mobile phones that operate through the Turkish networks. The organization passed a resolution to fine each person proven to be using a Turkish mobile phone the amount of 400,000 Syrian pounds (roughly $1830)." Teljbini made it clear that "the organization intends to shut down all telecommunications means in Manbij and its surroundings." Muslim Brotherhood The Seventh Day: Brotherhood Allocated Dollar Deposit To Tarnish Egypt Several months ago, the Muslim Brotherhood channeled $10 million to finance all of the media smear campaigns inside and outside Egypt. Currently, intense activity is taking place, under the guise of the group's members' Facebook and Twitter accounts, to verbally attack Egypt, its president and its government for various reasons. The rationale behind the intensive media campaign at this time is the handover of the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. This is despite the Egyptian president's statement that the issue of the two islands is in the hands of the Egyptian Parliament, which is authorized to approve, or reject, the agreement. Albawabh News: Emirati (Research) Centre: Brotherhood Trained A Group Of Young People On Fourth Generation Warfare The UAE-based Al Mezmaah Studies & Research Centre, which focuses on political Islamic movements in the region, disclosed that the Muslim Brotherhood has formed a task force composed of the group's members to provide training on the so-called "fourth generation warfare". The Centre claimed that the group launched this task force amid growing public opposition to its rule in Egypt, in conjunction with activities initiated by the "Tamarod" (“Rebellion”) movement. It claimed that Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide Khayrat al-Shater was overseeing this task force. Al Mezmaah added that the Brotherhood has allocated 25 million Egyptian pounds ($2.8 million) to meet the training requirements of the task force, which includes dispatching its members to Turkey to receive training. Albawabh News: Nabil Naim: Muslim Brotherhood Received $60 Million To Ignite Protests In Egypt Sheikh Nabil Naim, former leader of the Islamic Jihadist movement in Egypt, revealed surprising information regarding yesterday’s anti-regime protests. He asserts that 90% of the protesters belong to the ‘Ultras’ groups. According to Naim, leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood had personally received $60 million from foreign parties in order to re-structure the groups and ignite demonstrations across Egypt. During a telephone interview on the “LTC” satellite channel, the former leader of the Islamic Jihadist movement noted that Egyptian security forces are well-aware of the almost complete extent of the Ultras’ participation in yesterday’s protests in front of the Journalists Union building, and tied these protests to the Muslim Brotherhood’s failure and loss of popularity among Egyptians. Vetogate: Ghanoushi And Muslim Brotherhood’s Leaders Involved In Panama Papers Led by Rashid Ghanoushi, Tunisia's strongest Islamist party, Al-Nahda (the Muslim Brotherhood arm in the country), lashed out at the Tunisian Internet website ‘inkyfada’. The website is the Tunisian partner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which published the Panama Papers. Al-Nahda officially threatened to sue the website after revealing the involvement of several of the Brotherhood’s leaders, who were exiled to London, in owning companies which are registered as safe havens for tax evaders. Among those cited are Ghanoushi, his daughter and her husband, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the former Al-Nahda-led government, Mr. Rafik Bouchlaka, Ghanoushi’s advisor, Lotfi Zitoun, and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The disclosure of Islamist leader Ghanoushi’s involvement in such activities comes as no surprise, since many Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders, Tunisian or otherwise, have been suspected in this kind of activities for many years. Topping a list of these leaders would be Yusuf Nada, noted businessman, Muslim Brotherhood financial strategist, and the Brotherhood's Commissioner for International Political Relations, who is notorious for hiding the international organization’s funding sources and spending means. Almogaz: An (Egyptian) Journalist Is Sentenced To Five Years For Spreading False News And Inciting Protesting The Al-Dokki Criminal Court sentenced Mr. Mohamed Ali Hassan, a journalist at the Egyptian Alnahar newspaper and a member of the Journalists Union, to five years in prison, for spreading "false news" and ‘inciting to protests through pro- Muslim Brotherhood websites. On December 12th, 2014, Mohammed was at home with his family when several police officers, in civilian clothes, came and arrested him, charging him with joining the illegal Muslim Brotherhood group and inciting the public against the army and the police force. The National Security’s report also claimed that Mohammed had received funding money from foreign sources, namely, different people and parties in Qatar. However, when the general prosecution requested that the National Security people name these foreign people and parties, the prosecution dropped the funding charges and instead accused the journalist with incitement to violence and spreading false news against the state. Houthi Ababiil: The Houthis Loot 2 Billion Riyals Belonging To TeleYemen An informed source in Sanaa revealed that the Houthi militia, which controls government institutions in Yemen, unlawfully obtained a huge sum estimated at roughly two billion riyals ($9.3 million) from the funds of Yemen International Telecommunications Co. (TeleYemen). This is in line with the Houthis' customary practice of looting and seizing the revenues and financial resources of companies and institutions in Yemen. The source confirmed that the Houthi-affiliated executive management of TeleYemen ordered the transfer of this enormous amount of money, which had originally been earmarked for the company's employees' annual bonus to compensate for the growing costs of living. The source noted that this is not the first time the Houthi group has taken the company's funds. Last year, the group stole 1 billion riyals ($4.65 million) of TeleYemen's funds.